In this exclusive interview, Loren Moss, Executive Editor of Finance Colombia, speaks with Cristina Zambrano Restrepo, the Executive Director of ACI Medellín. They discuss how the city nearly tripled its investment attraction over the past year, reaching over $400 million USD, and the strategies used to reassure international investors during a complex electoral landscape in Colombia.

Finance Colombia: I’m here with Cristina Zambrano Restrepo, the Executive Director of ACI Medellín. It’s always a pleasure to be with you. Thank you for the invitation. I know you’re extremely busy, so thank you for making the time to speak with Finance Colombia. How have you been?

Cristina Zambrano Restrepo: Very well, thank you very much. Truly happy to be here with you. Thank you for accepting this invitation. Without a doubt, we work to bring good and positive news to this city, and thank you for being here and for sharing and conveying all of these good things.

Finance Colombia: Yes, today you talked about the successes that ACI Medellín and the city have had this year in attracting investment. Tell us a bit about some of those successes. I think it’s going to be another large business hotel, and tell us a little about how you’ve kept busy.

Cristina Zambrano Restrepo: Of course. A major focus for us is job creation through investment attraction. So, what did we achieve this year? We went from USD 150 million generated last year to more than USD 400 million this year. As I’ve mentioned, this is reflected in the creation of more than 11,500 formal, high-quality jobs generated by this investment attraction. We have major allies and players here, such as Renault-Sofasa, Rivana Business Park, SoftServe, and POMA. A great deal of companies, some already established, others newly arriving in the region. TaskUs too, which is also extremely important and has made major commitments to us. These are the companies that manage to generate that employment.

Finance Colombia: Excellent, that’s fascinating. I have a history with Colombia of about 20 years, and here in Medellín of about 11 years, and it’s truly wonderful to see how the city has grown—not only in population, but in investment and innovation. However, we’re living in a time of high uncertainty around the world—not just in Colombia, not just in the United States, but globally. Especially when we talk about the sector, not in general terms, but politically and economically. Has this made attracting investment more difficult or more challenging over the past year? How has this affected efforts to attract FDI, like, foreign investment, and what strategies have you used to overcome this challenge?

Cristina Zambrano Restrepo: Here, clearly, the political landscape affects and directly impacts confidence, right? The stability of a region, how we present ourselves to the world and to those very large capital investments, showing that we are a stable region, that we believe in them, and that we will support them. So, what strategies do we have? Without a doubt, it has been very challenging. We would like, for example, to be able to offer a range of benefits, extensions, fast-track processes in permitting and such, but in that sense we depend heavily on the national government. But we don’t stop there. We work from the regional level and have a firm commitment locally, focusing on what we ourselves can support, contribute, and manage from this area, the private sector. Which also helped sustain the region during the previous administration, and the academic sector, all the universities, and that ecosystem, which have been fundamental. And now the public sector as well, we are all working together specifically from this region to demonstrate that we are a region that inspires confidence, offers stability, and has all the right conditions for investment to continue to arrive.

Finance Colombia: One thing you’ve mentioned that’s very important, and something Medellín is known for, is the collaboration between the private and public sectors. In many other places, without naming names, it’s an endless war. But in Medellín it has always felt like it’s everybody. That’s why Medellín has always had the Metro and continues to have major projects here, because the private sector has a strong sense of civic ownership. People talk about the GEA, but from a foreign perspective, what I’ve seen is that companies like Grupo Argos, SURA, Bancolombia, and more recently Nutresa, and many smaller ones that aren’t international names, have a sense of belonging and work hand in hand with the government. Speaking of that, for example, Mayor Federico Gutiérrez has traveled to the United States and other places to maintain those good relationships, despite what may be happening in Bogotá or at the Casa de Nariño. What is the importance of the efforts made by the metropolitan government and the city government of Medellín, not only at the ACI level, but also at the level of Alpujarra? How important is this in maintaining a long-term course so that foreign investors continue to see Medellín as a destination, no matter how much may be happening 400 kilometers away?

“We went from USD 150 million generated last year to more than USD 400 million this year… reflected in the creation of more than 11,500 formal, high-quality jobs.” — Cristina Zambrano Restrepo

Cristina Zambrano Restrepo: I think what you’re pointing out is fundamental, and it’s specifically how we’ve achieved this model in Medellín. In a way, when we go out into the world and explain how we work hand in hand, as you said, there are cities and countries that react like, “Why do we need to sit at the same table? I’m very clear about my purpose, and you’re very clear about yours.” Here, the real history of what this city lived through 40 years ago made all of us sit at the same table, and we realized that the efforts of the three actors are always aligned toward the same goals. What always matters to us is citizens’ well-being, quality of life, economic and social development, many things. So when we were going through our hardest moments, we managed to set aside egos, agendas, and competing visions. We sat down, we talked, and we’ve continued to work under that model ever since.

As for what’s happening and what lies ahead in the future: clearly, having a political leader like Federico Gutiérrez, with those strategies and international connections, matters greatly. Countries trust leaders who have demonstrated stability and very clear commitments throughout their governing trajectory, and that’s what our mayor has done. Because of that, they continue to seek us out as a region and want to work with us as a region. As we were just discussing, the investment world is very accustomed to government cycles, more than people might think. They know how to manage political and public-sector issues and how to make bold bets at certain moments. We work on this, and together with the mayor we focus on those countries where we need them to keep believing in us and trusting us. The United States is Colombia’s partner par excellence, that is not going to change. It is the largest market in the world. So the mayor’s strategy of being very close to that government, of working with a binational chamber like AmCham Colombia, which always helps us continue attracting investment and fostering exchanges, is exactly how we work hand in hand.

Finance Colombia: Well, you’ve been very generous with your time. Just two more questions. One is that in the United States, we have a saying: “Nothing happens before the elections.” That big companies are always waiting to see what’s going to happen, what’s going to unfold. Is it the same here in Colombia? I know in Colombia, even more than in the U.S., there’s a law—well, speaking of public contracting, where nothing can really happen. But aside from that, not talking about selling food to a school or something like that—do investors or multinational companies see this as a challenge? Are they ready to sign contracts, or are they waiting to see what happens?

Cristina Zambrano Restrepo: Of course, without a doubt it’s a challenge. And it’s not a minor one. It’s a challenge that forces us to work even harder to demonstrate, from the regional level, just how stable we can continue to be so that investment keeps coming. There are many companies that make their decisions regardless of the electoral period we’re in, largely because, as I mentioned, they know how to manage political risk. But there are certainly many others that are on pause, waiting to see what happens in the upcoming elections. So yes, in that sense, it does present significant challenges. Even so, we are still projecting USD 400 million for next year despite the elections, and we continue to work toward and commit to that goal. And regarding what you mentioned about contracting, specifically public-sector contracting; a city cannot come to a halt just because there is a law on guarantees, right? All of that is already anticipated. Contracts need to be signed and put in motion ahead of time. Everyone here knows how to operate during a six-month guarantees-law period, so everything has to keep moving and functioning.

Finance Colombia: The last question, I’ve known ACI, even from before I was living in Colombia. I’ve now been in Colombia for 12 years, and I’ve known Juan since I was living in Miami. They were always calling me, saying, “Look, come see what we have in Medellín. Come, let us show you something beautiful we have, or an investment opportunity here.” And that was truly a big part of why, when I was living in Bogotá, I decided to move to Medellín. It was exactly like that, maybe not as a major investor, but that attitude, that paisa pride.

