Carlos Montoya’s life can be summed up in two words: tenacity and discipline. This paisa from Amagá went from working in the coal mines in his hometown to becoming passionate about technology and from there to becoming an entrepreneur operating in the United States and Colombia with his company +Credimás.
This company is dedicated to credit repair for people, mostly Latinos in the United States, who want to access credit but for various reasons have negative marks or a low score with banks or lenders in that country, so that they can build a new history by increasing their credit score through customized strategies.
All this requires technology, passion and a lot of talent, so Carlos and his two sons Sebastian and Jovan decided to install the main operation in Medellin where they attend all calls from customers in the United States who seek in this company the solution to their credit problems and thus be able to grow in this country and have a better life.
Thanks to the international cooperation project, Alliance for Training, led by the AFOS Foundation, supported by the Colombian-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Medellín Chamber of Commerce for Antioquia and financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through Sequa, about 100 young people from the Department will be trained in the Dual Education modality, increasing employability and business competitiveness in the sectors of digital economy and tourism in Medellín and Antioquia.
The dual education system, successful in Germany, is a model in which the apprentice divides his time between the university, where he acquires theoretical knowledge, and the company, where he learns practical skills. The purpose is to close the gap between academia and the productive sector and increase the employability of young people.
To learn more about the impact of this project, we share the story of Dilbani Enriquez and Jaime Andrés, a married couple from Medellín, beneficiaries of this international cooperation program.
Johan Herrera, an inhabitant of the San Javier neighborhood in the Comuna 13 of Medellin, tells us how he became a Senior Developer at Endava, one of the most recognized technology companies worldwide, currently operating in Bogota, Medellin and Cali since 2016.
This company born in London, England in 2000, has more than 10 thousand employees worldwide, of which more than 1000 are in Colombia. These “Endavans”, as they call their employees, come to the company seduced by the good reputation of the company in addition to the training plans and support offered for their development.
This programming academy founded in San Francisco, cradle of the most prestigious technology companies in the world such as Google, Facebook and Apple, arrived in Medellin in 2019 to train thousands of people as software developers.
Their calls for new talents who want to join their training programs, are open 3 times a year and apply to all types of people who have a certain level of English and who want to dedicate themselves to technology as a new professional vocation.
We share a video about Christian Martinez, a citizen who found in this academy his working life option.
We also invite you to listen to this podcast in Spanish with Christian Martinez, participant of Holberton Colombia and Paula Forero, marketing coordinator of the company.
If you want more information about the training programs you can access the following [ here ]
Mrs. Rocío Molina (76 years old), Mrs. Hercilia Gallego (72 years old) and Mrs. Mercelena Montoya (85 years old) found in Acalis the best option to improve their quality of life.
“Since I came here, my life has changed, I’ve been here for almost a year and I’m happy,” says Mrs. Rocío when she talks about how this center for the elderly improved her life.
Mrs. Rocio was widowed four years ago, despite her two children, she felt sad, depressed and lived very lonely. She decided to put her house up for sale and look for a home for the elderly. After a long searching, she found her corner of the world in Acalis, where she made new friends, dances, dresses up and says: “I am at home, here I do what I want, we have a great time because we have a group of six friends, so we have a great time”.
Acalis is a European-based company that has its main facilities in Santiago de Chile and is dedicated to the integral care of the elderly. It is a residential complex expressly designed and equipped for this population group, which is provided with specialized care services that include 24/7 nursing accompaniment, specialized nutrition, physical therapy and cognitive therapy.
In 2019, thanks to the market size of the region (600,000 potential clients in Antioquia), the supply of health services for this segment, the climate, the friendliness and service vocation of the people and the quality of life, they decided to settle in Medellín with an initial operation of 122 rooms in El Poblado neighborhood and an investment of USD 21 million.
Rooms at Acalis
The company currently generates 40 direct jobs, which they expect to increase to 100 with full occupancy. Precisely another reason why they chose to come to Medellín is the human talent with a high level in health services and medium-high level in hotel services. Their arrival in Colombia was supported by Procolombia and ACI Medellín, in terms of regional sector information and local relations, which facilitated their settlement in the city.
“I was tired of being a housewife. I had been living very well for 60 years, but the responsibilities of home exhausted me, I came to Acalis, where frankly they contemplate me, I eat very well, my children visit me, this is a delightful rest for me.”
