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Logistics Lessons from the US Chamber of Commerce with Cesar Vence
57 Plays5 months ago
In this episode, Cesar Vence, Executive Director, U.S.-Colombia Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, joins Host Brian Glick, CEO of Chain.io, to discuss:
- How strong trade policy and relationships facilitate global trade and commerce
- The challenges and opportunities faced by businesses in global markets
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s advocacy work for MSME’s
- Nearshoring vs. Farshoring and the potential benefits for small businesses
- Connecting MSME and larger enterprises for trade opportunities
- US.-Colombia business relations and logistics opportunities
Cesar Vence is the executive director of the US Columbia Business Council at the US Chamber of Commerce and has spent most of his career working on issues of international trade, from a policy standpoint and for the promotion of small business activity for exporters in and out of the United States and Latin America.
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Transcript
Introduction: Brian Glick and Cesar Vance
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Supply Chain Connections. I'm Brian Glick, founder and CEO at Chain.io. On today's episode, we're going to have a really interesting conversation with someone who may not think of themselves as working in supply chain, but very much does. Cesar Vance is the executive director of the U.S. Columbia Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and has spent most of his career and really his life working on issues of international trade from the policy standpoint and from the promotion of small business activity, both exporters out of the United States into Latin America and vice versa. And I think it's really interesting for those of us who spend a lot of time on the execution side of the supply chain to hear about the background and the passions of someone who creates the environment in which the rest of us are able to function.
Trade Policy and Business Relationships
00:01:03
Speaker
Without strong trade policy, without strong relationships and coaching of businesses, there is no cargo to move and there is no trade to be done. So I hope you enjoy the episode.
00:01:19
Speaker
Cesar, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Cool. So why don't we start with a little bit of background on yourself. Just introduce yourself and and kind of what your career journey's been. Sure.
Cesar Vance's Immigrant Story and Public Service
00:01:33
Speaker
So Cesar Bensei, I'm a Colombian American, you know, immigrated to the United States in in the early 90s. You know, as a very typical immigrant story, you know, left Colombia due to the situation there. Our family wanted to give us, you know, new and better opportunities. So we made the trip up here, you know, had a long history of, you know, it's sort of
00:01:59
Speaker
immigration to the U.S., you know, through my family, you know, my uncle came here in a and a scholarship in the early 70s, I believe. He was a bodybuilder. And believe it or not, back in the days, there were bodybuilding scholarships. So he came to the United States. And then, you know, everyone else kind of followed. And, um you know, it's been really just a great journey. It's been a great journey. So, you know, it's um I came from a family that's always put a lot of emphasis in public service. My father is a physician. My mother is a social worker. You know, my uncle was a teacher, school teacher. I have an aunt who has worked at the United Nations, worked at the American Development Bank. So we all kind of, you know, came from that public service, international background. So I just knew that, you know, I was going to land somewhere in between some sort of international public service and
00:02:55
Speaker
In the back of my mind, even when I came to the U.S., you know, I always thought about going back to Colombia to give back. But through the years, you know, just as as Destiny will have it, I mean, I came across just really, first of all, just really fascinating people, you know, that I've met through my time here that helped me paved a way to be where
Role of Economic Ambassador
00:03:16
Speaker
I am today. And that's really at the intersection of everything that I'm passionate about. And that is, you know, public service, public policy, and international commerce. And that's what led me to this new, you know not new now, been at the chamber for three years, but this gig at the chamber. you know When I started talking to the team at the chamber and learning more about their work, you know it just it was I was really intrigued by how the chamber is positioned at the intersection of public policy, international commerce, and what I like to call economic diplomacy. right I mean mean, I try to explain my job to people that, you know, they don't really they're not in our sort of industry. I tell them that we're economic ambassadors for the United States and for our member companies. And that's really how I see, you know, our role at the chamber and my role ah leading the U.S.
Global Advocacy by U.S. Chamber of Commerce
00:04:10
Speaker
Columbia Business Council. So explain just for people who may not know what the Chamber of Commerce is and what the U.S. Columbia Business Council is.
