Small business in Colombia, how is it done

Here’s is something you might have noticed when you’re in Colombia. There is a lot of small businesses: bakeries, corners stores, photocopy stores, butchers, fruits and vegetables stores, fast food…

We have everything close to our homes. This might be also true for other latin countries, we are lucky to have everything we need really close to everything, making a lot of cities walkable and convenient.

But here is my main point. All of this businesses are operated by one or two person, maybe is a family business, is the main income (and probably the only one) of many of the people that work there.

Small businesses in Colombia are a huge factor and something to keep in mind for economic development. The country is full of them and they provide support to many families here.

Is not until you go to North America that your notice that is hard to extrapolate how much more small business are here in Colombia. You see them everywhere.

And here is the thing, they don’t consider them as great business men or CEOs of their ventures. Here people open and start a business out of the necessity of survival.

If people just relied on regular jobs or waited to be employed, they would be starving to death. That’s the mentality here people refer as “echado pa’ lante” that roughly translates as someone who is always striving to be better, regardless the situation.

I think here lies a big diasctintion in the business mentality between a Colombian and an American: the Colombian business sometimes just start out of necessity and find success in supporting himself and his family, however find it difficult to scale and be ambitious about it. The American mind is always looking to grow exponentially their ventures, it don’t matter if he loose some profit during this process. The Colombian can’t afford to do that many times.

My take away is this, here small business are vital for the economy, almost behind every small venture there is a family that is surviving by the reaps of it. They are happy with the way it operates locally and are happy to form part of the neighbourhood or sector they are from.

A lot of you like to ask about good business opportunities in Colombia, and I believe having a small business like that could be beneficial. Is not fancy or glamorous, but it certainly is profitable and it will support families. Sometimes the least glamorous style is the proven way to invest, and here in Colombia that’s how small business operate. Step by step it can be expanded depending on your level of ambition.

If you would like to have more information about it and have complete insights, you can book a personal consultation with me, just click in the link here: