Our Cover: Ivan Rodriguez P.
As we settle into new dynamics and learn to adjust to a new reality which is beyond our control it can be hard to see what opportunities lie out there. We are all on some level affected by the economic consequences of the pandemic. Like most businesses, Bolivian Express has had to retreat to an exclusively online platform with the addition of weekly online talks where Bolivian commentators discuss relevant issues and try to make sense of what the world is becoming.
Bolivia’s economic growth is estimated to fall by about three percent in 2020 instead of the 2,8 percent planned growth announced at the beginning of the year. Vulnerable populations will be affected heavily by the recession and businesses who rely on tourists or in-person transactions will take months if not years to recover. It’s a bleak panorama but if there is one positive side it is the opportunity for Bolivia to make up for its lack in digitalisation and innovation.
Now, thanks to an app on your phone, you can get food delivered from most restaurants and coffee shops, order medicine from pharmacies and groceries from your favourite shop. You can look for housing and buy clothes from home, and you can do most of your business transactions online. In Bolivia, this wouldn’t have been possible five years ago, or at least not as easily. The quarantine will undoubtedly speed up this process and push entrepreneurs to innovate in digital areas, finding new ways to survive and help businesses stay alive when we are all staying home.
But, even if these enterprises are welcome and necessary in the current context, it will only deepen the gap between those who have smartphones and internet connections and those who don’t. Internet connectivity has greatly improved in the past decade but still represents a considerable cost in families budgets and should not be taken for granted. If changes are coming and Bolivia is transforming, let’s make sure that we can include everyone in the process and that no one is left behind.
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Yaigo Delivery
Ariel Valverde is a technological entrepreneur, passionate about innovation and digital transformation. He founded Yaigo Delivery in 2019. Yaigo, whose initials in English mean: You Ask I Go is an application a hundred percent made in Bolivia. Valverde targets the Latin American market, not just the Bolivian one. They recently launched in Guatemala and are planning to expand to Paraguay in June.
The interview was translated from the Spanish and has been edited for clarity.
How was Yaigo Delivery born?
About four years ago I was talking with friends – who are now co-founders of the company – about developing a last-mile delivery solution for Bolivia not only for food deliveries but for all other types of purchases.
What was the main challenge you faced when you launched Yaigo?
The biggest challenge was to find a launch strategy. We started with Bolivian cities where delivery services through an app didn’t exist. We started in Oruro just a year ago on 23 May 2019 and from there started generating a culture of ordering through an app.
The platform used by Yaigo is a hundred percent Bolivian. Who is behind this technology? Are you thinking of expanding to other services?
Correct. The platform is fully developed by our systems team, it is NOT an app bought abroad and adapted for our country and we developed it for Android and iOS. Our software company in charge of development is OsBolivia. We are constantly growing and plan to expand to services such as Yaigo Encargos (orders), Yaigo Efectivo (cash) and very soon Yaigo Servicios (services).
How many users are there now in Bolivia? How many companies and distributors are you working with?
We have 160,000 users in Bolivia. We work with 1,200 companies and 2,000 distributors.
Yaigo's objective is to achieve coverage throughout the country, would you say that objective was achieved? What is the next stage for Bolivia?
Correct. That was one of our main goals, to be able to provide the service in all nine departments and not leave anyone out. Thank God we have achieved it. [Our strategy] for Bolivia is to position ourselves as leaders in last-mile delivery not only for individual customers but for corporations that have problems with internal logistics.
Can you tell us a bit about Yaigo in Guatemala? How did they get there? How did the quarantine affect the launch in Guatemala?
Guatemala was a great challenge because it was the first country outside of Bolivia where we launched the platform. We had to work with a different currency and time zone since they use the quetzal there and there are two hours behind Bolivia.
We decided to go to Guatemala because it is a country with 17 million potential clients with well advanced consumption in app and online delivery. Because of the quarantine in Guatemala we have managed to grow a lot in the last few months and we are already planning to expand to other Central American countries.
What other plans do you have to expand?
The next country where we are going to launch Yaigo is Paraguay in June. We are working in Paraguay to become an alternative that adds value to the local offers. This year, we have planned to go to El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica.
What challenges and problems are you facing with the current situation worldwide and in Bolivia?
The great challenge is to be able to cover the demand both at the level of technological infrastructure and street delivery. It is also essential at this time for customers to receive their orders with all the necessary health precautions.
How do you think the delivery market will change in the future? Do you think that the current situation will change the way people buy?
Right, consumption habits have changed and as long as the quarantine remains the same, people will be afraid to go out to public places which will lead to more online purchases and e-commerce.
Anything else you would like to add?
We started as a last-mile delivery company with the given objective of becoming a leading competitor in the entire region. We want to demonstrate that Bolivia can produce and export good technology.
UltraGrupo
Carlos Jordan is an entrepreneur passionate about innovation and technology. He is the CEO and co-founder of UltraGrupo, a tech startup that raised the largest funding rounds in Bolivia’s history.
