Small businesses are characterized by the hard work needed to stay active and seek opportunities that allow them to continue generating development and prosperity through their businesses.
One of the best ways to achieve this is to use loans or lines of credit available on the market. To help boost these companies, Corporación Multi Inversiones (CMI), in partnership with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), has formalized a line of credit in the amount of US$7 million to serve Guatemala’s micro, small, and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs).
Led by Juan José Gutiérrez Mayorga, Chairman of CMI Foods, and Juan Luis Bosch Gutiérrez, Chairman of CMI Capital, CMI has set to work and promote the economic growth and sustainable development of these companies through COFINSA, CMI Capital’s Finance Unit.
With this line of credit, CMI and CABEI expect to benefit 61 MSMEs and 10 self-employed workers, as well as more than 3,600 people in the country. The credit will also be used to support and invest in a wide range of economic activities, providing inputs for the growth and development of individual microentrepreneurs.
“This project will allow MSMEs that are suppliers of CMI to have access to working capital, make payments on obligations, implement biosecurity measures, consolidate or readjust their debts, and other key actions to contribute to the economic growth of these companies in the country,” said Enrique Crespo, CEO of CMI Capital.
The implementation of the credit line contemplates several initiatives to achieve its objective. The first of these is the Financial Sector Support Facility program, which will focus on assisting companies affected by Covid-19 by helping these companies adapt and transform as part of their economic reactivation in the face of the effects of the pandemic.
The Green MSMEs program also includes financing for electromobility initiatives. This program will support companies to reduce their operating costs by implementing more sustainable actions for their business, such as the transition from fleets of fossil fuel vehicles to the adoption of electric vehicles.
“We are very pleased with this alliance with COFINSA, which is part of an important private group in Guatemala, and with which we will promote manufacturing, electromobility, new enterprises and decent housing. Undoubtedly, together we will be able to channel financial resources to promote sustainable development and generate growth and employment opportunities for Guatemalans,” said CABEI Executive President Dante Mossi.
Supporting small and medium-sized Guatemalan companies with good financial indicators is very important, since helping to maintain the financial health of these companies is fundamental for the country’s long-term economic development, overcoming restrictions on access to credit, ensuring access to financing at reasonable costs for the most competitive companies and generating a good amount of new employment.