00:04:20
Speaker
right So the US Chamber of Commerce is the largest sh trade organization in the world. you know We advocate both at the domestic and international level. the chamber, it's a large organization. But I mean, I think that the best way to think about it is we are the voice of the US private sector, not just in the US, but also globally, you know, I'm part of the international division of the US s chamber, where we have presence pretty much everywhere around the world. And the international division in the US chamber is not only well known, but also, you know, very respected around the globe. So the international division is kind of, you know, if you can imagine,
00:04:58
Speaker
sort of a roadmap, you know, we are divided into the different sort of regions. I'm part of the Americas region, where we have five bilateral councils. So Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, and Colombia, which is the one that I lead. and The rest of the region is covered by our network of AMCHAMs, that is through a program called ACLA, Association of American Chambers of Commerce of Latin America and the Caribbean. so We're able to cover the entire hemisphere you know through our division, and very similar to our division.
00:05:36
Speaker
you know, we have an European team, we have an Africa team, we have an Asia team, very dynamic teams that are literally, you know, out there traveling, talking to government officials around the world, speaking on behalf of, you know, the US private sector.
Creating Competitive Investment Opportunities
00:05:51
Speaker
You know, what I find really interesting about this work is when you think of advocacy, you think about, you know, sort of somebody out there complaining about what we don't like, you know, about a certain regulation or or about a certain you know proposal. But what I found really interesting about our sort of the dynamics and and the work that we do is that it goes beyond. There's a lot of, you know, looking for opportunities to collaborate, you know, how can we you know support are governments and how can we support more than governments, how can we support countries, you know, with direct development, growth and development? How do we make them more competitive? And that's really at the core of what we do.
00:06:30
Speaker
how do we create these enabling environments to ensure that, you know, a country, you know, for example, I'm going to refer a lot to Colombia because that's what I do in a day to day basis. But a country like Colombia remains competitive for indirect investment that are, you know, 500 plus US companies that are located in Colombia, you know, have an enabling environment, you know, to create jobs, innovate. So that's really at the core of what we do. So when I, as a, layperson, think of the US Chamber of Commerce and capital letters, and I think of big businesses and a big building right next to the White House and you know all of those things. But I know that it's the way we met, and one of your passions is and of micro, small, and medium enterprises, MSMEs.
00:07:17
Speaker
some of us call it small businesses and all these sorts of different words, but that was very eye opening to me, you know, that there is that engagement. So maybe talk a little bit about kind of your passion in that area and and what that means for the other countries in the world. Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up, Brian. I mean, you're right. I think when everyone thinks you're a chamber of commerce, you know, they think big business, but, you know, the chamber has historically, you know, worked very closely and has tons of programming and resources to support. When we met, we used the term MSMEs because in the region in Latin America, M is the first to that micro enterprise, right? I don't think in the US, I don't think we use the M as much yet, but there are micro
Supporting MSMEs in Latin America
00:08:05
Speaker
enterprises, right? But we do a lot of work at the chamber, you know, through the different programs that we have, our federation, the network,
00:08:13
Speaker
of chambers throughout the nation to support small businesses. And that commitment was reflected you know during the MSME conference that we hosted back in February in partnership with the OAS. The reason we were involved in the MSME conference was because during 2022, when the US chamber was tapped to lead the CEO Summit of the Americas, during the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, one of the main pillars was MSME development. We hosted the first virtual MSME Academy, which had about 5,000 MSMEs from the region. Participate actually had the opportunity to moderate that Academy. So this was a continuation of that work, you know, and we felt that it was important to, in partnership with the OAS, you know, we recognize the need to have a regional strategy for MSME development and growth. You know, 95%
00:09:12
Speaker
of businesses in the region, when I say the region, you know, referring to Latin America and the Caribbean are MSMEs, but only a very small percentage of that group actually takes advantage or
Challenges Faced by MSMEs
00:09:25
Speaker
participates in the global market. So we saw it as an opportunity to come together with government officials, businesses, trade associations from around the region to think about how to support these MSMEs and you know What was really unique about this, and I think this is where the chamber comes in, is the role of the private sector, the US private sector. i mean You saw all of our you know sort of major corporations, you know those that you think of when you think about the US chamber, but very present at this event, you know talking about their different programs and resources to support MSME development, how these companies, these larger companies,
00:10:05
Speaker
you know include MSMEs into their supply chains and into into their work. so you know The Chamber is fully committed on MSME development. I personally, you know this has always been a big passion of mine. Prior to joining the US Chamber, I was Deputy Director for the Office of International Affairs in the city of Atlanta. and I used to run the city's export program, which was really targeted towards MSMEs. you know, equipment, Atlanta, MSMEs with tools so they can actually go out there and learn more about global opportunities. So, you know, I get to do a lot of the things that I'm really passionate about at the chamber and I get to work with small businesses, get to support them. And then at the same time, you know, we get to support some of your you know larger companies as well. So what are some of the challenges?
