How do the company’s service target SMEs in particular and what needs in the market did you identify?

JOSÉ LUNA Y PARRA DÍAZ We have an important business development area that helps us target the SME sector, which Unifin wanted to grow. We approached this prospective base with our main product—leasing—with Unifin’s traditional salesforce team. We saw an opportunity by leveraging efforts through our digital platform and creating a range of products. We realized SMEs suffered from liquidity problems, and a digital loan system was the solution to help them gain access to credit faster. According to Google, only 54% of Mexico’s SMEs have an online presence, while the rest have not developed their full online potential, be it a website, developing a digital marketing strategy, and so forth. To alleviate this issue, we accompany the digital process that the client goes through with personal attention.

SERGIO DUEí‘AS Mercado Pago has been in the market for nearly 20 years. We have been building a digital financial ecosystem of products and were pleased to use these to have a positive impact on the market. Most of the SMEs in Mexico are not digital, though the digital payment trend has been growing steadily in recent years. 2020 was really the time when we saw this curve grow much more. We are always complementing our digital accounts and services offering to the possibility of businesses becoming more digital. We can help a small business process their payments or develop an online store. We have many different channels for entering the market, and we currently have triple-digit growth. We are becoming the solution for these small businesses to become more digital too.

What sets you apart from other fintech companies in Mexico?

JLyPD Uniclick was born with the mindset of helping the SME sector in all financial aspects. Most SMEs do not have the resources for different areas, such as financial planning, human resources, and so on. Most are directed by their owner, and the owner has to make most of the decisions. Our mission is to create a complete solution for those business owners or SMEs to manage all their possible needs through our platform, from credit to HR. Uniclick is a spin-off of Unifin, the largest independent financial institution in Latin America. We have access to more than 25 years of experience in financial products to SMEs, 18 offices around Mexico covering more than 80% of Mexico’s GDP and concentration of SMEs, and better financial rates through Unifin. This results in trust in Uniclick’s brand. Also, Uniclick is a client-centric business—we take the client into consideration in everything we do. Finally, another factor that differentiates us from our competitors is our strong commercial model, where we mix the digital component with the human side. Our platform runs perfectly providing great user experience, but we also have relationship managers who give our clients great reassurance which puts them at ease, providing excellent customer service.

SD Mercado Pago is the largest fintech company in Latin America and has been in the market for almost 20 years. Therefore, we know the market and the behavior of the people in this region, but the main difference is our ecosystem. We have been building a platform of different financial products that is a one-stop shop for digital financial services in Mexico. We have a platform where we process payments for more than 40,000 large and SME businesses as their checkout solution for payments. We also have an e-wallet where one can do top-ups for their cellphones. We work with the largest telecommunication companies in Mexico, and there are around 80 different services one can pay for using our e-wallet. Mercado Pago also offers more niche digital services, such as gaming, Spotify, Netflix, and peer-to-peer transfers within our wallet. We also have our QR payment tool within our wallet, and in 2021 we expect an explosion of Mercado Pago QR in the country. We also have our mPOS, which is our payment terminal for SMEs. Finally, we have our credits, which is an important complement to our ecosystem. This is for sellers within our marketplace, fintechs, and now consumers as well.