Bogota, January 2024. For the first time in 145 years of history, the Bogota Chamber of Commerce made an agreement with the solidarity sector to work hand in hand for the social economy. Through an unprecedented agreement signed between the president of the entity, Ovidio Claros Polanco, and the legal representatives of Cooptraiss, Coopcentral Confecoop, Analfe, Fecolfin and Ascoop, they will work hand in hand for the social economy, the economy of the common good.

This joint work seeks to bring the actors of the popular economy from informality to formality, in addition to recognizing and giving visibility to the popular and solidarity economy. To materialize the agreement, the CCB and the representatives of the solidarity sector will establish an action plan for the next three years aimed at positioning, strengthening and business development of social and solidarity economy organizations.

In this sense, the access of the solidarity sector to public registration processes will be improved, they will participate in business education and training processes oriented towards cooperative and collective entrepreneurship, social and financial inclusion, and the promotion of social impact programs, and promote environmental commitment and gender equity.

The CCB will be a facilitator to weave strategic alliances, not only for commercialization, but also to obtain low-interest loans to irrigate resources through cooperatives and employee funds and advice for business strengthening specialized in the solidarity economy.

Ovidio Claros Polanco, president of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, said that "Since my arrival at the entity we are seeing how we can do things differently, with a look according to the realities of Bogota, the Region and our country. For this reason, we are betting on the companies of the solidarity economy, to boost their competitiveness, since with this we are able to impact a large percentage of our productive fabric. This had not happened in the 145 years of the CCB and it is an example of how we are transforming our impact".

Carlos Acero, president of the Confederation of Cooperatives of Colombia, expressed his satisfaction with the signing of this agreement and noted that "it serves as a reference for the remaining 57 chambers of commerce in the country and opens a very important path for the recognition and strengthening of solidarity economy enterprises, as an essential part of local and regional development for the consolidation of formalization processes in labor and business and to generate chains and circuits based on the SSE as well as with the representation that the sector will have".

María Eugenia Pérez,president of the Colombian Association of Cooperatives Ascoop stated that "We are very pleased with this signature where the solidarity economy becomes part of business management, and we are recognized as small and large entrepreneurs who can contribute to the development of the country".

Rebeca Veleño, president of the Board of Directors of Cooptraiss, said that "the agreement signed is historic and seeks to transform lives, to have common projects, to educate small and large entrepreneurs through Uniempresarial. We have more than 6 million associates".

Franki Moreno, manager of the Workers' Cooperative of the Institute of Social Management, stated that "From the entities of the solidarity sector and the CCB we seek to benefit our associates and family members and the entire population so that they can have access to banking; training for micro-enterprises so that we can build. Special thanks to the CCB to achieve the objective so that the population may have a dignified and peaceful life.

Enrique de Jesús Valderrama, president of the Specialized Federation of Savings and Credit & Financial Cooperatives of Colombia, Fecolfin, gave special thanks to the CCB for promoting the agreement. "We feel recognized and made visible. As part of this agreement, we will be able to grant loans and the CCB will provide technical assistance and support, in addition to obtaining resources to place them in vulnerable communities.

Jaime Hernández Bohórquez, Coopcentral's vice-president of solidarity banking, said: "This agreement will promote, encourage and facilitate access to financial services through the cooperative and solidarity entities that make up COOPCENTRAL's social base, especially financing and sustainability for small producers, MSMEs, solidarity and popular economies either individually or through associative forms, prioritizing the agricultural and business sectors (Production, Transformation, Commercialization and Services), which are technically, financially and environmentally viable, strengthening them and making them more competitive. "

It is worth remembering that the National Development Plan established the representation of two delegates from the solidarity economy sector in the boards of the Chambers of Commerce of the country, with the purpose of promoting the business formalization of broad sectors of the popular economy and, in this aspect, cooperatives and solidarity economy companies have achieved a high recognition as organizations that generate the greatest options for this type of processes.

For the solidarity sector, education is a fundamental element, which is why Uniempresarial, the university of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, is positioned as a leading organization that will have the task of joining bridges between the educational, private and solidarity sectors to promote education as an axis of change and transformation for our society.