In this episode, we speak with Manuel Jimenez, a Spanish professional who moved to Colombia to take a high-responsibility position with the Bank of Falabella and ended up creating his own company to tackle the issue of financial exclusion in the country. He shares his experience of moving to Colombia with his family and realizing that the country was not as dangerous as he had initially thought. He talks about his desire to create something with social impact and how he identified the problem of financial exclusion in Colombia. Manuel discusses the differences between access to credit and financing in the United States and Spain, and how these resources are more difficult to access in Colombia. He then introduces his company, Aflore, which aims to bridge the gap in the market by providing people with the tools to fulfill their financial roles more effectively. Manuel explains how his research uncovered an informal market in which people lend money to each other, and how Aflore is designed to make people aware of their role in this market and give them the tools to do it more efficiently. He also talks about his partnership with PolyMath Ventures, a venture studio, which generates ideas to become businesses and provides initial funding. He describes how he and his co-founder set out to solve the problem of lack of trust in the financial sector by analyzing how people solve their financial needs without the formal system. Finally, Manuel shares his vision for the future of Aflore and his plans to expand the company's reach in Colombia and beyond. This episode offers a unique perspective on the issue of financial exclusion in emerging markets and the role that technology can play in addressing this problem. If your company is looking to scale its AI initiatives, head over to Tesoro AI (www.tesoroai.com). We are experts in AI strategy, staff augmentation, and AI product development.   Founder Bio: Manuel is the COO/CPO and co-founder of Aflore, a Fintech company that distributes financial products through a community of Informal Advisors. Manuel was previously Vice President of Banco Falabella Colombia, Head of Sales Channels, where he led areas including branch networks, remote channels (internet/mobile, contact centers, and ATM networks), and customer service. Manuel has more than 20 years of experience in international financial institutions, including roles in Finance, O&T, Business Analysis, Credit Scoring, Product Management, Business Development, and Sales and Distribution. He holds an Executive MBA from IE Business School, a BS in Business Administration from UNED, and a Computer Science degree from Universidad de Valladolid (Spain).   Time Stamps: 03:05 Manuel's background and professional journey 05:17 Taking the decision to move to Colombia and start a company 07:33 A problem to be solved: access to fair credit and building assets 12:51 Exploring the informal financial market 15:06 Business model of a financial services provider 18:02 Serving the informal advisor market in Latin America 19:39 Making a digital transformation: where is tech involved 25:43 Leveraging technology to provide financial products to consumers 27:28 Combining technology and support to create trust with clients 29:06 Benefits of software and human interaction in business success 32:03 Utilizing technology and informal advisors to improve efficiency and manage risk 35:54 Raising equity and debt for track record creation 39:57 Raising capital for Latin American companies 43:46 Reorganizing team and developing channel strategy for growth and profitability 46:41 How to get in contact with the Aquabyte team Resources: Company website: https://www.aflore.co/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afloreco Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aflore_co/ LinkedIn: https://co.linkedin.com/company/aflore Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfloreCo