Colombia’s rejection rate is now comparable to China’s, which stood at 25.37% for the same period. Within South America, Colombia’s rate was exceeded only by Bolivia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, each reporting denial rates above 35%. In contrast, Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil reported significantly lower refusal rates, ranging from approximately 5% to 15%.

The adjusted refusal rate accounts for multiple applications by the same individual and excludes cases where initial refusals were later overcome through additional documentation or appeals.

From Visa Waiver Talks to Rejection Spike

The current visa rejection rate stands in stark contrast to the diplomatic trajectory under former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. In 2014, Santos publicly stated that the United States had initiated a process to eliminate visa requirements for Colombian citizens traveling for tourism and short-term business. The announcement was made during a press conference in New York, where Santos said, “We are working with the US government to remove the visa requirement for Colombians.”

That process has since collapsed. No formal visa waiver agreement was reached, and under subsequent administrations, visa conditions have deteriorated significantly.

The increase in Colombia’s visa rejection rate coincides with a series of diplomatic incidents between Bogotá and Washington. In January 2025, Colombian President Gustavo Petro revoked authorization for US repatriation flights carrying deported Colombian nationals. The reversal came hours after Petro initially welcomed the flights via social media, only to later delete the post and issue a statement denying entry to the aircraft. Petro cited concerns over the treatment of deportees, stating, “The United States cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals.”

The US government responded by suspending visa services at its embassy in Bogotá, effective January 27, 2025 until Petro backed down, which he did immediately. According to Finance Colombia, the suspension was part of a broader set of retaliatory measures announced by then-President Donald Trump, which included:

• 50% tariffs on Colombian exports.
• Visa revocations for government officials.
• Travel bans targeting Petro administration affiliates.
• Enhanced customs inspections of Colombian cargo and nationals.

The diplomatic rift drew criticism from Colombian regional leaders. Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez and Antioquia Governor Andrés Julián Rendón publicly denounced Petro’s actions, warning of economic repercussions and calling for direct engagement with US counterparts.

In May 2024, the US imposed visa restrictions on executives of Colombian transportation companies accused of facilitating unauthorized migration by sea. The State Department stated that these companies “prey on vulnerable irregular migrants” and operate services “designed primarily to facilitate irregular migration to the United States.”

While the US government has not officially linked the rise in visa denials to these diplomatic and migration-related events, the timing and scale of the increase suggest that political tensions are influencing consular decisions.

Outlook

The elevated rejection rate could impact Colombian tourism, business travel, and bilateral cooperation. With visa services only recently reinstated following Petro’s capitulation to US demands, it remains unclear whether the rate will stabilize or continue to rise amid ongoing political volatility and economic uncertainty.

US Department of State. Photo credit: US Department of State/Facebook.

Agromatch Generates $6 Million in Business Potential

Agromatch, Expo Agrofuturo’s business matchmaking platform, brought together 251 exhibitors and 60 buyers from countries including Argentina, Aruba, Colombia, Curacao, Ecuador, Slovenia, the United States, Guatemala, Panama, and Venezuela. The platform facilitated 524 meetings among participants, with reported business expectations totaling approximately $6.16 million. This year, exhibitors included 94 representatives from Colombia’s Ministry of Agriculture, underscoring the event’s focus on small and medium-sized producers.

Expo Agrofuturo’s 18th edition is scheduled to be held in Medellín from September 10 to 12, 2025.

Broad Regional and International Participation

Expo Agrofuturo’s exhibitors showcased a variety of products and services ranging from crop varieties, fertilizers, and machinery to transportation and logistical solutions. Representatives from Colombia’s diverse regions, including  and Cundinamarca, displayed products highlighting the country’s agricultural diversity.

International representation included notable participation from Chile, which showcased its agricultural export strength and expertise in fruit and vegetable production, a sector that generates significant revenue as the country’s leading non-copper export category. According to ProChile, Chile’s agricultural exports span 970 products, reaching over 170 destinations, with the United States, China, and Japan as primary markets. Poland and other countries, including China, Argentina, France, the Netherlands, the United States, Peru, and Uruguay, also participated, reflecting ongoing interest in accessing Colombian agricultural markets.

Casanare: Featured Region

Casanare participated as the featured region this year, bringing 20 exhibitors focused on the region’s food processing innovations. “We aim to promote sustainable development in the region through initiatives in cacao, coffee, and other agricultural transformations,” stated Casanare Governor César Ortiz Zorro. Exhibits from the region included automated fertigation systems powered by wind and solar energy, hybrid water extraction technologies, and a range of tropical fruit-based snacks.

Technology and Knowledge Exchange Through FIXA and Agrotalks

The event’s technology focus was highlighted through the display of agricultural drones, advanced machinery, and applications designed to streamline farm management. According to Agrilink co-founder Ricardo Jaramillo, digital tools and artificial intelligence are playing an increasing role in aiding farmers with planting schedules and productivity decisions.

