Octavio Cortés is the general manager and CEO of MiCrédito and holds a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) and a Bank Management Diploma. He has been MEDA’s country manager during the past 10 years, overseeing the development of the different programs in the country. He was involved directly in supervising Chispa and in participating in its merger with other equity partners in order to establish the regulated financial institution called CONFIA. He also served as president of its board becoming acquainted with how a bank works in a regulated environment. He was instrumental in the establishment of MiCrédito in 2004.
Veronica Herrera is the Chief Operations and Financial Manager. She holds a degree in Public Accounting from National University, with an emphasis on Finance. She has additional studies in Bank Management. She also has comprehensive knowledge and experience in how banks operate in Nicaragua having previously worked in the Nicaragua’s People Bank and later at CONFIA as the Administrative and Finance Manager. She also worked in Chispa in the same capacity and participated in the process of transforming this organization into a fully regulated financial institution. As manager of CONFIA, she became key in establishing internal controls, maintaining daily relations with the bank’s regulator and providing timely reporting. Therefore, she has significant experience in cash planning in the regulated Nicaraguan banking environment.
Arnoldo Junior Bolaños is the chief credit officer (CCO) and holds a Finance degree from a Nicaraguan University, with an additional diploma in Banks Management. He is very experienced with a 23 year track record working for financial institutions in Nicaragua that assist micro and small business sector clients. As a credit manager for CONFIA, he managed a portfolio of US$15 million representing 19,500 outstanding loans with excellent repayment history. He also participated in the transformation of CHISPA into a regulated financial institution. He provided institutional training and supervision of branch managers and credit analysts and analysts and worked with different financial products such as standard credits, preferred, seasonal and consumer lines of credits, renovation loans, mortgage lending and rural credit products. He is familiar with various loan methodologies such as individual lending, solidarity groups and community banking. Throughout his years of banking experience, he has achieved excellent results according to international indicators used for microfinance institutions.
