Our History

2022

The IES Foundation becomes an articulating entity in the Bolivian Entrepreneurial and Business Ecosystem, forging alliances with active actors and creating meeting spaces between support institutions and entrepreneurs to foster synergies and networking.

2020

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IES Foundation reinvents itself, giving rise to the “Tú Consultorio Empresarial” (Your Business Clinic), a specialized business advisory initiative that seeks to facilitate access to financing and markets for Bolivian enterprises and ventures across various sectors.

2017

The IES Foundation successfully completes its investment cycle in three companies, withdrawing after fulfilling agreements signed more than ten years ago with shareholder stakeholders. Additionally, defining the scope of its Development Area, the Foundation initiates work in Business Communities and brings FuckUp Nights to El Alto, Cochabamba, and Tarija. It concludes its diagnostic and strategic advisory methodology for companies.

2015

In partnership with other institutions (CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and Christian Aid), the IES Foundation executes projects related to generating economic opportunities for specific population groups and revitalizing market systems. In the same year, the Foundation brings FuckUp Nights to La Paz.

2013

The IES Foundation initiates a research and reflection process to define its Development Area. As part of these activities, it forms a working group of Impact Investment Funds in Latin America, aiming to create a space for discussing common problems, exchanging ideas, and encouraging the creation of synergies among Funds in the region.

2012

Together with PANAMERICAN SAFI, the IES Foundation participates in the design and creation of the PYME Progreso Closed Investment Fund, aimed at investing in securities issued by SMEs, composed of resources from Pension Fund Administrators (AFPS), insurance companies, and the IES Foundation as a subordinate investor and technical advisor.

2010

The FES program becomes independent from SOLYDES, leading to the creation of the Fundación Innovación en Empresariado Social (IES Foundation). In its first year, the IES Foundation’s portfolio amounted to 7.5 million dollars invested in 12 companies, 8 in the agribusiness sector and 4 community hotels near the Uyuni Salt Flat.

2008

The PRODEM Foundation sells PRODEM FFP and changes its name to Fundación Solidaridad y Desarrollo Productivo Sostenible (SOLYDES).

2002

The PRODEM Foundation creates the Impact Investment Fund “Fondo de Empresariado Social – FES,” an investment program in venture capital specialized in SMEs.

2000

The PRODEM Foundation created the Fondo Financiero Privado PRODEM  (PRODEM FFP) as a more effective mechanism to bring microfinance to rural areas.

1992

The PRODEM Foundation, along with other institutions, creates the world’s first commercial bank specializing in microfinance: Banco Sol.

 

1986

The PRODEM Foundation begins its operations with the purpose of democratizing access to credit and serving people with greater needs, both in urban and rural areas. This Foundation introduces a new concept: microfinance.

Mission, Vision and Institutional Values

Mission

To generate access to appropriate knowledge, financing, and markets through an innovative entrepreneurial vision for Bolivian ventures, companies, and support institutions

Vision

To be an organization contributing to sustainable shared prosperity in Bolivia.

Values

  • Respect for people, their motivations, aspirations, and growth vision.
  • Innovation understood as openness and commitment to change and growth.
  • Integrity in relationships, both within and outside the Foundation.
  • Commitment to excellence and sustainability.
  • Teamwork to build human and social capital.

Institutional Principles

Prioritize interventions in dynamic and/or energizing companies within a territory or specific sector, seeking to resolve bottlenecks and promote integration with other ecosystem actors.

Generate a partnership with counterparts, assuming a portion of the risk and providing knowledge, expertise, and smart capital under a business model tailored to their needs.

Develop replicable and scalable technologies and methodologies, fostering a more formal, corporate, and profitable business environment to influence the country’s economic and social development.

Coordinate efforts with other institutions to maximize intervention impact.

Our Role:

  • Self-sustainability: Generate interventions that achieve self-sustainability in the medium term.
  • Facilitate Access: Facilitate the access of dynamic impact-driven ventures and companies to financing, knowledge, and markets best suited for their growth and consolidation.
  • Articulate: Strengthen the Business Ecosystem and consolidate collaborations.

Our Team

Juan Carlos Iturri

Executive Director

Lucía Casanovas

Institutional Development Manager

Ignacio Trepp

Business Services Manager

Julián Vargas

Tayka Project Manager

Pablo Gutiérrez

Investment Deputy Manager

Armando Sandagorda

Business Services Coordinator

Claudia Pereira

Management and Accounting Coordinator

Verónica Ordoñez

Management Officer

Carla Antequera

Investment Officer

Fernanda Reyes

Independent Consultant

Paola Salvatierra

Independent Consultant

Ana Gonzáles

Independent Consultant

Omar Melgar

Omar Melgar

Security

Freddy Melgar

Freddy Melgar

Security

Roxana Vasquez

Cleaner