00:10:59
Speaker
If you're a you know a small business who wants to do international business really in any direction, kind of like what are some of the things they run into that those of us who sit inside supply chains all they may not think of? Well, it is interesting.
Streamlining Export Processes for MSMEs
00:11:13
Speaker
I think if you ask a business, the first thing that people will say is funding, right? Like, oh, we need more funding, but that's not necessarily true. Funding is not the solution to every problem. Sometimes actually funding can become a bigger issue for an MSME. I think there's a number of challenges, but one is there is a lot of information and resources available for MSMEs, but it's all over the place. So something that I did actually when I was back in Atlanta,
00:11:39
Speaker
We put together, we built this sort of centralized website where MSMEs can go in and find all of the resources from the federal, the state, and local level to support them to you know export. So it's called atlinbusiness.com. So those sort of resources where you aggregate the information for MSMEs, that information is key, right? So because a small business owner, they don't have time to be out there searching the net networking. talking to people every day. So information is key. The other one is the network. I think you know making sure and and creating spaces where these MSMEs can actually meet with potential partners.
00:12:23
Speaker
potential vendors, p suppliers, that's really key because a lot of them just, again, don't have the time to be out there networking because they're worrying about running their business, right? They're worrying about paying bills, they're worrying about this, so creating those opportunities. And then, you know, there's another sort of layer to that, you know, when we think about MSMEs and a lot of their work that I've done is typically definitely with minority-owned businesses. You know, minority-owned businesses have another layer of challenge. you know I think funding is a big challenge for them. I mean, there's not as much funding available for minority-owned businesses, minority-owned enterprises. So, you know, pooling funding, finding alternative funding.
00:13:03
Speaker
sort of vehicles for them is also
Simplifying Regulations for MSMEs
00:13:05
Speaker
another area. um Then, you know, we get into logistics, right? I mean, logistics is a big cause for MSMEs. So that's another area that sometimes is challenging. The regulatory environment is quite convoluted. And if you're a small business, you just don't have to the time, the bandwidth to be out there kind of keeping track of, you know, a new regulation that may impact your business, right? So I think we just need to figure out a way to simplify You know, one, regulations, create more opportunities for our MSMEs. And then the other thing that, you know, this was clear during the conference was, you know, just this need for opportunities, right? For creating more opportunities where the MSMEs to participate and engage. So, but look, I see there are challenges. There's many challenges that MSMEs face every day.
00:13:54
Speaker
But all of those challenges, you know, we see them as as opportunities, right? And we mean organizations like the US s Chamber to come up with new programming, be out there, be present, and support these MSMEs. Yeah, I know that um I just think of a a whole stack of stories just in the last few years of and just people I've met out there in one company, an MSME here in the US, s who had been buying product you know from Asia and always bought it, kind of delivered and duty paid. And then they got a big order from a big US retailer and suddenly they were trying to import themselves and they didn't understand how tariffs worked.
