The Female Entrepreneurship Fund is a specialized investment vehicle that channels resources from institutional investors to support women entrepreneurs in the Central American Integration System (Sica) region.

This pioneering initiative will improve access to finance over the next five years, contributing to scale up digital financial solutions and piloting insurance to 500,000 low-income farmers, including women, youth entrepreneurs.

By addressing the need for improved access to financial services and support for MSMEs in agriculture, the project aims to contribute to the creation of jobs and the sustainable and inclusive economic development of the sector.

The general objective is to test a tailor-made and innovative agricultural product for smallholder farmers and expand the loan products to rural areas.

This is the first time that a rating agency specializing in microfinance has been authorized in Panama to rate regulated financial institutions in the country.

The investment will allow Banistmo to address two development challenges simultaneously by reducing the financing gap for SMEs and addressing the country's housing deficit.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, provided Banco General, S.A., a loan of $150 million for mortgage lending for low and middle-income families in Panama, at the end of 2019.

Aligned with its social purpose and in light of COVID-19’s progress in Latin America, BBVA Microfinance Foundation’s six institutions in five countries in the region have adopted urgent and necessary measures to help its 2.2 million clients cope with this situation.