Cristina Zambrano Restrepo: Paisa pride, yes, I was just going to say.

Finance Colombia: Exactly, exactly. Like my wife, who’s paisa, when we’re abroad and someone asks her, “Are you Colombian?” she says, “I’m paisa.”

Cristina Zambrano Restrepo: More than Colombian, I’m paisa.

Finance Colombia: What is the “secret hogao” of ACI Medellín? Because regardless of the government in power, regardless of what happens under your leadership, and even looking at the long term, what is the secret sauce behind the success ACI has had as an investment promotion agency? You have a strong global reputation in the FDI space, Foreign Direct Investment. You, as director, as someone who knows how the internal plumbing works, what is the key to the success ACI has achieved?

Cristina Zambrano Restrepo: Well, I think without a doubt it’s our long-term planning. It’s a vision we have for the city, a vision for the territory—a clearly defined commitment. Every time we come in, there’s no need to reinvent things; we need to keep working on what already works. We have a technical team, and this is something I really want to highlight: this is a highly technical organization. While it does, of course, depend on electoral and government cycles, it has a well-trained staff that has been working in these areas for many years, and thanks to them we’ve been able to maintain the stability this institution has. So I would emphasize that, in addition to what you mentioned about paisa pride—which is an identity that characterizes all of us from Medellín. We truly like to see our city doing well; we fight for it, we defend it, we work for it. That paisa pride ensures that everyone who passes through this institution clearly understands the vision and works toward it, regardless of how long they remain here.

Finance Colombia: Yes, it’s true—you have a world-class team, so I know they make your job much easier. Thank you very much for your time; it’s always an honor to see you and to speak with you, and know you can always count on Finance Colombia for anything.

Cristina Zambrano Restrepo: Thank you as well, truly, for being here and for always supporting ACI Medellín. Indeed, you and Finance Colombia have been great partners for us in continuing to share and convey all the news that’s happening.

Finance Colombia: We will, thank you.

Investment capital was primarily concentrated in the technology, creative industries, infrastructure, and commerce sectors. Major sources of this investment included the United States, Colombia, Brazil, and France. To promote further capital attraction, ACI Medellín hosted two investment rounds: one focused on traditional sectors such as agribusiness, energy, health, infrastructure, and technology; and a second round concentrated on the audiovisual sector, executed in partnership with the Film Commission of the Medellín City Hall. These efforts were supported by collaborations with the Mesa de Inversión de Antioquia and the Medellín Chamber of Commerce for Antioquia.

Several companies announced new investments or reinvestments in the city, including Renault Sofasa, TaskUs (NASDAQ: TASK), iQor, Accenture (NYSE: ACN), Poma, Rivana Business Park, Softserve, and DHL (XETRA: DPW).

Medellín went from $3 million USD in international cooperation in 2024 to a projected $8 million USD  with projects in the process of closure before the end of the year.

Cooperation Funding and Global Network Engagement

The city also reported a projected increase in international cooperation funds, with management expecting to close 2025 with nearly $8 million USD in projects, up from $3 million USD managed in 2024. This growth was partially driven by alliances with philanthropic organizations.

ACI Medellín collaborated with several key foundations to support social and environmental initiatives outlined in the city’s Development Plan. Noteworthy projects include a partnership with The Carter Center, which provided $50,000 USD and technical assistance to the Secretary of Women’s “Informando a las Mujeres, Transformando Vidas” project, aimed at strengthening gender-focused communication strategies for women caregivers. Other philanthropic entities involved in supporting various projects include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Hilton Foundation, and Sparkassen Stiftung from Germany.

Medellín maintained its engagement in global city networks to advance sustainable development objectives. From 2024 to 2025, the city participated actively in platforms such as C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Mercociudades, CIDEU, and Metropolis. This participation led to the receipt of cooperation grants, training scholarships for municipal staff, and technical assistance for specific projects, such as Primavera Norte, which received support through the C40 and GIZ networks. As a member of the C40 Steering Committee, Mayor Federico Gutiérrez participated in global network activities, during which projects like the Corredores Verdes program, which the city credits with contributing to a 2 °C reduction in urban temperature, were presented.

Medellín Mayor Federico Gutierrez (photo courtesy of the mayor’s office)

Recognition and Diaspora Strategy

In recognition of its social policies, the city’s School Feeding Program (Comedores Escolares) received the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact award in the Social and Economic Equity category. Medellín was one of six cities selected from 173 applicants globally, and the award included a financial contribution of €20,000 EUR. The award recognized the program’s integrated strategy, which focuses on providing nutritional food for children, strengthening food security, and supporting purchases from local producers.

Additionally, the Sos Paisa Network was relaunched in 2025. The initiative focuses on connecting the Antioquian diaspora with opportunities in Medellín, specifically aligning their knowledge with local Science, Technology, and Innovation (CTI) projects. This renewal effort aims to leverage the global scientific and academic diaspora for local development.

According to Cristina Zambrano, Executive Director of ACI Medellín, the figures confirm a growing international engagement. The executive noted that from 2008 through 2025, the agency has managed $4.084 billion USD in foreign direct investment, generating an estimated 44,000 jobs in the Aburrá Valley, in addition to $134 million USD in international cooperation.

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.

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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.

The CX Interaction Awards are given out by BPrO to recognize companies in “all sectors of the economy with customer interaction processes, which, in the implementation of projects, contribute to the success of the company, providing a better service and promoting company/client relationships.”

BPrO created the awards as a way of recognizing the kinds of exceptional performances and services provided by companies important to the BPO industry to their clients, and to encourage other companies to follow their lead in excellence.

The following is the full list of gold, silver, and bronze award winners in each category.

Best Customer Experience Strategy

• Gold: Nu
• Silver: DIAGEO
• Bronze: Concentrix Puntos Colombia

Best Human Capital Management

• Gold: DIAGEO
• Silver: BRM, Emtelco
• Bronze: TaskUs

Best Employee Engagement Strategy

• Gold: Lean Solutions Group
• Silver: Outsourcing S.A.S.
• Bronze: Konecta

Best Contribution to Social Responsibility

• Gold: Nexa Unicef
• Silver: Konecta
• Bronze: Concentrix

Best Inclusion and Diversity Strategy

• Gold: Konecta
• Silver: Emtelco
• Bronze: Almacontact

Best Data Analytics Strategy

• Gold: Emergia
• Silver: Emtelco
• Bronze: Intelcia

Best Technological Contribution

• Gold: Concentrix
• Silver: Almacontact
• Bronze: Konecta

Best Multichannel/Omnichannel Strategy

• Gold: Emtelco
• Silver: Konecta
• Bronze: Atento

Best Social Networking Strategy

• Gold: Konecta
• Silver: Outsourcing S.A.S.
• Bronze: Emtelco

Best Outsourcing Company Operation

• Gold: BRM, Mercado Libre
• Silver: Konecta
• Bronze: Atento

Best Internal Operation

• Gold: Nu
• Silver: Grupo ASD, IQ Outsourcing
• Bronze: DIAGEO

Best Collection Strategy

• Gold: Konecta
• Silver: Emtelco
• Bronze: DIAGEO

Best Shared Service Center Management for Customer Service

• Gold: DIAGEO
• Silver: Coomeva
• Bronze: Telecenter

Best Innovation Strategy for Shared Service Centers

• Gold: Spectrum Brands
• Silver: IntouchCX
• Bronze: DIAGEO

Best Export Management

• Gold: Konecta
• Silver: DIAGEO, Intelcia
• Bronze: BRM, Mercado Libre

Executive of the Year Award

• Juan David Adarve Vergara, Emtelco

Talent Award

• Juan David Romero, Emtelco
  

  Award Winners at Bpro’s 2025 CX Summit in Cartagena, Colombia

With another 500 seats on tap in Medellín, the company is already looking to expand again, signalling the fast-moving outsourcer’s commitment to the Andean Nation.