00:14:37
Speaker
you know And for those of us who've been doing it our whole careers, it's kind of second nature. And suddenly they get a phone call that says, I need a $250,000 check to get this through the port. And they you like they didn't know that phone call was coming exactly right for the duties on it was shirts and you it's a pretty high duty rate. and I mean that's what it looks like on the ground when that education doesn't happen which is that can put a company a small business out of business yeah yeah i mean in the same lines me you have. a company, let's just say, they're selling, I don't know, custom made bags, right? And they do a great job and they want to export, but then all of a sudden they get this order of, I don't know, they want to there's you know a container full of these. Well, they don't have the capacity, right? So there's a lot of education. There's a lot of this awareness. And truth be told, I mean, international commerce is not for every MSME, right? So I think it's also creating that awareness that maybe you're not there yet.
00:15:35
Speaker
right But like what do we need to do to get you to that point? right There's also you know all kinds of requirements that you have to meet to enter a different market. There's also some learning that you need to do around, well does does does that country have a free trade agreement? right ah tariffs ah So you just again, I go back to the initial point of information, and there's just a lot of information out there that is this not hard to access, but it's hard to sort of process and aggregate for a small business owner again, because at the end of the day, they're just running their business and that's what they do. Yeah, I mean, i I'll say, you know, just even starting chain and, you know, we had more resources than a lot of
00:16:19
Speaker
MSMEs at the beginning, even just from, you know, my background and being in the industry a long time, but things like how do I hire an employee in another country, right? Like that in and of itself, when you start at zero, you know, absent the network that I already had, I don't know how we would have figured that It's that starting point. It's that jumping off point of even knowing where the resources are to begin the conversation. It's very intimidating. right And I say that as somebody with English as my first language. right and so no I totally appreciate what you're saying. look and i mean I think small business owners, i mean there's some of the bravest and most brilliant people out there because it is not easy to start a business. mean It's not easy. you know and he takes it
00:17:04
Speaker
a really unique individual to you know just be out there on their own. kind of like Entrepreneurs are these really unique individuals for a number of reasons, but that being one of them, and you got to be out there, you got to put yourself out there, you got to be willing to take risk, and you got to be willing to fail and then get back up, right and that often happens. But I think it's important to know that you know as you fail, there's always other opportunities and there's people that are out there, organizations that are willing to help, and and there's just tons and tons of resources. for these small business owners. So near shoring has been a big topic since the pandemic and since actually probably before the pandemic, since the, the tariff since 2016, you know, working in the region, kind of what do you see in the near shoring space and kind of what has you maybe excited about that area or scared or, or whatever it would have, I don't want to put words in your mouth.
Nearshoring Trends in Latin America
00:17:58
Speaker
I mean, look near shoring is not for everyone. Right. And we hear the term.
00:18:03
Speaker
all over their place. I mean, there's nearshoring for ensuring. When it comes down to in in the region, I mean, there's obviously, you know, some countries that have gotten it, that get it, that understand it, that have positioned themselves well for it, that have historically done it. I think Mexico is a good example of that. There are other countries that are being more proactive, other countries that want to do it, but maybe logistically, they're just geographically, they're not in the right place. But yeah know and again I'm going to refer to Colombia, for example. you know Colombia is a country that's geographically, you know strategically located. It shares both coast, Caribbean and the Pacific. It has two main ports in both sides, but they haven't really thought about nearshoring. right i mean I think they don't see themselves as a nearshoring destination yes yet.
00:18:55
Speaker
There's a lot of trade, a lot of you know commerce, and Colombia has done really, really well in the region. But I don't think the country has fully taken advantage of sort of this near-shoring boom or French-shoring boom. And it's there is an opportunity there, right? I want to talk very briefly about a survey that the chamber that our team conducted last year actually we're now yeah started in 2022 as a result of the CEO Summit of the Americas. In the survey, it was a commitment that the chamber made at the summit to contribute to a better understanding of the factors driving corporate sourcing decisions. right
00:19:38
Speaker
and assessing those the potential opportunities for new investment and new insurance in the
Corporate Sourcing Decisions and Key Factors
00:19:43
Speaker
Americas. So we surveyed around 105 C-suite decision makers to understand where companies are in sort of deriving their supply chains and why. And the survey was intended to be a starting point by establishing baseline information regarding corporate decision making. so Some of the initial findings of the survey were, you know and I'm really happy, i'll I'll share the link with you, Brian, and perhaps you can share the survey results with the listeners. But you know what was really unique and relevant about this was that the the survey provided insights from a broad cross-section of sectors and company sizes, are notably significant number of small and mid-sized company respondents.
