Expert: Ken Rapoza Cruz - 1/17/2010

Question
Hi, I've experience in microcredit institutions in latinamerica. I am from Venezuela but I study Economics (last year) in Madrid, Spain. I want to do a summer internship in Salvador de Bahia in a Microcredit Intsitution and was wondering if you knew any that was well known in the area? I am looking for any kind of institution which offers credits to lower-income brakets of the population and even better if it deals with human/women right's issues.
I hope you can help me out.
thank you!!

Answer
If I were you, I would see if Banco Santander in Venezuela (they own Banco Real and Banco Real has a micro-credit division) has anything for you in Brazil and do not limit yourself to Salvador. Here is the person you talk to about that, I believe: flavio.weizenmann@br.abnamro.com. Tell him you got his name from the non profit organization ACCION. You can find out more about them at www.accionnetwork.org. You might also just want to intern at ACCION. Another place is Banco do Nordeste, BUT I hesitate to give you a name like that as an alternative to Santander because it is a state controlled bank and I highly doubt that they will hire you as an intern. You can google them and find their website. It is a family bank, fairly long history of corruption...blah, blah, blah. I cant picture you getting in there, but hey, maybe youre the lucky type. Contacting Santander and Accion are your best starting points. Good luck.