The redesign focused on increasing capacity and integrating elements of Colombian culture, as well as advancing the airline’s sustainability objectives.

“With this renovation, we aim for passengers to experience a space designed to meet their travel needs. Each area is conceived to reflect what we are: an evolving airline connected to its environment,” stated Erika Zarante, CEO of LATAM Airlines Colombia.

The renovation included structural and material changes intended to optimize the passenger experience. Key design elements include translucent metal dividers, influenced by the design of the Santiago de Chile lounge, a copper curtain, an artisanal piece crafted by Colombian artist Lizarazo, was retained from the previous design, serving as an exercise in aesthetic continuity and sustainability. Additionally, local artisans crafted the palm-woven Iraca lamps, which the airline states is a commitment to local production.

Approximately 70% of the seating and furnishings were updated for improved comfort, including the co-working areas, via a materials reutilization process. The facility also incorporated new motion-sensor faucets and other materials with a low environmental impact. A metallic structure lamp, weighing an estimated 400 kilograms, was installed over the buffet area, positioning the space as a central feature of the lounge. The redesign provided an unobstructed view of the runway for departing passengers.

The lounge’s food and beverage program was also updated to align with Colombian culinary traditions. The menu rotates every two weeks and features regional dishes such as calentado, carne con salsa cartagenera, aborrajados, and volcán de arequipe. A separate “Coffee Break” space is dedicated exclusively to the country’s coffee production. During peak hours, an exclusive offering, including gourmet meatballs and omelets, is available to passengers.

The lounge has been positioned by the airline as a leader in waste management within the group’s network. It currently reports an 88% recycling rate, with 12% of its total waste directed to landfills. The facility accommodates an average daily demand of 700 to 800 passengers, with future plans to evolve toward a multi-space format similar to the airline’s Signature lounges in Santiago, Lima, and Miami.

The renovation follows a period of growth for the carrier’s Colombian subsidiary. During the third quarter of 2025, LATAM Airlines Colombia transported an estimated 7.9 million passengers across its 18 domestic and seven international routes.

In the cargo sector, the company reported a 43% market share, moving 99.5 tons internationally and 22.7 kilotons domestically. The loyalty program, LATAM Pass, continues to expand its base, reporting 4 million active members.

No hard working Colombian ideologically has any issue with the cocaine barons being cut off at the knees, however the current tactic of destroying motorboats with missiles from miles away, isn’t the way to go. They may well be up to no good, but with no evidence whatsoever, Trump and his War Department are only alienating themselves further from the countries of Latam. Both Venezuela and Colombia have seen boats attacked, whilst Ecuador have cited the death of one of their innocent citizen in another.

The question is why not stop one of these boats and prove what their ‘irrefutable’ intelligence is telling them ? Therein lies the dilemma for many – Colombian security forces have reported record seizures this year, it would be easier to quantify the situation if the US did the same.

Instead, we have no remorse from Trump, his peanut gallery in Florida or the henchmen who are ordering the attacks – from a nice safe distance. All the while, further inflaming the pre-election polarization in Colombia.

Fedesarrollo lastest October survey saw YE Overnight Rate expectations rise to 9.25%, where we are now, as the CPI estimate also rose from 5.08%-5.28%. Part of the reason for this is GDP which whilst unchanged (2.6%) for 2025, rose 0.1% to 2.9% for 2026. The same survey expects the Stock Market to continue rising despite already surging 56.5% ($ terms) YTD.

This ongoing economic improvement led to another dent in the deficit situation according to Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística – DANE Colombia. August saw another $2bn added as Imports rose 5.7% YoY whilst Exports dropped 0.1% driven by an 18.1% decline in extractive industries.

Bancolombia also reported economic resilience, with real spending growing 4.72% YoY in September according to their own internal studies.

Away from this week the news is hard to fathom. What is true, rumor, propaganda, pre-election bunkum or influencer imagination…and it is only going to get worse.

Have a good day

Roops

The functionality allows LATAM passengers using an AirTag or a compatible “Find My” accessory to securely and privately share an item’s location with the airline. The process is initiated by the passenger through the “Find My” app on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

According to a company statement, LATAM Airlines Group’s Vice President of Customers, Paulo Miranda, indicated that the airline transports over 40 million pieces of luggage annually. He noted that despite a loss rate approximately 50% below the industry average, delayed baggage remains a critical concern for customers.

In the event of a delayed bag, a passenger can generate a shareable link from the “Find My” app. This link can then be submitted to a delayed baggage report via SITA’s self-service website. SITA is a technology provider for the air transport industry.

Shawn Gregor, president of SITA Americas, stated that the company’s “Baggage IT Insights report” for 2024 showed a nearly 15% decrease in baggage incidence rates in Latin America and the Caribbean, which he attributed to investments in smart technology. Gregor added that with global air traffic growing, the company “welcomes LATAM’s initiative to implement this solution with AirTags and SITA WorldTracer.”

The location sharing feature automatically ends once a customer finds their bag or after seven days. The user can also manually stop sharing at any time. The process is end-to-end encrypted and anonymous, which means Apple and accessory manufacturers on the “Find My” network cannot view the location or other user data. The feature requires devices to be running iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, or macOS 15.2 or later.

LATAM baggage. Photo credit: LATAM Airlines.

Htwenty Capital is one of those early stage venture firms. During a recent event organized by the City of Medellín’s investment promotion agency, ACI Medellín, Loren Moss, executive editor of Finance Colombia and Cognitive Business News was able to spend some time with the investment fund’s Platform Lead, Jimena Cortés to discuss the unique challenges—and opportunities that Colombia presents when it comes to funding and growing high potential startups.

Finance Colombia: I’m here with Jimena Cortés, who works with HTwenty Capital. What’s your role with HTwenty Capital?

Jimena Cortés: Sure, thank you very much for the invitation. I’m an investor for Spanish-speaking LATAM in HTwenty, and I also lead the platform efforts, that is, all the efforts we do post-investment for the portfolio.

Finance Colombia: Great, so HTwenty, my understanding is that it’s an early stage –it focuses on early stage seed, pre-seed, maybe Series A investments, really gets in early in the game. And then, you know, I did a little bit of homework, and you guys specialize in working closely, actively, with investors. Kind of holding their hand, serving a little bit more, you know, almost along the incubator route. Is that correct?

Jimena Cortés: Yes, in part, we’re an active fund, we’re super hands-on with our portfolio. A big, important part of our investment thesis is how we can generate value for our portfolio. That’s correct, we also enter in super early stages, it includes pre-seed also; pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A is our sweet spot. And yeah, we have a really important network of advisors, super specialized in product, or on B2B acquisition, or technology. And we also have a playbook of partnerships and different stakeholders to help our portfolio, but we also strategically work along with them super closely.

