Investours offers Microfinance Tours in Mexico’s Bay of Banderas region

Pancha and her husband have spent years building up their corner grocery store.

Visitors to Puerto Vallarta and the Bay of Banderas region on Mexico’s Central Pacific Coast can now take part in a new type of tour. Microfinance tours are designed to provide an ethical alternative to slum tourism by combining tourism and microfinance to fight poverty. These innovative new tours visit some of the region’s most impoverished communities and introduce participants to local entrepreneurs who are looking to obtain loans to finance small business projects.

Microfinance tours in Mexico’s Bay of Banderas region are currently being offered by Investours, a non-profit organization that launched late last year. Investours works in partnership with Se Mas Microfinanzas, a local microfinance organization, to offer the tours as well as to provide financial education classes to the entrepreneurs.

Investours tour participants have the opportunity to engage with the entrepreneurs about their business and at the end of each tour one local entrepreneur is chosen to receive an interest-free loan funded by the group’s tour fees. The cost per adult for a four hour tour is a $50 minimum contribution. After the completion of the tour, participants can stay updated on the progress of loan recipients through online tracking, as well as additional fundraising and volunteer projects.

Since launching as recently as December of 2010, Investours is already making progress in the Bay of Banderas region. The organization has led 12 microfinance tours, hosted 51 tourists and made 12 loans totaling $48,500 pesos, and they expect to see these numbers improve during the upcoming high season.

Recent Investours loan recipients include Carmen, a restaurant owner in Sayulita; Luz, who will use her loan to build a taco stand in front of her home; Alfonso, a fisherman from Punta de Mita, who plans to use his loan to make repairs to his boat; and Micaela, the owner of a small used clothing store in Bucerias, who is using her loan to help grow her business.

Luz, a recent loan recipient, prepares tamales and atoli for a group of Investourists.

I was recently introduced to Investours in Mexico by Ryan Pukos, Director of Investours Puerto Vallarta and he was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

What prompted Investours to choose the Bay of Banderas region and are there plans to expand to other areas of Mexico?

Ryan: Investours got its start in Oaxaca back in 2008 when we launched our pilot program, and so when we were looking to expand in 2010, we had a strong preference to do so within Mexico. Beyond that, our model of combining tourism and microfinance works best where there is a vibrant tourism industry, a significant need in the community and where there is a strong, socially conscious microfinance presence. The Bay of Banderas region fits this mold perfectly. It is one of the hottest tourist destinations in Mexico, yet for all of the economic benefit that tourism brings to the region, there are still many severely underserved communities. Punta de Mita, Nayarit, a town we visit on many of our tours, is a perfect example where multi-million dollar homes exist alongside communities that don’t even have access to running water every day. Lastly, what sealed the deal for us on the Bay of Banderas was the presence of Se Mas Microfinanzas, our current microfinance partner through which we make our loans. We were especially impressed by Se Mas’s social mission and their emphasis on financial education and charging fair interest rates.

We are looking at expanding to the Yucatan Peninsula. We currently have a staff person on the ground in Playa del Carmen meeting with potential microfinance partners there, and we hope to launch a program there in the near future.

Can you describe a typical tour? If a tour participant doesn’t speak Spanish will they still be able to interact with the entrepreneur and understand the business proposal?

Ryan: The tour starts with a brief presentation about Investours and our work to fight poverty. After that, we head out into the communities to meet three local entrepreneurs or people who have really small business projects like fishing, dressmaking or small food stands. The travelers engage with each person about their business, the challenges they face and why they need a loan. At the end of the tour, the group shares a traditionally prepared Mexican meal and chooses one of the people to receive an interest free loan funded by the group’s tour fees. It’s worth it to note that the folks who aren’t chosen still receive loans through our microfinance partner at standard rates of interest.

We use an interpreter for all of our tours in order to encourage the participation of everyone.

What is the typical interest-free loan amount that local entrepreneurs receive and what happens to that money once the loan repayment is complete?

Ryan: The typical loan amount is between 3,000 and 5,000 pesos. Once the loan is repaid, the money is used to cover our operational costs and to help expand the reach of our program.

How can someone planning a visit to Puerto Vallarta find out more about participating in an upcoming tour?

Ryan: Our website is a great resource, and we will be launching a new and improved site this fall where people will be able to sign up online for our tours. You can also find what our past tour participants have said about us on Tripadvisor. To sign up for a tour, people can email puertovallarta@investours.org.

If someone’s interested in helping to support your organization, but unable to travel to Puerto Vallarta, how can they get involved?

Ryan: They can certainly donate either their money or their time. With our new website, people will be able to download materials in order to host a house party in which they can gather a group of friends to raise money to fund a project of one of our entrepreneurs. They can also help by spreading the word. Our ability to make an impact in the community here is directly tied to our ability to attract people to our tours, and so passing the word on is one of the best things that somebody can do.

Thanks Ryan! If you’re interested in finding out more about Investours be sure to check out their website. You can also get updates via Facebook and Twitter.

Would you be interested in attending a microfinance tour in Mexico?

México Today, in association with Marca País – Imagen de México, is a joint public and private sector initiative designed to help promote Mexico as a global business partner and an unrivaled tourist destination. This program is designed to shine a light on the Mexico that its people experience every day.

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my role as a contributing writer for México Today; my opinions, as always, are my own.

Photo credits: Investours

Tagged as: Mexico tours, microfinance, socially responsible travel