Mrs. Mercelena Montoya (85 years old)
In this way, we see how foreign investment can change the lives of citizens, in this case of the elderly, in others it is the possibility of generating quality employment and more opportunities for all.
In Medellín, the Software Valley’s strategy also reaches the youngest parts of society. Nearly 370 children at the Lusitania Buen Comienzo kindergarten, located in the San Cristóbal district of the city’s rural zone, children receive education with high standards of innovation that facilitates their learning.
“This kindergarten is just as good, if not better than any other kindergarten,” says Susana Zapata, mother of María José Yepes, a child who benefits from this modality, achieved thanks to international cooperation with the affiliate of the U.S. foundation United Way in Colombia.
Susana Zapata, mother of María José Yepes, one of the 370 children served by the Buen Comienzo Lusitania Kindergarten.
This educational scenario, which is part of the comprehensive offer for early childhood of the Mayor’s Office of Medellin through the Special Administrative Unit Buen Comienzo, not only has an infrastructure that is physically and aesthetically created to promote learning environments for children, but also contemplates pedagogy and the use of technology as stimulants for the development of 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving and collaborative work.
The kindergarten, which began operating in 2018 under the operation of Comfama, began a process in 2019 to implement innovative techniques and become a benchmark for good practices in early childhood. Thus, United Way Colombia, a foundation recognized for its work in education in the country, decided to support the kindergarten to turn it into a demonstration center.
What is a demonstration center?
It’s not a made-up concept, it’s an experience that has been worked on in other contexts around the world. Medellin referred to the United Way Center of Excellence in Early Education in Miami, which has already come a long way and adapted these methodologies to the needs of the children benefiting from the kindergarten, as well as those of the educational agents interested in innovating their early childhood care practices with technology.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to be accompanied by this wonderful team that has nurtured me a lot in 21st century competencies, in pedagogical experiences and the STEAM Squad. Thankfully, they’ve innovated a lot, they’ve brought a lot of technology, and materials to introduce innovative and quality educational experiences,” says María Janet Arango, an educational agent at the kindergarten.
Facial recognition equipment, electronic circuits, 3D pencils and printers, cameras, voice recorders, among others, are some of the technological elements and pedagogical materials used by the children in the company of the educational agents. “We are equipped with very good material, technological material that the children did not have access to. Other kindergartens don’t have access to these materials. The children analyze and present their ideas, they answer more complex questions, and we can see that their early childhood is being strengthened, they take this knowledge to their homes so the families can also contribute from their points of view.”, said María Janet.
The kindergarten has developed strategies to bring families closer, taking into account co-responsibility as the most important educational agent in the learning process. This is why the kindergarten includes families in different activities and talks, as Cindy Ramirez, educational agent, explains: “We’ve involved the parents so that they know about the work we’ve been doing with the children and that they are also part of this process. Some parents have asked us how we have ensured that the tools are used properly or to tell us that they are proud that the kindergarten includes the use of technological tools.
Susana Zapata, one of the parents, said “the relationship between families and the kindergarten is good thanks to the communication between them. I had the opportunity to really see what the children learn at school with the demonstration center, and it’s very nice because the children learn that technology is not only used for games but also as a means of learning, very responsibly. It’s inspiring to see how the children are learning here.”.
An expanding model for the city
On the road to becoming a Software Valley, Medellín has developed programs and projects to take advantage of the territory’s potential and diversify the city’s economy in areas associated with the digital economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In this journey, the city has understood that to truly achieve a change in mentality, long-term actions are required that permeate the future of society, in this case early childhood.
In this regard, the director of the Special Administrative Unit Buen Comienzo, Hugo Diaz says: “this commitment in the kindergarten is directly linked and related to our purpose of city: Software Valley. This is one of the examples that technological transformation is fundamental in all city scenarios and, therefore, today our children enjoy this center, and we hope that this commitment can continue to be implemented in other kindergartens in the city because in Medellín Futuro children are also part of the transformation“.
After three years of learning at the Buen Comienzo Lusitania Kindergarten, the Mayor’s Office of Medellín, in partnership with United Way Colombia, plans to expand the model so that children in every district of the city have access to learning based on technology and innovation, thus creating a demonstrative network for early childhood in the city. Although it is an ambitious projection, the formative and inspiring practices that have been achieved in the education of children in Lusitania will serve as a pilot for this expansion to become a reality.
