With an abundance of highly skilled workers available, Colombia has emerged as a major hub for application and software development in the region, and this trend is set to deepen (Biz Latin Hub).

Colombia is the gateway to South America, as it is located in the northwest region of the continent and connects the continent with North and Central America. The country is home to the fourth-largest Spanish-speaking population in the world and welcomes new talent and ideas as more than half of the country’s adult population are aspiring entrepreneurs. The World Economic Forum and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that Colombians are highly supportive of entrepreneurship.

Like Chile, the country is teeming with early-stage entrepreneurial activity. Many of today’s executives are not just innovative, but highly ambitious. Colombia has good universities and a vibrant community of programmers that host some of the biggest meetings and conferences in all of Latin America. (Globo)

Current scenario

nmental sustainability and mobility. Medellín built a huge escalator and a distinctive gondola toMedellín was recognized by The Wall Street Journal as an innovative city. It provided a solution for enviro transport citizens living in the city’s poor hillside neighborhoods. The city also established schools, parks and public libraries. (G1)

Bogotá receives direct flights from most major cities in the United States and Latin America, while Medellín is only connected to Panama, Miami, Houston and New York. (G1)

Human Talent

The talent as a service industry took an important lead in receiving foreign investments, due to factors such as availability, quality and cost of human talent, connectivity, market dynamism, strategic location and government support. This comprehensive combination of advantages has consolidated Bogotá as one of the best business environments in Latin America.

In addition, due to English training and certification programs, Bogotá has the largest offer of bilingual professionals in the Colombian labor market, sharing more than 70% of the population. Source: investinbogota.

According to the IMD World Talent Report, Colombia has the largest workforce in the region, with the highest growth and training rates, ahead of countries like Peru and Mexico.

Colombia has 4 universities among the top 500 in the world and 12 among the top 100 in Latin America, according to QS World University. Nine years ago, no Colombian university reached this ranking.

Colombia allows scalable operations in 6 different metropolitan areas, each with more than one million residents: Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga and Cartagena (DANE). (Invest In Colombia)

The tech talent industry is one of the most job-generating in the country, with more than 583,000 employees in the sector (ProColombia).

The National Learning Service (SENA), through its sector offices, conducts training campaigns for technicians and technologists in various areas related to operations, such as administration, sales and management (Work Observatory, BPO Sectoral Report).

Salaries for developers

As a major hub of innovation in Latin America, with the capital Bogotá hosting a number of major tech companies, while Medellín’s second largest city has been heralded as a new “Silicon Valley”, let’s check out some industry salaries for professionals.

PositionSalaryAndroid Developer        US$ 1.125,06Application Consultant               US$ 1.391,98Artificial intelligence expert                     US$ 1.374,51E-Commerce Marketing Analyst      US$ 1.247,29User Experience (UX) Design     US$ 1.202,39UI Designer                  US$ 1.292,60Web Security Manager             US$ 1.686,34

(Salary Explorer)

investments

Colombia already has one of the strongest startup ecosystems in the region, with enormous upside potential still waiting to be tapped.

The two main cities, Medellín and Bogotá, host several accelerators, incubators and venture capitalists. Other locations that are starting to be hubs for tech startups are Cali and Barranquilla. These four locations provide multiple coworking spaces to ensure startups have venues to develop the huge potential for tech startups in Colombia and has also attracted a number of international companies such as Google and Facebook which have opened permanent offices in Colombia. Congress for 2022 has already approved the budget amount at US$350.4 billion (Isto É).

Colombia’s technology community allowed the country to quickly gain ground in entrepreneurship. The government’s initiatives with the population’s interest in technology make Colombia an important center of innovation in Latin America.

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