Fintech Plurall and dale! to launch a microcredit program in Colombia
Colombia is one of the countries in Latin America with the greatest potential for entrepreneurship.
Yet the lack of access to capital in this nation remains a problem affecting millions of small business owners who, lacking credit options in traditional banks, rely on informal loans to finance the growth and sustainability of their companies.
According to data from Colombia’s National Administration Department of Statistics, informal credit increased by more than 75% in 2021 in the South American country compared to 2019. In 2022, one in four micro-enterprises chose this type of lending.
Within this context, fintech Plurall and the digital wallet! recently, a microcredit program was launched to enable entrepreneurs to access credit more fairly and easily in Colombia.
Expand credit opportunities in an underserved market
These companies aim to expand credit offerings in the underserved market, providing solutions for small entrepreneurs to flourish.
With their alliance, both companies seek to reach 5,000 micro-entrepreneurs by the end of 2023.
The digital financial product designed for this purpose was developed by Plurall, while dale! facilitates the Visa franchise products on which the loans are disbursed.
According to Plurall, through the use of artificial intelligence and the Bodhi Tree data tool, the fintech has “the unique ability to generate microloans in record time”, as a result of which the company will seek to ensure that loan issuance processes are much faster and simplified than traditional banking.
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Dale!, part of Grupo Aval, is one of the first financial institutions in Colombia to use the Banking as a Service (BaaS) model, with the ability to integrate with other digital platforms to open electronic deposits, activate balances or issue cards .
Many traditional financial institutions in LatAm tend to have lengthy, bureaucratic and costly credit assessment and approval processes. This is partly due to the historically poor access many local communities in the region have had to traditional financing.
Plurall and dale!’s proposal seeks to create a new opportunity to streamline processes and minimize requirements so that any micro-entrepreneur can access fair credit in hours, subsequently increasing the regional banking penetration rate.
Helping small businesses thrive in Colombia
In a statement, the CEO of Dale! José Manuel Ayerbe said that the new project will “complement our value proposition with partners that allow us to reach innovative proposals with a social background, like Plurall, with which we support Colombian micro-entrepreneurs to access the financing they need.”
The executive also emphasized that with the alliance of dale! and Plurall, “millions of small merchants such as hairdressers, shop owners, hardware dealers, among countless professionals,” will be able to “build a credit history” and access financial solutions with more certainty.
On the other hand, Federico Gómez, co-founder and CEO of Plurall said in his statement that the partnership will facilitate credit analysis processes for those who need it most.
“Last year, we managed to register almost 9,000 micro-entrepreneurs on our waiting list, and for those we approved, we paid out credits in 10 days. This year we will approve in 8 minutes and pay out in 10 minutes, a big change for a sector that desperately needs it.”
