By Juan F. Cardona

Australia ranks consistently among the top 20 countries to engage in business and invest (https://www.dfat.gov.au). Moreover, it has one of the strongest economies in the world, with a GDP of US$ 1.54 Trillion in 2021, according to information from the World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/country/australia). In addition, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population), it has a healthy population of 26 million people with a GDP per capita of US$ 59,964 (https://data.worldbank.org/country/australia), one of the highest in the world. These facts make Australia a perfect target market for offering services from Latin America, not just B2C but also B2B. Yet, traditionally, the exchange of services between the two regions has been relatively poor. For instance, in 2020, Australia imported only A$ 139.9 million from Colombia (https://www.austrade.gov.au/australian/export/export-markets/countries/colombia/market-profile), a pale 0.5% of all the exports from the country.

One of the most extensive opportunities lies in the digital space, where Australia consumes a significant amount of services with some of the highest prices in the world. For example, according to IBIS World (Industry Report OD5150), the smartphone app development industry poses an opportunity of A$2.3bn in revenue per year where the concentration of players in the industry is low, with minor developers accounting for more than 80% of revenue in the industry. This fact signals an excellent opportunity for new players interested in competing in this field. Moreover, the proliferation of the new modalities of remote working has opened a door for businesses to ask about new possibilities of outsourcing development in other countries.

Further, Latin America has been outsourcing services to the United States for years. This fact has improved the quality levels of businesses in LATAM, which positions the region well to compete with other countries such as India and the Philippines. In addition, English has become increasingly popular in the region’s different countries and is a standard for various companies to close deals in English daily.

Finally, with a population of 658 million people (https://data.worldbank.org/region/latin-america-and-caribbean), LATAM can outcompete other countries that traditionally have been offering services to Australia. The availability of English-speaking world-class professionals is a huge competitive factor that the region must exploit.