What’s LATAM’s role in the future of innovation?
The region has recently caught the world’s attention for an entirely different reason: it is a top spot for sourcing tech talent and a go-to destination for hiring remote software engineers. Not only is the talent top-notch, but there is a considerable difference in salary expectations—given LATAMs lower cost of living— which also makes it a cost-effective option for American companies.LATAM houses a vast number of software developers, engineers, and other specialized IT tech positions. Just Mexico and Brazil alone graduate a combined 605,000 software engineers per year .
Nevertheless, it seemed to be a real conundrum that many U.S. companies faced and continue to wrestle with., Latin America’s use of smartphones has increased by 40% and the internet penetration rate has surpassed that of India and China. Those numbers alone are enough to raise an eyebrow. China and India have a combined population of 2.8 billion.
The LATAM population will start demanding and creating digital solutions to issues specific to their respective societies and, thus, software developers will train in the same languages and technologies used to build those solutions.VC investmentSeveral unicorn sightings throughout LATAM have suggested to investors that there is potential for growing and scaling companies in the region. Although that investment has leveled out somewhat in 2022, the region is still on the investment radar.The U.
LATAM was devastated during Covid. It suffered the loss of 1.7 million people and, like the U.S., crash-landed in an economy plagued with inflation and economic uncertainty.