Surprising Colombia

If you saw the current issue of BusinessWeek, you were probably surprised by the answer to this headline question:

"What's the MOST Extreme Emerging Market on Earth?"

a) Romania
b) Egypt
c) Vietnam
d) Colombia

The answer is Colombia.

When many of us think of Colombia, we think of drugs, militias, corruption, and kidnappings.

Things have changed enormously in the past five years with the election of Alvaro Uribe as President. Crime has come down and foreign investment has skyrocketed. There is more current high rise construction in Bogota than in New York and LA combined! (Believe it or not, Uribe likes to visit "Second Life.")

I'll be doing several creativity sessions in Bogota in early August. These are sponsored by Tiempo which is the largest newspaper in Colombia and the second largest in South America. This morning I had my first background briefing call with the client. I came away from it highly charged! Sounds like a lot of innovative things are happening. I'll report more in several months when I'm there. I think it will be fun.

By all means, check out this slide show from BusinessWeek. Well worth viewing.

Comments

[Valeria Maltoni]

I was reading a good in depth series of articles on imminent elections in the countries of Latin America in Foreign Policy magazine not long ago. I saw a few surprises since then. Colombia is one of them. Kudos on the gig. I'll be watching for your developments and reports.