Loren Moss, executive editor of Finance Colombia was able to sit down for a few minutes with Divisional Vice President Luis Barreto at the company’s Medellín grand opening celebration to speak about the early success TaskUs is experiencing in Colombia.

Finance Colombia: Luis, thank you for your time today. Congratulations. You guys are having your official grand opening. I know that you guys have ramped up operations here already. We’re in Medellin, at your facility here in Ruta N, these are lovely new facilities that you’ve had. Maybe if you can tell me a little bit about your footprint in Colombia, where you have operations already?

Luis Barreto: Yeah, absolutely. So first of all, thank you for the congratulations. It’s taken a while because we’ve been operating for a year now in Medellin. We’ve just gone, you know, we just hadn’t had issues with just getting the right people to be able to celebrate this special achievement. But we’re happy that a year in we’re able to do this because it’s double the celebration. Because we’re not just opening, but we’re celebrating success.

We’ve found tremendous success in Medellin. We’ve been able to ramp to fill the seats and we’ve been able to get some very successful clients who are very happy with the service. So Medellin has been great to us. In terms of the footprint, we currently have three locations in Colombia. We opened up our headquarters in Cali back in 2021 where we currently have about 1,200 teammates, that’s what we call our agents.

We just opened up our second site in Cali. This month was their first operating month and that site has 420 seats. It’s going to have about 600 teammates. Then Medellin, as I said, this site has 400 seats, and it’s going to have about 500. And because everything’s already been sold, meaning we already have committed the space to existing clients from here to the end of the year, we’re already branching out to looking at other options. So we are going to be opening up a fourth location which is going to be the second in Medellin, and then hopefully by Q1 of next year, we’re going to be able to announce our third city for our continued expansion.

Finance Colombia: Oh, amazing. You know, I visited your facilities in Cali a couple years ago. Actually, I think it was still during the pandemic, or when things were just starting to open up. Really impressive. You guys put a lot of thought and effort into making appealing workspaces.

I noticed that that seems to be a key part of TaskUs culture. Maybe if you can tell me, I know that it’s not always apropo to talk about individual clients, but if you can talk about the industries that you’re able to serve out of Medellin, or out of Colombia broadly?

Luis Barreto: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that’s the great thing about that diversity of professionals that we find in the country. You can service any industry, which is pretty much what we do. We currently have about 25 clients in Colombia, which was for four different industries. Most of them are tech innovation related. So fintech, as an example; we provide service for retail, some of the biggest retail brands, fashion brands in the world are serviced out of Colombia. We also have food delivery apps. So it’s really a blend, and we don’t have a specific target because, you know, through our recruiting process, we’re able to identify skilled skillsets and aptitudes within our candidates to be able to route them into what industry or what program they would do best.

So, because the servicing industry and the BPO industry is so diverse, you do need to be able to have that ability to be flexible in terms of the offering, because you can be in one industry, but that industry requires different skills. So you can use social media management, back office, chat, e-mail; or it could be all voice, customer service, billing, transaction.

So to say that we do one, or that we focus or that we have a strength on one, is difficult because we’re just a very diverse solution-oriented company and we’ve found quick success with being able to service everything out of Colombia. That’s why we keep growing.

Finance Colombia: So you do more than just customer contact, you’re doing back-office services and other types. Well, tell me about some of those other types of services. Aside from voice and aside from chat, what are the other services that you provide to your corporate clients?

Luis Barreto: Yeah. So I think an interesting thing that’s in the industry and, you know, just the level of services that the industry is going to, we’re seeing a lot of growth in the content moderation space, trust and safety space, which is really just protecting the social media platforms from bad intentions. So I would say that that’s one specific area where we’re focusing our growth, and that you’re going to see big growth from us in terms of the percentage of the work that we do currently to migrate into that.

But on top of that, we do back office like you said, we do messaging, we do e-mail, chat work… 50-60% it’s still voice because that’s still the preferred communication channel for most of our clients. But everybody is slowly migrating to more digital channels.

Finance Colombia: Right.

Luis Barreto: Which is a part of our strategy as well. You know, we’re a digital company. We take pride in being able to partner with some of the most innovative companies in the world. And as you know, we have a very entrepreneurial spirit, which means that we’re always going to be happy to work with a company, regardless of the size. If they have a desire to learn of the BPO and how to best service their clients, we’re going to partner, we’re going to put our technology forward, and our experience, to make sure that we build the best customer experience that they need for their companies.

Finance Colombia: I’ve noticed that TaskUs is kind of already a large company, global, you know, you’re in all sectors around the globe. But it still has kind of a startup feel to it. It has kind of a startup attitude to it, you would say.

Luis Barreto: Yes. We do, yeah. Absolutely. And I think it’s: 1—Our founders and CEO and president are very young. So they’re very well up to date with innovation, and they still consider themselves a startup because of the fact that it’s still growing, it’s still growing, still attracting.  And, you know, the fact that we help a lot of startups begin their journey into the CX experience is also the reason why we keep our vision, our mission, and our brand, similar and close to that. So, you know, not to say that we don’t focus on any specific market, but we do gravitate towards companies that are starting up, innovation, tech, instead of the larger, more traditional services like banking or telco. The majority of our footprint is in startups and tech companies.

Finance Colombia: You know, I remember talking to one of the huge traditional customer experience outsourcers one time, one of their top people told me that if it’s under 100 FTE (full-time equivalent seats), their salespeople don’t even get compensated on it.

Luis Barreto: Yeah [Laughs.]

Finance Colombia: Because they only want to talk to the giant—they are a giant multinational, they only want to talk to other giant multinationals. But it’s interesting how I’ve seen companies who start with startups, and some startups are going to fail and that’s just kind of how it is. But some…I know a company that started with Lyft, and they had five seats and now that’s a major client for them, for example. And so I’ve seen where…you know, it’s great to hear that you guys give an opportunity to companies that are scrappy startups and things like that and work. And by the way, I have no idea if you guys have Lyft, that was a company that’s not here in Colombia that I was mentioning. I know that they use multiple outsourcing partners, and so if they use you guys, you know, that was by coincidence, by the way.

Luis Barreto: That’s fine.

Finance Colombia: But that’s an interesting thing, because you see a lot of times these become high-growth companies and also high-potential companies. And that’s kind of part of that entrepreneurial spirit.

And I think Colombia, especially Medellin, has some of that, Ruta N is a business incubator.

Luis Barreto: It is, yeah.

Finance Colombia: They welcome established businesses like you guys. But if we go over across the way into the other tower, you’re going to have startups with a single person and they’ve got something for those people, and they’ve got startups that have gotten their first parts of funding and things like that. And the city’s behind them. And then you also see here, the private sector is kind of behind the city. There’s quite a partnership.

