With the slogan “All in one place” the fifth Expo ArribaMiPyme was held at Estación Mapocho, to offer services for entrepreneurship and recovery of micro, small and medium-size businessmen affected by the earthquake.

The event, that had already gathered more than four thousand businessmen from the regions devastated by the natural disaster on 27 February, arrived to Santiago to bring together public and private sector companies in one place, where they offered their services to entrepreneurs who need to improve their businesses and also to those most affected by the earthquake so that they can recover and continue to be an important employment and growth source for Chile.

BancoEstado representatives, as a collaborator of the initiative, were present at the Expo opened by Sebastián Piñera, president of the Republic; other stakeholders, in addition to cooperatives and Reciprocal Guarantee Institutions were also present. Overall, more than 60 stands were in place at this great event that attracted approximately 2,500 entrepreneurs from the capital city.

Those present, in addition to receiving information from the various organisations, went to talks given by important authorities in this area; there were several presenters, such as the minister of Agriculture, José Antonio Galilea; the executive vice president of Corfo, Hernán Cheyre; the manager of Desafío Levantemos Chile, Felipe Cubillos, and the general manager of Sercotec.

This exposition, also known as “Reconstruction Expo” is of great importance to thousands of men and women who have fought to give their families a good start in life but who saw their efforts thwarted by the earthquake. Therefore, it was essential for BancoEstado to be present and offer its wide range of accessible financial services, as an entity committed to entrepreneurship.

Today, the state-owned bank has approximately 400,000 micro and small business customers across the country, and therefore, to be able to offer multiple financial services is today more important than ever.

The Benefits of the Initiative

There are several advantages to choosing one of the ArribaMiPyme offers, for example, reconstruction assistance through financial mechanisms, bonus payments for hiring new workers; terms and programmes especially designed for these businessmen, in addition to special initiative and entrepreneurship assistance for women called "Woman, Let’s get Chile back on its Feet.” (“Mujer, levantemos Chile").

Corfo has set up a free telephone number 800 200400 and website www.arribamipyme.cl for more information on ArribaMiPyme benefits and assistance.