Agrotalks, Expo Agrofuturo’s educational component, provided 1,900 attendees with insights from more than 60 speakers on topics such as sustainability, climate change, biotechnology, soil care, and the role of technology in agriculture. Agrotalks hosted sessions at three different venues within Corferias, with significant contributions from exhibitors, including representatives from Colombia’s rural development-focused Utopía Project.

Additionally, the Forum for Innovation in Agrofuturo (FIXA) hosted 505 attendees and presented discussions on livestock and agriculture, featuring international representatives who examined global agricultural advancements and challenges.

Exhibitor Feedback on Expo Agrofuturo 2024

Several exhibitors shared positive feedback on their experience at the event. Andrés Ramírez of BJ Agriculture highlighted a 200% growth in sales compared to previous years, noting the presence of a well-targeted and informed audience. Miguel Ángel Chávez of Cimecol S.A.S. and Adriana Afanador, manager of Proplantas S.A., also commented on the event’s business-oriented atmosphere, reporting positive sales outcomes and increased interest in Colombian agribusiness.

Expo Agrofuturo’s 18th edition is scheduled to be held in Medellín from September 10 to 12, 2025, continuing its role as a hub for agricultural innovation and business development in the region.

Expo Agrofuturo’s 18th edition is scheduled to be held in Medellín from September 10 to 12, 2025 (photo: Corferias).

Photos courtesy Corferias

This year’s program features 3,000 activities across 25 event categories, with the participation of 280 national and international guests. Among them are 16 international editors and publishing agents from countries including Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Spain, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Chile.

The event’s agenda will include discussions, workshops, literary activities, and exhibitions. Notable participants include Colombian authors Mario Mendoza, Luis Miguel Rivas, and Velia Vidal. International guests include Andrés Oppenheimer (Argentina), Katie Kitamura (US), Javier Peña (Spain), Audry Magee (Ireland), Aura García-Junco (Mexico), and Carlos Manuel Álvarez (Cuba).

In addition to celebrating independent publishing, the event will commemorate significant milestones, such as the 100th anniversaries of La Vorágine and Colombian comics, the 20th anniversary of Bibliocirco, and the relaunch of the León de Greiff Prize, which recognizes contributions to publishing and literature nationwide.

The Fundación Secretos para Contar, participating for the first time, will conduct workshops at the Jardín Lectura Viva. These workshops, inspired by the foundation’s work in urban and rural areas of Antioquia and Colombia, will focus on reading promotion and narrative creation. The foundation will also unveil its ninth book collection, emphasizing the connection between rural and urban life.

Other highlights include the Cuentódromo, Salón del Libro Infantil y Juvenil, Salón del Cómic y la Ilustración, Salón de Nuevas Lecturas, Salón del Libro Universitario, and Salón de la Autopublicación. The event will also feature book launches, a national booksellers’ meeting, and seminars on editor training and comic research in Colombia.

Bibliocirco will mark its 30th anniversary with a performance on September 7, launching the latest installment in its Cuentico Amarillo series, La niña perdida espera a Peter Pan, written by José Andrés Ardila and illustrated by Yanneth Pineda.

On September 12 and 13, the Secretaría de Cultura Ciudadana and Sura will host conversations under the theme “How to Live Well Together?” These discussions, aligned with the Medellín Te Quiere 2024-2027 Development Plan, will explore social trust, civic culture, and community resilience.

The event is supported by a public investment of $9 billion pesos from the Medellín city government, which aims to promote literacy, writing, and oral traditions across the city’s 16 districts and five townships. Partnerships with organizations such as Comfenalco, Comfama, EPM, Fundación Saldarriaga Concha, and El Colombiano have also facilitated the event’s programming.

Click above to watch video

In addition to JetSmart’s domestic operations, starting with three Airbus A320neo aircraft, the airline has already been flying international routes between Medellín, Lima Peru, and Santiago, Chile.

Travelers will be able to take advantage of exclusive discounts on domestic routes with tickets starting at $47,800 Colombian pesos (including fees and taxes) or about $13 US Dollars.

Jetsmart also announced Thursday that the airline’s Colombian base of operations will be at the José María Córdova International Airport in Rionegro, Colombia; a suburb of Medellín.  CEO Estuardo Ortíz (above photo, left) credited the work of the mayoral administrations of Medellín, Rionegro, the Governor of Antioquia, and Airport operations contractor Airplan.

“We believe, trust and invest in Colombia, and especially today we are committed to the region of Antioquia and its more than six and a half million inhabitants, to contribute to tourism, development and connectivity of all communities, just as we have already done with the 25 million people who have already flown with us throughout South America. We want the region to go out into the world, and for Antioquia, Medellín and the region to connect from the airport in Rionegro to more destinations and frequencies, both domestic and international. Our new operation in Colombia is an important step in our vision of 100 million passengers and 100 aircraft by 2028,” said Ortíz.