And as you and I both…neither one of us are from Colombia. Tell me about your impression of what you’ve seen in Colombia broadly, as far as the business climate. And then specifically, I don’t want to get you in trouble knowing that you’re, you know, team Cali. So I know you can’t, you know, be too nice, but if you could maybe give your impression of the business climate in Colombia and then let’s say Medellin and Cali.

Luis Barreto: Yeah, absolutely. So first I want to tackle the startup common, which I think it’s… yes, the bigger players tend to have a standard of business size to which they agree to do business with. Part of what we do and we differentiate, because, you know, as I mentioned before, we are considered startup and we love being able to work with startups to build their CX journey. So it’s not that they come with five seats, maybe they have zero seats and they want to build everything from scratch with us. We will take it.

“And what I’ve seen is that the Colombian talent, the infrastructure, the political stability, the need for these kinds of opportunities has been tremendous.” – Luis Barreto

Finance Colombia: Wow.

Luis Barreto: We will partner and we will invest in a long-term relationship because that’s really how you gain long-term relationships, and that’s really how our founders built this business, working with startups like that.

The second is, yes, I’m a foreigner. And I do say that I’m a proud Colombian resident now because I love the country. It’s been tremendously good for me and my family because, you know, the industry, I’ve seen the industry grow so much. And what I’ve seen is that the Colombian talent, the infrastructure, the political stability, the need for these kinds of opportunities has been tremendous. When I first landed in Colombia, it was probably only 10 years (into) outsourcing. And when I mean outsourcing, to the US, because now this is their primary market. Now, it’s insane the amount of growth. And to me, Colombia has been an exceptional success story that is very rarely seen. I mean, at least in LATAM, you don’t see any other story like this. You might see stories, you know, in the Philippines and India, but not like this in LATAM. And I think again, it’s because Colombians are by nature, you know, very towards service, like it’s in their nature, it’s in their blood.

Finance Colombia: Yes. “¡Para servirle!” That’s the saying here.

Luis Barreto: “Para servirle,” yes. “Bien pueda.” It’s like, it’s very natural. So obviously the Tier 1 and just the soft skills that you need to be able to do this business are there from the get go. Everything else, the skillsets and everything, it comes. In other regions, it’s more difficult, right? You have to spend a little bit more time and effort to engrave some, you know, basic skills of communication and engagement, here is very flawless. And then from a city perspective, I think, you know, obviously I don’t have a preference. I think…I live in Cali, my wife and I prefer the city, but every city has its charm and every city has its business purpose. Cali is less mature in the market in regards to BPO. It’s actually relatively unknown for other companies right now.

Finance Colombia: Right.

Luis Barreto: We know TaskUs is the biggest BPO in Cali, which we only were able to achieve because we took a chance, we saw potential and we decided to invest and we’re now taking a lot of benefit from it. Because competitors try to come, they can’t match your offers, they can’t match your benefits. So it’s been great because it’s where we positioned this.

And you know, Cali right now is the headquarters for everything Colombia, and not just Colombia, but regionally, including Mexico, because my responsibility extends to Mexico. And because of the talent and I would say the need for better career opportunities has driven great talent towards our industry in Cali.

Now Medellin obviously, it’s a great success story as well on its own because this one is…I call it a more specialized, more complex work, more, you know, specific targeted clients. So when you talk about innovation, when you talk about these tech higher-paying lines of business, this is a better option. So obviously, we service everything out of all of our sites, but there is some kind of strategy towards what city fits best for the client, and that’s something that we want to build and continue to sustain as part of our strategy growth in Colombia.

Finance Colombia: Got it. You’ve been very generous with your time. And you’re right, Medellin kind of sees itself, it kind of wants to be the Silicon Valley of Latin America. And I think it to a large degree deserves that. There’s competition with places like Costa Rica, places like Uruguay, but really there’s an established tech scene here. I’m always reading about companies or writing about companies that have gotten funded, that have gone on to greater things when it comes to tech and innovation. My last question for you is, I would imagine that a large percentage of your business requires bilingual skills, in terms of the agents. I would imagine that, I mean there’s always some agents that can do everything in Spanish, but I would imagine that TaskUs being a US-based company, a lot of the skills need to be bilingual. How easy or difficult has it been to hire bilingual talent here in Colombia?

Luis Barreto: Yeah. Great question. Obviously, the BPO industry has grown in Colombia mostly because of nearshoring support, we’re supporting mostly companies in the US, which means that it’s got to have an English component. Right now 90% of the work that we do in Colombia is English. We have about 8% Spanish and then 2% Portuguese, French. So we do still have a little bit of a blend now. In terms of the quality and the quantity of the English, it’s been great. I mean, I think the country has recognized the need for English, that English skills is something that needs to be built-in from a younger age. And we’ve seen a lot of the programs that I started hearing about back in 2016, 2017 when I first came, starting to materialize and starting to really give, you know, candidates to our funnel, which is fantastic. So it is a challenge because obviously the industry is now huge. There’s… Over 700,000 Colombians work in the sector, probably 200 – 300,000 work in US work. So the talent pool is reducing. But what’s great is that every single city that I’ve seen, or that we work with and that we partner with, has a clear path towards strategy to help, you know, put candidates and build candidates so that they can benefit from the opportunities of growth, opportunities of a job. So we feel confident that we are going to be able to continue to grow, not by butchering: Meaning, not by going and stealing talent, but by benefiting from the different growth pools that every region is building now. You know, there’s a reason why we’re not involved with that. We feel Bogota is a little bit more complex, a little bit more saturated. It’s a different quality of life. So we prefer the Tier 2, Tier 3 cities, where we’ve found more success or more appealing offers, and attracts the talent that we need.

Finance Colombia: It makes sense. I mean, if you were going to open up a contact center in the US, you probably wouldn’t go to Manhattan or Los Angeles, but you would look at other places maybe, you know, upstate New York or somewhere in Eastern California, of course, obviously the Heartland and different places like that. So that strategy makes sense. You’ve been wonderful with your time. I know that there’s a party going on downstairs and I don’t want to keep you from it and I don’t want to keep myself from it either. So, you guys, the hospitality is amazing. So thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it.

Luis Barreto: It’s been a pleasure, thank you very much for having me.

TaskUs, which focuses on digital services, CX solutions, artificial intelligence, and content security, has opened its third operations center in Colombia and the first in Medellín, located in the Ruta-N business incubation complex. The new Medellín facility is in addition to two TaskUs facilities in Cali, Colombia.

The new Medellín facility is in addition to two TaskUs facilities in Cali, Colombia.

Operational for a year, The Gallery has already generated over 400 direct jobs and provides bilingual support to clients mainly in the United States. “We are pleased to be in Medellín. At TaskUs, we invest in the learning and development of our people, equipping leaders and potential leaders with necessary skills and providing online learning resources available anytime,” said Pablo González, Vice President of Operations for TaskUs Colombia.

Carmen Caballero, president of ProColombia, stated, “The expansion of TaskUs in Colombia reflects global investors’ confidence in the country. TaskUs bets on our talent and contributes to its growth and development. ProColombia and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism will continue to support TaskUs in their future plans and expansion in our territory.”

María Fernanda Galeano, Secretary of Economic Development of Medellín, added, “The arrival of TaskUs in Medellín is significant for our district, not only in terms of employment and economic development but also as a key boost to strengthen our business ecosystem. The opening of The Gallery in Ruta N marks the start of a strategic collaboration benefiting both the local community and the company, reaffirming Medellín as an attractive destination for international investments.”

