Government and Private Sector Alliance Aims to Benefit SMEs

In an effort to strengthens Mexico City’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, the SEDECO and Cargamos Mobility Mexico have partnered to provide up to 30 percent discount on MSMEs logistics operations, parcel and courier services. 

Fadlala Akabani, Head of the Ministry of Economic Development (SEDECO) and Everton Viana, COO of Cargamos Mobility, subscribed to an Agreement for Concerted Action to provide logistics solutions to MSMEs at preferential rates during Mexico’s economic recovery period.

“Because micro, small and medium enterprises are fundamental to the city’s economy, at SEDECO we have formulated joint strategies with the private sector to expand MSMEs distribution channels and venture in e-commerce to increase their sales. Now, they will also have the possibility to maximize their productivity and close the existing gap with big companies,” said Hneide. 

Through this partnership, Viana said Cargamos Mobility seeks to “unlock” the MSMEs’ full potential to make them more competitive while upgrading their logistics connections through massive discounts that benefit the private sector, adding value and rentability to their operations. 

In SEDECO’s press release, the dependency specified that micro, small and medium enterprises interested in obtaining benefits from the alliance, have to e-mail convenio.sedeco@cargamos.com to access discounts of up to 30 percent.

Efforts like this one to aid MSMEs have emerged recently in Mexico as these are fundamental not only to Mexico City’s economy but to the country as a whole. Such is the case of Xepelin, a financial services platform that provides financial solutions to small and medium companies in Mexico and Latin America.

“The objective is to provide financial services to more than 1 million SMEs in Latin America, where less than 5 percent of the SMEs in each country have access to financial services and recurring financing […] if we consider that there are around 7 million SMEs in Mexico, this means that more than 6 million of these companies do not have access to financial services that solve their needs. There are many financial institutions but they always focus on the same Top 5 percent of companies,” wrote for MBN Sebastian Kreis, Co-Founder and CEO, Xepelin.

In sum, while the SEDECO-Cargamos Mobility partnership seeks to offer logistics solutions to MSMEs, Xepelin is addressing a financial issue, nevertheless, both efforts are trying to close the gap between SMEs and big companies while strengthening Mexico’s economy. 

For instance, Xepelin said SMEs do not have real-time access to their financial information since it is uncommon to have a specialized team in financial matters especially when compared to big companies. This has caused SMEs’ working capital cycles and payment flows to be inaccurate, which obligates them to do problem-solving instantly, limiting their planning and scaling abilities.  

“We put the SME at the center of everything, treating them as real clients, which sounds almost obvious, but which in practice has been by far the most neglected and forgotten segment by financial services. Companies needed a true financial partner to be all-in in their day-to-day tasks,” wrote Kreis.