00:20:26
Speaker
so I find these large more multinational companies are already implementing supply chain strategies and have the resources to you know sort of evaluate potential markets for nearshoring, while the medium and small companies lack that information. right and They have some preconceptions about sourcing, manufacturing in the Americas. What we found in the survey, you know there were sort of four main findings. The most important factor when deciding, and you probably i know this well, you know, it came down to logistics. That was really the number one factor here. So from sourcing goods, logistics was as an important factor for 99% of the mid-sized and small companies and 93% of large companies. The other finding was labor. Labor was a key driving factor for the respondents. You know, they won't make a decision or those decisions are made based on labor availability.
00:21:19
Speaker
The other one, which we know that we knew this already, but from the work that we do at the chamber, we kind of went to the importance of the rule of law, right? Companies always want to make sure that anywhere they go, you know, there is predictability, accountability, stability, due process. So the rule of law is really key. I'm sorry, I said four, but it's three key findings. So when we think about the supply chain survey, you know if you look at a lot of the countries in the Americas, i mean they do have the potential to be great near-shoring destinations. right i mean there's There's logistics, there's labor availability, there's rule of law. mean I think the democratic institutions of the region are pretty strong.
00:22:00
Speaker
But the reality is, and actually this is something that you know the survey showed us, is that there's not this max these huge exodus of you know companies out of Asia into the region. That's not happening. So when we're talking to governments, you know I'm going to go back to the Colombia case, you know we presented the findings of the survey to the government. to the private sector but we approach them more from the enabling environment, right? Like companies want an enabling environment that allows them to grow, right? So again, going back to the log, going back to predictability, stability, and that's what really comes down to it.
00:22:39
Speaker
near sure and he's not for everyone right i think everyone wants to have a near-shore and strategy. Again it's a term that gets thrown around all over the place everyone wants to be part of it but you also have to understand kind of like what your value proposition is and and and when we think about near-shoring and you know also talk about economies of scale and this is not for every country however there are opportunities for sort of a complimentary strategy to near shore. Right. So I think that's where I see a lot of opportunities for our region where they can play sort of a complimentary role to the value chains. So that's where we are today. And kind of that's how we're seeing it. It's funny with those three, when I think about this and the conversations I have, I almost think of them in inverted list of the way you listen to them. Right. That, you know, is the country stable first?
00:23:31
Speaker
Right. And then labor because then maybe this is just because I've been in logistics. I'm like, you can sort out the logistics, right but you can't like as a business, you have a lot of control. Right. So, you know, if I have a ah small supplier who can't manage their logistics, I can buy the product from them in country and I can manage the logistics. I can do all these things. But I can't fix the rule of law, right? I can't fix political stability. And you know many of the conversations that I've had in Washington have been, you know and and we talked the other day about an RFP I just saw from Customs about projects that help increase that stability and rule of law being the precursor to then being able to build strong trade relationships. right and
00:24:13
Speaker
you know, without getting overly philosophical, this idea that strong trade is an enabler of stability and stability is an enabler of strong trade and that you can't, you know, these things are very, very intertwined with each other. And I think a lot of Americans sometimes lose track of how important trade is to stability. Yes. So I have this, as you were talking, this kind of matrix that I built in my head of how I'm still a computer programmer, but of like,
MSME Collaboration and Market Opportunities
00:24:42
Speaker
You've got small businesses and large enterprises, and so you can have you know trade between a small business and a large enterprise, a small business and a small business, you know two large enterprises. Do you see small businesses on both sides of the equation, or does it tend to be more someone small working with someone? you know I'm a little vendor who wants to sell to Walmart. Or do you see small businesses connecting with each other as well? That's a great point. so
