Chile Sees FDI Spike 87 Percent in First Quarter
May 15th, 2013By Narayan Ammachchi
Chile received more than US$ 9 billion in foreign direct investment in the first quarter of this year, according to official figures released this week.
The FDI inflow increased 87 percent compared to $4.87 billion received in the previous three months. More than five billions dollars flowed into the country in March, the highest monthly foreign investment in the past 16 months, according to the Central Bank.
According to ECLAC, Chile received more than 30 billion USD in foreign direct investment in 2012, making it the second largest FDI recipient in the region after Brazil.
Last year, Latin America and the Caribbean set a record in foreign direct investment (FDI) (6.7% more than in 2011), despite international conditions characterized by shrinking FDI flows worldwide.
Chile has also stepped up its investment elsewhere in the region. “Outward direct investment by LAC countries came …
Launch a Business in a Day? In Chile It’s Now Possible
May 9th, 2013By Narayan Ammachchi
Launching a business in Chile is far easier today than it was a few days ago. The Southern Cone has inaugurated an online platform that allows anyone to start a business in a matter of hours and at zero cost.
If you are planning to start a business, all you need to do is: Fill up a form specifying the characteristics of your company, such as the names of partners, the line of business and the capital investment.
The platform will absorb the information and create a document that will then be sent to the Internal Revenue Service, which will issue a taxpayer ID number.
Once you have got hold of the ID number, you can set your business in motion.
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera inaugurated the platform last week. This system has in fact become popular in countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada …
Some of the best moments of Nearshore Nexus ’13 happened on the fly – during networking breaks, on the way to sessions, in hallways, at lunch or during our closing “Nexus After Dark” reception. Our team has gathered the best photos from those moments here in one album on our Facebook page – take a look and recall the great memories!
View Slideshow: Business Networking at Nearshore Nexus
Srivastava: At EVS, Brazilians outnumber other foreigners.
By Narayan Ammachchi
Ever wondered why IT and BPO companies in Chile have continued to expand despite what is commonly seen as a severe shortage of skilled workers locally? In Chile, immigration rules are strikingly different than nearby nations like Brazil. IT companies can bring in as many skilled professionals from overseas countries as they want. Jobseekers from across the world are arriving by thousands and filling up the vacant positions in all sectors of the economy.
CGS Expands Operation in Chile With a New Facility
April 25th, 2013By Narayan Ammachchi
US outsourcing firm CGS has added an additional facility to its BPO operations in Chile, saying its workforce would increase 27 percent by the end of this year.
CGS entered Chile in 2012 acquiring contact center firm Prego from the Angellini Group. The new facility takes to four the total number of sites the company is operating in the country.
The new delivery center, in the Chilean capital Santiago, further strengthens the company’s existing contact center operation. “The opening of CGS’s new office in Chile is a natural effect of the strong and rapidly expanding customer base we have in Latin America,” said Phil Friedman, President and CEO of CGS.
The new facility can house 500 new employees, the company stated in a press release.
The US outsourcer stated it is scaling up operation to keep pace with a growing demand for contact center and other BPO services in Latin America. …
BYOD Is Strongest in Chile and Venezuela
April 19th, 2013
IDC analyst Diego Anesini
By Narayan Ammachchi
Latin Americans will buy 24.9 million notebooks, 73.2 million smartphones and 11.9 million tablets in 2013, according to an IDC forecast. The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon, which has already swept across corporate America, will be an influential driver in acquisition of this hardware in the Nearshore as well. “One in three large companies in Latin America have allowed employees to bring in their own device and connect to the office data,” said Diego Anesini, an IDC telecom analyst in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Capgemini Expects to Double Latin American BPO Business By 2015
April 10th, 2013
Massum: Cap LATAM could employ 4.8K workers by 2013
Guest Analysis by Geoff Woollacott
Capgemini – one of the strongest performers in Latin America BPO, is about to see some dramatic growth, according to Felix Massun, the firm’s Vice President of Latin American Business Development. Massun outlined recently the growth rates the company expects going forward and offered insight into the core opportunities and obstacles he believes Capgemini faces in doing business in the region. Consistent with a column TBR wrote for Nearshore Americas in 2012, government policy represents both an opportunity for sales and an impediment to conducting business in the region.
By Narayan Ammachchi
U.S. online bank PayPal has teamed up with a Latin American payment network to launch a unique payment service called ‘Retiros Multicaja’ in Chile.
PayPal’s partner Multicaja is also a financial services provider, serving more than 50,000 merchants in Chile. “For over two years now, we’ve been growing our footprint in Latin America by opening up local offices in Mexico and Brazil, and by entering into innovative partnerships in countries like Costa Rica,” stated Mario Mello, General Manager, PayPal Latin America, in a press release.
Mello said PayPal can boost the eCommerce industry in Latin America, helping the region widen its participation in global commerce.
The new service will allow Chilean businesspeople to withdraw funds directly from their local bank accounts. With more than 10 million Internet users, Latin America has tremendous potential to become a lucrative eCommerce market, PayPal said.
“We are confident that this important relationship will help …
ECLAC Urges Member Countries to Promote Digital Economy
April 5th, 2013By Narayan Ammachchi
The digital economy accounts for 3.2 percent of GDP in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, says a new study from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
As far as the digital economy is concerned, the ECLAC says, countries in the region are progressing at ‘two very different technological speeds’.
In some countries, information and communications technologies (ICTs) are having a positive impact on economic growth, while in other countries progress is slower.
“The three most advanced countries have 15 times as much development than the ones lagging the furthest behind. Furthermore, the digital divide between Latin America and countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in terms of mobile broadband is getting wider (11% versus 55% penetration in 2011),” said Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC Executive Secretary, addressing the ongoing Ministerial Conference on the information society …
UN Report Lauds Latin America’s Effort to Alleviate Poverty
April 4th, 2013By Narayan Ammachchi
The middle class in the majority of Latin American countries continues to improve, lifted millions of people out of poverty, says the United Nation’s 2013 Human Development Report.
The report titled ‘The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World’ analyses the progress made by the developing countries and lauds innovative social programs – such as Mexico’s Oportunidades program and Brazil’s Bolsa Familia – in the region.
Access to good healthcare services, education and employment skills will enable more number of people to find jobs and join the middle class in the days ahead, the report added.
“The rise of the South is one of the most remarkable phenomenon in the new global arena,” said Heraldo Muñoz, UNDP Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The report lauds Brazil, Chile and Mexico for what it calls ‘exemplary innovation’ in …
