The arrival in Colombia of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and one of the richest men in the world, ignited expectations regarding future business or investments in the country.
The reason for his visit would be to formalize his financial support to the country, through the Bezos Earth Fund, in order to promote his ambitious goal of the 30 × 30 strategy that seeks to protect 30% of marine and terrestrial areas per year. 2030.
It has also been speculated that the American tycoon would be interested in making investments in series for his streaming platform, Amazon Prime.
However, Bezos has not been the only foreign millionaire who has set his sights on the country; There are several entrepreneurs from other parts of the world who have found promising business scenarios in Colombia.
Foreigners in Colombia
Bezos, whose net worth would be around US$177 billion, has had an Amazon customer service center in Bogotá since 2018.
One of the tycoon’s most recent deals was his participation in the capital injection of the real estate technology company La Haus, which together with other investors added a total of US$100 million.
This tycoon had already been joined by the arrival in the country of Thor Björgólfsson, the richest man in Iceland and owner of the Novator Partners Fund, with his telecommunications company Wom.
Björgólfsson, 53 years old and with a net worth of US$2,300 million, acquired Avantel through Wom and now, according to Forbes, his ambition is to go for 25% of the market led by Claro, Movistar and Tigo in the next five years, with an investment of US$1,000 million.
On the other hand, Colombia has also been in the sights of Latin millionaires: there are several entrepreneurs from countries such as Mexico and Chile, mainly, who have made their way into Colombian lands.
This is the case of Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire owner of the América Móvil business group, of which the Claro telecommunications operator is a part, which has had a presence in Colombia since 2012 when it came in to replace the Comcel and Telmex brands, properties of the same group.
Slim ranked first among the richest in Mexico in 2021, with a fortune amounting to US$55.93 billion.
Another of the entrepreneurs, whose businesses have been very successful in the country, is the Chilean-German Horst Paulmann, owner of the Jumbo supermarkets (Cencosud). According to Forbes, Paulmann has an estimated net worth of $3.3 billion.
In fact, the Chilean retail group recently reported its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2021, which were US$249 million, highlighting the positive results it had in Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Peru.
Finally, but among other tycoons who have increased their fortunes thanks to their businesses in Colombia, Roberto Angelini Rossi stands out, an engineer, businessman and one of the richest men in Chile.
With a fortune of US$2,000 million, Angelini Rossi is a representative of the Angelini Group, owners of the Compañía de Petróleos de Chile (Copec), who control regarding 40% of the fuel distribution firm Terpel, which has been operating for 50 years in Colombia.
Good time to invest?
The current uncertainty of a possible brake on the global reactivation, and whether this might lead to a higher level of volatility in the exchange rate, added to the electoral season that Colombia is experiencing, are some of the factors that will influence, according to some analysts, in the arrival of future foreign investors to the country.
For Gregorio Gandini, an expert at the Gandini Analysis firm, despite the fact that the country has solid macroeconomic figures, which show a significant recovery, the uncertainty surrounding the electoral results is a factor that would keep the entry of foreign investors quiet in the short term. term.
“In the medium and long term, a flow entry movement in the country would be expected. Over the years, Colombia has become more attractive and we see it in the increase, for example, in the amount of TES (domestic public debt securities) held by foreigners, which has reached record levels. We are a country that maintains very good macroeconomic stability compared to others in the region such as Peru, Chile, and Brazil,” Gandini said.
For his part, Sergio Olarte, chief economist at Scotiabank Colpatria, said that with the rise in oil prices, caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, energy-exporting economies have benefited greatly, so it is expected that the value of exports increases and that the fiscal accounts can have some respite.
In this way, according to the analyst, investors will see in the country a great opportunity to invest
US$177
billion is the net worth of American tycoon Jeff Bezos.
