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TACKLING FINANCIAL CHALLENGES IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR GUILLERMO JIMÉNEZ SEPÚLVEDA Director General of ProCrédito 36
Q: How did ProCrédito become a fully Mexican-
had a model for micro and SMEs with a credit range
owned SOFOM?
between US$10,000 and US$400,000.
A: ProCrédito was founded as ProCredit México. It was a subsidiary of Germany’s ProCredit Holding in 2006, but
Q: What advantages does ProCrédito technology deliver?
at the beginning of 2016 it was sold to a group of Mexican
A: Our technology is focused on the informal and
executives who also acquired the unit’s credit technology
semiformal markets. We analyze each client individually,
and all its staff and subsidiaries. Although we are still
looking at their activities and how those are conducted.
associated with Germany in the systems, technology and
We also ask for proof of income and expenditures.
training areas, this is no longer true for the economic
Combining our methodology with computer software, we
sphere. We changed our name to ProCrédito in 2018 as
then make an evaluation and in two days prepare the loan
part of this process.
and release it. This technology is similar to that used for corporate credit, only on a smaller scale. It involves a tool
ProCrédito loans range between MX$200,000 (US$10,000) and MX$6 million (US$300,000)
that enables us to make decisions based on data provided by our clients, which is not found in an audited financial statement. Financial statements are usually internal and fiscal information often differs from reality, so we have to balance this data. Q: Why did ProCrédito decide to establish in central Mexico and the Bajio region? A: We believe the area enjoys stable growth compared with the country’s northern and southern regions that
ProCrédito provides loans to people engaged in business
either are not growing or that grow rapidly only to
activities or to small enterprises. For instance, two years
collapse when a crisis occurs. ProCrédito also decided to
ago, the company lent a client money to buy his second
focus on this region because of the automotive facilities
urban bus. Last year, we extended more funds so he could
being built there. Many of ProCrédito’s clients are Tier
acquire his third bus and he is now asking for credit to
3 suppliers. They have lathes or tooling equipment and
buy two more.
provide machining to the suppliers of large Japanese, US or German assembly plants. Some clients offer
We started by offering microcredits to the informal
cleaning or personnel transportation services directly to
economy. In 2010, our parent company ProCredit Group
automotive plants. Our subsidiaries in Aguascalientes,
raised the level of available credit to our clients in
Leon, Queretaro and San Juan del Rio work mostly with
East Europe, South America and Mexico from around
the automotive industry.
US$2,000-US$3,000 to between US$10,000 and US$50,000. When ProCredit Holding divested from
Q:
What
is
ProCrédito’s
ProCredit México and we took over, the company already
supporting SMEs?
main
strategy
for
A: Our priority is flexibility. Our model prevents clients from getting too indebted and enables us to lend them ProCrédito is a SOFOM that focuses on providing credit to
money according to their needs and business cycles. For
companies without access to bank products and that are
example, a client in tourism-oriented transportation may
part of the informal economy. Once a subsidiary of ProCredit
require a payment scheme wherein they pay more during
Holding, ProCrédito now is a 100-percent Mexican institution
peak seasons and less during low seasons. ProCrédito
