Colombia to strengthen startup ecosystem through special committee

Contxto – The government in Bogotá wants to put together a dream team of tech entrepreneurs and experts. Not to build a government-funded “super app” or anything like that. Rather, the authorities want to build a specialized committee to stimulate Colombia’s tech talent and boost its startup ecosystem.

For that, Karen Abudinen, the Minister of Information Technologies and Communications spoke with various entrepreneurs last Monday (1). During the video conference call she talked to multiple entrepreneurs from Colombia including:

Santiago Suarez, Founder at fintech ADDI
Jorge Quirogra, Founder of e-commerce agency BlackSip
Fabián Gómez, Founder of logistics startup Frubana
Simón Borrero, co-Founder of unicorn Rappi

Undoubtedly the government in Colombia aspires to build its tech and startup ecosystem hand-in-hand with the people who know it best.

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Building Colombia’s startup ecosystem

The government has two objectives in mind with this specialized committee:

1. To prepare 100,000 Colombians (mainly kids and young people) in software programming so they’re better-prepared for the next digital wave.

2. To take entrepreneurs under its guidance to make better business decisions and scale.

These measures, along with other initiatives like the government’s fund of funds and its entrepreneurial ambassadors program are key public policies to further strengthen its startup ecosystem.

If well-implemented, they may favor its position as a leader in the region.

Related article: Colombian president reveals US$38 million Fund of Funds for Orange Economy startup development

Something’s or someone is missing…

It’s a great initiative and I laud authorities for pulling in subject-matter experts as are these high-ranking entrepreneurs.

However, it’s rather disquieting that there are no female leaders amongst those that have been announced (thus far). If countries want young women and girls to take up software programming and entrepreneurship, female mentors and role models aren’t necessary—they’re imperative to a program’s success.

So hopefully the Colombian government will announce it’s inviting female founders soon.

Oh well… in the meantime we’ll have to rely on Peruvian Laboratoria’s training programs in Bogotá as well as initiatives like DjangoGirls to fill in these gaps.

Wanna hear more? We recommend you listen to the following podcast episode: ¿La micromovilidad ha muerto?. You can find the time stamp available in the description.

Related articles: Tech and startups from Colombia!

-ML