Finance Colombia: Now, one interesting thing I noticed is that you guys have offices here in Colombia, in Mexico City, and Miami. You guys chose that geography as opposed to, let’s say, the traditional Silicon Valley or Boston or New York. Why?

Jimena Cortés: Yes, I think there are two answers to that question. The first one is that our thesis is a cross-border thesis, so we are super focused on creating this cross-border network, so companies from Colombia, Argentina, and Mexico can go to find operations in the US, but also from Colombia and Argentina to Mexico. So that’s an important part. And second, the ecosystem in Miami it’s growing in a really interesting way; it’s not the traditional Silicon Valley ecosystem, but we have a lot of second-time or third-time founders creating companies in Miami. So the ecosystem is getting pretty interesting, so we are making a bet on the Miami ecosystem.

“We invest in early stages. So basically, our sweet spot is pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A.” – Jimena Cortés

Finance Colombia: Great. So speaking of here in Colombia, you’re Colombian, right?

Jimena Cortés: Yes, I’m Colombian.

Finance Colombia: So this has to be, you know, a point of personal pride that international venture capital firms are taking notice. What are the unique challenges compared to other Latin American locations like Mexico or Brazil? What are the unique challenges that Colombia faces when it comes to attracting venture capital?

Jimena Cortés: Yes, I think Colombia has done a pretty good job because we have a really good talent, technical talent, that is aiming to build interesting things. I think what’s more challenging is the exit ecosystem. Colombia has a small public or IPO system, so we have to look for other types of exits that are more in the private sector, and that’s how we attract these exits. Like in the US, there is a huge market on the M&A side. So I think the challenge here in Colombia is how we are going to exit to make the returns we expect, and how we also get into reasonable valuations.

Finance Colombia: Good point. I think that when we look at, for example, Colombian-listed companies, they tend to list –You know, I remember Tecnoglass, for example, a Colombian company. Now they’re based in Miami. They went from BVC in Bogotá to NASDAQ, then from NASDAQ to the New York Stock Exchange. When we look at the multilatinos, like here in Medellín, we have Grupo SURA, Bancolombia, Ecopetrol, and they’re all listed on the New York Stock Exchange. A lot of them also list in the BVC, maybe more for patriotism, I think, than anything else. So, because of that, it kind of precludes, to a large degree, going to a traditional domestic IPO because the capital markets or the demand for the securities aren’t there. Have you seen any companies, aside from obvious ones like, let’s say, Rappi, have you seen companies that have done international IPOs, that maybe it might be a company with Colombian roots, or other companies in your portfolio, Mexico, or elsewhere, that have gone the IPO route? Or is it more of, let’s look and get a strategic acquisition or private equity, or some other type of exit?

Jimena Cortés: Yeah. In this instance, we have not yet had any company that has made an IPO, either on their local market or in the US. We are looking more for private, targeted acquisitions strategically.

Finance Colombia: Now, looking at it from the entrepreneur standpoint, what type of venture, what type of founder, what type of entrepreneur should consider approaching HTwenty, and at what stage in their project?

Jimena Cortés : Sure. I think in early-stage VC, the founder and the founding team are the most important thing. So we focus on founding and building long-term relationships with these founders. We look for founders who are super technical, who have a lot of experience in the segment of the market they are approaching; we also value a lot the networking they can generate on the problem they are solving, and the obsession and passion for that particular problem, so they want to solve it. That passion that they feel about it.

We invest in early stages. So basically, our sweet spot is pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A. We normally make tickets between 500,000 and 1.2 million. That’s our strategy. We look for equity ownership between 8% to 12% in these companies to build our long-term equity ownership for the ramp-up and the exits.

We have three main sectors we like to invest in. The first one is FinTech infrastructure. In LATAM, we have been focusing a lot on FinTech infrastructure because we see there’s a lot of gap in the technological infrastructure we have. For example, we invest in acquiring processing, in cross-border payments, in remittances, in collections, and public services. So we are going deeper into the infrastructure on the FinTech side. We think that through this infrastructure, with technology in this infrastructure, we can permeate the technological ecosystem in the region.

Second, we invest in verticalized SaaS, super focused on a particular value generation, like we have in restaurants, we have in inventory management, and other types of SaaS.

And AI. I think AI, of course, is a trending topic, but we are trying to understand how AI works as a backbone in the products and operations of our companies to make it more efficient and more productive. So with 30 people, you can do what you did three years ago, five years ago, you did with a hundred people.

Finance Colombia: Absolutely. And, you know, you’ve been generous with your time. It’s starting to get hot, the sun’s coming up here, I see that. I don’t want us to melt. But you know, I was looking at your website… You guys have some success stories that you’re pretty proud of that are still, of course, in the developmental stages. You mentioned the restaurant company that has restaurant SaaS software. Just mention maybe two or three of the companies that you guys have in your portfolio that are doing interesting things.

Jimena Cortés: Sure. For example, we have Felix Pago. That is a company that has recently closed its Series B with QED as a lead investor. So they have been doing really interesting things, growing at a really interesting pace. So we’re super excited about Felix Pago. We have also, from the Colombian side, Supra, which is working on cross-border payments and was the first investment made by Citibank New York here in LATAM. And we also have Akua, who is a founder from Medellín. They are building really interesting things in acquiring processing, and they closed the biggest pre-seed round in the region. So we’re excited about all the companies.

Finance Colombia: Congratulations. Much continued success, not just for you guys at HTwenty, but obviously for the Colombian entrepreneurial ecosystem. And what’s your website?

Jimena Cortés: Our website is www.htwenty.vc.

Finance Colombia: Thanks so much.

Jimena Cortés: Thank you.

FlexBPO is a solution purpose-built for today’s dynamic business environment, delivering greater transparency and flexibility than traditional business process outsourcing models. It features a customizable nearshore collaborative model that integrates seamlessly with both onshore captive client operations and offshore outsourcing locations. This location-agnostic approach empowers enterprises to align delivery capabilities, whether nearshore, offshore, or onshore, aligned to their strategic goals and evolving business needs.

“FlexBPO doesn’t replace traditional BPO — it enhances and complements it.” — Shaji Farooq, CEO, Chazey Partners

The attributes of FlexBPO that make this possible are:

•  A nearshore location aligned with US time zones.
• Collaborative decision-making and shared control.
• Flexibility through client-specific customization.
• A Strong focus on transformation.
• An end-to-end, process-oriented approach rather than a task-based one.
• Seamless integration as an extension of the client’s operations.

“FlexBPO doesn’t replace traditional BPO—it enhances and complements it,” said Shaji Farooq, CEO of Chazey Partners.

“Our clients seek more agile, transformative approaches to outsourcing, and FlexBPO delivers exactly that by embedding transformation from day one, tailored specifically to each organization’s unique requirements. While traditional BPO works well with ~80% of the processes, it struggles with a subset of more complex, time-sensitive processes where the cost of failure is high (both financially and reputationally) – It is these gaps that FlexBPO addresses,” Shaji added.

