- Tourism
- Foreign Investment
- Export Promotion
Investment Opportunities in Bogotá D.C. - Cundinamarca
Cundinamarca - Bogota: Center of opportunities
- Average temperature: 14°C
- Population in Cundinamarca 2011 (not including Bogota): 2,517,215 inhabitants
- Population in Bogota 2011: 7,467,804 inhabitants
- Cundinamarca GDP 2010: US$ 15,015.5 million
- Bogota GDP 2010: US$ 78,737.2 million
- Cundinamarca GDP per capita 2010: US$ 6,061.90
- Bogota GDP per capita 2010: US$ 10,692.50
- Cundinamarca Surface Area: 22,633 km2
- Bogota Surface Area: 1,605km²
The Colombian capital has positioned itself as the epicenter of culture and it is deemed the country’s economic motor. During the last few years, it has become an outstanding player in Latin America’s economy, with an annual growth of over 4% and a GDP higher than that of Ecuador, Panama, and Uruguay1.
Through time, Bogota has taken in people from around the country and around the world who come here looking to settle down, attracted by its growing economy, and to have access all the benefits the city has to offer. The capital houses a large number of academic institutions, multi-national corporations, and a mass transport system called Transmilenio, which has been copied by many cities worldwide to solve mobility issues.
The region offers investment opportunities in hotel and tourism infrastructure, in the automotive sector, service outsourcing, cosmetics and hygiene products, agribusiness, and software and IT services.
The El Dorado International Airport mobilizes the highest load volumes in Latin America, occupying the forth position in terms of passenger numbers according to the Airports Council International. It has excellent connectivity, currently receiving around 27 direct international flights that bring in about 18 million passengers.
1Ecuador US$ 58,910 mm, Panama US$24,080 mm, Uruguay US$ 40,265 mm. Source: UNCTAD
Reasons To Invest
- Privileged geographical location: Bogotá is strategically located at the center of the continent, with excellent airport connectivity.
- Access to the main regional markets: The international free-trade agreements allow the companies based in Bogotá to have direct access to the Colombian market, which is worth USD $286,000 million.
- Abundant and qualified work force: The Bogota young and qualified workforce is comprised by 652,632 last decade college graduates.; this provides the required scalability for any type of business operation.
- Competitive Costs: Bogotá offers a highly competitive cost structure. Due to high qualified human resources and its adequate industrial acumen, Bogotá has an excellent cost - benefit relation. Realty in Bogotá, according to Colliers International’s 2010 Global Office Real Estate Review, is lower that those of cities such as Buenos Aires and São Paulo.
- An excellent business climate: According to the last yearly ranking of the América Economía magazine (2010), Bogotá holds the eighth place in the 37 city rank for doing business in Latin America.
Information Technology and Communications
Business opportunities related to BPO, software and IT technology services.
- The large city population allow for highly scalable contact center or BPO business operations.
- Bogotá is a sophisticated business and communications hub, and broad, competitive spaces for local operations in an offshore business model.
- Atento (Spanish company) currently has more than 4,600 employees, 6,900 agents and 3 branches in Bogotá.
- Another Spanish company, Avanza, established in Cota, 2009, a municipality close to Bogotá. It covers the local market and offshore clients for Spain and several countries in Latin America. Avanza currently has more than 1,200 service agents.
- Teleperformance (French company) recently acquired the local contact center Taledatos. The company currently has more than 7,000 agents, serving users in Latin America and Spain, providing services in 5 different languages.
- In 2008, Unísono (Spanish company) opened its second international branch in Bogotá, with 450 agents.
- Qualified labor: High level education, providing 30,000 industry related, upper education and professional program graduates in the last decade.
- 57% of the main Colombian package-manufacturing companies that supply the cosmetics industry are based in Bogotá (216 companies).
- Natural component and cosmetic-related production of cosmetic goods (BIORYZ Biovegetal, Labfarve, Esko Laboratorios, TropicOil, Neyber Ltda.).
- R&D Research centers in Bogotá : Centro de Biotecnología y Bioindustria (Biotechnology and Bioindustry Center, CIDBIO), Centro de Investigaciones Microbiológicas (Microbiological Research Center, CIMIC), Corporación CorpoGen, Centro de Bioinformática del Instituto de Biotecnología (Bioinformatics Center of the Biotechnology Institute); as well as a solid network of universities and centers generating R&D, such as the EMBnet Colombia/Universidad Nacional.
BPO
Creation of Shared Services Centers for Latin America, Outsourcing Companies that provide Costumer Care services, ESO, FAO services, HRO services, Telemedicine and R&D services.
Software and IT Services
Business opportunities for the development and integration of IT services and applications. M&A, software development companies and data center setup.
Cosmetics and Personal Care Product Industry
Business opportunities related to production, research and development.