00:25:09
Speaker
I think the MSME conference was is is a good example of this. And what I saw happening at the conference was, and this happened very organically. I mean, I think there was a networking component to the conference, but what I saw during the two days were MSMEs from the US and from the region connecting with each other, talking about working together, talking about complementing each other, talking about selling to each other. so I think it's a mix of the two. right i mean I think small businesses, i think they're all aspired to you know b have their product in their Walmart, Costco, or one of these big retailers. But I think they also see the value of working with their peers. and Oftentimes, those connections with their peers is what opens other doors in the market. When I was working for the city of Atlanta,
00:26:05
Speaker
we actually launched a program to partner atlanta entrepreneurs with entrepreneurs in the continent of africa and we will have these sort of webinars where they will talk to each other they will share best practices they will connect and then we build this it was a pretty simple straightforward you know linkedin channel you know where they connected and they stayed in touch and Then we saw these you know businesses and you know transactions started to happen. right Same thing here. you know like Some of the entrepreneurs that participated in the MSME conference, you know they're talking to their peers here, they're talking about maybe setting up a small operation in the US, or you have you know a US-based MSME talking about setting up an operation somewhere in the region because they're interested
00:26:56
Speaker
in in entering you know the Latin in American market. so I think it's a combination of both. and i mean I think a lot of them aspire to be featured or work with the larger companies. and you know Having worked with a lot of these larger earn enterprises, you know I've really come to to appreciate how they're very intentional about working with MSMEs and including them. into you know their sort of value chain. So there's opportunities in both sides, right?
Role of Logistics Providers in MSME Support
00:27:28
Speaker
I think um one of the things, I know we have a lot of listeners who work inside of logistics service providers and international freight forwarders and customs brokers and the like. I think one of the very untapped opportunities is when you have MSMEs working with each other,
00:27:45
Speaker
that logistics provider or that customs broker can fill in those gaps. right If you go to sell to to Walmart, to Target, they have professionals who know how to teach you the export roles of your country if they need to. right But when you have two small businesses together, you know I think there's logistics providers, especially smaller logistics providers, paired with those small MSMEs on both sides can often be that knowledge base. And I know we used to do, when I was more on the operation side, that was a big piece of what we did was, you know, to kind of serve as the import department for our customers, right? And bring that knowledge. And I think for the MSMEs, just knowing that logistics
00:28:28
Speaker
Good logistics providers and good customs workers and people who, you know, do this, see it as a profession can be a really trusted partner in that process. Not just the person you call the same way you would if you're just sending something through the post office, right? That you you engage them early and they can explain these tariff rules and they can explain Okay you need to plan this buffer time because of port congestion or this you know that they they're very very good partner to small businesses and often a lot more value than what they get paid for because they you get very passionate people and we just love to teach it so yeah no look i have the opportunity to work with some of these logistics providers are you talking about you know
00:29:11
Speaker
work very closely with DHL, FedEx, UPS, and you know they are really committed you know to working with MSMEs. And to your point, they have all kinds of programs within their sort of overall programming to support MSMEs precisely because it is for an MSME, I mean, just the thought of shipping something across the world, dealing with customs, again, kind of going back to some of the challenges that they have around information and resources, you know For them, it should really be a simplified process right where they just because they got so much more to worry about. But these companies, I think, have done such a great job creating resources, creating programs, and facilitating those transactions. right they've kind of you know To your point, they've also come ah kind of become the consultants for these MSMEs. But it's really unique because you know it is part of the DNA of these logistics you know enterprises to support MSME.
