Bogota, June 29, 2023. After his resignation was accepted by the Board of Directors of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, Nicolás Uribe Rueda, president of the entity, presented the balance of the transformation he achieved in the entity in favor of the businessmen of Bogota and the Region.

Nicolás Uribe stated that: "During these three and a half years I have had the privilege of serving entrepreneurs. We built social welfare every day, focusing on 99% of entrepreneurs who are MSMEs. Now I leave an entity to which I brought a long-term vision, with modern tools, and ready to face the challenges that the world poses. Today it is an entity capable of meeting the needs of entrepreneurs with the speed required to provide solutions and welfare to citizens".

During the three and a half years in which he led the entity, nearly 900,000 services were provided to entrepreneurs and more than 600 segmented services were offered according to the level of business development and the sector; nearly 30 communication channels were set up with the entity; more than 1,700,000 transactions were carried out each year; and 500,000 companies were registered. This is only possible thanks to the implementation of state-of-the-art technology.

Vindication of the role of the entrepreneur and MSMEs

The entity's priority was for MSMEs to be recognized as companies and to understand their impact on the construction of society. In addition, the different actors in society should understand what they represent and value them.

To this end, for the first time the CCB went out to localities and municipalities to identify needs and address them with services and programs such as Juntos; Rutas de Reactivación; Crear -to provide access to credit-, with which $130,000 million were delivered in pandemic; and Bazzarbog, a virtual commercial showcase for more than 1,514 local talents, who by the end of 2022 published more than 20,000 products in 19 categories that had close to 2,320,000 views; among others.

Modernization of the CCB

Nicolás Uribe carried out a technological revolution that will begin to be seen soon in order to provide better service to entrepreneurs. The entire operation of the CCB was moved to the cloud and in terms of customer service, entrepreneurs will have an omnichannel experience in which they can chat with the entity or call the service line and then enter the headquarters where the service team will have the information of the interactions they have had through these channels.

The portfolio was modernized taking into account 400 variables that were adopted to get to know the entrepreneurs better. In addition, a new vision of entrepreneurs was promoted in which their role is not only to generate income, value and wealth, but also to be creators of opportunities for citizens.

Sustainability

One of the main achievements was to provide tools to entrepreneurs. Nicolás Uribe's presidency promoted the adoption of a new corporate DNA in which companies work simultaneously for the creation of economic value and articulate comprehensive sustainability strategies in all their variables.

In this regard, the entity launched the Responsible Business Conduct program, promoting triple-impact companies to promote economic, social and environmental sustainability, which made it possible to promote and support 509 BIC companies registered with the CCB; launched the Sustainability Ranking, a free self-assessment mechanism to determine the degree of progress in sustainable management, which provides technical recommendations and identifies the main challenges facing companies; the Decarbonization and Climate Action Survey, which investigates the level of knowledge and implementation of measures to mitigate climate change and contribute to decarbonization in the business sector.

Region

The implementation of all the business strengthening services available in Bogotá was promoted for Cundinamarca, and the Integral Plan for Cundinamarca was created, which brings together actions to improve the business environment. One of the most important achievements was the execution of agreements with close to 20 municipalities through the implementation of the Single Business Window. These agreements have had an impact on more than 37,600 companies located in these municipalities, reducing by 57% the time it takes for a businessman to complete these procedures and saving him more than $880,000 in associated costs and time.

We also increased our presence in Cundinamarca with new offices in Soacha and Chía-Cajicá, and strengthened the Mobile Chamber service by adding vehicles to the fleet and making more than 540 visits to municipalities. In addition, as part of the Pedaling for Cundinamarca Program, 400 kilometers were covered in bicycle rides to promote tourism.

Internationalization

In the three years of management, close to 4,800 companies were strengthened with international business agendas and with the management of delegations in Colombia and abroad.

In addition, with the management developed in the presidency of the World Federation of Chambers of Commerce, where Nicolás Uribe was the first American president of the organization, new opportunities were opened for Colombian MSMEs around the world.

From this role he promoted global decision making, especially in favor of MSMEs, such as the creation of a fund to support the digitalization process in companies led by women and the adoption of technological tools thanks to an agreement with the UN.

In addition, a Global Business Climate Survey will be conducted to give a voice to the world's small businesses to serve as a basis for public policy. We will also strengthen the work of the Chambers of Commerce in favor of the economic inclusion of refugees around the world, facilitating their labor and business reintegration through a Productive Migration program inspired by a CCB initiative.