“The root cause of problems associated with executing more challenging processes lies in delivery from far-shore locations (with their associated large differences in time zones). Since work has to be executed during US working hours, offshore teams, by definition, must operate during local night-shift hours – there is no real fix to this. This, in turn, poses ongoing challenges related to the low availability of high-quality talent willing to work night shifts, leading to high attrition rates, constant knowledge erosion, and the associated need for retraining. When it comes to simpler, task-oriented processes, the industry has managed to meet or exceed service levels despite these challenges, but not so when it comes to the ~20% of the more challenging processes,” adds Shaji.

Central to FlexBPO’s approach is its practitioner-led model that moves beyond standardized lift-and-shift operations. Chazey’s experts collaborate closely with clients to create tailored solutions that evolve alongside their business objectives. This unique flexibility ensures rapid scalability, seamless transitions, and optimal cost management without the burden of long-term constraints. The bottom line, emphasized Shaji, is, “We will work with you, and not force-fit a solution that is not tailored to your specific needs.”

“Chazey has gained extensive operational experience in designing, establishing, and optimizing global business services and shared services operations in Latin America, serving the US market. The strength of our capability is grounded in hands-on experience, and our FlexBPO solution addresses operational roadblocks, enabling enterprises to scale rapidly while maintaining high-quality delivery,” said Esteban Carril (above photo), executive partner, LATAM at Chazey Partners.

“Organizations no longer need existing infrastructure or local experience in Latin America — Chazey provides the facilities, the team, and the operational expertise to enable growth, particularly in strategic nearshore delivery centers like Latin America. Furthermore, availability of high-quality talent is not a constraint across LATAM locations – day-shift operations only make it easier,” Esteban added.

A recent case exemplifying FlexBPO’s value involved a large multinational company that leveraged the FlexBPO model to transform its finance operations. By repatriating services from an India-based outsourcer and establishing a nearshore delivery center in Bogotá, Colombia, the company achieved a rapid three-month launch, significantly enhanced operational efficiency by 30%, and laid the foundation for further expansion into HR, IT, and procurement functions, as well as additional finance functions.

FlexBPO is particularly suited to enterprises aiming for enhanced agility, reduced attrition, in-time-zone support, and higher client engagement. It’s an ideal solution for companies looking to transition context-sensitive processes that require deep business expertise, manage evolving operational needs effectively, and reduce the complexity of offshore management.

Photo credit: Chazey Partners.

Finance Colombia: So we’re here in Medellín at your new facility. Tell me, first, let’s talk about why TaskUs chose Colombia. You guys haven’t been in Colombia very long, less than five years, but you’re already growing rapidly down here. What caused you to first look at Colombia and then kind of, you know, go ahead and jump in and commit to the market?

Stephan Daoust: Sure, as an organization, we realized that we wanted to be more global and expand our footprint. Although the company started in the Philippines, we knew that if we wanted to compete on a larger scale, we would have to be in multiple areas around the world.

Click on the above image to watch the video.

When we looked at LATAM, we had opportunities in several countries, but we narrowed the field by looking at the culture, the talent, the opportunity, what our clients may be looking for, as well as in terms of locations, we looked at real estate. So several factors come in when we start looking at where we’re going to establish. So when we came into Colombia, we decided to start in Cali and then expand from there.

But what we found in Cali was that the talent, the richness of the talent, the opportunity was very strong, and the demand from our clients became very strong. We see great performance, we see great opportunity, and the teams are well-educated and work well in terms of supporting. And they have this hunger for development and career, and this allows them to tie our rapid growth with their demands for growth, and it’s a great fit. And that’s why we’ve seen this success in Colombia, and that’s why we continue to invest in Colombia.

Finance Colombia: How do you find, as the senior vice president in charge of different regions, how do you find the ease of doing business in Colombia compared to the other areas, compared to the EMEA region, for example?

Darryl Hill: Yes, what I like about Colombia is that it executes flawlessly in the main, and we deliver a great product for our clients. The clients, when we get them into this part of our global business, they want to grow with us, and that’s important. There are cultural differences across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas, and different clients have different needs, okay?

When I think about Europe, the needs are very different from what we have in LATAM. It’s predominantly around what we call multilingual hubs, where TaskUs provides the capability of around 30 languages in Europe. When I look at LATAM, it’s predominantly Spanish and English, and that gives us a different cultural alignment. We’ve got different requirements for our clients. But ultimately, we developed a culture that’s pretty consistent within TaskUs, so the cultural element, for me, is not any different. The client’s requirements are what make a change in terms of where we go next.

Finance Colombia: Yeah, I notice that culture is very, very strong in TaskUs. I noticed that even down in Cali. What do you guys do to nurture that unified culture among your different locations?

Stephan Daoust: Yeah, I mean, it starts with… The co-founders have started with this in mind, right? They started with an opportunity that’s focused on employees, and looking at respecting their needs. When you look at our structure and where we’re located, we’re predominantly located in Tier 2 cities. We do have some Tier 1 cities that we compete in, and the reason why we do that is because we need more specialized skills, or there’s a requirement from a client perspective. But from a TaskUs selection process, we start with looking at Tier 2 cities. Why?

Because we found tremendous talent, we find the opportunity to employ many, and we go to the locations where people are located. They don’t have to move to Bogotá, they can have a job in Medellín, they can have a job in Cali, they can have a job wherever they’re located, wherever they want to be located. So, it diminishes the movement and the pressure of having to try to move to find employment, and it allows people to just grow in the areas that they want to grow. May that be their homes and their families, and have that support as well as grow their careers

So, it starts at the foundation of how we’ve set up. When we look at our sites, we’ve built our sites with culture in mind, making sure that they have their own identity. The sites are named by the employees, not by the organization. So, the employees get to identify their own identity within the sites as well, and want to kind of contribute to growing. They feel more natural here, right?

I’ve heard many times this week, just having these focus groups with our people, that they talk about, you know, “We’re not a number,” right? “We’re treated like humans and it’s personal,” and that interaction. So, it starts at the top, in terms of driving that culture and that support, but the everyday function of our team leaders, our managers, our senior managers, they’re approachable. They support our teams. They have personal conversations, not just about work, but they’re looking to administer life. We look for both passion and purpose within their work, but outside of work as well. And that promotes this culture of, you know, being tied together, wanting to be successful together, rather than the individualism that we often see in this kind of industry.

Finance Colombia: And tell me about, we’re here in Punto Clave (‘Key Point’), and Punto Clave, and I don’t know how much you guys know locally from being in Medellín, but one of the reasons it has that name is because it’s kind of a nice area, but it’s also very central. You’re not really in downtown, but you can also reach both ends (north & south) of the city with the metro and everything like that. How did you guys come to choose the Punto Clave location?

