PRO MUJER MEXICO
- Location: Pachuca, Mexico
- Started microfinance operations: April 2002
- Clients when partnership began:
- Current clients served: 20,928
Background: Pro Mujer Mexico (PMM) was started in 2002 in the state of Hidalgo as an extension of Pro Mujer International, an industry-leading Latin American microfinance organization. Meaning “for women,” Pro Mujer Mexico benefits from their sister programs in Bolivia, Peru and Nicaragua which cumulatively serve more than 193,000 clients and maintain a loan portfolio of more than $40 million (as of December 2007).
Product offerings and clientele: Pro Mujer Mexico offers microcredit loans and savings products to women living in the outskirts of Mexico City. In addition to these financial products, Pro Mujer Mexico provides "credit plus" training opportunities in personal empowerment, reproductive health, domestic violence prevention and business development via their focal centers (i.e. branches). Combined, these services help the working poor start or improve small businesses, thus increasing their incomes and living standards.
Highlights and growth strategy: Unlike many MFIs, Pro Mujer Mexico offers both their financial services and the personal development services at their focal centers; this provides clients with low-cost services and minimizes time away from work and family. Pro Mujer Mexico’s professional staff and dedicated Board of Directors gained support for the organization from both the state and federal government in Mexico as well as support from international corporations like Banamex/Citibank and JPMorgan Chase. Pro Mujer Mexico plans to build solid operations in the state of Hidalgo and then expand into surrounding states.
Meet a Pro Mujer Mexico client: As a young single mother, Maria struggled to feed and educate her children. Now she’s a grandmother, and life is different. Maria has built a thriving farm and she’s sending each of her grandchildren to school.