00:30:10
Speaker
And, you know, also think about like the, you know, like a company like Amazon. We've done some really interesting work with them in the past. You know, I partnered with Amazon to create sort of a capacity building training for MSMEs. We did something similar with UPS. You know, one of my favorite projects that I've been involved with when I was working for the city of Atlanta, I partnered with UPS and we launched the Women's Expert University. where we identify, you know, a group of women, ah women, MSMEs who were interested in exporting. And then we put them through these, you know, I think it was a six month program. And this actually, this all happened during the pandemic. So as you can imagine, it was even more interesting, because we're here, we're talking about global commerce, you know, all during the pandemic. But we put them through this curriculum where we pretty much walked them from A to Z. on what they needed to do to export, right? And this has been a program. I mean, that was extremely successful. It's been replicated all throughout the world now. And yeah, just kudos to UPS for that great work that they're doing. Awesome. And again, we're freight nerds, or we really are nerds. if Once you get us talking about this stuff, we can't show up anyway. So I can see very easy to build a six month course.
00:31:29
Speaker
Cool. We're running up on time, so um wrap us up with ah kind of what are you excited about? What's coming up next? or What do you see in the future that's really got you passionate?
Dynamic Opportunities in US-Colombia Relations
00:31:38
Speaker
I see a lot of opportunity. The region is extremely dynamic. Just as you mentioned, you're like a logistics nerd. I'm a Latin America public policy nerd. This is what gets me excited. Latin America is an extremely dynamic region. We just had elections in Mexico yesterday. Mexico elected its first female president. You know, we have new presidents, you know, Bukele was just inaugurated this weekend. We have a relatively new president in Argentina. I mean, there's a lot happening in the region, whether you like it or not, you know, i think there's a lot of opinions. as the world That's a different podcast. different fuckers that i don't want with But it this is a really dynamic region.
00:32:19
Speaker
So I'm really excited about you know what's next for the region. There's a lot of opportunities. you know We at the U.S. Chamber and the International Division, our Americas team, we're right at the middle of everything that's happening as it relates to the commercial-regional relationship. right So from all the way from Canada to Chile, you know our teams are actively engaging governments, both at the national and the subnational level, the US private sector is you know fully committed, fully engaged. So I'm just excited about a number of opportunities and you know I will be remiss if I didn't talk about just the opportunities that I see for the US Columbia bilateral relationship.
00:33:04
Speaker
Lots of work has been done around you know the energy transition, healthcare access, digital transformation, innovation. And again, the US private sector, it's right in the middle of that. They're ready to work with the government. They're ready to work with you know partners in countries. So we just see a lot of opportunities. And the same thing goes for other markets, right? probably, I'll say like, just my favorite thing about the work that I get to do is just to learn and to kind of be in the middle of all the great things that the US private sector does around the world. I mean, before I came into these, you know, you know, the names, you know, the big companies, you know what they do. But then once you start learning more about them, and you start kind of, you know, getting more sort of in the trenches with them, you realize that
00:33:54
Speaker
It goes beyond the economic impact, right? Like the investment numbers that we all talk about and the jobs created. But these companies really become part of the DNA of that sort of, you know, that commercial engine of the economies, right? So they they become fully engraved. And they also are having this great social impact, right? So one thing that I'm also really excited about for this year, for the Columbia program is we are launching an impact dashboard. And what the dashboard will do is to measure the impact of the US private sector in the Colombian economy, not just from a financial and fiscal perspective, but also from a social perspective. So really excited about that is a pilot project. You know, I'm hoping that
00:34:44
Speaker
you know, we'll be able to replicate this through the region because again, I mean, there's the impact that that the US private sector has all throughout the region and throughout the world. Again, you know, it goes beyond sort of investment and and jobs. Well, I'm going to say from one nerd to another, then if the thing you're most excited about is a dashboard, you have earned your credibility with everyone in logistics because we love our dashboards too. So. I think that's an awesome place to wrap up. You've got me excited about all of this and thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you for having me. Well, I hope everyone learned a lot during that episode. I know that I personally did. It's always great to see different perspectives and really hear some personal stories and people who are able to take their passion and turn it into a career. So we'll get some links in the show notes.
00:35:36
Speaker
to the various things that were discussed during the event, as well as the US Columbia Business Council and the Chamber of Commerce. And I hope you all enjoyed the episode. As always, be sure to check out our LinkedIn profile for chain.io, as well as the blog for lots of upcoming events and webinars. And I will talk to you soon.