Written by: Gabriel Aparicio, Project Manager, and Eliana Mora, Project Specialist, Andean Region.
Where microenterprises stand today
Microenterprises and small businesses in Colombia generate employment and drive local economies. But they face a concrete barrier: most concentrate their use of digital tools in e-wallets and social media, while specialized platforms for accounting, purchasing, or sales have limited adoption. According to the 2025-2026 Mipyme survey by the ANIF Economic Research Center, 97.5% of businesses still receive payments in cash. Only 38.9% accept bank transfers, 1.6% operate with debit cards, and 1.3% with credit cards.
This limited use of digital tools constrains businesses' ability to sell, collect payments, and manage operations efficiently.
Our approach: differentiated pathways
We started from a premise: not all businesses face the same barriers or require the same support. So we identified specific gaps in management, payments, financing, and marketing, and designed a differentiated strengthening pathway based on each business's level of digital maturity.
While some require basic tools to organize their operations, others need to advance in digitalization and sales, and the most advanced can focus on scaling.
How we measured: a survey after the first year
In March 2026, we conducted a retrospective survey with microenterprises from 13 departments that participated in the program. Women made up 64% of the sample, and businesses represented diverse productive sectors.
What we found: trust as the starting point
We identified that Strive closed a very concrete gap: misinformation and lack of confidence in digital tools.
70% of surveyed businesses reported a significant increase in their technical knowledge of technology. 46.29% said they felt much more comfortable with it. 69% expressed a strong willingness to integrate new technologies into their processes after participating in the program.
This confidence translated into action. 93% of participants began using digital tools, and 45% now use them frequently.
The increase in use concentrated mainly in commercial activities. 94% of respondents use digital marketing tools to expand their reach, and 8% reported an increase in online sales.
Financial management: when trust builds, adoption follows
We also observed progress in the use of digital tools for financial management. 66% of microenterprises reported feeling very confident managing their finances with digital tools. More than 68% use digital tools for administrative tasks, with nearly 42% using them always or frequently.
Those who don't yet use them don't necessarily reject them. They note that, given their current business structure, they don't consider them necessary. This demonstrates that when people trust digital tools, they begin incorporating them as concrete solutions to everyday business problems.
The alliance we built with Calmio and Treinta was decisive. Their platforms addressed the needs microenterprises identified: recording accounts, income, and expenses clearly. By March 2026, 13,908 new accounts had been opened. When tools directly respond to specific needs and are easy to adopt, people integrate them into their business management.
Financial habits: separation and savings
87% of surveyed microenterprises reported separating personal finances from business finances, and 69% began doing so after participating in the program.
65% managed to save up to 10% of their income, and 16% up to 20%. Among those who save, 42% do so in bank savings accounts. This data opens an opportunity: a relationship with the financial system already exists and can be deepened.
Digital payment methods: a gateway to digitalization
We supported the adoption of interoperable QR codes within e-wallets to facilitate digital payments. By March 2026, 2,478 microenterprises had adopted this tool.
In the survey, 84% of microenterprises reported offering digital payments to their customers through e-wallets, and 45% receive more than half their income through this method. Digital payments function as an effective entry point to business digitalization.
Credit and insurance
85% of surveyed microenterprises do not have active credit. The main reasons are lacking a credit history (45%) and being reported negatively in credit bureaus (16%). Only 23% have accessed small-amount loans.
With insurance, the situation is more restrictive. 98% of surveyed microenterprises do not have insurance. Lack of awareness that insurance products exist for their businesses (22%) and the perception that they are expensive (23%) are the main reasons.
By March 2026, we facilitated access to small-amount loans for 529 microenterprises. This shows that financial inclusion is advancing beyond payments, but access to credit and insurance remains unequal.
The sequence of transformation
Through the journey of women and men entrepreneurs within Strive, we built this lesson: trust in technology is the foundation of transformation, but that transformation doesn't happen all at once or through abstract solutions.
It begins with simple tools that solve everyday problems. It continues with strengthening savings habits. It advances toward resilience through insurance. And it can reach, further down the road, larger-scale credit products.
This sequence offers a way to think about financial inclusion for women and men microentrepreneurs in Colombia grounded in the experience built alongside them.
Strive Colombia is an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, which we implement in partnership with Common Cents Lab and the ANIF Economic Research Center.
To learn more about our initiatives, follow us on social media, write to us at info@fundacioncapital.org, or share this content with those who can join this effort.