Stephan Daoust: Yeah, I mean, once you come to the location and understand our culture, you know exactly why we picked it. Ease of getting here, right? Our teammates don’t have to travel two or three hours to get here. They don’t have to get into three different modes of transportation to be able to connect and come here. The station is just outside. So the selection process comes with the culture in mind, thinking about how we make this easier for people to come to us, rather than making it difficult, and being in a central location where maybe it’s great for business, and perhaps it looks posh and comfortable for a company. We’re not about that. We’re about the employee experience. So it was very easy to select this process or select this area because of the accessibility that they have to come to work every day, and making that, as much as possible, easier for them.

They have great shops in the area. They got great food. They want to run an errand after they’re done at work; they can do that, right? So there’s plenty of opportunity for them to be here and support. We would never be in a location where it’d be very difficult to get to and people would have to travel hours to get to, because that would just not be our DNA. That’s not who we are.

“So it is critical that we can hire the talent. The talent is here. In some cases, even if it’s a bit raw and we need to develop, that’s great.” – Stephan Daoust

Finance Colombia: What is it that you guys do in your talent process to ensure that you not only cultivate the right talent once you have it, but also select the right talent? You know, I told somebody the other day, talent is hard. Talent is the hardest part of, I think, any business, but especially in a business where… I think this place has a capacity of 800, when you need to hire a lot of people, and there’s competition in the city. What is the method or the ingredient that TaskUs has that sets it apart when it comes to recruiting and developing talent?

Darryl Hill: What’s important is that we align on the profile from the very beginning in terms of the job and the responsibility. And it’s so important that we continue to evolve that profile. So with all the clients that we have all over the world, there are very different requirements. So, for this particular environment that we have in Medellín, we’ve got a very young environment, I would say 20 to 25-year-olds, because I asked the question this week; they are conscious that the BPO industry is evolving, and they want to work somewhere where it’s a little bit different. And the TaskUs secret sauce that we have in Colombia is that we’ve created a perception in the open market that we look after our people.

And every time I ask the same question, what sets us apart? It’s about the culture and the people. And the only other thing I’d add to the last question is that when we select leadership, it’s all about humility. And the people who are most important in this organization are our teammates. And that is clear for all levels of responsibility. And we continue to drive that with our people. Very, very humble approach to how we hire, retain, and develop our people.

Finance Colombia: What is your evaluation? And this is for both of you, so please both of you chime in. As a company that operates globally from the APAC region to the EMEA region to here in the Americas, what is your evaluation of the talent and everything from management potential and technical literacy, and bilingualism of the workforce that you have in Medellín?

Stephan Daoust: Yeah, I mean, one of the selection processes, the level of education and opportunity for us to identify people who want to learn, want to grow, and can commit to growing their career, or want to commit to growing their career. The other part that we do quite well is that we also create our programs to develop people. So we have the academy, which looks at a range of businesses.

So if you want to do quality, there’s a program for that. If you want to do workforce management, there’s a program for that. You want to be a team leader, there’s a program for that, manager… So every position that we have within the business has a development program that’s attached to it. So, what we hire for from a leadership standpoint is really about the capability to learn, the capability to be adaptable, and the capability of caring for people. Those are probably the three fundamental areas that we look at when we look at our leadership.

Much of our leadership is growing internally. If you look at both Darryl and me, we both started as teammates. We won’t mention the years here. It’s been a couple of years, but ultimately, I started as a teammate taking calls. I’ve done every role within the operation. So we create this and we have our leaders understand what it means to be a teammate, what it means to be a team leader, and have some empathy and some compassion on what that role means, and also be able to support the future of that.

So it is critical that we can hire the talent. The talent is here. In some cases, even if it’s a bit raw and we need to develop, that’s great. That’s what we want. We want to be in a position where we create this culture and push that culture into them. And we teach them the rest. At the very end, we can teach them skills. If people want to learn and they’re adaptable, we will teach them whatever they need to learn to be successful in this environment.

Darryl Hill: Yeah. The only thing I’ll add is that our retention at the leadership level is phenomenal, which I have not seen before. And that is, again, going back to the culture, but also we have developed an internal strategy about how we keep those people interested in their current roles. And we give them the opportunities to grow. There is no particular part of my region that doesn’t continually grow. So there’s always an opportunity.

And when we get feedback around surveys, whatever else, one of the fundamental challenges I’ve seen in other organizations is, I have no opportunity to grow. But as we continue to do a good job and our clients appreciate what we’re doing for them, we continue to grow those clients, and people see those opportunities that they may not see in other places, which is important.

Finance Colombia: One of the things I noticed about TaskUs is that it has a very appetizing benefit package. And I hear that you guys give all of your employees, not just the mandatory EPS, but the same plan that the executives get, like the SURA plan, which is, you know, what I have that I pay for. And that’s kind of unheard of. That’s like for bank executives. Tell me about your philosophy. Is that true? And expand upon your philosophy when it comes to taking care of your teammates from the top to the very entry level.

Stephan Daoust: Yeah, and I think it goes back to the culture, right? The fundamental piece of the culture is that we don’t treat our C-suite level any differently than we treat our frontline. Yeah, there are some things that we need to manage, do, and support. But when it comes to benefits, we do provide additional benefits, not just the requirements in the country. And that is one of the reasons why some of the employees have been attracted to us because we’re providing that. There is no difference between the VP level in terms of what he has received in terms of a package at this site and the teammate level.

Why is that? Because the teammates are the most important. The frontline is the most important function. Without them, there’s none of us, right? So we provide them no distinction. We provide them the same access and the same support that we would provide our executive team for that reason alone, because at the very core, we’re about the people, caring about the people who take care of us.

Darryl Hill: Yeah, the only thing I’ll add to that, what I like about TaskUs is that we continue to reassess those benefits, right? In the main, it’s annually, but we get feedback locally. We get expert guidance from our leadership and our teammates in particular. And we take action on their feedback. So if something isn’t working out, we will make a change. We’re not afraid to do that.

Stephan Daoust: Just the interesting thing about that. Darryl and I both spend time in our locations. And when we go into locations, the most important meeting that we have is with our teammates. So we have focus groups. We meet with our teammates directly with no leadership in the room. And we ask them, “What do you love about us? What can we do better? How can we make this thing better for us and you, right? How can we take care of you so we can take care of our clients?”

So we don’t need a suggestion box. I mean, we formally do an opinion survey, but not only when we travel, but the leadership team is responsible for doing them regularly, and to report on them and identify what the opportunities are. Some things are easy to fix. You can do it the same day. Some will take a bit longer, and some will be challenged. But the reality is that’s why we exist. We exist here to make that life better. And our job is to get better every single day. That’s the motto.

Finance Colombia: Impressive. Is there anything that you wanted to mention that I neglected to ask?

