Mauricio Hoyos

"In Colombia, more than half the population do not have a bank account and have little or no access to financial services, which prevents them from carrying out daily formalities such as money transfers and topping up their phones.

While he was still a Business Management and Administration student at CESA, this innovative young man co-founded the company Conexred with his brother. One year later, they were offering their prepayment services to all mobile operators in Colombia.

Conexred provides Colombian citizens with access to all kinds of basic financial services through the PuntoRed network. This network, based on a structure of points of sale in stationary shops, drugstores, convenience stores and corner stores, also enables small businessmen from the length and breadth of the country to increase their profits by selling through local businesses whose owners share in the profit.

Conexred is currently associated with more than 40,000 small businesses and supermarkets spread out over more than 800 municipalities in the country. With thousands of points of sale in hundreds of districts throughout Colombia, this innovator has facilitated millions of transactions for those of the lowest strata of society and those from marginalized areas of the country and has provided thousands of Colombians with access to basic mobile and financial services."