Leading Colombian fintech Juancho Te Presta sees opportunity in women-first digital lending market

Just in time for International Women's Day 2022, ALMA has extended a $10 million facility to Juancho Te Presta, a leading Colombian fintech lender.?In Colombia, it is harder for women to access financial services than men: for example, only 16% of women have taken out a formal loan compared to 29% of men.?This is primarily because the credit scorecards used by banks are skewed in favour of men.

Juancho Te Presta aims to change that, by offering a 100% digital credit solution with special attention to the needs of women. Over 60% of Juancho Te Presta's loans to date have been to women, and the majority of these are young women between the ages of 18 and 37 years old, many of whom are heads of households. "Juancho Te Presta wants to make credit available in record time for all, especially women," explains Juan E. Saldarriaga, CEO of Juancho Te Presta. "Our partnership with ALMA will allow us to scale up our lending activities and reach more middle-class employees, gig workers, pensions and students who are underserved by the traditional banking sector."

Juncho Te Presta has over 220,000 registered users on its platform so far, and is one of the first fintechs in Colombia to offer a "Buy Now, Pay Later" product, giving customers access to credit at over 50 retailers. At the same time, the company pays special attention to the repayment capacity of its customers, capping loan installments at 12% of income to avoid over-indebtedness while allowing customers to build a credit history. Customers can access loans of up to 5 million Colombian Pesos (about US$1,300) in just ten minutes without the need for a co-debtor or guarantor, with repayment periods of up to 24 months. ?The fintech lender uses state-of-the-art technology including AI, proprietary algorithms, and biometric verification to facilitate speedy loan processing.?

Gautam Ivatury, ALMA Managing Partner, shared why Juancho Te Presta was a good fit for ALMA. "Our mission is to provide creative, flexible financing to high-impact companies working with underserved customers. Juancho Te Presta is exactly the type of partner we look for: dynamic, rapidly scaling, and built on technology-driven operations. We're eager to continue to grow with the team."

Join us in celebrating #IDW2022 by welcoming Juancho Te Presta to the ALMA impact finance family, we look forward to following their progress in expanding credit to women throughout Colombia!