One microfinance organization that we visited was called Microserfin. Microserfin is a for-profit microfinance solutions enterprise that is supervised by the Panamanian Department of Finance, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Since 1997, Microserfin has lent over $52 million in more than 31,000 microloans nationwide targeting ambitious entrepreneurs who have difficulty accessing necessary capital for their business ventures. The initial loans generally range from $100 to $3000.

When we were first arrived at one of the Panama City branches, the office’s Business Development Manager, Ricardo Rodriguez, began to explain the general business practices and organizational structure of Microserfin. Instead of explaining the practices of Microserfin in a general sense, he was kind enough to lead us to one of their other office branches in the outskirts of Panama City to show us how the credit approval process functioned.