External financing solutions have served an important role in helping companies grow and develop, but there is a well-documented gap in accessibility to these services between Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and large companies. Although this gap is a global issue, this research project sets out to investigate the barriers and limitations for SMEs in the construction sector in Colombia as they try to access financing solutions from both formal and informal financing entities. The study begins with a literature review of the financial landscape in Latin America (LATAM), to establish a general context of the environment, as well as characteristics of the region. The literature review then dives more specifically into the Colombian context, where it first outlines the history of the country's financial system. This review aims to shed light on Colombia's unique characteristics and why the informal financing sector has become a strong player in the overall financing system.

The following section focuses on the research methodology used to uncover deeper insights about the financing system in Colombia and the needs of its users. The methods used are briefly described in this section to provide context of the methodology, as well as an extensive analysis of the findings. This section also contains a reflective portion, in which the researcher acknowledges and discusses the range and limitations of the chosen research methods. Lastly, the study's conclusions highlight valuable insights drawn from the whole research project, which could be used to create innovative solutions to the challenges SMEs face in accessing adequate formal financing mechanisms in Colombia.