JetSmart launched a total of eight direct routes from Medellín to Santa Marta, Cartagena and Bogotá; and from Bogota, to Cartagena, Pereira, Santa Marta and Medellín, as well as from Cartagena to Pereira and Cali. These domestic routes are in addition to the seven international routes that JetSmart flies from Medellín to Chile and Peru, with connections to Argentina and Uruguay. Codeshare agreements will provide connectivity north to the United States through American Airlines, and JetSmart has announced coming participation to American Airlines’ AAdvantage loyalty program.

JetSmart is part of the airline portfolio of U.S. investment fund Indigo Partners, along with airlines Frontier in the United States, WizzAir in Europe, Volaris in Mexico and Cebu Pacific in Asia.

Indigo Partners Principal Brian Franke (above photo, right) said that “We are looking forward to the start of JetSMART’s domestic operations in Colombia and continue to invest in the region to develop the ultra-low-cost model. We see tremendous growth potential in Colombia, and as we expand JetSmart we continue to provide affordable air travel to more people and communities.”

Operating Out Of Terminal 2 In Bogotá

Thursday morning, JetSmart celebrated its Colombian domestic launch with a press conference in the Puente Aereo, or Terminal 2 of Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport. Bogotá airport operator OPAIN renovated parts of Terminal 2 with new chairs and seating areas, installing Veripax technology for digital reading of boarding passes, and an exclusive area for VIP and official travelers. They also expanded the gate areas, remodeled the bathrooms, installed new floors and charging areas.

“We celebrate the start of JetSMART’s domestic operations in the country, as this strengthens the sector and boosts El Dorado’s position as the main hub for connection to the regions of Colombia. We have adapted Terminal 2 – the former Air Bridge, so that travelers can take their domestic flights in a more comfortable and agile way,”  said Natalí Leal, General Manager of OPAIN.

It is important that domestic passengers flying JetSmart from Bogotá keep in mind that flights leave from Terminal 2, while international flights still arrive and depart from the main terminal. There is a free shuttle that travels between the two airport terminals. Travelers must allow adequate time for transfers, and if necessary, immigration for international flights. Passengers arriving to El Dorado International Airport for domestic JetSmart flights should be explicit with transportation providers that they will be departing from Terminal 2 or “El Puente Aereo.”

The event is the number-one business meetings facilitator for capital markets in Latin America and the Caribbean. Confirmed participants include representatives from a range of of top-end institutions who will share insights on the latest capital markets opportunities, developments and trends across the region, including:

• Ministry of Finance of Ecuador
• National Treasury of Brazil
• Ministry of Economy and Finance of Uruguay
• Bladex
• CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean
• BNP Paribas
• … and many more!

About the Event:
Bonds, Loans & ESG Capital Markets – Latin America & Caribbean Event

Bonds, Loans & ESG Capital Markets – Latin America & Caribbean is the region’s largest and most senior corporate and investment banking event. It is the annual meeting place for more than 500 of the most senior regional and international issuers, borrowers, investors, bankers, advisers and regulators across Latin America and the Caribbean and feature more than 65 expert speakers. With over 87% of the audience being director-level or above, it is a place where live deals are discussed and mandates are won each year.

New for 2023

The Day 2 agenda (on November 28) will be ESG capital markets focused and feature world class ESG speakers. It is open to all attendees and is the only gathering focused on ESG and sustainable finance solutions for the LatAm and Caribbean markets.

The event is your best opportunity to setup valuable 1-2-1 meetings; network; develop new business in LatAm & Caribbean’s capital markets; and institutionalize relationships with existing clients in one place at one time. The expert agenda also shares behind-the-scenes insights from market leaders and enables senior industry decision-makers to discuss important capital markets developments, face-to-face. Regional and international capital markets players in LatAm & Caribbean use this event as a tool to conduct business and shape future financing strategies – making it a “must attend” for all leading CEOs, CFOs, and treasurers.

Highlights of this Year’s Event

You don’t want to miss this opportunity to join 500+ of Latin America and Caribbean’s most senior investment, capital markets, and finance professionals in-person this November.

• Pre-arrange 1-2-1 meetings:
  Use the Bonds & Loans online platform to schedule meetings with other attendees who have created accounts
• Networking Opportunities:
  Access 500+ leading regional & international sovereigns, corporates, investors, banks, law firms, regulators & market practitioners in one location at one time, saving you time and money. Visit our site to see more about our attendees, including Andean Telecom Partners, Saavi Energy, Porto Itapoa, Digital Bridge, and more.
• Accelerate Deals:
  Senior decision-makers (87% director-level or above) from your capital markets clients are attending to move deals along and institutionalize relationships with current partners
• Win new business:
  Your capital markets prospects are there to proactively seek out new business partners
• Gain Expert Market Insights:
  Hear how Latin America & Caribbean’s financial leaders are navigating the current economic climate/share expectations for the future & benchmark

Get Your 10% Discount for Registration

As a Supporting Partner, we have managed to secure a 10% discount for the readers and contacts of Finance Colombia.

