Acrecent Finance Partners (“AFP”), building off the success of the Lift Puerto Rico Impact Fund, aims to create more access to capital for the small and medium business sector in Puerto Rico. AFP purchases loans originated by Acrecent Financial Corporation, an organization that provides timely access to capital to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Puerto Rico. AFP will finance SMEs that provide basic services to the population of the island, such as hospitals and other medical service providers, help to accelerate hurricane recovery efforts through construction companies and off-grid energy solutions, and overall stimulate the island’s economy.

Our financing will allow Acrecent to continue providing secured financing to businesses in Puerto Rico, where banks and other institutional lenders have steadily exited the market over the last two decades. Between 2009 and 2012, nine Puerto Rican banks closed, drastically decreasing availability of capital to local small businesses – which make up 99.7% of all business establishments in Puerto Rico. Additionally, Puerto Rico experienced a 7.5% drop in GDP in 2020 due to the pandemic, bringing a new urgency to investment in local SMEs.

Acrecent has consistently made credit accessible to local SMEs since its founding in 2004, despite a global financial crisis, a protracted economic recession in Puerto Rico, the ongoing Puerto Rico government debt-restructuring, hurricanes Irma and Maria, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Acrecent’s small and medium business customers provide much-needed services to the population of Puerto Rico, including medical services, construction, education, and off-grid energy solutions.