BBVA Microfinance Foundation

The philanthropic financial institution BBVA Microfinance Foundation (FMBBVA) has selected Drillster, an adaptive microlearning application, to ensure that critical competencies remain a priority for its employees. The application enables people to develop knowledge and skills and retain them long-term, creating an innovative learning programme prepared for the future.

Purpose: sustainable development

BBVA Microfinance Foundation (FMBBVA) is dedicated to supporting the sustainable development of people in vulnerable conditions who own small businesses, using its own methodology: Las Finanzas Productivas (Productive Finance), which includes financial services, training, and advisory support to help those in vulnerable conditions thrive through the growth of their enterprises. By placing micro-entrepreneurs at the centre of its activities, FMBBVA offers them a full range of financial products and services. Over the past seventeen years, it has put BBVA's 160 years of financial expertise at the service of more than six million low-income entrepreneurs. FMBBVA identifies the potential of an entrepreneur through attributes such as commitment, perseverance, empowerment, a sense of responsibility, and creativity, all of which are recognised and valued. The objective is to support entrepreneurs in the sustainable generation of net income by establishing long-term relationships and prioritising their wellbeing.

Learning and skills development

To achieve this, learning and development are at the heart of FMBBVA. Developing and retaining knowledge and skills are crucial to this purpose. The learning programme is divided into two tracks. One focuses on leadership training for people who directly serve entrepreneurs. The other focuses on training central service teams to develop the necessary technical capabilities, thereby making the range of digital products and services more accessible to clients.

Combating the forgetting curve

FMBBVA aims to leverage new technological innovations to make its learning programme future-proof, more attractive, accessible, and personalised. The foundation also seeks a solution to combat the forgetting curve, a phenomenon whereby people cannot recall most newly acquired knowledge within a week. As FMBBVA employees must maintain certain competencies, it is crucial that they retain this knowledge and these skills after learning them. The Foundation found the solution in Drillster, an adaptive microlearning application. Its innovative methodology and technology ensure that employees keep critical competencies at the forefront, enabling them to apply the right knowledge at the right time.

Proof of concept

The Foundation's Talent and Culture team conducted a proof of concept (PoC) with Financiera Confianza (Peru), Bancamia (Colombia), and Microserfin (Panama), microfinance entities within the FMBBVA Group. This test allowed them to try out the application and gauge its acceptance within the organisation.

The PoC was the best way to discover the great potential of the application. It prompted the talent development teams to think about next steps: new topics, new goals, and new experiences.

Marta Pascual, Talent and Culture, Talent Management at FMBBVA

Personalised and accessible training

It is fair to say that the first results are good. As a philanthropic financial institution, we provide not only financial training but also training in new commercial development, analytics, and technical processes. We expect Drillster to help us maintain these fundamental skills across the entire FMBBVA Group. It is just what we need to boost our training programme and take it to the next level of performance. Ultimately, we want our people to re-energise and fall in love with training again. We look forward to what the future with Drillster has in store for us.

Marta Pascual, Talent and Culture, Talent Management at FMBBVA