What to Make of the Colombia Investment Summit 2021

With a portfolio of more than 150 projects valued at more than US $8 billion, Colombia Investment Summit 2021, recently concluded its seventh year with promising business leads and impressive supporting testimonials from international companies that recognize the foreign direct investment potential in the country.

"The Colombia Investment Summit is a dynamic platform for networking and attracting foreign investment opportunities, which continues to captivate the interest of businesses from around the world and multilateral organizations that are inquiring about our country," said Flavia Santoro, president of ProColombia. "The outcome is very satisfactory, and these leads ultimately contribute to the growth and economic reactivation of Colombia."

More than 300 multinationals from North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America participated and held meetings with Colombian entrepreneurs and project representatives. During this year's event, the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Mauricio Claver-Carone reaffirmed the support of the multilateral organization to the 5G road infrastructure program of the National Government. "The IDB is convinced of the enormous potential of Colombia as a destination for foreign investment and we are committed to helping the government and investors to take advantage of the opportunities", he said.

Part of these initiatives include the legal, financial, and technical structuring of the project to restore the navigability of the Magdalena River, valued at more than US $375 million.

The Colombia Investment Summit 2021 also left a strong impression amongst international business executives.

For Javier Villamizar, operating partner at Softbank, a multi-sector fund of Japanese origin, that has made significant investments in Colombian ventures such as Rappi, a delivery startup; Ayenda Hoteles, one of the fastest-growing hotel chains in Latin America; and Platzi, an e-learning platform, among others, Villamizar believes that Colombia has a friendly ecosystem to invest in. "We invest in talent and we bet on entrepreneurs. We need a country that has made investments over the last few years in talent training, and we've consistently seen this in Colombia for the last two years. The combination of talent and government support makes it an attractive market".