Stephan Daoust: No, I think, I mean, ultimately, we want to continue to grow. I think we have a great opportunity to do that. It’s been fantastic so far in terms of Colombia’s support; our partners, when you talk about ease of doing business and supporting, we get media partnerships, we have government partnerships, we have non-governmental partnerships.

We’re just so happy with the support that we’re getting. I think everyone realizes the common ground that we are trying to create an environment of opportunity and careers, and they want to go on that journey with us, so we’re happy to take them along. TaskUs is growing faster than anyone in our space. We continue to grow at double digits. And that is because of the work that our teammates are doing every single day. So I can’t be more pleased with the story in Colombia, and we look forward to growing.

Click on the image above to view the video. 

Finance Colombia: But here, of course, in Medellín… Medellín is, as you know, kind of like a combination of the Silicon Valley of Colombia, and now with the biotech that you’re doing, it’s almost like Boston as well. It’s amazing to see something like this, not just Colombian operated, but Colombian owned, as part of SURA.

Jorge Osorio: We are very proud of it, you know, we’re very proud, and it’s kind of my dream come true. I left Colombia when I was very young, 22 years old. I didn’t know a word of English. I grew up in a very humble family, you know, a low-income family. But through education, I was able to make it through, and I ended up in Wisconsin, without even knowing where Wisconsin was. I went with short sleeves, you know? But I went in the summer, so it was great, because the summer is so nice, you know. As the weather gets colder and colder, I was like, “Oh my god, what am I doing here?”

Finance Colombia: By September, it’s all changing.

Jorge Osorio: I know, I know. The first November I was there, we had three feet of snow. It was up to here, so it was crazy. It was crazy. So then, little by little, you know, I learned English, and loved school, did my master’s, my PhD in Wisconsin, and I worked in the industry in the US. I started my own company in the US. My mom, all these things are inspired by mothers, you know, mothers play a major role in us. My mother told me one day, “Son, you haven’t done anything with your life.” After having my master’s, my PhD, and being a professor in one of the top universities in the US, my mom said, “You haven’t done anything with your life. People in Colombia are dying of dengue, and you haven’t done anything. Do something, do something for dengue, try to figure that out.” So what a challenge. So I started studying dengue, and with a friend of mine, created a company to make a vaccine, and I did it. It was successful.

Click on the above image to watch the full video and tour.

So that was like my moment of pride, and that vaccine is now in the hands of the people. Our company, Takeda, bought the vaccine, bought the company, and everything, and now that’s being used to prevent dengue. So at the same time, I said, “I need to do something for my own country, you know, my homeland. I’ve done this company somewhere else, and I need to do something.” So COVID came, you know.

And when COVID came, SURA said, “We need to do something.” Because what has happened is that we’re going to continue having these problems, you know, these outbreaks, these things are going to continue happening in general. But we were like one of the last countries… well, LATAM was one of the last regions to get vaccines.

Finance Colombia: Most people here who could, I mean, even I flew to Miami to get my vaccine, and then people were waiting on different ones, and the country was dependent on the mercy… And every other country is going to take care of their people first, and then send what’s left over down here.

Jorge Osorio: So we got vaccines from Sinovac, we got a few things there, but SURA said, “We need to do something ourselves, we need to do something.” So I came to meet with them, and that was my dream. I said, You know, I want to do something for my homeland.” And this is it.

So I decided, I want this to be inspired, to make people feel good to come to work here, and so the design of the buildings, I took a lot of a role in that as well. The design of the gardens, everything, the facilities inside, everything I did, I did a lot myself.

Finance Colombia: It’s amazing. So from Wisconsin, back home. And so you already sort of answered a couple of the questions that I have, which was why, not just why Colombia, not that there’s any bad reasons, but it’s interesting because there has not been, not just in Colombia, but in Latin America generally, not a large industry in producing high-level biologics.

I mean, some companies do things like produce vitamins, and some contract manufacturing, but not like the vaccines, which is a much higher tech than just saying, “I’m going to produce a generic, I’m going to produce a vitamin supplement,” or something like that.

Jorge Osorio: So yeah, because look, the whole region is 650 million. LATAM. That’s pretty large, isn’t it? And there are only four countries that make vaccines: Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, and Argentina, and they don’t make enough for everyone. So there’s a need to do this. There’s a need to produce something that will provide more vaccines for the region. At the same time, my dream is that… Tropical diseases affect people around the planet. It’s not just Colombia, or Venezuela, or the region, but mosquito-borne diseases, dengue, for example, affects people in Africa, in Europe, Spain, and Italy are having cases of that as well, and Asia as well.

Primary filling facility (photos © Loren Moss)

So I think what I would like to see happening is that we export science and technology from Colombia. We put our brains to work, and we export science and technology to help folks in other parts of the world, and we can control diseases in that way. We can export our knowledge and our scientists. I’m very proud of the scientists that we have, you know, people that we have.

Finance Colombia: The talent, and not just Colombian talent, but global talent. You have a quality control guy coming from India… And so that makes Colombia, and specifically Antioquia, kind of like a global hub.

Jorge Osorio: So what I want to see here, and we can even walk, and you can see. Because I’d like you to see what my dream is. You know, if you come to this area, it’s mostly.. You find these parking areas for cars that are near the airport, right? We can change the whole concept here by creating what you just said, a biotech hub.

That this whole area here, I dream that there’s going to be more buildings coming, hospitals, because we need some other supplies to make the vaccines. We need someone to make the caps, the glasses, and the enzymes. So I think we could have some other players that will come here and say, “Hey, you know, I want to be part of this.” And this could be a new hub for biotech. That’s how it started, actually in India.

If you go to a place like Hyderabad, if you’ve been there, but the hub for biotechnology there it’s called the Genome Valley. And that Genome Valley started about 30 years ago with one single company. Today, it’s amazing. And that’s what I want to see happening here: that we build more and more industry, and we invite more people to come to join this effort.

Finance Colombia: And people don’t realize that that brings not just the jobs, but the talent and the know-how that establishes you as the center for this.

Jorge Osorio: Exactly. And, you know, I think I’ve been seeing the Colombian folks that have come back, they wanted something like this to happen. They have said, you know, like you just met the plant director, Juan Fernando. He’s like, “Oh, you know, this was a dream of my life to be able to come back, but the opportunity was never there.” So I think we want to provide that, but also for the young people who are here in Colombia to feel that there’s an opportunity.

Finance Colombia: You don’t have to leave. There’s an opportunity here. A lot of times, there’s a brain drain.

Jorge Osorio: Exactly. Right. So we want to create the talent that we have. We want to stimulate the young people to say, “Hey, you know, I can do something as well for my country. I can come here, learn about technology, and new things to produce vaccines.” What I also like to have is innovation, okay? And what I have done is bring technology that has been used, for example, in mRNA vaccines. We can now make mRNA vaccines here.

Finance Colombia: Messenger RNA. 