Automotive Industry
Business opportunities in auto-part manufacturing:
- Manufacturing of parts for the interior of vehicles and electrical components.
- Duty-free Zones: Bogotá, Intexzona, Occidente (West).
- Human capital development: Managerial Development Program for competitiveness and innovation in the auto parts sector : ACOLFA –SENA–EAN.
- Development of the mass transit system: Barranquilla - Transmetro. Bogotá – Transmilenio.
- Technological development center: Center of automobile mechanics and transport at the SENA.
- Presence of global vehicle assembly companies: General Motors, Mazda, Superpolo and Toyota – Hino.
- Presence of world-class auto part companies: Yazaki and Michelin.
Agricultural Industry
Business opportunities in the dairy product industry – Cundinamarca region
- High levels of productivity: 9.43 liters of milk per head of cattle a day.
- FEDEGAN technical support for investors.
- Foot-and-mouth disease-free zone.
Tourism Infrastructure
Business opportunities related to tourism infrastructure:
- More than 1,700 domestic flights and 370 international flights per week.
- More than 15 shopping malls, totaling more than 100 world-class stores, shops, bars, night clubs and restaurants. One of the top gastronomy offers in Latin America.
- Presence of important multinational companies such as Hewlett Packard and Citibank.
- History and Culture: 45 museums, plus the astonishing La Candelaria Historical Center.
- Religious Tourism: Monserrate Sanctuary, 20 de Julio, Salt Cathedral, Church Tour.
- Magical experiences: Gold Museum, Guatavita Sacred Lake, Andrés Carne de Res Restaurant, and Zipaquirá’s Salt Cathedral.
- According to 2010 statistics, Bogotá was the final destination of the 51% of visitors arriving at Colombia.
- Bogotá’s hotel occupancy rate has constantly raised over the past years, going from approximately 40 in 2002, to almost 60% in 2010.
- Bogota holds the 34 place in the ICCA business travel ranking.
- 1 fairground venue and 65 convention centers and auditoriums.
- Twenty 18-hole golf courses located 30 minutes from each other on average, and five 9-hole golf courses.
Success Stories
- AleGroup: dedicated to the production of carbonated drinks, bottled water and juices among other products; focused on the low and medium income markets. The company decided to open an operating branch in Colombia in 2007 by means of a production plant in Cundinamarca.
- McCain: operating in Colombia since the year 2000 upon the acquisition of the Colombian company Congelagro. McCain today has a modern industrial plant in Bogotá for frozen product processing.
- Firmenich: global company natural and syntheticbusiness . Firmenich has a laboratory and a distribution center in Bogotá.
- General Motors: with a plant based on Bogotá’s outskirts, GM assembles 100,000 vehicles every year. The company exports vehicles to several Latin American countries. GM is planning on investing USD 250 million over the next 5 years to increase the productivity of the Bogotá plant. This project will allow the company to export vehicles to Brazil and Argentina.
- Marcopolo - Superpole: the manufacturer of Superpolo Bus bodyworks from the Brazilian multinational company Marcopolo, has created approximately 800 new work posts on demand: a new contract with Panama to deliver 1,200 buses, and exports to other Latin American markets (Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Suriname and Haiti).
- Daimler Chrysler: Since June, 2011, around 150 units of the Mercedes Benz Atego 1016 and the Thomas EF 1723 models will be produced monthly. This project will create 27 new jobs, generating nearly USD 4 million in Colombian auto parts purchases.
- Nh Hoteles: Fronpeca, a Spanish building company, invested in the construction of a NH hotel in Bogotá.
- El Grupo Roble: this business conglomerate built two Marriot hotels in Bogotá, one 264-room JW Marriott in the city’s financial district, and one 239-room Marriott at Ciudad Salitre, near the El Dorado airport.
- Belcorp: this company has a production plant in the outskirts of the city (Tocancipá), exporting to the Latin American and United States markets. Belcorp has made investments of over USD $25 million over the past years to enhance its operations, moving its research and development center to Bogotá.
- Yanbal: this company has its own production facility in Bogotá’s outskirts (Facatativá). Yanbal has made investments of over USD $10 million over the past years to expand its production plant, as well as its business activity all across the country and the region.
- Convergys: this American company has a contact center in Bogotá, which operates for the United States and Colombia, generating approximately 2,000 work seats.
- Citibank: it centralizes criticalcorporate banking processes in Bogotá for Latin America.
| Economic Indicators 17/05/2012 |
|
| Inflation | |
| Goal of inflation | 2.0-4.0 % |
| Annual inflation | 3.43 |
| Rates of interest - 17/05/2012 | |
| Rate of intervention | 5.25 % |
| Rate Interbancaria | 5.26 |
| TRM - 17/05/2012 | |
| Exchange rate (TRM) | $ 1,793.61 |
| Nominal depreciation - last 12 months | -1.18 |