To register as a delegate and take advantage of our discount please:

• Register online here

or

• Eontact Isobel Taylor at Isobel.Taylor@GFCMediaGroup.com and mention our unique code: FC10.

For more information about the event, please visit BondsLoansLatam.com or contact Isobel.Taylor@GFCMediaGroup.com.

To view the latest agenda, speakers and companies that attend please download the event brochure here.

Photo: Miami skyline. (Credit: Jorge Tapia / Pixabay)

According to the White House:

Jean Elizabeth Manes, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as Civilian Deputy to the Commander and Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, U.S. Southern Command, a position she has held since 2019. Previously, Manes served as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador from 2016 to 2019. She has served domestically at the U.S. Department of State as Principal Deputy Coordinator for the Bureau of International Information Programs and as Director of Resources for the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

Her overseas assignments include Public Affairs Officer in Afghanistan; Principal Officer in the Azores, Portugal; and assignments in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Syria. She is the recipient of a Distinguished Presidential Rank Award, five Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards, multiple Superior Honor Awards, was named Public Diplomacy Professional of the Year and was the recipient of the Lois Roth Award for Excellence in Education and Cultural Diplomacy.

A native of Florida, Manes speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese. She has a Master’s degree in Public Administration from American University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Policy from Liberty University in Virginia.

Headline photo: Then US Ambassador in El Salvador, Jean Elizabeth Manes at a Beyond the Horizon 2018 school construction site in the area of Zacatecoluca, El Salvador, June 15, 2018. The original school building was cluttered with debris such as scrap metal, wood and trash. The 15th of June is the day that is officially recognized by both governments as the day of US and Salvadoran friendship. (US Army photo by Sgt. Walter H. Lowell)

This means that $722.9 million USD were exported to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. In volume, 289,791.7 tons were sold to these countries, an increase of 3.1%.

Compared to the same month in 2021, this meant an increase of 11%, and in relation to September 2019, the growth was 27.8%.

Of the total goods sold by the country to this region in September, with which the government of President Gustavo Petro seeks to strengthen economic and trade integration, almost half (44.5%) were non-mining energy goods.

Plastics, vehicles for passenger transportation, palm oil, medicines, candies and sweets, soaps, soluble coffee, beauty preparations, paper and cardboard, among others, are the main products exported to this part of the world.

“We advocate for a joint agenda in economic and commercial matters, but above all in productive complementation, border integration and so many other things in the region. It is necessary to return to having common objectives within a framework of internationalization with a human face and to continue strengthening the CAN and mechanisms such as the Pacific Alliance,” said the Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Germán Umaña Mendoza.

In the first nine months of this year, the 16 countries mentioned above received $6,225.6 million USD in non-mining and energy goods from Colombia, which translates into an increase of 19.7% compared to the same period in 2021 ($5,202.9 million USD) and 29% compared to January-September 2019 ($4,823.1 million USD).

Between January-September, Colombia exported $6.2 billion USD in non-mining goods to 16 Latin American countries. In the first 9 months of the year, global foreign sales of non-mining energy goods totaled $16.5 billion USD.

In volume, this represented 2.5 million tons for a 3% growth compared to a year ago.

Venezuela

It should be noted that Venezuela has been increasing its share receiving Colombia’s non-mining energy exports. From representing 1.6% of this type of sales a year ago and occupying 17th place in this ranking, today it represents 2.7% of these exports and occupies 7th place.

Between January and September of this year, exports of non-mining goods to Venezuela reached $438 million USD for a growth of 108.4% compared to the same period of 2021, when it represented “only” $210,4 million USD.

Among the goods most exported to Venezuela are sweets, plastics, fertilizers, palm and soybean oils, margarines, laminated products, bakery products, compresses and electric accumulators.

Non-mining energy goods

As for non-mining energy goods exports to the world, in September alone, Colombia sold $1.831 billion USD in this type of product, which is their highest value exported in a September. It represents a growth of 19% compared to the same month of 2021 and 48.9% compared to the ninth month of 2019, a year before the covid-19 pandemic.

Exports in September were driven by industrial products, Ministry of Commerce classification, which accounted for 62.6% of the non-mining market basket in September and grew 13.5% compared to the same month of 2021.

In this group, some products stand out for their growth such as doors, windows and their frames (266.6%); vehicles for passenger transportation (116.8%); coffee extracts and concentrates (73.5%); cane or beet sugar (32.4%); other hair preparations (16.1%) and chocolates, confectionery and candies (15.3%), among others.