It all started in 2015 after Carlos Jordan, returned to Bolivia after living abroad and was looking for a place to live. ‘It was very hard to find a place, I had to look for ads in the newspaper,’ remembers Jordan. Now UltraCasas has grown and has been joined by his sister company UltraCreditos which are both part of UltraGrupo. For Jordan the objective is clear: ‘Our mission and vision is to position Bolivia on a regional level. We want to show that in Bolivia we can do great things.’
It proved challenging at first because there was no digital environment in Bolivia at the time. ‘At first it was difficult due to the lack of digitalisation, but Bolivians support Bolivia. And it is easier now. On the positive side, now we have to turn to digital options, and it is a big moment to start a technological company.’
Jordan and his team learned a lot through the process and they are now looking for their third round of investments. ‘You have to be well-prepared,’ says Jordan, ‘The learning process is fundamental. My advice for young startups is to not be afraid to fail, and to learn to grow.’
Looking to the future, Jordan tells us, ‘As Bolivia enters an economic recession, we will have to be able to make it, and understand its process. In the meantime we need to prepare and strengthen our digital offer, which is in itself an opportunity.’
‘We will have to invest in solutions to avoid human contact, and we are going in that direction. We have to take advantage of the context. Before [the pandemic] working with digital technologies was essential, now it is a matter of life and death. We will have to be more aggressive.’
UltraGrupo has two portals:
- UltraCasas: the number one property classifieds in Bolivia with 25,000 listings and 800,000 sessions per month. Today, it is the largest in the country, it currently has 25,000 properties available and receives up to 23,000 people a day who are looking for a property in the main cities of the country such as La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.
SANTA CRUZ INNOVA
Patricia Hurtado de Suarez studied law at the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain and held management positions in the Chamber of Industry, Commerce, Services and Tourism of Santa Cruz (CAINCO). She was Executive Director of the Centre for Conciliation and Arbitration, Coordinator of International Cooperation Programmes aimed at improving the competitiveness of the private sector and General Secretary of ICC Bolivia. She also held the position of studies manager at CAINCO, where she was in charge of the Bolivian Centre for Economic Studies (CEBEC), a Bolivian think tank.
Currently she works as manager of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at CAINCO, and is in charge of the coordination of one of the first Bolivian innovation agency. She is a member of the editorial board of the magazine Forbes Bolivia. Patricia is a benchmark in the Bolivian business sector for her technical contribution and her vision for economic and social development. She is a columnist and promoter of innovation, science and technology, as well as gender equality and female entrepreneurship.
The interview was translated from the Spanish and has been edited for clarity.
How was Innova Santa Cruz born? What is the mission and vision of Innova Santa Cruz?
We want to contribute to the transition from a commodity economy to a knowledge economy. To move from a traditional business fabric to a place where more sophisticated businesses that incorporate innovation with science and technology.
We also want to support the growth of Bolivian enterprises, and promote an environment favourable to entrepreneurship and business innovation which will increase the economic and social value of our country.
What were the challenges that Innova Bolivia Santa Cruz had to face in order to be born and grow?
Limited capacities for innovation; we need more programmers, we need to train more people with technological and business skills.
Low supply of specialised services in the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation, science and technology; accelerators, co-work and work communities have just started to appear in Bolivia.
Limited financial offer of resources for the initial stages of innovation projects. There are few funding alternatives to traditional banking for entrepreneurs.
Disarticulation between actors (entrepreneurs, companies, research, investors).
What does belonging to Innova Santa Cruz mean for a business?
It is an opportunity to receive technical assistance with an international methodology. To network with CAINCO affiliated corporations, with mentors, entrepreneurs. Our differentiating element is that whoever comes to our programmes lives a true business experience.
What plans do you have for the growth of Innova Santa Cruz and what projects would you like to develop?
We would like to consolidate our Innova Up Accelerator as a benchmark for entrepreneurs,
Support corporations through our InnovatIon Circle Program to generate value products, promote the connection of the actors through a Future Plan such as the Science, Technology and Innovation Plan.
What lessons have you gained from the Bolivian market in general since the creation of Innova Santa Cruz? Were there surprises?
The surprise has been to find more ventures than we imagined throughout the country. The Bolivian has an entrepreneurial DNA, entrepreneurs are brave, risky, they fight for their dreams.
What aspects should be strengthened to motivate innovation and the creation of start-ups in Bolivia?
It is necessary to improve the environment and generate rules that facilitate the entry and survival in the market. It is also necessary to create a culture for entrepreneurship from schools, and facilitate access to capital in the initial stages of entrepreneurship.
How are you planning to expand?
We want to support the entrepreneurial culture, but also focus on the sectors that we consider to be potential to achieve more productivity, such as Agtech, losgitiva and creative economy.
How do you think entrepreneurship will change in the future in Bolivia? How is the current context going to impact entrepreneurship? And what solutions are there?
Entrepreneurship is the foundation of Bolivia's economic and social development. The health and economic emergency will only be overcome with economic growth. There are sectors that have more potential than others, but everyone can contribute. Companies must rethink their post-Covid business models and adapt to the new reality. Digital transformation is no longer an option, but we always have to put people at the center.
