Special Notice on Fundacion Mario Santo Domingo from Kiva Staff on November 9, 2010: Kiva recently conducted on-site monitoring at Fundacion Mario Santo Domingo in order to re-assess the level of risk posed by this institution. The analysts found that some of the components that Kiva looks at during our due diligence process did not merit a 4-STAR rating and adjusted the rating to 3.

Partner Profile

Fundación Mario Santo Domingo is a private non-profit organization that was founded on April 20, 1960, in Barranquilla, northern Colombia. FMSD is dedicated to developing programs for underprivileged sectors of Colombian society, and is currently active in Barranquilla, Cartagena, Bogotá and areas surrounding those cities. As well as numerous social programs, FMSD also has a microfinance program to strengthen micro-businesses in the areas where FMSD works. FMSD also has a long history of non-financial components to its microfinance program, including training to enable entrepreneurs to start their own businesses.

FMSD can be contacted at info@fmsd.org.co

Join our Kiva lending team: Friends of FMSD and read blog entries from Kiva Fellows at FMSD

Promote the common good and bring about social development on a national level through support for educational, cultural, charitable and health-related activities and programs, scientific and technological research, the creation of jobs and income, and all other activities that contribute to improving the quality of life of the general population, especially within the poorest communities.

FMSD will become a national leader in development programs by offering financial support and training for micro and small businesses in Colombia and by providing comprehensive development programs in poor communities. FMSD will receive international recognition for its social programs from funding organizations.

After its foundation in 1960, FMSD created its first micro-enterprise program in Barranquilla in 1984. The program was expanded to Cartagena and Isla de Barú in 1990, and in 1995 to Bogotá, the nation’s capital. The program supports the entrepreneurial initiatives of solidarity groups, single mothers, young people, rural borrowers, shopkeepers, inmates, the elderly, artisans, auto mechanics, displaced populations, carnival performers and fishermen. In 1987, FMSD created its community development program, helping community members build new houses for themselves. Thanks to the program, more than 50,000 Colombians on the Caribbean coast have improved their living conditions with the support of private, local, national and international organizations.

Since 1999, FMSD’s Training Department has offered Management Dialogue courses to micro-entrepreneurs. The program was strengthened in 2001 through an agreement with Acción International, USAID, and the Corporation for the Development of Micro-enterprises, through new formative and marketing strategies for productive sectors. Since 2001, micro-enterprises have participated in marketing events on both the regional and national levels.

In 2007, FMSD launched the Villas de San Pablo Neighborhood Macro-Project in Barranquilla, with plans to help 20,000 families own their own subsidized home. A similar project called Bicentennial City was launched in Cartagena in January of 2008, in which 25,000 new homes will be constructed in total. FMSD hopes to complete both community projects in 7 to 10 years. 

The foundation is guided by its Administrative Counsel, including the Counsel President. FMSD also has a General Director and three business divisions that direct and coordinate all institutional activities: Finance and Administration, Micro-enterprise, and Social Development.

1. Microfinance

This program is intended to stimulate and strengthen income generation and employment by providing business development programs. Microfinance services are offered through satellite offices called Customer Service Centers (CAUs); these centers are located near the communities they serve, in accordance with FMSD’s institutional objectives, and provide both financial and non-financial services.

Small businesses have access to the following products:

• Loans for working capital
• Loans for fixed assets
• Loans for technology adoption
• Education loans
• Housing loans

This component is directed towards small business owners and entrepreneurs, and is intended to promote innovative processes in order to strengthen business operations on the organizational, administrative, marketing and technological levels.

FMSD offers the following non-financial products:

• Administrative consulting: To guide organizational operations for established businesses and help entrepreneurs develop business plans
• Assistance in implementing technological processes: To improve and implement best practices in terms of specific processes as well as technical training and improvement
• Entrepreneurial business formation: To form entrepreneurs and help make their business ideas viable before initiating operations
• Marketing: To assist micro-entrepreneurial management with marketing processes through the Marketing Management Unit
• Entrepreneurial knowledge and technology teams: To facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience between current and future small business owners on a national and international level

2. Social development

This program is currently underway in marginalized areas of Barranquilla, Cartagena and the Island of Barú, on Colombia’s Atlantic Coast. Since the program’s launch, it has helped nearly 50,000 people improve their living conditions through improvements in housing, health, education, the environment and communal development. Housing programs are funded through housing subsidies provided by the national government. With the support of FMSD’s consulting team, families improve and expand their own homes.