In this same month, exports of primary products to the world, according to the classification of the Trade portfolio, represented 37.3% of non-mining exports and grew 30% when compared to the same period of 2021.

Among these products, we can highlight the growth of unroasted coffee, whose exports grew 26.3%. In addition, bananas and plantains increased 47.9%; flowers (28.6%); frozen beef (14.4%); Hass avocado (53.6%); tilapia fillets (147.9%) and Tahiti lime (61.3%), among others.

“In the government of President Gustavo Petro we work to strengthen the domestic market, exports, to replace imports and to generate income that allows the reduction of inequality. In this purpose, it is essential to promote the creation of small and medium-sized companies to create more exportable supply and integrate them into international value chains,” said the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Germán Umaña Mendoza.

The main destination for exports of non-mining energy goods in September was the United States, which accounted for 29.8% of these sales. Exports to that market totaled $545.3 million USD, an increase of 35% compared to the same month last year. The second most important market for these exports was Ecuador, which accounted for 8.4%. They totaled $153.1 million USD, an increase of 1% compared to September 2021. The third most important destination was Brazil, which accounted for 6.1% of these exports. In September they reached $111.2 million USD, an increase of 28%.

Between January and September of this year, Colombia’s exports of non-mining and energy goods reached $16.48 billion USD and represented 37.6% of total domestic sales abroad.  This is the highest amount exported for this period in history. They increased 26.2% compared to the same period in 2021 and 43.3% compared to January-September 2019, the year prior to the pandemic generated by covid.

It is also interesting to note that Colombia’s total exports to the United States were $11.4 billion USD in the first nine months of the year, compared to $901.82 million USD for Canada, $5.7 billion USD for the European Union and $481.26 million USD for the United Kingdom.

Above photo: Port of Cartagena (photo © Loren Moss)

PharmaCielo has grown its global business development organization, hiring technical business developers in Europe and appointing a president of sales. The company reports sales to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Uruguay, and Spain, as well as progress in markets such as Germany, Mexico, and Poland.

In the three months ended September 30, 2022, PharmaCielo reduced its Adjusted EBITDA loss from $4.2 million to $2.5 million. The company says it continues to focus on reducing discretionary expenses to lower the company’s use of cash and ensure a leaner organization with a lower cost base, while continuing to invest in the sales team, to drive top line growth.

“Our team has successfully implemented the turnaround plan we outlined for shareholders when I joined as CEO in August of last year. In the first nine months of 2022, our business development group has initiated shipments to 23 customers in nine countries, with a robust pipeline that we fully expect will translate into significant growth in 2023 both with new partners and existing ones,” said Bill Petron, Chairman and CEO.

“Concurrently, our finance and operating teams have worked together to streamline the business, cutting SG&A expenses by more than 40% over the past nine months, with a focus on the elimination of unnecessary legacy overhead, and an eye to reinvesting some of those savings in revenue-generating functions. 2023 is set to be a breakout year for PharmaCielo, as international markets continue to open, we achieve EU-GMP certification for our extracted and dried flower products, and as our team continues to execute.”

PharmaCielo had cash equivalents of just $400,000 at September 30, 2022, compared to $5.3 million at December 31, 2021. On August 30, 2022, the company announced that its previously disclosed non-brokered private placement of debenture units was oversubscribed, with a total of $15.1 million raised or committed. This financing will generate $6 million in additional capital in equal monthly instalments through the end of Q1 2023, subject to regulatory approval including that of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Preparing for dried flower export

During February of this year, the Colombian government passed regulation to enable dried cannabis flower export. On September 15, 2022, PharmaCielo announced that it had made its first shipment of dried flower to the Czech Republic, representing the company’s first shipment of medicinal grade dried flower into the EU. PharmaCielo continues to expect additional dried flower trial shipments to begin before the end of 2022 and commercial shipments to start in early 2023. The company says it has taken the necessary steps to ensure psychoactive flower and extract quotas are in place for 2022 and 2023 exports. On September 14, 2022, PharmaCielo announced that it had received a five ton quota to grow THC-dominant cannabis strains for export as dried flower to support the fulfillment of current sales agreements, beginning in early 2023.

PharmaCielo says it is working towards EU-GMP certification of all of its extracted products and expects to achieve certification in early 2023. This will better position PharmaCielo to sign larger, longer term supply agreements with global pharmaceutical and cosmetics customers. PharmaCielo plans to initiate the process to obtain EU-GMP certification for its dried flower in Q1 2023 and certification may take up to 12 months.

With a growing business development organization, and the short-term potential to sell dried flower into several markets globally, management has re-focused PharmaCielo’s product strategy to emphasize THC broad-spectrum products, as well as dried flower. These products are expected to have long-term high-margin profiles that are more sustainable than CBD isolate. PharmaCielo claims several recent wins, including: a sales agreement with a Brazilian Phyto-therapeutic customer for a proprietary CBD derivative formulation; a shipment of CBD full spectrum oil to another Brazilian customer; a shipment of 300kg of CBD Full Spectrum Oil to a Spanish pharmaceutical company; and an agreement to supply THC final products to be commercialized in Germany.