The Gallery features collaborative and modern workspaces, including recreational areas in a highly innovative environment, a concept TaskUs is known for globally, according to González. TaskUs, which began Colombian operations in Cali in 2021, now has two sites in that city, generating over 2,000 qualified jobs in Colombia, serving clients in sectors such as health, retail, e-commerce, tourism, travel, and technology.

“TaskUs is expanding its operations with the opening of a second office in Medellín, offering 700 new job opportunities,” stated Luis Barreto, Vice President of TaskUs for LATAM. TaskUs is actively hiring bilingual professionals for its Medellín office. Interested candidates can apply and find detailed position information on TaskUs’s social media @taskuscolombia.

For now, the Medellín office is still in its early days as it ramps up its capability to provide BPO, digital services, and customer experience solutions from Colombia’s second city. So Loren Moss, executive editor of Finance Colombia, took this opportunity to sit down with Pablo Gonzalez to hear more about the expansion. As vice president of operations at TaskUs, he is heading up the new location, named The Gallery, and watching it grow more vibrant by the day as they continue integrating their culture with the local, unmistakable paisa energy that characterizes the region.

While scaling the business and landing the right clients remains job one, Gonzalez explains below how important it has been to make sure TaskUs is staying true to its mission of putting people first, treating its employees right, and becoming a valuable member of the Medellín community.

Pablo Gonzalez, vice president of operations at TaskUs. (Credit: TaskUs)

Loren Moss: Hello Pablo, how are you?

Pablo Gonzalez: I’m doing great, how about you?

Loren Moss: Wonderful, thank you so much for joining. And congratulations on your expansion into Medellín. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about that? TaskUs, of course, is an international outsourcing company based in the United States, and you guys operate in different countries. You guys started in Cali — when it comes to Colombia at least — and now you are opening a facility in Medellín, is that correct?

Pablo Gonzalez: That is correct, that is correct.

Loren Moss: Wonderful. How did you decide on, first, Colombia? And, after Cali, why did you decide to make Medellín your expansion?

Pablo Gonzalez: So, Colombia makes a lot of sense. I think, you know, it’s a very good place to outsource, especially for clients in the US. It’s very, very close when it comes to English. Feedback from clients is that the English that we can get out of Colombia resonates a lot with US customer. It’s kind of a neutral accent, so it does resonate a lot with customers in the US who are looking to outsource to Latin America.

Colombia just kind of makes sense. It has a good economic outlook, the English is fine, and the talent is also there. So it makes a lot of sense. There are a lot of components that make sense for US clients to look for outsourcing operations out of Colombia.

Then, when you look into Colombia, I think there are two main reasons why TaskUs looked at Medellín. I think the first one is that, basically, Medellín is the second largest city. When you look at Colombia, it has a lot of talent and it’s very well known as a city of innovation. So the expansion to Medellín basically represents a continuation of the mission — to serve and help our customers — whether that is existing logos or new logos.

For the city, this means more talent, more opportunities, more development, and more social contributions. So Medellín kind of makes sense because of that. And when you look deeper into Medellín, it’s not only like its numbers. When you deep dive into the culture itself, “paisas” — that’s what we call people from Medellín — are known for their culture of hospitality and kindness. They are very into service — it comes naturally to them — so this blends naturally with the TaskUs culture.

Basically those are the two main reasons why TaskUs looked at Colombia to continue its growth. In Medellín, we have an opportunity to continue expanding the footprint and continue with that mission of serving our customers.

Loren Moss: Tell me about your new location in Medellín. Where are you located? And what kind of facility are you opening?

Pablo Gonzalez: Right. So, our facility in Medellín is called “The Gallery.” If you are familiar with TaskUs, you know that basically each of our sites has a unique type of brand or theme, right? The one in Cali, which is the first site that we opened in Colombia, its name is “The Arena.” And the reason why it’s The Arena is because Cali lives a sports culture very passionately. The theme of that particular site is sports, and it has conference rooms that look a lot like the football stadium from Cali.

When you look at Medellín, the reason why it’s named The Gallery, is because people from Medellín live art very passionately. Our theme is inspired by all the street art and graffiti that takes place in the Medellín culture. So that’s basically the theme for building.

We are in a very central spot, which is at Ruta N — very close to public transportation, bus stations, metro stations, very close to universities. For us, it’s a very strategic location, not only because of being central to each location but its surroundings as well.

Loren Moss: Right. Ruta N is right across the street from Universidad de Antioquia, right? 

Pablo Gonzalez: That is correct. You seem to navigate yourself in Medellín very well!

Loren Moss: Me defiendo [I manage]. So, what kind of clients are you serving out of your new Medellín location? What types of companies — like consumer packaged goods or technical support — or what kind of work are you doing out of the facility?

Pablo Gonzalez: So, currently, t’s a very new site — it’s brand new — and we started operations with a client from the healthcare sector. However, we are in conversations with several clients from different types of industries like technology and financial services. So it’s a location that when clients know it’s available, it definitely takes their interest in knowing more. We have had several clients visiting us already.

Pablo Gonzalez says potential clients “get very excited because it’s not only what TaskUs can do out of a city — but also how the culture of the city blends with the culture for that client. I think it’s a perfect combination.”

When they hear about Medellín, they know everything that takes place here — the innovation that the city is known for, all of the sports, the arts, gastronomy, and everything that is within the city. They get very excited because it’s not only what TaskUs can do out of a city — but also how the culture of the city blends with the culture for that client.

I think it’s a perfect combination. It’s a city that, as I was mentioning at the beginning, is very well-known for its passion, its service, its innovation. At the same time, if you combine that with what TaskUs can do globally, I think it’s a perfect mix — or a perfect recipe — for good customer service. When clients hear that we are here they get very excited about it. So it has definitely awakened the interest of several existing and new logos.

Loren Moss: That’s great. I think that one of the other benefits is that Medellín is a city that clients love to visit. I found that, lots of times, you’ll find that clients come here from other countries, whether it’s Europe or North America, and they are down here on business. Then, the next thing, you see the client, and I’m like, “Do we have a meeting?” And it’s like “No, I just wanted to come back!” It’s such a tourist-welcoming city that people like to come down here and look for any reason that they can to visit Medellín. I think that’s a good part of it.

So, tell me about the facility. Ruta N is a well-known business incubator, and it’s a great place for everything from entrepreneurs and startups to established global businesses. If you look back, there used to be some other global IT companies that made it their regional home. Why did you guys pick Ruta N? Then, also, tell me about your facility: what’s your capacity there and what are your capabilities and why did you decide to go into Ruta N?

Pablo Gonzalez: Let me start by telling you that our offices are designed to stimulate, inspire, and basically embolden the mind of our teammates. One of our cultural values within TaskUs is, “Work hard, have fun.” There’s a very good mix when you look at any of our sites.

In Medellín, it’s not any different. They are inspired. When you come into work you are happy to be there, but when you have your breaks and you are out of your shifts, there’s also plenty of activities within the site, to combine both of these things and actually live our culture. For us, it’s very nice to have this capability within the office, and it’s something that resonates a lot with our people. It’s our culture and our values, which is “Work hard, have fun.”

With Ruta N, it’s not only because of its location — but when we started, Ruta N also seemed like the right partner to start in a brand new city. They have a lot of contacts. They also, as you said yourself, are very glad to help you find talent and to connect you with different entities. It’s the right business partner to get into a new city. For us, it was a good match to start our operations in Medellín in that facility but also count with that partner.

