Juliana Gomez
Chief Executive Officer
Invest in Bogota
jgomezp@investinbogota.org
LATAM FDI: Today, we are fortunate to have Juliana Gomez with us. Juliana is in charge of an organization in Colombia, Invest in Bogota. Juliana, good afternoon, how are you? Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your organization?
Juliana Gomez: Thank you so much, Steven, for the invitation, and I am the CEO of Invest in Bogotá. Invest in Bogotá is the promotional agency for Bogotá City. We promote and attract foreign direct investment into the city. We also promote corporate tourism and advocate for positioning Bogotá as a business platform within Latin America.
LATAM FDI: Now, I understand that you’re relatively new to Invest in Bogota. Could you tell us a little bit about your career and its trajectory?
Juliana Gomez: Absolutely. My background is actually linked to foreign direct investment. Over the last 20 years, I have worked with the Colombian national promotion agency, ProColombia, and later led the public affairs practice for a US company, FTI Consulting. Now I’m back to promoting foreign direct investment and international tourism to Bogotá on a regional scale. I am really happy to be able to engage again with the dynamics of multinational companies, understand investment opportunities, and develop business in Colombia, specifically in the Bogotá region.
LATAM FDI: Well, this is a good question to start with, then. What role does Invest in Bogota play in positioning the city as a leading investment destination in Latin America?
Juliana Gomez: Yes, over the last 20 years—this year is our 20th anniversary— we at Invest in Bogota have been facilitating and advocating for the city to become a regional platform for investment and business. So, we like to think of ourselves as strategic and trusted advisors to companies seeking to set up shop in Bogotá and expand their investment in our region. We have also been promoting Bogota as a corporate tourism destination over the past few years. Additionally, we are working to position Bogotá as a destination for large-scale international events and those hosted by multinational companies. For example, sales workshops or strategic planning workshops for the C-level teams. So, we are integrating the promotion and positioning of Bogota as a business destination within Colombia and, of course, Latin America as well.
LATAM FDI: Beyond being a good place for corporate tourism, what makes Bogota stand out when you compare it to other cities in the region when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment?
Juliana Gomez: Bogota is a relevant region within Colombia and at the regional level as well because we account for 30% of Colombia’s GDP. So, the market and the talent pool are the largest in Colombia. We like to think that Bogotá is the place where companies can ramp up operations once they set up shop here. We are the largest connecting destination for both cargo and passenger traffic in Colombia. The Dorado Airport, in Bogotá, is the largest in South America in terms of cargo and passenger traffic. And we’ve been working towards positioning our city as a sophisticated market and also as a destination for different sectors, knowledge-based sectors, IT sectors, and also as a platform for entrepreneurship and VC capital raising as well.
LATAM FDI: Okay, beyond those sectors that you just mentioned, are there any other priorities that you have with regard to attracting certain activities to Bogotá in the coming years through the efforts of Invest in Bogota?
Juliana Gomez: Yes, Colombia is still a country under construction, and we are welcoming foreign direct investment because it helps close the gap between what we need and what we want to be. So, in terms of infrastructure, there are various projects related to logistics and connectivity required for strategic mobility. For example, the metro lines are currently being built. There’s an interest in having intelligent cities in Colombia. Bogotá is one of them. Attracting direct investment in IT services, AI development, and technology applied to delivering more competitive, productive services is really welcome to the city. As we mentioned, we have the largest operating airport in South America, so enhancing that infrastructure and developing the ecosystem related to air transportation are also key projects for Bogotá City. We also have a large talent pool related to financial services, so everything related to fintech and those financial services are really welcome. And over the last 5 years, we’ve positioned ourselves as a destination for shared service centers and GBS operations. We have over 120 GBS and shared services operations in Colombia.
Out of those, 50% are based in Bogotá. We really want to encourage companies that are highly focused on knowledge and a value-added talent pool to consider Bogotá as a platform for Colombia, and, of course, to reach out to other regional markets as well.
LATAM FDI: For people who might not know, just to give them a sense of how expansive Bogota is, what is the population of the city?