Most recently, PharmaCielo received ICANN G.A.P & GACP certifications, which open commercial access to the Israeli market. The company expects to begin shipping dried flower to Israel in early 2023.

Having already had a successful beta launch, the company has built use cases for the life science industry and scientific research community to enable users in this sector to launch quickly.

Not a scary future

“We built Cogniflow not just as an answer to the increasing scarcity of software engineers with special AI-training. But as a way to empower all the entrepreneurs, researchers, and scientists in the world who want to reach new levels in their areas, or fields of expertise where the use of AI is key to accomplishing those goals,” said Marcelo Martínez, CEO & co-founder (above photo).

One impressive use case is the application of machine learning models for the classification of electroreceptors achieving an accuracy score of 98%. Cell and neuron counting is another hot topic in current research where other techniques in Computer Vision are used, like object detection.

The use case led by a distinguished research center in Latin America (IIBCE) is exemplary of how no-code AI technology is set to disrupt both the outcomes and the speed at which scientific research for the life science industry can be done.

No-code = Possibilities

The underlining breakthrough is due to Cogniflow’s no code capability. Now trending in the world of software development, this technology offers the ability to train and build complex AI models to scientists and researchers without the need to write a single line of code.

Empowering non-tech people

The builder packs multiple options for anyone to start an AI model, ranging from sound classification to object detection and multiple language recognition & transcription; image recognition, speech recognition, and even sentiment analysis.

Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we interact with technology. Cogniflow makes this process easy, fast, and effortless. In its vision of enabling everyone to transform data into intelligence, the platform provides cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence of any level of complexity from text, audio, video, or images without writing a single line of code.

Finance Colombia executive Editor Loren Moss was able to speak recently with two of the three co-founders of Lumiqualis, Chief Executive Officer Anthony Conte and Chief Technical Officer César Pérez (above, right).

The trio had a wide ranging conversation over the neglect that midmarket firms face, why Colombia, and especially Medellín is an attractive nearshore delivery location, and how a social mission is integral to their aim of being a profitable, thriving professional services firm.

Finance Colombia: I’m here with Cesar Perez and Anthony Conte and they are two of the three co-founders of Lumiqualis. It’s a new company, but you already have a pretty long pedigree in IT and in outsourcing services and technology. So maybe if you could give us a brief overview of how Lumiqualis came to be and what that name means?

Anthony Conte: So as you, as you mentioned, we definitely have long pedigrees. So, I’ve been working within the IT services consulting space for about 15 years now, and really where Lumiqualis came from was a situation that came up with our third partner, Mike Dershowitz. Mike is a bit of a serial entrepreneur. He’s the founder and CEO of a company called Fair Trade Outsourcing and a number of other properties, and I’ve been advising Mike for many years on FTO side. He had a situation with a vendor that he brought in to do some IT consulting, and the project essentially just went completely south and silent. He asked me to step in, help to unravel it and figure out what was going wrong. It was really not a salvageable situation. It was a company that was a group of very good engineers, but they weren’t put together in a way that had a good quality delivery process or even a company for that matter that really was running efficiently.

So they were a bit too loose to really put together a project and a delivery process. We eventually moved away from that company. Cesar was sort of tangentially connected to the project. He didn’t work for them, but he was doing some freelance work. So when we walked away from that situation, Mike, myself, Cesar, we sat down and we started talking about what went wrong, during a little bit of a post-mortem. And as we talked about our various backgrounds and similar experiences, we have the makings of a company that could come to market, help serve small to mid-sized businesses, like Mike’s companies, but do it in a way that brought a higher level of quality, a higher level of excellence to the process, because my years of experience of running various delivery organizations, years of experience on Cesar’s side, as far as running technical delivery, running technology projects, running technology teams, putting that together really created the exact workings for a company that could find and avoid these pitfalls that a lot of small midsize companies are facing.

“They need help. They need a good partner, someone that they can trust and rely on to not only deliver against their needs, but to also bring their team up to these technologies.”–Cesar Perez

If you look at the industry, as it grows, you’re seeing mass consolidation by big players, as there’s a constant quest to find good engineering, technical talent, but if you’re a small to mid-size, you’re not going to get the attentions of a Globant, Accenture or McKinsey or any of the big players, simply because they’re looking at enterprise deals, right? So, if you have a one-off project or if you’re a small or mid-sized company, there’s really nobody out there really focused on servicing it, or the ones that are out there are slowly being absorbed and consolidated up. So, we saw an opportunity to come in and really fill in that space and provide that level of quality. And that’s where our name comes from. So, Lumiqualis, Lumi is from luminaries. So, basically folks that are experts and driving a passion within a particular space; Qualis is actually Latin for quality. So, we were thinking of the quality aspects that we would embed in everything we do and put them together.