“With Ruta N, it’s not only because of its location … It’s the right business partner to get into a new city. For us, it was a good match to start our operations in Medellín.”

– Pable Gonzalez of TaskUs

As I was telling you, our site is brand new, and currently our capacity to basically do business immediately is more than 200, but we are quickly adding more stations so we have the capability to add more seats very, very fast, in case that’s a client requirement. We want to be more than 500 stations in Colombia, in Medellín. But again, since we just started, this is what we have so far. But we plan to have more seats in the future, and how fast that goes basically depends on how fast clients want to do business with us in Medellín.

Loren Moss: By the way, I also want to congratulate you on participating in La Feria de las Flores. That’s something that you don’t normally see outsourcing companies do, but that’s such a big part of Medellín culture. So, second to last question: Tell me a little bit about how that came to happen.

For those people who don’t know, Colombia is one of the biggest flower exporters in the world, and a lot of those flowers come from the Medellín part of Colombia, Antioquia. When you fly to the airport and you are coming down for landing, you are gonna see greenhouses all around you. And those greenhouses, almost all of them are growing flowers. So every year they have a flower fair. That’s not something where you necessarily go to recruit talent or anything like that! But it’s kind of a surprising thing, to see that TaskUs was a part of the Feria de las Flores this year. Tell me about the inspiration behind that, and how you guys linked up with such an iconic paisa event.

Pablo Gonzalez: For us was an honor and a pleasure to be part of the festival. We like to merge with the culture and give back to the community, so it makes sense to us to be part of Feria de las Flores this year.

Fun fact: We actually had our senior vice president in Medellín during the weekend we went to Santa Elena and visited the “silletero” — the finca, or the farm, where they do these things — and we had our senior vice president also helping build the flower arrangements.

Loren Moss: Wow!

Pablo Gonzalez: It’s just amazing to be part of the culture and integrate with the culture. I truly believe, and TaskUs believes, that we have a lot of good things that we have learned through experience and by adding very senior people that have been doing BPO for so long.

I really think that you combine everything good that TaskUs has with all the good things that Medellín and its people can give — you combine those two cultures — and excellent product comes out of it. It’s a recipe for great service.

For us, it was just a pleasure to be there since the creation, understand the culture, understand the traditions, be there with the people, and not only come here to do business but also to give back to the communities — to the silletero families — to understand why all this is taking place. For us, as a company, and for me, leading the Medellín operation, it was, more than anything, a pleasure to be part of it. It was an amazing experience.

TaskUs participated in this year’s Feria de las Flores flower extravaganza, the most important and vibrant festival in Medellín. (Photo credit: TaskUs)

Loren Moss: Wow, that’s really great. For those people who don’t know, there’s a big parade of flowers that they do every year in Medellín. It’s really something that’s worth seeing. It’s worth visiting if you’ve never seen it. And the silletero is the person who carries the big thing — sometimes they weigh 200 pounds, 100 kilograms — on his or her back, and marches with this huge, heavy flower display on their back through the annual parade. It’s a labor of love. The people who do it are really honored to do it. It’s not like they go out and find some guy sitting around, but it’s really something that the people take very seriously. So that’s what that is.  

My last question for you — and I want to thank you for being so generous with your time: You’ve talked about why TaskUs chose Medellín — and we’ve also in the past talked about why TaskUs chose Cali and why TaskUs chose Colombia — but let me ask you about TaskUs. Why do companies choose TaskUs? Because there are a lot of outsourcing companies — there are a lot of good outsourcing companies, and different ones have different niches and different specialties — but being one of the major companies, a multinational company, what makes TaskUs special? What makes TaskUs special not just for the employee, but for the clients that you serve? And why do those clients come to TaskUs and you guys keep growing? Why is that?

Pablo Gonzalez: I think mainly it’s because of the culture, right? The company truly believes in people first. And you see that not only when you walk into the site and you see the facilities and the amenities there. They are not generic. They are not pretty and that’s it. It takes into account what people want. It takes into account what people need.

It’s not only that. I think the benefits that we offer are definitely above industry standards by far. Something we have is a prepaid medical coverage, which is like a premium medical insurance, dental plans, and life insurance. And not only for executives, which is what you normally see, but for every single employee that we have. They have access to all of the benefits that are above industry standards. Some of these benefits are also available for their families. It’s not only our teammates, but how can we take care of their families as well.

“I’m very happy to be part of an organization that thinks so holistically about their people and that truly, truly lives their people-first culture.”

– Pablo Gonzalez of TaskUs

Beyond that, I think I’ve seen some really amazing things. As we understand more about business and about people’s needs, I think these benefits that I’m about to mention are very, very important and they mean a lot to me.

We have very robust wellness and resiliency programs that are absolutely free. So, if people feel that they need life coaching or they need to talk to a psychologist — or whatever — they can have that for free onsite. Now, with mental health, we are talking more openly about it and people are starting to get awareness of how important it is to not only take care of the body but also the mind.

Having benefits like these, to me, means a lot — taking care of how people feel and how they manage crises. Whether it’s because of work, whether it’s personal, for us, it’s no different. We take care of our employees regardless.

Those benefits I think resonate a lot with employees and potential candidates, and those are things that are not very common to find in the industry. I think those are some of the main things why it resonates with paisas and TaskUs in Medellín.

Loren Moss: You mentioned prepaid medical. It’s a big deal here in Colombia. Most companies, by law, have to provide EPS, which is kind of like the government-mandated basic plan. But people don’t realize that the private medicine plan that you guys offer usually costs more than half of what a basic salary is here. So, it’s really a luxury. It’s something that the average Colombian doesn’t have. For somebody to be able to work in a contact center and get that luxury plan that’s usually kind of reserved for — like we say in Colombia, ‘Estrato 6’ [high-income earners] — the top 10%,  it’s a heck of a perk. That’s a really amazing benefit that you guys offer.

You talked about the wellness, you talked about being able to provide. Back in the United States, we would call that an employee assistance program. That’s really innovative. We don’t see that here. And one of the things I think that it seems that the philosophy is that the company is saying: we want to offer high-level benefits globally — not just comply with whatever the law says, but to do what we think is right, way above and beyond that. That’s really impressive. I’ve seen that having covered TaskUs in different countries and even here in Colombia in different cities. It seems to be part of your culture, no?

Pablo Gonzalez: Yeah, it means a lot to us, especially in Colombia. It gives them access to certain specialties and certain treatments faster than what you would get with a regular government medical insurance. For us, it just makes sense to take care of our people: physically, mentally, and sentimentally. For us, it’s the whole package: how we take care of our individuals.

READ MORE: TaskUs Says Respect and Location Strategy Are Keys to Success in Cali, Colombia

Again, I think having the facilities, having the medical insurance, and having all of these wellness programs available for our people, it just makes sense. It’s just basically in the DNA of TaskUs, and it comes very naturally for everybody that works here. I’m very happy to be part of an organization that thinks so holistically about their people and that truly, truly lives their people-first culture.

This interview transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

The New Braunfels, Texas-based company, which employs nearly 50,000 people across 13 countries and specializes in providing outsourced digital services and customer experiences, expects to launch its Medellín location, called “The Gallery,” in September.

