This means that anyone doing business in Colombia, or considering doing so in the near future, needs to keep a close eye on these changes – particularly the new players in the market. Could any of them be your direct competition, or perhaps a potential partner?

Here are some outstanding developing players, which bring remarkable new options to consumers – and should be on your radar:

1. Tostao’

A company incorporated in Panamá, with German banker Michel Olmi leading the project, Tostao’ opened for business in 2016. While the company’s motto of “coffee and bread” may be simple, its efforts to open more than 100 sites in two years were far more complex. You can now find a Tostao’ almost anywhere in Colombia.

Tostao’ brings frozen raw products from Barcelona, Spain, and bakes them at individual stores. Customer reviews demonstrate an appreciative clientele. The baguette, a type of bread that, curiously, is not usually found in Bogotá’s bakeries, leads in popularity. Tostao’s premium quality coffee is sold at the same prices as the lower quality coffee commonly sold in the city.

Tostao’ does a good job of listening to its customers, upgrading its restaurants with more seating and serving sizes based on its clients’ feedback. Bottom line: you can now find predictable, high value coffee and bakery products all around the city, whenever you need a snack.

2. D1

Owned by Grupo Santodomingo, one of the largest economic groups in Colombia, in association with the Albrecht family from Germany (owners of discount grocery chain Aldi), D1 brought the concept of discount supermarkets to Colombia in 2009, and started a massive development in 2014.

D1 offers a few prime brands, such as premium beer Club Colombia, and low cost brands with hard-to-beat prices. Among its most attractive products is a brand of Italian pasta that outperforms local options in quality, at a fraction of the price. D1 also provides great value in snacks, cleaning products and canned food for its customers.

The stores are drawing increasing numbers of customers, and are making room for more cashiers in their stores. The ability to have packaged goods at affordable prices close to your home is new for many consumers, and clearly popular with this market.

3. Ara

Owned by Jeronimo Martins S.A. from Portugal, Ara opened its first stores in Colombia in 2013. The first locations were in Pereira, a city of 474,000 inhabitants, located in the “Coffee Axis” region of the country. In 2016, a large-scale expansion began in Bogotá.

The format is that of a small supermarket, easy to see from a distance because of the intense orange color of its storefronts and logo. Prices are usually attractive, with a strategy similar to hard discount stores: offer special pricing on prominent products for a limited time.

I bought a pot in Ara for a below-market price, and it’s proven to be a high quality product. I also discovered high quality roasted chickens sold with potatoes, on sale for just USD $3.50. Ara has done an excellent job of bringing a variety of fruits, vegetables and fresh foods to the market at affordable prices.

4. Rappi

This startup led by Colombian entrepreneurs was incorporated in 2015, after being selected by Y Combinator (a startup incubator) for finance support. Basically, Rappi will purchase items for you and deliver them to your home – groceries, tech, medicine, liquor, restaurant food, and anything else you can think of. Even when you need cash, they will withdraw it, take it to your home, and charge it to your registered credit card.

You can see Rappi’s employees in supermarkets with their orange phosphorescent suits and backpacks, or on their bikes and motorcycles moving from place to place. Success has been so rapid and overwhelming that some months ago they published a letter in the newspapers apologizing for delivery delays. It seemed a sincere recognition that the company was attempting to handle more orders than it was initially prepared to receive, and is committed to working on it.

With this service you can save time while getting the same prices as you would at the store, for only a small additional fee for the service. This is something people in Bogotá can do for many stores, now that Rappi’s technology has put the ability to use it in people’s hands.

The new kids on the block are dominating Colombian business – how do you stack up?

The bottom line is that consumers in Bogotá, and increasingly throughout all of Colombia, have a growing selection of interesting and useful new options.

One immediate impact is that some small shops will have difficulty competing with new players equipped with large amounts of capital to invest. Other companies will have a tougher time standing out in this increasingly saturated market.

Their success proves, however, that Colombian customers are willing to try new products and services, and that the right offerings have the potential to attract a sizeable market.

