1. GUEST COLUMNIST
HISTORIC SUMMIT, A GLOBAL SUCCESS
Each month I consult with chambers around the globe. Most recently, I have been meeting chambers in Canada, the United States, and Colombia. We have been discussing four important themes designed to better support small and medium businesses throughout the Americas and to prepare chambers for the future.
Worldwide, chambers are adopting innovations to help business owners and operators. Focus is helping find solutions along their own digital transformation journey; supporting efforts to expand their business to new international markets; finding strategies that empower more women’s leadership and tangible action on climate change.
In a recent chamber visit, I travelled to Colombia on invitation from The Camara de Comercio de Bogota. Of all the chambers I know, Camara de Comercio de Bogota stands out for many positive reasons. It is a smart organization with strong leadership. Its vision is clear, and its capabilities to connect and engage business people from throughout North, Central, South America and the Caribbean were well apparent at the first Ibero American Summit, which CCB hosted last month.
Todd Letts MBA, CCE. WorldChambersFederationVice chairforTheAmericasandCEOfor the Brampton Board of Trade in Canada
This Summit brought over 1000 small and medium sized companies, representing more than 30 chamber chambers from across 24 countries. This conference not only convened both pragmatic business innovators and economic development practitioners but also brought together thought leaders from the USA, Spain, Korea, and many other parts of the globe.
The two day Summit played a very important role for the World Chambers Federation in that it represented the first of many regional meetings planned for around the world. With a focus on innovation and sustainability, the Summit was rich with provocative ideas and approaches. Business leaders, government representatives, and community developers were delighted. Bogota chamber has set the standard for chambers around the world. As Vice chair for the Americas, I am able to point to this successful event as a model for other chamber regional meetings.
Of particular interest was that approximately 20 chamber executives stayed an additional two days following the Summit. They were so inspired by Summit discussions Bogota Chamber and the World Chambers Federation arranged for facilitated workshops to help them develop specific solutions to issues in their respective communities. I was inspired by the intensity of conversation, the willingness to share, and the creativity of solutions generated. By all accounts, the first Ibero American Summit was a resounding success and has started something truly special.
2. BUENAS NOTICIAS DE COLOMBIA Y BOGOTÁ
GOODNEWSABOUTCOLOMBIA
• Colombia and the United States signed an alliance to develop rural and environmental projects in territories with a high presence of illicit crops. This is the first initiative carried out jointly by the governments of President Biden and President Petro within the framework of the Holistic Strategy against Drugs formulated by the White House. The strategy addresses three strategic lines: comprehensively reduce the supply of narcotics, strengthen security and comprehensive rural development in the territories, and protect the environment. For more information, see the following link
• On November 21st, from Caracas, Venezuela, the peace delegations of the National Government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), in the presence of the guarantor countries and international observers, set up peace talks between both parties to reach a peace deal. For more information, see the following link
• Colombia and Spain held the first economic commercial subcommittee within the framework of the friendship and cooperation agreement between the two countries, in force since 1992. During the event, the trade, industry, and tourism Ministries of both countries addressed issues such as sustainable investment, challenges of the European Green Pact for agricultural and agro industrial exports from Colombia, food sovereignty, insertion of MSMEs in global value chains, energy transition, and public purchases, among others. For more information, see the following link.
• During the ninth meeting of the Trade Committee of the Trade Agreement between Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and the European Union, they ratified their commitment to continue cooperating in consolidating the economic recovery after the pandemic. They also expressed their decision to continue promoting participation in multilateral initiatives within the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework. On the other hand, in this same committee, the parties signed the decisions through which the European Union recognizes ten new geographical indications (GI) of the 3 Andean partners in the agreement. In the case of Colombia, the geographical indication of the bocadillo veleño was recognized. For more information, see the following link
• As part of his official visit to France, President Gustavo Petro announced that the French government has pledged to support Colombia's agrarian reform and energy transition while supporting the revitalization of the Amazon rainforest. For more information, see the following link.
• After four years, Peru restored the 0% tariff for products imported from Colombia, such as sugar, candies, and cookies. This occurred after Colombia reestablished free trade in rice between the two countries. This way, free trade is reinvigorated between the two markets with an excellent bilateral relationship within the Andean Community of Nations (CAN). For more information, see the following link.
•
In the framework of COP27, which took place in Sharm El Sheikh, the Colombian government and the European Investment Bank signed a joint declaration to accelerate Colombia's energy transition and achieve the ambitious climate goals that the country has set for itself. For more information, see the following link
• Colombia and Venezuela reponed their air borders with the Bogotá Caracas flight operated by Satena on November 9. This is the first commercial flight that took place after the closure of the air border between the two countries in 2015. For more information, see the following link.
GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE BOGOTÁ REGIÓN
• At the Smart City Expo World Congress that took place between November 15 and 17 in Barcelona, Spain, Bogotá socialized advances in social and technological projects. As part of this event, in which more than 40,000 people from all over the world participated, the delegation from the capital held a commercial exhibition with the main economic and technological projects being carried out in Bogotá. For more information, see the following link.
• Invest in Bogotá, the capital´s investment promotion agency, and a subsidiary of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, signed a strategic alliance with Finnovating to attract investment and technology based startups to the Bogotá ecosystem. This alliance aims to create a platform where the services for entrepreneurship offered in the city are centralized through public and private entities, facilitating connections with international investors interested in entrepreneurship in the Bogotá Region. For more information, see the following link
• Through the "Entrepreneurial and Productive Woman" program, Bogotá mobilized more than COP 29,000 million to capitalize businesses led by women. On November 23, 500 women with productive units in the capital received economic support. For this call, 5,144 productive units made up of 15,846 women presented to the program. Of these micro businesses, 3,367 completed the training process on entrepreneurship and gender. For more information, see the following link
• On November 22, the Secretary for Economic Development of Bogotá held the first associative table for medical, industrial, and investigative cannabis, in which it announced its plans to strengthen the sector in the capital. One of the initiatives that were presented was the program Cannabis Innovation Fund for Innovation, Technology, and Creative Industries FITIC , which will open its call in December and aims to strengthen 55 companies, with and without a product manufacturing license, through technical, regulatory, commercial, and financial advice, to promote the development of derivatives of medicinal, cosmetic, and industrial cannabis in Bogotá Region. For more information, see the following link
3. BCC NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
BCCNEWS
• On November 7, Mr. Nicolás Uribe, as president of the World Chambers Federation (WCF), presided over the organization's first General Council, in which he presented his strategy for the next three years. Said strategy will be a commitment to the growth and strengthening of the institution and the strengthening of MSMEs worldwide through four transversal axes: empowerment of women, sustainability, innovation, and access to global markets. For more information, see the following link
• The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce presented the results of the Bogotá Perception and Victimization survey for the year 2022. In this exercise, that we have been carrying out since 1998, we analyze the perception of security in the capital. It should be noted that, during 2022, 77% of the people surveyed consider that insecurity has increased, considering that in 2021 this number rose to 88%. In addition, victimization in Bogotá was reduced by three percentage points. For the full results of the survey, see the following link
• Between November 23 and 24, the Software and IT cluster of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce and Invest in Bogotá organized an employment roundtable for IT and BPO businesses from the capital Twenty two companies in the sector presented more than 3,000 vacancies for different positions. The event also had an academic agenda with panels on opportunities for professional growth, bilingualism, and perspectives of the IT sector. For more information, see the following link
UPCOMINGEVENTS
• The first version of Gastrofest will be held. As part of the commitment that the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce has to strengthen the cultural and creative industries and the agro industrial and gastronomic sector, we will develop, between the month of November and December 2022, this program that aims to accompany, strengthen, and promote the city´s gastronomic offering. The festival begins on November 25 and lasts until December 4 in Chapinero, La Candelaria, La Macarena, and the Plaza del 12 de Octubre. For more information, see the following link.
#72 41). To attend this event, you can register through the following link
4. ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR
4.1.GROSSDOMESTICPRODUCT(GDP)1
In the third quarter of 2022, the annual growth of the national GDP was 7.0%. It should be noted that all sectors presented favorable variations except for the agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry, and fishing sector, which registered a 1.4% decrease in this period.
The biennial growth of the national GDP in the third quarter of 2022 was 21.7% Likewise, the triennial growth was 11.0%, a value higher than that observed in the same period of previous years, even above 2019. The above shows the good macroeconomic behavior of the country and the further consolidation of the economic recovery in the third quarter of 2022.
The sectors of Artistic activities, entertainment and recreation, and that of Information and communications are the ones that presented the highest growth compared to 2019, growing 36.9% and 14.0%, respectively. Additionally, the construction and the mining and quarrying sectors remain below their 2019 growth of 15.9% and 13.6%, respectively.
• Next Wednesday, December 7, the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce will present the results of the 2022 Great Business Survey of Bogotá and Cundinamarca. This survey performs a 360° x ray of the formal business community, the popular economy, and those businesses that are consolidated and those that are in the growth stage in the region. The event will take place from 8:00 am to 10:30 am at the Hilton Hotel in Bogotá (Carrera 7Graph 1. Annual growth rate, by quarter, of GDP between 2019 and 2022 Colombia and Bogotá
17,7% 12,9%
11,5% 11,5% 15,4%
2,3%
3,8% 3,7% 3,9% 1,2% 15,5%
3,5% 3,0% 3,2% 3,0% 0,8% 16,6%
0,9%
7,7% 3,6% 0,9%
3,6%
18,3% 13,8% 10,8% 8,7% 12,8% 7,0%
8,8%
I II III IV I II III IV I II III IV I II III 2019 2020p 2021pr 2022 Colombia Bogotá
Source: DANE SDDE.