Photo: TaskUs employees celebrate the opening of its office in Cali. (Credit: TaskUs)

“The cultural richness and dynamic spirit of Medellín, along with the warm and welcoming nature of its people, make it the perfect location for our expansion,” said Pablo Gonzalez, incoming vice president of operations in Medellín, in a statement. “We are excited to collaborate with the local community, embrace its unique culture, and contribute to the city’s economic growth.”

The company’s 380-seat office in Cali, called “The Arena,” has enjoyed significant growth in workload and headcount since it opened in June 2022, according to TaskUs, and serves global clients in healthcare, financial services, digital commerce, and fashion. TaskUs was honored earlier this year by the Colombian American Chamber (AmCham) and the Colombian Presidential Agency of International Cooperation (APC) for supporting youth employment in Cali and the region.

“Colombia is one of our fastest growing regions, and we are quickly adding capacity to meet the demand,” said Stephan Daoust, COO of TaskUs. The executive also lauded his colleague who will be heading new site in Medellín, saying that Gonzalez is the “perfect leader to drive our growth and success” and “brings years of experience in customer operations and service management with business process outsourcers and large, innovative global brand names.

Known for its strong culture and employee-friendly environment, TaskUs won industry association BPro’s 2022 Bronze CX Interaction awards for best administration of human capital.

Known for its strong culture and employee-friendly environment, TaskUs won industry association BPro’s 2022 Bronze CX Interaction awards for best administration of human capital.

Unlike traditional centers, the TaskUs facility is designed as flexible space that can accommodate workers that want a traditional commute to work, as well as those who want to work from home and “drop in” from time to time. Finance Colombia’s executive editor Loren Moss recently visited the facility for a tour, and to speak with Beatriz Viveros, TaskUs’ Senior Recruitment Manager for Latin America.

Finance Colombia: Can I have your name and your position here?

Beatriz Viveros: Sure, I am Beatriz Viveros (above photo), Senior Recruitment Manager for Latin America.

Finance Colombia: Ah, ok so not only for Colombia but for all of Latin America?

Beatriz Viveros: Yes, for now, we are located in Cali (Colombia) and Tijuana (México). Also, well, I would also be part of some, additional growth that we are considering here in Latin America

 Finance Colombia: Why did you choose Cali? Why Colombia and then why Cali specifically?

Beatriz Viveros: Well, why Colombia? The corporation has always been looking to grow in Latin America, it has seen it as an offshore need close to the United States because of the time zone, which suits us a lot, as well as Colombia; the level of training, the level of bilingualism and obviously the financial solidity as well as country security.

Most of our operations are in the Philippines, which is where the company started…This topic of growing multilingual began, so that is why the topic of Spanish was highly valued. So it was part of this growth of multi-language that the company is doing and that is why they chose Colombia.

When they began to review Colombia, the truth is that there is an anecdote that our vice president would tell you better, but when they began to review Colombia, they reviewed other cities, they did not know anything about Colombia and considered cities other than Cali.

They never considered Bogotá, because the idea of TaskUs is not to be located in these super crowded and super dense cities in which market competition is extremely tough, so we want to be located in places where we can make a difference and where the impact is felt.

Cali, well, the anecdote that our vice president always tells is that, when they called him to offer this job, which was the first person they hired here, they mentioned Medellín. So, they asked him, Can you move to Medellín? And he said, yes, that might be an option. It seems cool to me, but have you considered Cali? He is from Cali.

Then they asked him, “are you serious about Cali?” And he said “of course.” Cali is the third city in the country, the cost of living is lower than Bogotá. Bogotá and Medellín are more populated, especially in the BPO ecosystem, than the other two cities, and also Cali has super strong telecommunications infrastructure. I believe that this is something very few people know about Cali. So, let’s see, Colombia has three undersea internet cables, the first two access the country from the north and they supply service to a vast part of the country. The third one accesses the country through the Pacific. That one from the Pacific goes straight into Cali so, the quality that we have is very big in that aspect. In addition, there is also a talent training issue that is very little explored with very few BPO players here, so he always cataloged it as a hidden gem and told them that.

The TasskUs facilities in northern Cali, Colombia have a sports-themed environment.

He says that later when he arrived for his second interview, they told him, “well, we want to share with you that the city where we are going to start operations is Cali.” So, he contacted them with Invest Pacífic and everything else. I believe that at that time the corporation realized the value and the great strategic position of the city to grow here in Latin America.

They realized all the great values that Cali could have and everything that was not exploited and they loved it. After that, we started all the exploration in Cali and it has gone very well for us.

We arrived in Cali at a very critical moment for the city, we started operations in January 2021. If you remember, we were here three months before the riots, not sure if you are aware of that. So, we were launching, riots were going on, we were in the middle of COVID, but I think that the way TaskUs launched, how focused we are on the benefits for its employees. They came from having faced this pandemic issue in the Philippines, the importance of keeping people safe, to be able to offer the additional benefits that we provide, we have prepaid medicine for all our employees so that they are safe

That sold very well then, when we arrived, people loved it. Well, I am the recruitment manager. I tell you, for me, the work was not complicated. People understood all this, what we do, and this has always been our priority. Always to keep our people safe. All the ramping that was done in Colombia was work from home accounts

Right now, we are going back to the site. This started more or less a month ago and it has been very gradual. We are not one of those companies that say, “well, tomorrow you have to be on site working and I do not care about your daughter, your school, your transportation, your house,” all of these. On the contrary, coming back to the site has been very well-planned giving people time. So, I think these have been the great advantages. That was the reason why we chose Cali and they are the reasons why we have already been so successful in the city.

Finance Colombia: When talking about the workforce, what would be the advantages, how is the recruiting process, how are you hiring people, what differences are, for example, when talking about bilingualism, education, preparation for employability, and so on?

Beatriz Viveros: I would say that the first topic is soft skills. Definitively, “El Caleño” (someone from Cali) is known for being…having a friendly personality, for being empathetic and all those qualities are transmitted very well into customer service and match with TaskUs style. We provide proactive service, many customer services, and what makes us different in the BPO world is the type of clients we work with which are hyper growth and are very disruptive, so our services have to be the same and to do so, the way we deal with it, the relationship with our employees, the way we deal with all the talent challenges are different.

We strive to provide benefits that are completely “ridiculous”. With that, we achieve that our employees are engaged with the company and with our customers, so that we provide outstanding service to those clients, and they have customer service way beyond a standard BPO.

So, what have we found here? Well, we found that there are more than 30 institutions that produce bilingual people a year providing more than 7,000 bilinguals a year. The bilingualism percentage has grown tremendously in Cali in the last 10 years, from 4% to 15% of the population that we have. That huge pool of bilinguals, from B1 to B2 (English levels) available, is another thing that caught our attention and, as I was saying, the cost of living is quite affordable compared with the rest of the cities in the country. Now, when we are recruiting, it has not been all that simple that we put up the little flag and a lot of people arrive

We have made some very great efforts, precisely with the mayor’s office since we got here, mostly training related. So, what is it that you find a lot in our geography? And you should know it very well. Individuals who have made an effort to learn English but given that they do not have opportunity to practice it enough, their fluency is not the best. So, we created a school dedicated to solving that issue. It is called The Art of Fluency which started operations in May of last year.

We have already graduated more than 100 students with a very high success rate, we graduated about 80% of the students. Those individuals after they graduate from a completely free program with us, they can re-access our selection process to be considered again

We have hired a large proportion of these students. It is very interesting because they have either come from initiatives that we have made in conjunction with the mayor’s office, or they are people who approach us to work with us; however, during the process we realize that they are not that proficient. So, we tell them, “look, you are a little rusty, your English sounds a little choppy, you need training.” But we also know that here in Colombia we are not prepared to this level of bilingualism and that is why TaskUs decided to invest in this as a kickback completely to the community, and it has benefited us a lot.