So what’s your next step – is it time to fold on your ambitions for Colombia? Or is now the time to stay the course, or even double down on your strategy?

The post Get inspired by these 4 new companies that are kicking the competition’s butt in Colombia appeared first on Trade Ready.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank, which helps finance foreign trade deals, had its authorization from the U.S. Congress lapse as of June 30, 2015.

Its previous charter, authorized in 2012, was extended in September 2014 to June 2015. However, divisions on Capitol Hill – and even within the bank’s one stalwart supporter, the Republican Party – mean that the bank’s future is unclear.

Though it no longer has the capacity to issue new loans, it is still able to follow through on loans agreed before the June 30 deadline.

Why do we have an Ex-Im bank?

The philosophy behind the Ex-Im bank runs as such: deals that otherwise would not get trade financing, which includes lending, export credits, insurance, and the issuance of letters of credit, would be able to get this financing from the bank, thereby propelling trade with other countries.

The Republican-controlled Congress allowed authorization to lapse, now viewing the bank as a means of “corporate welfare”, which allows poorly-managed corporations to benefit from lucrative international trade deals.

Case in point: in 2014, Ex-Im approved US$20 billion to finance exports. Of that, Boeing received 40% of the financing; the bank is occasionally referred to as “Boeing’s bank.”

What are the effects of losing the Ex-Im bank?

The failure to reauthorize the bank has already had trade implications, Boeing said. The aircraft manufacturer said in a statement July 2,

A suspension of the Bank’s ability to do new business after June 30 is a boon to overseas competitors at the expense of thousands of U.S. exporters and the jobs they support.

General Electric has also warned of the effect of Congressional inaction on Ex-Im for future sales contracts.

U.S. companies are concerned that lack of access to cheaper trade finance puts them at a disadvantage with foreign competitors, especially those coming from China and other developing markets where trade financing is more competitive.

The shutdown on the bank is expected to hurt large corporations the most, as these constitute the largest recipients of Ex-Im financing. The top 10 recipients of Ex-Im funds received 75% of the US$27.3 billion it dispersed in 2013, the Financial Times reported July 1.

Losing the bank is a big loss for exporters to developing markets

But it will also hurt companies who do a lot of trade in less developed countries, which often do not have the funds or the infrastructure to provide trade financing to its businesses, and so rely on foreign corporations to shoulder those responsibilities.

Trade deals with Africa are likely to take the biggest hit, the Brookings Institute in Washington D.C. argues.

Most African states do not have Export Credit Agencies, and so rely on foreign institutions like the Ex-Im Bank to allow trade deals to go through.

In 2013, Brookings said, the bank financed 188 transactions in Africa for over US$600 million to allow 35 of the 49 sub-Saharan African countries to export goods to the U.S.

In the first seven months of 2015, authorizations amounted to US$1.1 billion.

So, if the bank, despite the exhortations of President Barack Obama, is allowed to expire, what will take its place?

What is the alternative to the bank?

The expectation that private sector lending will replace an extinct Ex-Im bank is not entirely feasible, financial expert Amadou Sy writes.

The top challenge that SMEs [small- and medium-size enterprises] face in accessing foreign markets is obtaining financing, either for their buyers or to support their own growth.

“Banks are unlikely to jump in to solve the problem”, he added.

“Relatively high transaction costs and costs of risk that banks incur when financing small transactions are why banks are less involved in the business of helping SMEs export their products and services abroad.”

However, the overall impact on SMEs should the bank fail to be authorized is expected to be small, as large corporations take a sizable portion of Ex-Im trade financing.

The bank’s lack of authorization may be short-lived, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said June 30. There are enough votes to put through the re-authorization of the bank, and he intends to put the issue to the floor once more.

Do you think that the US Ex-Im Bank needs to be re-authorized, or would you prefer to see it expire permanently?

The post The U.S. Export-Import Bank could be facing its final days appeared first on Trade Ready.