Jorge Osorio: Like the vaccine that COVID, that Pfizer made, that was, you know, like saved the world, basically, the vaccine that was made in 11 months. We can make that here. And we can do that. So I think I’d like to have the concept of health independence, you know, that we can do health sovereignty for the region. And that our country can also… and our region, because I think more about LATAM. I’m very proud of being a Latino.

You know, we can say, you know, here we are. We can take care of things. We can do it ourselves. We can drive the economy. Change the economy of the region. You know, I think we can do that because when we export science and technology, we can change that.

Finance Colombia: A knowledge economy. It’s not good when all the laborers are local and all of the managers are from somewhere else.

Jorge Osorio: Yeah. That happens in some places. Some companies do that. You know, and I’m very proud also of the training. What we want to do is that the opportunity that I have, which someone gave me a scholarship in Wisconsin, and I can do it for a hundred people. I can do it for more people. So we are sending people to Wisconsin. It’s a good education, you know, and I want them to have that opportunity to educate themselves, to experience what it’s like to be out of their comfort zone, and to understand that they can do good things. They can do even better things than I have done. So I’m proud. We are training people now. And not just science, you know. They are getting into business development, education, accounting, all that.

Finance Colombia: Accounting, engineering, management, right.

Jorge Osorio: All that. Right. So I think that’s what we love to see happening. To change this area.

Laboratory building (photos © Loren Moss)

Finance Colombia: This is such a modern plant. It’s brand new. I remember when they announced it, we did an article about four years ago, I believe it was, you know, covering it. And I remember thinking, “Okay, well, you know, it’s a concept. Let’s see.”

Jorge Osorio: “Let’s see what happens.”

Finance Colombia: And it wasn’t that I didn’t believe it, but, you know, I live very close to here. And when I saw the construction begin on the site, I was like, “Oh, this is real. This is coming.”

Jorge Osorio: This is real.

Finance Colombia: You know, and here it is.

Jorge Osorio: And also, one very important thing is the Colombian talent: the engineers, the architects, who took the concept, we had the best advisors from India and other places that have built manufacturing facilities all over the world. We took that concept and we have to translate that to the local language here because nobody here has made a facility like this before. And it’s not so simple.

If I walk you through this building and you will see the level of complexity that is on every level there. It’s amazing to be able to connect the air, the energy, and all the water supplies. It’s amazing. So, to me, I’m also proud to say this was built by local companies, you know, that did that work. But we brought the best technology and equipment from around the world. This is what makes me very proud of it, that we have done that.

So, you can see that in three and a half years, this is what we have, you know, and I think it’s really…We have had visitors from all over the world now, different companies that have said, you know, like you said, “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know if those guys are going to come up with anything.” But look at it now.

Finance Colombia: When you saw SURA behind it, you know, SURA is a multinational. It’s Colombian, based in Medellín. It’s a company that already has assets and operations, and they, you know, they go far beyond everything from health insurance to car insurance to all different types of asset management and things like that. So, certainly that backing, I would imagine, gives you the financial stability.

Jorge Osorio: It does. That’s why I made that major commitment, because for a long time I wanted to do this, but people will say: “you know, I’ll give you $500,000.” This takes more than that, you know. So, when I first started this project, I told SURA, well, this is going to cost probably $100 million. In the first year, you’re going to cost maybe about $15 million. Say, okay, what are you waiting for to get started?

So, you need to have that muscle behind, that group that tells you, you’re not going to run short of this. And that’s where I think the private sector in our economy plays a major role. This would have never happened with government funds. I’ll be honest with you. I wish I were wrong there, but you need that private muscle, insurance that says, “Hey, you know, here I’m supporting you and, you know, just keep going, keep going.”

Finance Colombia: The patience, not just the capital, but I mean, it’s kind of sad when we look at it. There are cases. I was in Cartagena, and I was in La Guajira recently, and I saw unfinished hospitals. And there’s a case right now up on the Atlantic coast, and they gave the guy the deposit to start building the hospital, and he ran off, and he’s in Miami somewhere or something like that.

Jorge Osorio: That’s crazy. That’s crazy. So, you know, I think what we have here is also my name, my credibility. I put my name on this, and I want to deliver. I want to deliver to SURA but also to my people, to my commitment that I have.

Finance Colombia: Oh, it’s helping untold millions. Something you talked about earlier that I’m also curious about, you mentioned the work that you’ve done with dengue. And dengue, I remember my first time in Nicaragua, which was before, it was back in the 90s, and there was a dengue outbreak, and I remember being in a restaurant and looking over and people like falling out, you know, and I’m sitting there, but dengue is a very technically difficult disease to create a vaccine for because the vaccine is very, very harsh, and they won’t just give it, that’s why prevention is such a cure. It’s like, look, better not to get bitten by the mosquito.

And so, that’s challenging. And so, I wonder, you know, we’re up here kind of in the mountains at 7,000 feet, but we have things like dengue and yellow fever. In tropical… I’m sure that there are some, you know, I’m not a medical person. If we go down to the Amazon, there are some things that we have parasites and things.

Jorge Osorio: We have oropouche, we have malaria, we have chikungunya, we have many, many things that are tropical diseases. But also, some of those problems, big companies don’t want to put the resources into because they are so local.

Finance Colombia: Orphan diseases. Exactly.

Jorge Osorio: We call them orphan diseases, tropical diseases. So, my goal is also to create vaccines for these types of diseases that affect our population. And now that we see climate change and we see all these issues, we see that the mosquitoes are in Florida and Texas, and all these areas there. So, it won’t be a surprise in the future if we have a major outbreak in the US or something.

Finance Colombia: Then they start paying attention.

Jorge Osorio: Then they will.

Finance Colombia: But it’s important to be able to have the capacity here so that, you know, aside from the research and things like that, if you said we need to produce something, that’s not necessarily getting enough attention, you’re not beholden to some laboratory or some charity somewhere to do it.

Jorge Osorio: That we can make the decisions ourselves. That we can have that independence to say, yes, we want to do this, or we can do this. So, I feel that is also what makes us feel proud of it. You know, we can focus on our diseases, our tropical diseases, but they can also have an impact. I was asked recently, for example, one of the vaccines that I’m working on could have a significant impact in Africa. And we could do… It’s hard to believe that, but it’s going to be true. We will do a technology transfer from here, from Colombia to Africa.

Finance Colombia: Oh, yeah?

Jorge Osorio: That makes me very proud, too.

Finance Colombia: Exactly. Because Colombia is now a donor country, whereas 50 years ago, it was a recipient country.

Jorge Osorio: Exactly. So, we can change a few things, but we can also be more involved in this global partnership that we can be part of this network. And we are now part of this network that is also making vaccines and biologicals for all over the world. I think that’s what we wanted to do.

