Help people help themselves by joining our business and microfinance internship program. You can work alongside small entrepreneurs to grow their business, using the right financial education and adjusting their business plan as they progress. The microfinance program takes in interns that have prior experience in business, finance, economics, accounting, and related fields.
Over the past few years, the term microfinance has become very popular in Guatemala and the field keeps growing as more entrepreneurs seek small loans.
Many small entrepreneurs in Guatemala are not able to receive loans from banks and are easy prey to informal lending sectors (loan sharks) who charge exorbitant amounts of interest on their loans.
Fortunately, microfinance institutions have emerged to assist these small business owners by offering micro-lending opportunities at affordable interest rates, as well as providing training and education to help them effectively manage their loans.
In the microfinance initiative in Guatemala, entrepreneurs not only secure their loan but also gain invaluable business advice, financial literacy, and consistent support to maximize the benefits derived from their loan. Additionally, this program offers microfinance internships for individuals interested in gaining practical experience in the field.
As an intern in the microfinance program, you will be working in a project that supports small entrepreneurs. Depending on your profile you will be assigned different tasks and will be working with an employee from the appropriate department.
There are various subfields in which you can help support, but the main tasks are mainly divided into:
Business plans: Interns can help lenders draft a solid business plan before they apply for the loan and also determine if their business is going to provide sufficient returns.
Marketing: Adequate marketing is part of the recipe for success for any business. Interns in microfinance can help clients make good use of the marketing tools they have available while developing a plan that matches their service or product.
Accounting: Keeping track of so many small loans is quite time consuming. Interns can help the microfinance project itself within their accounting department and help spot problems and opportunities.
Follow-ups: Conducting follow-ups is crucial to the success of the small lender’s business training. Interns can help do regular check-ups on their businesses as needed to make adjustments to their business strategy.
Basic financial literacy workshops: The microfinance project hosts a variety of workshops for their clients aimed at teaching them basic financial knowledge and available business tools. Interns can help draft and give these workshops. Subjects range in the areas of basic accounting, marketing, customer care, etc.
Besides working in the business aspect of the microfinance project in Guatemala, you can help with I.T; helping the project run more efficiently, connected and training its staff with new tools to get their work done in a better way. Being able to communicate in Spanish is essential to this internship if you do not know Spanish, we encourage to take at least 40 hours of classes with us before your internship.
Available: All year.
Length: 4-24 weeks
Requirements: Applicants must be knowledgeable of business, finance, accounting or I.T . Basic Spanish knowledge is required.
Availability: Year-long
- Location: Lake Atitlan and villages surrounding Antigua Guatemala.
- Schedule: 8 am-4pm. Monday-Friday
