Let's make a deal.

Imagine a company with US$100,000 worth of excess paint that wants to use that asset to pay, let's say, an outstanding bill for an advertising campaign. Sounds odd, but these kinds of transactions are possible thanks to aCambio, a Mexican company began in 2000 to promote barter between small companies. "We discovered that this market could become more efficient and could grow exponentially with a technological platform;' says Agustin Alban, aCambio's president. In 2005, the company handled $30 million in the exchange of goods and services, a figure it expects to more than triple to $100 million by 2007. Poor access to credit and the complexity of getting that credit to small and medium-sized companies in Mexico has been key to the system's growth. "Barter as a financial system works almost like banking" says Alban, who predicts that the market potential in Mexico alone is $10 billion. In the United States, 450,000 companies now do business via barter and, on a global scale, exchange of goods over money is growing at 20% a year, according to the International Reciprocal Trade Association, which promotes the practice. Businesses say barter is good for the bottom line. Although not yet a quick way to do business, "aCambio has allowed us to conduct business that we would have otherwise never have done through normal selling processes" says Juan Manuel Saavedra, purchasing manager at Grupo Pando, which operates five food companies, aCambio, which employs 47 people, collects a 10% commission on sales, 2% on purchases and an annual membership fee of $325. So far, it has 1,000 customers.