FIVE ONE LABS LAUNCHES IN BARRANQUILLA, COLOMBIA

Visit the LYD House coworking space in Barranquilla, and you’ll find three impressive individuals who are hard at work launching Five One Labs’ operations in Colombia. After a year of research, pilots, and trips, Five One Labs settled on Barranquilla, the capital of the Atlántico Department of Colombia, as our first international location. With a growing tech scene, an impressive, forward-thinking mayor, and a large population of Venezuelan migrants, Barranquilla is the right combination of inclusive, collaborative, and innovative.?

• Context of Displacement in Colombia

Since 2013, nearly 2.5 million Venezuelans have fled to the relative stability of Colombia, a country where nearly five million people have already been internally displaced. This has meant that there is a great need for humanitarian assistance not only for Venezuelan refugees and migrants but also for Colombians displaced due to decades of violence and armed conflict. According to the Humanitarian Needs Overview 2022, there are 7.7 million people in Colombia in need of humanitarian assistance.

Accessing fair-paid opportunities has been a challenge for many Venezuelan refugees and migrants, with nearly a quarter unemployed and many working in harsh conditions or receiving lower pay than Colombian workers. The challenges are particularly acute for Venezuelan women, many of whom are the primary breadwinners but earn on average one-quarter less than what Venezuelan men do.

Additionally, while nearly 70% of Venezuelans are high school graduates, it has been a challenge for many to have their credentials recognized by the Colombian government due to high costs and slow processes.

Despite these challenges, there are opportunities that exist for developing innovative solutions to the crisis of displacement in Colombia, given that the government has recently revamped its approach to migration to better integrate Venezuelans into the country. In 2021, the government launched a temporary protection status (TPS) that has regularized migrants and enabled Venezuelans to more easily access basic services and work in the formal sector. This regularization allows for more livelihood opportunities for Venezuelans, including the right to start businesses.?

• Entrepreneurship in Barranquilla

Like the rest of Colombia, Barranquilla is extremely entrepreneurial. Five One Labs decided to launch its operations there for several reasons - first, there are a number of universities that have a strong focus on technology and innovation, which creates an impressive young population of aspiring entrepreneurs.

Second, while incubators do exist in the city, they are generally connected to universities and do not always support entrepreneurs outside of their limited scope. Accelerators serve many later-stage startups, and there is a gap for young, growth-oriented startups that need funding to grow. And finally, there is an active community of Venezuelan migrants in Barranquilla and nearby cities, but they are not provided the same opportunities as their local counterparts.

Match these gaps with an extremely collaborative business community and forward-thinking local government, and we get a really exciting opportunity for Five One Labs to develop inclusive programs for diverse local and migrant entrepreneurs. Our small team in Colombia will run pilots for the next six months while adapting our core programming to Barranquilla’s context. We plan to run our flagship startup incubator and Female Founders Fellowships later on in 2023. Follow us on our Colombia social media pages for updates!

This article was originally published in the fifth issue of Five One Review.