In the Dominican Republic there are 1.5 million micro, small and medium-sized companies, according to a UNDP study on the Economic and Market Situation of Mypimes.
Of these, more than 85% have limited access to tools that allow them to provide a better sales experience to their customers, optimize their operation and grow with their business.
MIO is an application that allows people and companies to make card payments from their cell phones or tablets, allowing more and more Dominicans to prosper.
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At the end of 2021, the Dominican Republic had more than 9.4 million internet accounts and more than 9 million mobile phone lines, according to INDOTEL data. This shows that currently people are much more familiar with technology, access to infrastructure that allows people to educate themselves, learn, obtain new tools, information and content, to grow is becoming more and more democratized. Now we can take advantage of technology and innovation to help improve the quality of life of Dominicans”, explains Maximiliano Barr, co-founder and commercial director of MIO.
Kelvyn Guzman Berroa He is a 42-year-old micro-entrepreneur. His business operates virtually, which was initially an art gallery, but as a result of the pandemic he had to add other types of merchandise, such as good-quality costume jewelry, beauty items, and erotic products, the latter being those of current sales flow.
With only three weeks using MIO, Guzmán says that among its advantages are that he no longer has to listen to excuses from clients and delays when making transfers. “I sell more instantly, sometimes when I go to deliver the merchandise the customer has the cash for the first purchase and when they see another item they don’t just pay with their card and buy a second item, since the new trend is not to have cash”.
35% of its sales are collected through MIO, so it has plans for the month of December to have two deliveries and expand its business.
Innovation in digital payment methods is the catalyst that MIO brings to promote financial inclusion and leads them to present solutions with a high-impact proposal for the country.
“We change the paradigm, we focus on the user, on how to eliminate the “pain or friction” that he manifests in traditional solutions. We propose a free download application, with 100% digital registration, without papers and without lines. Once the user completes this process (in minutes), he can start charging with credit and/or debit cards from his mobile device. This translates into a concrete tool accessible to more than 1.5 million MSMEs in the DR,” added Barr.
At MIO they use innovation to achieve the inclusion of more and more people. As a sign of this impact, more than 95% of registered users are individuals or businesses, whose only payment method was cash and began to accept card payments thanks to MIO.
Another evidence of impact is that the businesses active in MIO have managed to increase their sales by an average of 25%, generating higher income, thus directly improving the lives of thousands of Dominican families throughout the country.
The inclution financial, must support equity and growth for all, in MIO 36% of the ventures registered on the platform, that is, 2 out of 5 are led by women.
“At MIO we are the ideal ally for all those who seek to grow. We want to accompany people and businesses by adapting to their business and accompanying them in the different stages of their growth, to be part of their progress”, highlighted its co-founder.
