Governments and companies around the world are committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Find out how foreign investment can contribute to their achievement.
1. Contributes to poverty reduction by creating jobs
One of the main characteristics of foreign investment is its rapid job creation capacity once the company sets up in a city. An example of this is the more than 50,000 jobs that foreign companies supported by Invest in Bogota have created in the city over the past 15 years.
This expansion of the labor market allows people to obtain new and higher incomes and, with this, a better quality of life that results in poverty mitigation.
2. Promotes good working conditions and economic growth
In addition to creating new jobs, foreign investment brings with it the best global practices, thus providing human talent with very good working conditions and possibilities for professional growth. This also contributes to improving the business dynamics of cities and their business environment.
It also injects investment into the local economy. In the case of Bogota, for example, with more than 440 projects supported by Invest in Bogota, the city has received more than USD 3.2 billion in investment. This item contributes to the economic strength of the city, whose GDP is even higher than that of entire countries such as the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Panama.
(The role of foreign investment in Bogota’s economic reactivation)
3. Strengthens innovation
Foreign companies that come to Bogota work with the best global practices not only in terms of human talent management but also in processes and knowledge. This allows local collaborators to learn about new practices and thus transfer technology and knowledge, which has an impact on the entire local business environment.
Bogota is home to innovative companies such as Amazon, HBO, MercadoLibre, SABMiller, Decathlon, L’Oreal, CPL Aromas, among others, which are leaders in their sector and strengthen innovation and industrial development in the region.
(Infrastructure to generate more clean water and enable environmental sustainability in Bogota)
4. Creates opportunities for more people to access the labor market and strengthen their skills
The foreign investment makes possible a labor supply with different degrees of sophistication, ranging from people with postgraduate studies and many years of experience to young high school graduates with no working experience, as is widely the case in the BPO sector, in which Bogota is one of the major leaders in the region. This fact, besides allowing people to access the labor market and generate economic resources, allows the city’s human talent to improve their skills and reduce inequalities between different social and age groups.
In addition to this, the needs of foreign companies in skills such as bilingualism and knowledge in programming and technology are the seed for joint work between the district and the national government, leading to public policies and programs that promote this type of learning and result in a reduction of inequalities and greater opportunities for training and access to the labor market.
5. It strives to create sustainable environments
One of the characteristics that the city considers to attract foreign companies is that they contribute to the fulfillment of the SDGs. In addition to the above points, foreign companies have social responsibility programs that seek to generate sustainable conditions for the societies in which they operate and for the environment.
Among these, there are examples such as Mcdonald’s, which has programs for the recycling of its packaging; L’Oreal, whose operations have lowered their carbon emissions and have a waste reduction plan; among other initiatives.
