Home > PROCOLOMBIA opens its registration for its 50th Business Matchmaking Forum

PROCOLOMBIA opens its registration for its 50th Business Matchmaking Forum

It will be the biggest and most prominent event ever done to facilitate business affairs. It will host 1,000 buyers from 30 different countries and 2,000 exporters. 
Register herewww.macrorruedasprocolombia.co/macrorrueda50The Business Matchmaking Forums are one of the most effective promotional avenues used by PROCOLOMBIA. This is because it allows exporters to meet face to face with potential buyers under one roof. On February 2014 it will celebrate its 50th round.“We will break every record by generating more business to more entrepreneurs,” said the president of PROCOLOMBIA, Maria Claudia Lacouture. “The idea is to gather three thousand companies to negotiate. There would be two thousand Colombian companies representing the agribusiness, apparel, manufacturing and services sectors and a thousand buyers from over 30 countries” she added.In parallel to the event on February 19 and 20 in Corferias in Bogota, there will be a Virtual Business Matchmaking Forum so that “entrepreneurs start assimilating the idea of doing business using telecommunication tools to secure virtual business deals”.The Apparel sector will showcase leather goods, footwear, jewelry, underwear, shapewear, home, children, sports, uniforms, swimwear, men's and women’s outwear.Manufacturers will also have a chance to showcase toiletries, natural ingredients, cosmetics, building materials, furniture and wood, containers and packaging, auto parts, metalworking, plastics, rubber, pharmaceuticals, instruments, apparatuses, and promotional materials.The agribusiness sector will gather companies that sell flowers, aquaculture and fishery products, beef, ornamental fish, fruits and vegetables, various food preparations, oils and fats, sugar, brown sugar, honey and sweeteners, drinks, coffee byproducts, cocoa, confectionery and chocolate, bakery, biscuits and flour milling, snacks, processed fruits, processed vegetables, herbs, milk and its byproducts.The services sector will be represented by animation, videogames, creative industries, healthcare, publishing and printing, software and BPO companies.More than 16 years in the making The President of PROCOLOMBIA explained that another objective of the 50th Business Matchmaking Forum would be to show how Colombian entrepreneurs have evolved alongside the organization of the event.“In the past, exporters sold bananas or flowers, but today the country is selling designer clothes for dogs, ornamental fish from Caqueta to Hong Kong and hot dog carts to New York among many other examples. Product diversification has been essential ”said Lacouture. In addition, there are more companies willing and able to export. “In the early years the participating companies were generally large or medium. Now, for example in the last Business Matchmaking Forum celebrated in the European Union, 88 percent of them were considered small and medium enterprises. ”The tools that exporters use have also evolved, because today PROCOLOMBIA has a technological platform that allows entrepreneurs to create and change schedules during the event, pre negotiate the products to be more efficient, to determine whether the prices are on target and be able to validate proposals even before coming to the event.Entrepreneurs who are interested in participating can register in www.macrorruedasprocolombia.co/macrorrueda50. Once registered, the company will undergo through a validation process where PROCOLOMBIA ensures that the company is legally incorporated, meets labor standards, meets production capacities, product quality and has experience in the exporting process.How do Business Matchmaking Forums work?The eight PROCOLOMBIA commercial offices in the country outreach companies who are aiming to diversify their exporting efforts and are able to supply the demand or are able to offer innovative products.The 26 PROCOLOMBIA commercial offices abroad, with a presence in 30 countries, identify opportunities and demand of the productive sectors in those international markets.The selection of the participants is contingent on the affinity of your company’s industry, the sector that is being promoted within the Matchmaking Forum and the exporter’s potential in the participating countries.Each buyer is assigned a fixed table where all appointments happen. The exporter rotates with each buyer according to a fixed and prearranged schedule.Each appointment lasts 40 minutes.