Finance Colombia: Luminary quality. I like that. You mentioned something interesting, and that is that your third partner has been involved with fair trade outsourcing, and that brings to mind—often people call it impact sourcing. And I know that you guys have opened up delivery operations in Colombia, and I’m interested in a couple of things. One I’m interested to hear about, why Colombia? Why did you settle on Colombia, of all the places you can go in the world? People have been going to India for a long time. Down here in Latin America, Costa Rica has been famous for a long time, but you guys chose Colombia. And I don’t think that that’s an odd choice. I know that there’s a lot of really cool things going on here about– within technology, but not being Colombians, how did you find out about what was happening down here and what guided your decision towards that? And then afterwards, I’d like to hear more about the impact sourcing, or the fair-trade sourcing component. I know that you guys have made some innovative hires and I don’t want to get into personnel or any individuals, but I reallywould like to hear about that philosophy.

Anthony Conte: So why Colombia? So, my last opportunity, my last company I worked for was mainly within Mexico, and I had begun working within the Latin American space. I was doing a lot of research on additional areas within Central and South America, where we could go to find good, strong engineering talent. And really, it’s a quest for talent. It’s a quest for good strong capabilities. And there’s a ton of opportunity. As you mentioned, within Latin America, we wanted to stay very much nearshore to start. We are looking at much more global resources, but we want to start with nearshore because we are servicing the North American market. And when you look at the different countries, the different opportunities, I mean, you mentioned some, Costa Rica was strong. Uruguay is strong. Argentina, obviously with has huge capabilities. Brazil is strong. So, there were a number of options. Mexico, don’t leave them off, but we were trying to find a place that was one, maybe not as competitive yet in the space.

So, Mexico, Argentina, heavy competition, basically, everybody’s there. Uruguay, Costa Rica, great talent, but small pools, so, you’re not going to have as much depth there. And, actually if you go to Costa Rica, the costs at this point in Costa Rica, it’s starting to rival some second and third tier cities here in the US. You lose some of the cost advantage benefits as well. And so when you really narrow it down, you know, the countries I started to really focus in on were Colombia, Brazil, Peru, and Argentina stayed in there. Economic situations in Argentina made it less desirable. Brazil is not a great place right now to try and go open up and do business. Peru is still young from an engineering capabilities perspective. And so that left Colombia, and what really made Colombia stand out was the focus on building the technology capabilities, especially in Medellin. And the fact that, you know, while Colombia is not perfect yet, but they seem to be moving in the right direction. So, they may do two steps forward one back. Everybody else seems to be going one step forward and two back. So, you know, it really looked like Colombia was on the path to really making this—a really strong, viable solution for building out a good technology team.

And when you blend in fair trade, one of the primary reasons I’m involved with them is because of the social impact missions and fair trade is more of a BPO, so that’s focusing on more cost centers and a slightly different skillset than Lumiqualis. However, that social mission is going to trickle over in a different way. You know, technologists right now don’t need help finding jobs and moving up socioeconomic ladders, because as a technologist right now in this world, you have a really strong opportunity. However, you want to work with a company that is going to help you foster them. And that’s where things like education, experimentation, things of that nature come into play, and that’s what we’re embedding within. Lumiqualis is that education concept of not just hiring folks with good technology talents, but how do we really tap the full potential they have? How do we really grow them as professionals? And also that will allow them to give back to the areas and communities where they operate.

And then as we grow, we want to build a broader philanthropic trend. I mean, we’re still small, so it’s hard for us to be fully altruistic because we have to first worry about survival as a full company and a startup. But it’s always in the back of our minds, you know, Cesar and I are always talking about ways that we can really utilize this model to give back. And, you know, some of the areas where…that’s where a country like Peru will be interesting because once we work out our model within Colombia, investing in education in other areas where maybe it’s not as developed will help bring up the technology capabilities. So, that’s our current mix on it right now. And then we will continue to think about other ways where we can bring a bit of that social mission to the table and think about how we can continue to make sure we’re good corporate citizens.

Finance Colombia: That’s really impressive. You mentioned a couple of things there. I mean, when you look at site selection, Uruguay, obviously as a country with a lot of talent, it’s a very small country, population-wise, a highly developed country. A lot of people like to call it the Switzerland of the Americas. But I know companies in Uruguay that have opened up outsourcing locations or delivery locations here in Colombia to serve the US and done very well. And part of it is that the cost and the lack of scalability that Uruguay has, it is a high, relatively speaking, a high-income country, and so incomes are high. And like you mentioned, in Costa Rica, Uruguay, places like that, you’re paying in some cases great talent, but you’re paying pretty much almost US rates higher than quite a few European countries I’ve seen. But the other thing, as people are looking to Colombia, and there are other countries that of course are doing some major things.