Finance Colombia: That’s great. It’s got to be a, I know it’s a source of pride for you, but also for Paisas, for Antioquia, for Medellín, Rionegro, of course, and then for all of Colombia. And like you mentioned, for Latin America, it’s great to see Colombia taking a leadership role. We hear about Brazil doing things and Mexico doing things, but now Colombia is part of that top tier.

Jorge Osorio: Totally. I feel that that’s what makes us proud. And this is not just an Antioquia or Rionegro project, it’s a nationwide project. And I see more of a regional project, of the entire region. I was in Rio last week as part of this global vaccine research network, and it’s the partnerships that we are doing with people from companies in Brazil, companies in Argentina. You mentioned Mexico, Nicaragua, all those countries, and Cuba as well. And we partner with them. We want to work together with them. So, I think I see this is how we can work together and show that Colombia is going to be on the map. It’s going to be on the map of biotechnology, which I’d like to see happening.

Finance Colombia: Absolutely. It’s so amazing what you’re doing here. I’d love to see if you could kind of give us a tour and show us the cool stuff.

Jorge Osorio: So, let’s, I want to show you what my dream is. Ok?

We’re gonna go there but I want you to see this area here. Because we just walked by, you know, without appreciating this. Look at this. This spiral.

Finance Colombia: It’s almost like…It reminds me of the helix of DNA.

Jorge Osorio: Exactly. That’s what it is. It was made for that purpose. To have that there. We brought that in. The colors are the colors of the company. The Vaxthera colors. Which is…we’re very proud of that, you know. And here is the result. So this here is the filling facility, we are going to go into. I want to walk you through some of the areas where people work here at the facilities.

Finance Colombia: Okay. So is this like the laboratory part? Or the production part?

Jorge Osorio: So here is where we bring…You’re gonna see the Rolls-Royce of equipment. Which is very exciting. This equipment took about three years to build. Two and a half years. It was built in Germany. Bausch. Custom-made for us. With a lot of sacrifice and pain from us. Because we have to deal with them here and there. Bring the equipment here. And make it work here. So it takes a while.

Paul: So since we are at the final stage of the construction of the facility. We still have some activities going on inside. But we implemented some measures to minimize the contamination.

Finance Colombia: Right. And the idea is to begin production in April?

Jorge Osorio: So we are going through the process of certification. What’s called certification. And so the team here is preparing what’s called the dossier for the regulatory packaging for INVIMA to come and inspect us.

Finance Colombia: And INVIMA, it’s like the FDA.

Pressure gauges are part of an integrated building management system to prevent contamination. (photos © Loren Moss)

Jorge Osorio: Exactly. The Colombian FDA. So that’s what’s gonna happen.

Paul: So, over here we have some offices, some storage rooms. The raw materials and the consumables that we’re going to use for the manufacturing process are the access to those materials. So it’s a material airlock. So they come directly from the warehouse, and then from here we’re going to sanitize them, and then we’re going to move them into the manufacturing suite. Let’s talk about these guys, pressure gauges. So our facility works with a cascade effect. So that means that the pressure in the grade A area is higher, the highest.

So when you open a door, basically when we’re transitioning from a dirty room to a clean room, the air from the clean room is coming out into the dirty room and not the opposite. It’s like a balloon when you inflate a balloon. So you are creating pressure inside, and then if you release the air, that air is coming out. That’s the principle of the clean rooms. Right. So that’s why it’s very important to have contingencies for power. So that’s constantly monitored by the building management system. So it’s 24/7 that we monitor temperature, pressure, and humidity. So all these devices are connected to a building management system. And in real time, we can check on the computer all those conditions.

Along the way, you can see some storage rooms, some change rooms. Here in particular, we have what we call a disinfection chamber. A fumigation box. So basically, in here, all those materials that we bring from the warehouse, we are going to disinfect them using hydrogen peroxide. So any material that we want to transfer into the aseptic areas, they must be disinfected with the peroxide.

Finance Colombia: So this is one line of production, and then you’ll have multiple lines of production similar to this?

Jorge Osorio: Eventually. This is for now. We’ll have other ones in the future that will be a different technique that will be like, you know, you have seen those pre-filled syringes, we will have something like that as well.

Finance Colombia: Life-saving. Amazing. Wow.

Jorge Osorio: The water tanks that supply water for the company are based right there, so it’s a very special building, and you can see that from there all the gases and lines are piped to all the different buildings, so that comes here to this, this is the filling facility. Then we have another building, which is like the social building, where people go for lunch, and we go we will go there if you like too. You will see nice areas because I also believe that our workers need to have a nice environment to do well.

Finance Colombia: I mean look at the care that you put into the facilities and making it attractive, and an attractive place to work.

Jorge Osorio: I’ll show you that one, it’s also it’s called the potency lab, so we have about six buildings, so that’s the potency lab that for every vaccine we need to test to make sure the vaccine really meets the standards, the requirements that you need to do, so it’s a nice facility that we have, we can walk through it if you like.

They do a few things here, okay, offices, pharmaceutical chemistry, you know, and then inside there, there is the facilities where they do all the potency testing of the vaccine, of the work, yeah, okay, so that would be inside behind there.

Finance Colombia: Wow, amazing, this is so great to see a modern… not just a facility here, but like I said, it’s just as impressive because it’s domestic. You know, it’s one thing if I don’t know, let’s say Pfizer, yes, puts a  Pfizer says, “we’re going to put a factory in Colombia.” That’s great, but this is Colombian.

Jorge Osorio: It’s all made in Colombia, you know, this is what we’re doing.

Finance Colombia: When it’s fully staffed, how many people will you have?

Jorge Osorio: Likely more than 500. At this point, we have about 150 employees, and this is the plant facility, but we have a research lab in Medellín. We are making a lot of progress in a lot of things, very soon, probably, so number one: we’re moving the facility into the Invima regulatory package, so INVIMA is going to come to visit; we had a major announcement with the government, we announced about a month ago that Vaxthera, the Ministry of Health, and the National Institute of Health, signed an agreement to build capacity locally for the next 10 years. So we’re working together, Vaxthera will help the Institute of National Health to make vaccines as well, okay, because we cannot make all the vaccines ourselves. And it’s good to have partners, and to have them as partners of the government, it would be good for all of us.

One of the vaccine packaging lines deep in the heart of the facility. (photos © Loren Moss)

Finance Colombia: I mean, not just for Colombia, because when you increase capacity, then you’re able to help your neighbors. And not just that, but the whole licensing agreement… because when you guys develop the intellectual property, then you can go and license it, not just to other Colombian organizations, but around the world.

Jorge Osorio: That’s what we’re doing, you got it right. We got, last year, our first patent, for a vaccine that would protect against different variants of COVID, and that vaccine, now, it will also protect against Mpox; Mpox is a virus that is affecting people in Africa. So it’s going to be amazing that we will support some African countries, you know, to develop that vaccine, because we have made it here. We are going to make shingles here, too.