Juliana: Yes, the city’s population is roughly 10 million, including only Bogota. There is the regional metropolitan area, which includes other nearby municipalities, and when we include that larger territory, the population is over 12 million. Colombia’s population, for perspective, is around 50 million people. So, we are the capital city, and, as I mentioned, we account for 30% of the GDP, and the population is 10 million people. There’s this characteristic of Bogota: many people come to pursue graduate and postgraduate studies, and others come because the likelihood of being engaged by a multinational company is higher. As a result, the talent pool is sophisticated, and it’s also the largest labor market in Colombia. And we also attract not only Colombian talent, but also talent from other countries close to Colombia that have found in Bogota the place to pursue postgraduate studies and be engaged by multinational companies.
LATAM FDI: Well, what’s the vision that you have at Invest in Bogota for this year? What can we expect in terms of coming investments? What’s in the pipeline?
Juliana Gomez: At Invest in Bogota, we have a pipeline of over 600 opportunities. One of the main markets we target is actually the US. Historically, the US accounts for around 30% of the projects we attract and facilitate for development here in the city. So, we are envisioning—and, considering this is our anniversary, how we’re going to project ourselves over the next 20 years. We envision a sophisticated city with an economy focused on value-added services. We want to continue positioning this as a destination for, uh, services, as I mentioned before, for entrepreneurship, within entrepreneurship, and as a startup destination for fintech, healthtech, agritech, govtech, and all those developments to be more competitive and to integrate technology into sectors. We also want to position ourselves as a destination for companies within the audiovisual center. There’s a huge market for audiovisual content development. We recently saw the establishment of a large video game company here in Bogota. We are also attracting more opportunities around audiovisual content development. We also want to take into account what I mentioned regarding logistics and infrastructure opportunities and needs for the city.
So companies related to that type of ecosystem will be part of our targeting. And we want to continue having the leadership as the capital city of Colombia, and also as a capital city that leads many processes and rankings within South America. So, at Invest in Bogota, our target is to continue working closely with existing investors to expand operations, position ourselves as this destination for global business services and shared service operations, and continue attracting value-added services and manufacturers into our city.
LATAM FDI: If you had to summarize in one sentence why a company or an individual should consider engaging with invest in Bogota today, what would that be?
Yeah, I would say that Bogota is where global companies can scale up high-value-added operations in Latin America, supported by the talent pool, connectivity, and the proven track record of successful investments from many existing investors. In Bogotá, which has been attracting foreign direct investment for the last 20 to 80 years, positioning Bogotá as a solid destination for foreign direct investment within Colombia and, of course, the region as well.
LATAM FDI: Well, that was a lot of information in a relatively short period of time, and it was very interesting. One thing I like to make sure of is that people who listen to the podcast have a way to speak with the people I host in these discussions. So if somebody who listens to this has questions for you, how would they get in contact with you?
Juliana Gomez: Yes, of course, it would be great, uh, for people and for companies to visit our website investinbogota.org, where you will find information about the opportunities, the sectors of opportunities, and our services. Our services are free of charge, and we have a team of over 40 people dedicated to helping companies and facilitating their projects in the city. Invest in Bogota also works with different partners, both at the regional level, such as the mayor’s office, and from the private sector. We work with the Chamber of Commerce of Bogota. So, Invest in Bogota is also a platform for public and private partnership interaction. And this is important for companies to understand: once we can help them, we will make their lives easier by helping them assess opportunities and guide them through the decision-making process of establishing a shop in Colombia, and hopefully in Bogotá as well.
LATAM FDI: Would it be okay if, uh, on the podcast transcript page, I include a link to your LinkedIn profile and your personal email? Would that be okay?
Perfect, yes. And we will, of course, provide you with the information on our webpage and other social media resources, so people can look into it.
LATAM FDI: Well, thank you very much, Juliana, for joining me today. It was very interesting learning about Invest in Bogota and its activities. I’m sure our listeners learned a lot, as well.
Juliana Gomez: Thank you so much, Steve, for the invitation, and I’m always happy to help companies better understand the opportunities in Colombia and, of course, investing directly in Bogota City as well.
LATAM FDI: Thank you very much.