{"id":4075,"date":"2022-03-27T21:27:08","date_gmt":"2022-03-27T19:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/?p=4075"},"modified":"2022-03-27T21:27:12","modified_gmt":"2022-03-27T19:27:12","slug":"aimee-sentmat-de-grimaldo-women-are-a-key-element-in-the-economic-reactivation-of-tourism-and-panama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/2022\/03\/27\/aimee-sentmat-de-grimaldo-women-are-a-key-element-in-the-economic-reactivation-of-tourism-and-panama\/","title":{"rendered":"Aimee Sentmat de Grimaldo: Women are a Key Element in the Economic Reactivation of Tourism and Panama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our special report comes with the stamp of a\nPanamanian woman who has shown with effort and hard work that success is a\nmatter of preparation and honesty. A Bachelor in Finance from Universidad Catolica Santa Maria La\nAntigua, with a Master in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern\nUniversity, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Aimee Sentmat de Grimaldo has been chosen by\nForbes Central America Magazine as the third most influential woman in the\nregion and received in 2016 the distinction as Outstanding Woman, from APEDE.\nShe is currently Executive President of Banistmo in Panama and talks to The\nVisitor about the support that the banking sector is providing to the tourism\nindustry and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is the landscape of tourism for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe spending of the tourism sector as a proportion of\nGDP has gone from 8.5% in 2007 to around 11.5% in 2019, which shows significant\ngrowth in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2007 and 2019, lodging companies have had an\naverage growth of 8% per year, despite the fact that the declared occupations\nwere not good. Tourist transport companies have grown 11% per year, and travel\nagencies 9% per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Aim\u00e9e Sentmat de Grimaldo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During 2020 and 2021, the pandemic affected\nthe dynamics of the tourism sector in terms of number of visitors in the\ncountry during 2020, a decrease of -76.8% was observed vs. 2019, while for 2021\na growth was observed accumulating 123.3% vs. 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, with a cut to January 2022, some improvements\nare already observed in the arrival of visitors to the country. For example, if\nwe compare January 2022 against January 2021, the entry of passengers through\nthe Tocumen international airport grew by 189.5%. Highlighting the growth of\ntourists from the US (374%), Colombia (159.6%), Europe (207%), Asia (80%)\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What strategies Banistmo  is implementing to support the national tourism sector?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHistorically, Banistmo has actively accompanied the\npromotion of the tourism sector. In the last five years, we have been able to grant more than\n$300 million in disbursements for niches such as hotels, restaurants and\nleasing services, totaling $150 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our vision coincides with what is expressed in the\nSustainable Tourism Master Plan 2020-2025, designed by the National Government\nthrough the Tourism Authority, that “tourism is a transversal axis of\ndevelopment (…) in all regions of the country and all sectors of the national\neconomy, due to its multiplier effect. The development of tourism has the\npotential to benefit the “5 Panamas” (modern, neighborhood, middle\nclass, rural, agricultural and regional)\u201d, and, as our purpose is to promote sustainable development\nfor the well-being of all. At Banistmo we know that in order for more\nopportunities to materialize in this sector in particular, we have to continue\nstrengthening our accompaniment to its productive fabric in its different\nneeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Proof of this is the announcement made in September\n2021 of Banistmo’s participation in accompanying the efforts of IDB Invest and\nthe Government of the Republic of Panama in the implementation of a guarantee\nprogram to support the tourism sector, after the affectation of this by the\npandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can banking support the empowerment of\ntourism business women\nand entrepreneurs in Panama?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe companies in the sectors with the highest layoffs\nand suspended personnel are the tourism sector with 49.5%; restaurants 50%;\nhotels 59.3%; activities that are of important insertion of women, so the\nimpact that the pandemic has left on women is undeniable. (Business survey,\nimpact of the coronavirus in Panama, April 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the financial sector, and specifically from\nBanistmo, we contribute to promoting women through investment instruments with\na gender approach so that access to credit for them is a process adapted to\ntheir needs, knowing that their main focus is well-being of your family and\nwithin their main barriers to access are guarantees, thus we have the tools to\nprovide credit with more flexible requirements to support them, as is the case\nof our exception of one (1) year of operation to access credit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our strategy for the support of women entrepreneurs,\nIMPULSA, contemplates not only financial support but also accompaniment in\ntheir constant training and recognition of their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Las year (2021) was without a doubt a challenging\nyear, but also one of opportunities. From Banistmo we accompany 8,517 SMEs led\nby women, disbursing in 2021 more than 210 million for working capital and\naccompanying them with more than 20 free training spaces, 547 mentoring\nsessions and if we talk specifically about the Social Gender Bonus, the first bonus\nof this typical of the region, we managed to disburse 50 million dollars to 311\nSMEs led by women, with 40% of these SMEs located in the interior of the\ncountry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do all of this while being aware that supporting\nwomen is a dual-purpose business: it drives the growth of your company and\nimpacts an entire society, since when we support a woman, the entire ecosystem\nthat moves around her is impacted, which involves her family and the social\nenvironment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A message for all women in Panama\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWomen are the\nkey to the economic reactivation of Panama, and that is why we must continue\nworking to encourage the equal participation of more women in the business\nfabric, from empowerment from \u201cbeing\u201d, which makes it necessary to equip\nourselves with tools that help us break down the barriers of fear, of I can’t\nand the limitations that we can put before ourselves due to our own beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And from “doing” developing those skills\nthat will shape the future of work that include skills such as emotional\nintelligence, creativity, innovation, analytical skills, communication, social\nrelationships and other skills that are fundamental and transversal to the\nentire occupational pyramid and types of companies\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos courtesy: Aimee Sentmat de Grimaldo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our special report comes with the stamp of a Panamanian woman who has shown with effort and hard work that success is a matter of preparation and honesty. A Bachelor in Finance from Universidad Catolica Santa Maria La Antigua, with a Master in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Aimee Sentmat de […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[33],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4080,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075\/revisions\/4080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}