4.2. INFLATION
In October 2022, the monthly price variation in the country, according to DANE, was 0.72%, while in Bogotá, it was 0.68%. In the ten running months of 2022, the price variation has been 10.86% at the national level and 10.14% at the Bogota level. Compared to the previous year, the annual price variation for Colombia was 12.22%, and that of Bogotá was 11.16%.
Table 1. Monthly and year to date inflation in Colombia and Bogotá during October 2022
Monthly variation Year to date variation Annual variation
Period
Colombia
oct 21 0,01% 0,01% 4,34% 3,65% 4,58% 3,70%
oct 22 0,72% 0,68% 10,86% 10,14% 12,22% 11,16%
Source: DANE Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Regarding the sectors that presented the greatest variation in their prices, in Bogotá, three sectors stood out. First, recreational and cultural activities presented a price variation of 1.22% during the month of October; food and non alcoholic beverages increased by 1.17%, while transportation increased its price by 1.07%.
In the national case, it was food and non alcoholic beverages that presented the greatest price variation, 1.21%, followed by transportation with 1.09%, and various goods and services with a monthly increase of 0.9%. Additionally, there is a slowdown on the growth of electricity services prices in the country, services that contributed 0.06pp to the monthly variation in October.
4.3. EMPLOYMENT
2
Employment dynamics have shown an improvement compared to the previous year. At the national level, the unemployment rate in September 2022 was 10.7%, 1.3pp less than September 2021, which represents 114,000 fewer people unemployed. Meanwhile, the number of employed people increased by 1.7 million compared to 2021. Illustration 1 shows the decrease in the number of unemployed people on an annual basis, as well as the annual variation of the unemployment rate.
2 Source: DANE, Gran Encuesta Integrada de Hogares (GEIH). Recuperado de: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas por tema/mercado laboral/empleo y desempleo
Bogotá Colombia Bogotá Colombia Bogotá
Illustration 1. Number of unemployed people and unemployment rate in Colombia for September 2021 and September 2022 (thousands of people)
Source:GranEncuestaIntegradadeHogares GEIH(DANE),September2022.PublishedOctober31st,2022
In Bogotá, the unemployment rate went from 12.8% in September 2021 to 9.3% in September 2022, which means that 140,000 fewer people found themselves unemployed. In the same period, the number of employed increased from 3,750 thousand people to 3,995 thousand people, an increase of 245 thousand people.
In September, the unemployment rate gap between men and women was 4.5pp While 8.8% of men are unemployed, 13.3% of women are in that condition; even so, it represents an improvement compared to September 2021, when the gap was 5.3pp. Additionally, in the last year, the number of employed women increased by 1,227 thousand people, while the number of employed men increased by only 481 thousand
4.4. BUSINESS DYNAMIC
During the January October 2022 period, 81,031 companies were created in Bogotá and the 59 municipalities under the city´s jurisdiction, representing a positive variation of 5.9% compared to the same period in 2021 but 4.1% compared to the same period of 2019 This means it is still necessary to recover the rate of business creation prior to the pandemic.
Micro enterprises continue to be the main protagonists in terms of business creation. They represented 99.9% of all the companies created in the January October 2022 period, while the medium and large ones barely reached 0.04% 82.3% of the companies were created in Bogotá, while the other 17.7% correspond to the other 59 municipalities in Cundinamarca under our jurisdiction
When analyzing the behavior of the companies created by sectors, it is observed that the industry sector grew 10% compared to 2021 and 6.2% compared to 2019, and the service sector grew 10.6% compared to 2021 but continues to be 8,2% below 2019. Finally, the commerce sector has decreased by 3.2% and 0.6% compared to 2021 and 2019, respectively.
Additionally, the recovery process in the number of active companies continues For the January October 2022 period, there were 479,378 active companies, 6.7% more companies than the previous year. Likewise, 410,267 active companies were registered in Bogotá, 6.5% more than in 2021. Companies in the capital represent 85.6% of the total active companies in the region; In the other municipalities of the jurisdiction, the number of active companies was 69,111, 7.9% more than in the same period of 2021 and corresponding to 14.4% of the total number of active companies.
Table 2. Evolution of active companies between 2019 and 2022 for the January October period by area of jurisdiction