I had a conversation today with colleagues in Trinidad and Tobago, and they don’t have a lot of fame as a nearshore destination, but they’re working to change that. Jamaica has had success for call centers, but they’re trying to move up the value chain into IT. I was at, I mentioned earlier at Andicom last week, which is the biggest IT industry event in this part of the Americas, and the minister of Information and Communications Technologies announced an initiative to where any Colombian that wants to learn programming languages that will actually put in the work, the government is going to provide free classes to any and all Colombians who just sign up. And you can go, I guess, as far as you want to go with it and you have to put in the work and do your homework, but they’re at least providing the opportunity. And so the government knows that it is a priority and they see that.

And I think that the impact sourcing component of that, I think that people here are very aware of that and they see that as their opportunity to go from their status as a developing country, to the developed status, they know what they need to do. It’s great to export agricultural products and maybe textile products and things like that, that’s honorable work, but they also understand that to be…Colombia is now an OECD country and to really play at that level with their peers and be seen as a peer, they really need to…talent is the key. I mean, we look at it in micro level, when you have a company, talent is the key. At the macro level, when you have a country talent, the key, right? And that comes back to education and all these types of things.

You mentioned that Lumiqualis kind of has a sweet spot, because you mentioned a lot of these giant IT outsourcing companies are focused…everybody talks about the enterprise and that’s great. If you can go out there and get a giant project or engage in some 12-year, $3.2 billion contract to do digital transformation for the world’s largest bank, that’s great, but that leaves a lot of viable companies that need help. So, if you could give me an idea of what’s the sweet spot for Lumiqualis, and that’s to say: who should call Lumiqualis and why should they call you?

Anthony Conte: The one thing we don’t have is drastic scale. So, we can’t flip a switch and give you a hundred people tomorrow. So the projects that we are looking for are going to be probably companies, sub-1,000 employees that want to do projects that are three to six months and run $50,000 to $500,000 in costs. As a rough gauge, we’re not limiting ourselves across verticals at this point, because we’re too small to say we’re only going to work on particular  verticals. Having said that, certain verticals could be challenging to us and require…if you think about heavy manufacturing, there could be complexities there that we may not be equipped to handle, so we’re trying to stay as general and as broad as possible.

The focus we have, and Cesar can elaborate even more on this, as far as our capabilities go: web, mobile application development, ranging in a broad range of capabilities within that space, we can attack for just about any customer that’s out there and in most of the verticals.

César Pérez: To your point, when we think of the web predominantly, I mean, for some organizations and not all, that’s like a hundred percent of their business anyway. And yes, so mobile applications, but predominantly everything’s on the web nowadays, so that’s why we are strategically focusing. Just from the beginning because again, there’s just a broad range of services and we have the expertise on hand and we’re scaling our team to provide those services. But also, I’ll segue into other parts of services and businesses that will become part of our evolution mostly in Devops, right? We’ve brought on somebody who is really a heavy hitter in that space, who has a lot of experience and expertise and we’re ready to provide that service.

I’ll bring up some real-world examples of things we’re dealing with today, and that’s when a given team has just sort of reached their capabilities, and they’ve been working on an older stack or internally they don’t have the skillset for what they need. They need help. They need a good partner, someone that they can trust and rely on to not only deliver against their needs, but to also bring their team up to these technologies. So, that’s basically where I would say we can be of help to any client.

Finance Colombia: When I was on the operational side of things, we had a client that got in trouble because they had an outsourcing team in the Philippines, and there are great operations in the Philippines, but they didn’t go and visit enough and do enough due diligence and supervision and ended up getting in very, very big trouble because that distance created that, versus being able to go to Newark or JFK and be on the next flight the same day and be here, and be back in a couple of days, if you need to. I’m sure that has a lot to do with it too.

Anthony Conte: Yes. And honestly when you think about some of the other countries in South America, Argentina, Uruguay, you’re getting into some serious travel. So, it’s very hard to reach them from the US and so if clients want to visit, or if we need to visit, that’s adding an additional layer of travel that makes those locations harder to reach. So that’s another kind of feather in the cap of Colombia as a destination as well.

César Pérez: The other thing I think we can add is if we circle back to that philanthropic or altruistic mission, that we want to build in social impact, as we build the base level of the organization, we build out our education programs. We want to quickly turn those and start building our own capabilities, if we can get the right training capability and the right senior folks in, we turn that out and start pumping out our own people, partnering with bootcamps, running our own bootcamps, having our own education programs. So that’s a big component of what we want to do, is build our own teams going forward as well. And that’s how you use technology to impact the locations where we operate. We’re not just going to hire engineers that are already experienced but starting to bring in some of our own and train them up.