I’m so happy with SURA, because when we had this discussion with SURA, there were some people here in Colombia that were skeptical, saying, “Those guys are not going to do it, you know, they’re never going to be able to do this, or also, where are you going to find the people to do this.”

Finance Colombia: So you’re proving them wrong.

Jorge Osorio: Exactly right, so I’m very happy with that. We have all this space to grow. So take a look, we have all this space, okay? And we have access, we bought the land, this is from our neighbors, we bought them from a family, and that family is very proud of doing this. The owner of the land said, “I want my land to belong to this dream of having the facility here, to do something good.” We have areas here to grow, that we can build, in addition to what we can do here, we have space that we can build more, and there’s even a space behind there.

Finance Colombia: This is only phase one. You have all this space to grow.

Jorge Osorio: It’s going to be nice. And you see, we have the airport right next door, so many vaccines that we can make here.

Finance Colombia: You can ship them instantly anywhere in the world.

Jorge Osorio: Yeah, it’s gonna be nice. And I’m also hosting a scientific event, I’m part of a scientific network, which I want you to know that it’s called PanDengue, from April 21st to the 24th, and there are going to be scientists from all over the Americas coming here.

Finance Colombia: Oh great.

Jorge Osorio: And we’re going to keep hosting events here; there are going to be scientists from Europe, from Africa coming here as well. And I want to make the case, you know, why this could be a good investment, you know, because some people might be afraid of investing in LATAM. We expect next year to have vaccines with the label Vaxthera. Next year, and hopefully, the government will approve them, and we should be in good shape, so this also makes me proud.

Finance Colombia: And like I said, it’s just so impressive to see this happening right here, you know, 15 minutes from where I live, and even more so, it’s not like some big company from Europe or the US, or China, or China said, “We’re going to put a factory in Colombia,” which is good, you know, that’s great, that’s fine, but no, but this is Colombian, and that’s what’s so cool.

Colombia is however something of a paradox. Despite this wanton female unemployment, it has for some years, especially in Latam, been held up as a country with a plentiful amount of female executives—visiting clients frequently commented upon it. I have met with innumerable talented female executives who acted as true role models over the years. Whilst at Bancolombia, I went through the statistics, and they seemed to add up.

Nonetheless, for several years now, we have been inundated locally with panels, think tanks, seminars, webinars, and other women’s groups lobbying for higher female participation in executive roles, boards of directors, etc. However, beyond the fear of slippage towards quotas, which never works, there is the sensation that this adds up to nothing more than “Jobs for the Girls”. These groups are 90% populated by women who are from the same ruling elite who have always enjoyed the same privileges as the men in the same class.

Whilst well-intentioned, it is impossible for them to truly understand the circumstances of the vast majority of women living in Colombia. They may make headlines and create a good photo, but they have had zero impact on moving the overall employment needle. It is instead for the authorities, government at both national and local levels, to form a truly robust strategy to change the direction of travel. At all levels of Colombian society, there are millions of talented women, the opportunities must be found to allow their advancement.

Elsewhere, February inflation data from Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística—DANE Colombia was released on Friday, and it was higher (5.28%) than the 5.17% consensus and also up from 5.22% in January. The main driver was housing, which contributed around 30% of the increase. Education also rose a significant 5% YoY. There are no concerns yet, but with a fast expanding economy, CPI is proving more stubborn than expected by many. Overnight rates remain at 9.5%, and it remains to be seen what Banco de la República—Colombia will do in a few weeks.

Last week, Fitch Ratings (BB+) lowered their outlook to negative due to ongoing concerns about the fiscal situation, and Ministerio de Hacienda Diego Guevara also has it in mind. Having cut $3 billion USD of 2025 spending due to the failure to pass a new tax reform, Guevara is again talking about further cuts to spending, although he is also not ruling out another tax reform.

About it for this Monday.

Have a wonderful week.

Roops.

Never miss Rupert’s latest commentary.
Follow him now on LinkedIn to see What Jumps Out.

Photo credit: MULTIMEDIOSDS from Pixabay.

The 2025 Latam Desalination Recognition Ceremony will celebrate the most outstanding contributions in desalination, sustainability and innovation in Latin America. As part of the 7th International Conference and Exhibition Desalination Latin America 2025, this prestigious event will bring together industry leaders, government officials, and investors to recognize achievements that are driving the future of desalination.

Register Now

Award Categories and Nominees:

• Award for Long-Term Operational Impact for Multipurpose DesalinationRecognizing desalination plants that have provided efficient and versatile water solutions with lasting impact.
• Desalination Technology Innovation AwardHonoring innovative technologies that improve efficiency, reduce costs, and promote sustainability.
• Sustainable Management and Environmental Responsibility AwardCelebrating companies that are leaders in sustainable desalination practices, including brine management and the use of renewable energy.
• Award for the Best Public-Private Collaboration in DesalinationRecognizing the most impactful alliances between governments, public institutions and private companies.
• Water Resilience AwardHighlighting companies that have demonstrated exceptional resilience in operational continuity and in responding to climate challenges.

Catalina Velasco
Marketing Director
CVelasco@vostockcapital.com

GSA announced in late October 2024 on Day 2 of the Responsible Seafood Summit in St. Andrews, Scotland. The vibrant Caribbean city of Cartagena will provide the summit with a unique backdrop for industry stakeholders to address pressing issues, share solutions, and make connections.

“It is exciting for us at GSA to bring our signature event back to South America for the first time in seven years,” said Mike Kocsis, CEO of GSA. The Summit was held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 2018. “As Colombia’s relevance in the global seafood industry continues to grow, it’s encouraging that the seafood sector there values responsible production and sourcing in both aquaculture and wild-capture fisheries. We look forward to connecting and collaborating with our global network in Cartagena.”

Cartagena, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, features 11 km of defensive walls built in the 16th century. Travel + Leisure magazine rated the city as one of the “best places to travel” in 2024. For 23 years, the Responsible Seafood Summit has provided a pre-competitive platform for knowledge sharing and idea exchange amongst the world’s seafood thought leaders.

“Cartagena, Colombia, is the perfect setting for the Summit, and USSEC is proud to be a sponsor of this prestigious event,” said Carlos Salinas, Americas Regional Director for the US Soybean Export Council, one of the event’s longstanding sponsors. “As a trusted partner to the aquaculture industry, US soy continues to collaborate to drive growth and sustainability, helping the sector thrive. We look forward to connecting with global leaders to advance innovation and sustainable practices in aquaculture.”

“The Chilean Aquaculture Innovation Club believes that this is an excellent opportunity to highlight LATAM aquaculture’s advancements in technology, productivity, and sustainability,” added Adolfo Alvial, executive director of Club de Innovación Acuícola Chile & Chairman of the Board of the Aquaculture Innovation Alliance.

Photo credit: Global Seafood Alliance (GSA)