In my recruiting team, there is this lady with quite a success story. She came to the recruitment process, she entered the academy then she came to work with us as a teammate, she worked for a few months and then she participated in an internal promotion process. She was with us in a trial process to see how she was doing to become a recruiter and right now she is working with us as a sourcer and it is incredible. I love stories like that. She is a mother, she has a daughter, and she says, I love it here. She was with us at the launch.

She has a somewhat unusual name for Colombia. Her name is Ariacna. So, she says, this is one of the first places where they pronounce my name correctly and they also take me into account for all the other things, like how to improve my English, the schedule with my daughter and everything else. So, there are very nice stories that prove that this really works. We can discuss very large numbers and other topics, but I can tell you that it is very cool to see someone from my team whose life I know has changed and that her daughter’s life has changed because of that, so it is very interesting. That is our great commitment with the talent from Cali.

Finance Colombia: What types of clients do you serve? Not sure if you can name them.

 Beatriz Viveros: I can not name them but I can tell you what they are about. For example, there is a car sharing service, a car sharing platform in the United States. There is also a service with fintech with financial platforms. We have some very interesting services, for example DNA Testing, we provide customer service for them also an alcohol delivery service. There is a service, with all this COVID situation, there are a lot of health-related decks, so we provide assistance with COVID tests and other types of health related topics. There are also many e-commerce companies, and given that most of our services are very focused on cloud services, they are all very innovative companies that are just as disruptive, just like us, all hypergrowth and with the intention of growing very fast, different and with excellent customer service. So, we have had tech for education as well. There is an online learning platform, a high-level company, and we provide customer service to them. Right now, we have a very interesting one that is coming, and they are those strange things that come here, that are not seen in other companies, for example, a digital locker provider; there are these lockers that you can have in certain places but you have some digital tokens…

Finance Colombia: Oh yeah. That is already growing…

Beatriz Viveros: …To access. So, all these types of clients that are so different that require a different customer service than the regular tele-call that you could have anywhere else, those are our clients and that is what we prepare our talent for.

Finance Colombia: What is different about TaskUs? Obviously there are many high quality BPOs and many BPOs that provide high levels of service, but can you tell me what it is that defines TaskUs that are that is different, not like, “we have better service,” everyone says that, but speaking of what they are, if someone is evaluating all the BPOs: “Wow, TaskUs is unique,” or is it beyond the others because—not sure if it because of its focus, why would it be?

 Beatriz Viveros: Because we choose to work with different clients. As mentioned, the majority of them are hypergrowth, disruptive companies unique within their market and, now we are working with another that produces digital passports for teams to work in very large mining or construction companies. So, as you can see, they all are companies who do unique, very special things that are beginning to grow and that we can grow with them. That is the first part.

The second part is how those companies approach their relationship with their frontline, their teammates. We believe that the best way to produce security for our clients in the management of their information and in the management of their clients, is to treat our frontline in the best way, always thinking people first. So, clear examples of those: Here in Colombia, you know that prepaid medicine is an upper management benefit only. TaskUs provides prepaid medicine for its entire frontline here. They all have a 100% contract with Medisanitas, which you know, is one of the best companies here in Colombia. It is 100% covered for them. Also, they can add two beneficiaries and TaskUS pays 50% of such cost. And given that we managed such a good deal with them, that fee is way lower than what they can get anywhere else. That is one of the ways of telling you how we treat people well so that they are so happy to be here, that our clients’ information is not at risk nor is the service of our clients’ clients at risk.

In addition, we provide tuition reimbursement which is a global benefit for all TaskUs employees and that’s another thing, the benefit is the same for everyone, frontline, managers, supervisors. We provide $500USD a year to study whatever you want. It could be language training, certifications, or college. Those funds are available every year at your disposal.

We also have the benefit that I like the most, which I always say is the birthday off, and it is a real thing that happens that people can schedule. Also, we have other types of benefits. We have something super unique which is the wellness center. There are psychologists, coaches and psychiatrists dedicated to the mental care of people when they need it and we have a lot of proactive activities for people. I can tell you that when I got here, I found things as diverse as intuitive nutrition, mandala courses, talks on empowering women’s sexuality, that is, some spectacular things that you would say, are things that contribute to the total growth of the employee, and it is rare to see them in a company

So, that is the sense that we have and I would tell you that those two things are different, with whom we choose to work and how we choose to work with people

Finance Colombia: So the management, the upper TaskUs management, is satisfied with their decision to choose Cali?

 Beatriz Viveros: Yes. We are growing a lot, and as you can see this site’s capacity is for about 375 employees and we already have hired more than 800 teammates. So this clearly implies that we have had greater growth than expected, that very soon we will need another site like this one and we have been working here for a year and a half and we are completely happy with Cali.

Finance Colombia: Attrition is not a problem?

 Beatriz Viveros: We have one of the lowest attrition rates, it is not a problem, right now; low compared to the industry and low compared to other cities. Precisely because of benefits and employee management because there is also something more about philosophy, not so much about money, because if you know the BPO industry, you know this matter of telling someone about his schedule but when they start working, they say, “sorry we need to change the schedule,” we do not do that here. Saying, “you know, the volume of the client went down so I need you to ask for a vacation tomorrow” and you go like “but wait I am in the middle of the week, I have nothing to do, I have no money!” We do not do that kind of thing. So, we try to enable people to plan their lives, to plan their free time, it matters a lot to us so that they can rest, and we do it very well out of respect. On that matter, the HR Department is very firm and works hand in hand with all the other areas and help us a lot to control attrition-related issues.

“As we embrace the new normal, we now have hundreds of employees that are finally coming to The Arena,” said Guillermo Ulloa, TaskUs Colombia Vice President of Operations. “The feedback from our teammates has been very positive. They love the colors, the lighting, the sports-themed lobby, and the soccer field! They are also very much looking forward to physically working alongside their fellow teammates and experiencing everything our site facilities have to offer.”

TaskUs Colombia started its operations in March of 2021 with remote employees, while the easing of COVID-19 restrictions is allowing TaskUs to transition to on-site operations with on-site programming such as fun activities and wellness support.

The Arena features bright, collaborative, and modern workspaces, including recreational areas such as a gym, a cafe, meditation rooms, and game rooms for all employees to use. The new office is located in the north of the city close to the Chipichape Mall, where employees can dine or unwind after work.

“The Arena has a vibrant and colorful personality that represents the mutual culture of TaskUs and Cali,” said Hemant Sehgal, TaskUs senior vice president of operations. “It serves to inspire, energize, and invigorate the minds and bodies of our teammates on and off work, all while having fun. We are excited to welcome our teammates on-site, while supporting them throughout the process, and for more Caleños to discover what makes the TaskUs employee experience truly ridiculously good.”

Above photo,from left to right: Alejandro Ossa, Invest Pacific Director; Liliana Sierra, Secretary of Economic Development; Diana Muñoz, Director of the International Cooperation Office; Alejandro Alvira, a TaskUs teammate; Guillermo Ulloa, Vice President of Operations; Isabella Mariño, Director of ProColombia; and Fabian Saavedra, Director of PacificShore.