THEBEAUTYBIZ
THEBEAUTYBIZ
COSMETICS IN
COLOMBIA
T
he Colombian Tourist Board has a television commercial that begins, “It is dangerous going to Colombia,” then a very pregnant pause until the remainder of the tag line reads, “you could leave your heart there.” The very clear message is that Colombia is ready for business, and that the days of violence and the infamous drug cartels are a thing of the past. To that end, the Colombian government has hired Proexport Colombia to spearhead their emergence as a vital participant in the world market. Proexport Colombia has positioned itself as the strategic ally for international business owners. It is Colombia’s entity in charge of the promotion of international tourism, foreign direct investment and non-traditional exports. With 18 business offices, Proexport has a global presence, including China, Russia, India, Germany and the United States. Within Colombia itself, there are eight offices, including Medellin, Cartagena, Cali and, of course, the headquarters in Bogotá. Proexport has helped varied companies such as Avon, P&G, Unilever, Kimberly-Clark, Hewlett-Packard and Brookfield establish themselves in Bogotá. In 2012 alone, Colombia will be negotiating 21 international investment agreements. With regard to cosmetics and toiletries, Latin America in general has grown at higher rates than the international average, and Colombian production in this area has doubled in the past ten years. As per J.P. Morgan, “Colombia is the second most attractive country for investment in Latin America in the next three years (second only to Brazil).” Colombia has important competitive advantages that make it a strategic place to do business in the Latin American market—an excellent geographic location for reaching other markets, and a variety of plants (the country has the greatest biodiversity per square kilometer on the planet). These features contribute Waliwa Amazonian Natural Products to making Colombia one Amazon Balm for Lush Lips of the largest cosmetics producers in Latin America. Colombia’s skilled workforce is quite impressive. Bogotá has a workforce of 52,000 college graduates; Medellin, 23,000 and Cali, almost 15,000. The Colombian government supports the creation of the economic, technical, institutional and legal conditions to attract public and private resources for the development of commercial products and The Avon plant in Medellin (Continued on page 49) M AY 2 0 1 2 /
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