Page 74 - SAMENA Trends - December 2023

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

ARTICLE

Borderless Innovation and Sustainability to Pave the

Way for the Most Vulnerable Entrepreneurs

Innovation and sustainability in today's world are at the top of the
agenda in all regions of the world. In the Middle East, for example,
these issues are particularly relevant because, according to the
United Nations, the region has the highest youth unemployment
rate in the world and many countries in the region are considered to
be among the most water-stressed in the world. Aware that climate
change and water scarcity are closely related to unemployment
and migration patterns, the model and its consequences are easily
extrapolated to other regions such as Latin America where, as in
other parts of the world, there has been little widespread innovation
in the water and sanitation technology sector.

In view of this panorama, the BBVA Microfinance Foundation has
made a series of innovations available to the 3 million entrepreneurs
it supports in Latin America, such as insurance that assess
compensation in the event of natural disasters from a satellite,
facial and voice identification and a mobile banking service in chat
format. These technologies allow BBVAMF's financial and non-
financial solutions to support the progress of the entrepreneurs to
be taken to any corner of the five countries in which it is present,
while at the same time reducing the digital divide.

"For the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF), innovation
is a lever for economic, social and digital inclusion. Technology
helps us to serve more vulnerable entrepreneurs and facilitate their
day-to-day management," explains Gabriela Eguidazu, director of
Innovation and Inclusive Growth at BBVAMF.

Today, the entrepreneurs served by the Foundation can choose how
Gabriela Eguidazu Villota they want to operate with their institution, in person or virtually, from
Innovation for Inclusive Growth Director onboarding - which can be 100% digital thanks to facial and voice
FBBVA biometrics - to carrying out any transaction or signing digitally.

This path began years ago, when the Foundation began to
digitalise the tools used by advisors (employees of the BBVAMF'
microfinance institutions) to assist entrepreneurs. The first step
was to create an app, which also works offline, so that they could
carry out all operations from their tablets and thus avoid the need
for entrepreneurs to travel to the bank branch.

This app has become the essential working tool for advisors. So
much so that today more than 90% of loans are granted using
the advisor's app. Moreover, thanks to its geolocation capacity,
advisors can locate entrepreneurs who live in remote and difficult-
to-access areas.

74 DECEMBER 2023