Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008 - (Page 55)

ting my expertise and skills to use in service of the country, helping its development,” she explains. Genua’s organization works to entice the economic sectors the from which Venezuelan government is interested in obtaining foreign investment, including food production, petrochemicals, tourism, and information technology. CONAPRI also serves as a forum for discussion between established investors, who may feel challenged by government policies, and the Venezuelan authorities. The agency’s status as a non-governmental entity allows for this facilitation role. Much of Genua’s work involves supporting the visits of foreign business leaders. She takes pride that when they return home, they go with ﬁrst-hand knowledge that Venezuela is a land of fertile economic opportunity. In neighboring Colombia, three city agencies, PROBarranquilla, Invest in Bogotá and ACI Medellín have determined that, although they receive a lot of support from PROEXPORT, the national agency, sometimes it helps to go it alone. In this business, many ﬁnd that the key to success lies in establishing a unique identity. For example, Tatayana Orozco’s group in Barranquilla likes to call itself “Your investment agency on the Atlantic.” For more than ﬁve years, Orozco has Gladis Genua lead the efforts in promoting the port city of Barranquilla as head of PROBarranquilla, the country‘s ﬁrst regional investment promotion agency. In that time, she says that she has been able to bring in more than $1 billion U.S. in investment, creating over 10,000 jobs. “With a limited budget, we have positioned Barranquilla among national business leaders as the best spot for new site development when international commerce is involved,” she says. In Barranquilla, if it’s not about their famous Carnaval, then it’s all about the port. And it is Orozco’s obsession, as the port is the bread and butter of Barranquilleros. Infrastructure improvements such as the deepening of the port’s 22 km channel, a $20 million project supported by the national government as well as local business leaders, is vital. A bigger and deeper port means more trafﬁc and less costs for both exporters and importers. Another trick for her trade? Orozco notes that, when showing a potential investor the city, establishing a strong inter-personal relationship cannot be underestimated. Going south to the country’s heartland in Medellin, Paula Trujillo says the toughest part of her job is getting people to consider Medellín. If she can persuade them to visit, the city speaks for itself. It’s what she describes as the “wow” effect, when those preconceived perceptions of the city—more based on Hollywood than the reality of Medellín today—vanish and investors give the city a serious second look. “When these investors arrive and walk the streets of our city, when they discover our economic ﬁgures and our potential, their image of Medellín changes completely,” says Trujillo. The work is gratifying. Trujillo is proud they’ve been able to support some 107 foreign ﬁrms in Medellín and environs, and she is hopeful that ACI will be able to persuade many more. They currently are working with over 90 potential investors. In Bogotá, the approach is different. Virgilio Barco, an economist, hopes to draw investors with the area’s talented workforce. Since there is no port, and getting manufactured goods out of the Andean capital can be a “challenge,” Barco has placed his bets on people power. ”Bogotá has a large, young, well educated workforce, which combined with excellent telecommunications and one of the * IF YOU ARE TRYING TO BRING INVESTMENT TO COLOMBIA, VENEZUELA AND NICARAGUA, YOU HAVE TO CONTEND WITH OUTDATED IMAGE PROBLEMS. largest airports in Latin America, means that the city has a competitive edge in exporting services and value added manufactured goods,” he says. Thanks to Invest in Bogotá, the city is rapidly becoming known as a major destination for call centers, IT operations, and regional headquarters. New investors in medical devices and pharmaceuticals are also arriving. Since starting operations a little over two years ago, they have already created over 3,000 jobs, a large number of which are in the service industry. Meanwhile in Nicaragua, Javier Chomorro is promoting his country as an easy place to do business Managing his country’s ofﬁcial investment promotion agency, PRONicaragua, for a little over a year now, Javier Chomorro views his job an important for the country. “It is especially fulﬁlling to work in economic development for your country, because you have the opportunity to see ﬁrst-hand the beneﬁts that private sector investment and the coordination of it with public sector policies can bring to a developing country,” he says. “In our country speciﬁcally, where more than 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, creating employment as a means of reducing poverty is especially important.” As for the major challenges he ﬁnds in attracting investment from abroad, as in Colombia and in Venezuela, it is ﬁghting misperceptions of the country. Chamorro says that Nicaragua “is sometimes portrayed as an unsafe, unstable and war-torn country.” But he adds that today, “nothing could be further from the truth.” 55 HISPANIC ENTERPRISE June/July 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008

Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008 Contents Briefcase: BIZBUZZ: Business Briefs Briefcase: Dynamic Trends Briefcase: Q&A Briefcase: Trendsetters BizLife: BizTech BizLife: Travel Feature: Target: Hispanics Cover Story: A Legend in His Own Time Feature: Top 25 Franchises Success & Motivation: The Talent Scout Education: Success by Degrees Finance & Investing: A Tough Sell Social Events: Emerge Dallas Politics & Government: The Accidental Americans Managing: Deconstructing Networking

Hispanic Enterprise - June/July 2008

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