There’s a new twist in America’s 20-plus-year outsourcing narrative. U.S. companies have historically looked to India for cost-effective programming talent, and more recently to Eastern Europe for mobile development. But these days, more and more IT jobs are being outsourced in a new direction: south.
A number of trends in Latin America have created a growing pool of IT talent. The continent’s 400 million-strong population has seen Internet usage grow by 1644.3 percent over the last 15 years, with an Internet penetration rate in 2015 of 61 percent (the global average is 45 percent). There’s also a growing number of startups (a.k.a. “TechnoLatinas”) in the region. Programs like Startup Chile have backed over 1,000 startups, while Colombian business development bank Bancoldex has raised $500 million to spur economic development through young companies.
