Newsletter 29 – Key destination for investment in the outsourcing of services

Cali, the capital city of Valle del Cauca (Colombia) is one of the world’s most strategic cities for the outsourcing of global services (BPO, ITO, KPO and IT & software) supplied to North America. The main reasons are its abundant and qualified human resource, highly competitive costs and the favorable conditions sourced from the local market.

Its geographic location facilitates its connectivity with other countries, having the same time zone than the most important markets in the world (United States and Canada). The country’s four most important IT & Software companies are located in Cali, along with more than two thousand service companies (many of them with more than 25 years of experience in the sector); creating a solid business network capable of supplying the foreign companies.

Cali is the third most important city in Colombia, with a population above the three million inhabitants in her metropolitan area. Likewise, within the region where “The Sultana of Valle” is located, another seven medium-size cities with more than 100.000 inhabitants can be found (two of them with more than 300.000 inhabitants). This reveals the wide market potential the region has to offer.

It has a robust knowledge cluster comprised of 9 accredited universities, 30 higher education institutions for associated degrees, and more than 26 bilingual schools. Furthermore, it is comprised of several IT and digital content companies gathered in PacifiTic, in addition to hundreds of outsourcing companies clustered through PacificShore, and innovation and startups development programs provided by ParqueSoft.

It is precisely those and other features of the region the ones that Invest Pacific (Investment Promotion Agency for the Colombian Pacific) shares with potential investors to promote Cali as an attractive investment destination. For that reason, the agency carried out an important agenda of one-on-one meetings with key businessmen from the service sector within the frame of the mission that took place between February 17 to 22, in Florida, United States.

The entity participated in the Outsourcing World Summit 2019 – OWS, organized by IAOP (The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals). This is one of the most important scenarios of the outsourcing industry in the world, where high executives from several important companies of the industry gather together.

Cali and the region also made presence with Zonamerica, the first and only multipurpose Free Zone specialized in services companies in Colombia, located in Cali. Its comprehensive value proposition includes first level infrastructure, technical support services for the established companies, an attractive modern campus for human talent, and tax benefits.

Also, were participating in the event: Invest in Bogotá, ProColombia, BPrO (Colombian Association of Contact Centers and BPO); Sitel (a global leading company in Contact Center operations, which has operations in Cali since 2017) and the Bogota Free Zone Group (organization that has a specialized Outsourcing Service building in Cali).

Learn more interesting facts about Cali in the following infographics: