CABEI recognizes the spirit of improvement, innovation and good practices with the "CABEI Award for Excellence in Microfinance"

San Salvador, August 22, 2018.- The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) conferred the "II CABEI Award for Excellence in Microfinance". The event was held within the framework of the IX Central American and Caribbean Microfinance Conference "Financial Inclusion in Competitive Markets and Challenging Environments".

CABEI established this award to recognize and stimulate the effort, quality, innovation and contribution to excellence of the entrepreneurial community of the Central American region. This was done with the purpose of having an ever-increasing outreach to low-income clients, thus generating economic development. This award recognizes leaders who are innovative, transparent and who have good customer service and protection practices.

In this second edition, the multilateral institution awarded the prize to Alejandro Arturo Silva Arguello, manager of the Antares Fund, a for-profit equity fund aimed at developing a secondary market for the shares of micro-finance institutions (MFIs) and financial institutions specializing in services to micro and small entrepreneurs. He is also Executive Director of Calmeadow and representative of this Canadian NGO on the board of directors of Africap, a fund specializing in providing equity and long-term funds to MFIs in Africa.

The prizewinner has over 25 years of experience in international finance with emphasis in the areas of financial intermediary evaluation, financial engineering, strategic planning and corporate finance. He is well versed in Latin American and Caribbean markets and maintains regular contact with various bilateral and multilateral institutions in the region.   

Currently, CABEI is the multilateral organization that provides the greatest support to the Microfinance and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises sector in the Central American region. It has the largest network of strategic partners to channel its resources: more than 100 intermediary institutions (banks, microfinance institutions and savings and credit cooperatives).

The conference, which will take place today and tomorrow in the Salvadoran capital, is organized by the Association of Microfinance Organizations of El Salvador (ASOMI) and the Central American and Caribbean Microfinance Network (REDCAMIF). The Central American and Caribbean Microfinance Conference has become the most important event of the microfinance industry in the Central American Isthmus due to its high quality.