Interactuar, the financial institution, expects to see more economic dynamism in the remainder of the year

The allocation of credits and insurance, especially for agriculture, which in times of climatic phenomena are of greater importance for the protection of crops, It is one of the tasks that financial corporations have been progressively managing..

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Lina María Montoya, executive director of the Interactuar Corporation, spoke with Portafolio about the lines of credit and insurance that they carry in the entity, as well as the importance of the formalization of the Colombian micro-entrepreneur. in times of economic slowdown in the country.

What is Interactuar working on?

At Interactuar we focus on and have been working for 40 years to promote the progress and development of businessmen and entrepreneurs in Colombia. We do this through access to formal credit for entrepreneurs, so that they can boost their businesses through microcredit and our business school for microenterprises.

There we have a whole line of strengthening to make those business capabilities stronger for any entrepreneur, whether to run a business, but also those skills so that they can move forward.

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There are gaps in agricultural credits, what are they?

In Colombia, as a country, we have made great progress in financial inclusion, but in terms of access to a bank account. We are above 94%. Now, in terms of access to credit, there is a gap between people in cities and rural areas of more than 17 points.

That is to say, it is becoming increasingly difficult to access remote areas. This has a lot to do with people’s idiosyncrasies, their confidence in getting into debt, their lack of knowledge and their remoteness.

What we microfinance institutions do is reach these people, their prices, their farms, the different territories and give them access. But that continues to be a costly task. Today, agricultural activity is suffering from the climate’s difficulties for crops and that makes these activities in some way more risky when it comes to receiving financing. Another gap is women’s access to financing. In rural areas, the percentage drops a little.

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How much have you placed in loans?

Interactuar has a portfolio of approximately $400 billion and agricultural activity can be between 15% and 20% of that portfolio.

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You warned about job losses. How can you help mitigate this gap?

In Colombia, the majority of jobs are generated by microenterprises, which provide more than 60% of them. Microentrepreneurs go out to work and that is the resilience that Colombia has. In rural areas it is the same. Now the big question we have to ask ourselves is how to make those jobs move towards a formality.

Becoming formal can open the doors to selling in a chain that requires these records, having a larger client base and therefore having a sustainable business. It is necessary to show the entrepreneur the value of formalization and that this is also a strength for their business, but we have a long way to go, but more than 80% are still in the informal sector. That is where the importance of training lies.

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What lines do they operate?

There is the rural-urban productive popular credit that goes up to $6 million, the productive one that goes from $6 million to $25 million and the highest point from $25 million to $120 million.

We have lines for women, not only so they can access credit, but also so they can receive training tailored to their businesses. In this, we focus on women who are at home and whose families depend on their care. We have also designed products such as insurance.

Another important product is for farmers, we have parametric insurance thanks to some lines that Finagro launched last year. In 2023 we managed to benefit more than 5,800 entrepreneurs, and this year we also managed to launch insurance for another 5,000 entrepreneurs.

We also have microcredit, which is where we have seen the greatest pain over the last year, because trade has been somewhat discouraged. We cover manufacturing, industry, agriculture and services.

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And what rates do they handle?

We are within the microcredit range, in the market average depending on the amount, whether it is low or high. The greatest effort we always make is to ensure that people can have access, even those who may have a negative report due to some situation.

We strongly encourage them to access knowledge services, training and courses. We connect entrepreneurs with each other so that they understand that the act of starting a business and creating a company is not an act of solitude, but is also a collective act, where there is collaboration.

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What goals do you have for the rest of the year?

We hope to continue supporting the economic recovery in the country. This is a semester in which we hope to see more economic dynamics or more movements. The appetite for credit is slowly beginning to pick up, but we have to be very conscious in the placement of these credits.

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There is over-indebtedness among people in Colombia, this is also a call to colleagues and that we all take care of the financial health of Colombians. We must always grant loans with great responsibility.

Hopefully we can ride the crest of the wave a little better off. This is a call to entrepreneurs to let themselves be accompanied, to seek advice, support from entities that carry out this work with great responsibility. I am optimistic that we can see this second semester with a little better economic dynamics and that this will favor our entrepreneurs in their sales.