In a booth with restricted access in the Huawei pavilion, the largest in all of Mobile, Saúl Kattan met this week with several businessmen (and women) seeking investment. Considered one of Colombia's brightest executives, he has just been named Chairman of the Board of Ecopetrol, the Colombian state oil company, by Colombia's new president, Gustavo Petro. He is considered one of the people closest to the new president.
“Did you know that half the population of Colombia is not connected to the Internet?” asks Kattan. This executive has extensive experience in the technology sector, especially in the telecommunications branch, since before landing in the energy sector he was the top manager of the ETB company.
He managed to transform the company from a mere telephone provider to a service provider, taking advantage of the development of the Internet. And Petro has now assigned it the delicate role of promoting the digitization of the third South American economy. To penetrate, as he says, "deep Colombia." His goal now is to reach 85% of connected citizens.
For Kattan, "today connectivity is a necessity to be able to provide health, education, justice, tourism." Hotels in tourist sites with coverage, digitized classrooms, telemedicine... The potential is enormous. Next week he will meet Commissioner Verstager with the aim of strengthening a digital alliance with the EU.
“There are many Spanish companies that are coming to Colombia and many more could come. We look for the best solutions to transform the different Colombian industries into more efficient ones. One of the key issues is cybersecurity, the other is education”.
This last point is key. In his opinion, "if one manages to train people in technology, clouds, cybersecurity, programming, artificial intelligence, the structural base of employment can be greatly changed to start providing and exporting high-quality services."
Another sector to take into account is agribusiness. "In Colombia we have two coasts, altitude, deserts, we have enough to grow any product all year round, because we don't have a season."
When Gustavo Petro became president, he was quick to reassure the business world, beyond the labels by being the first representative of the left to achieve power. He participated in the Davos Economic Forum and promised an agrarian reform in a fiscal sense but that does not imply expropriation of private property, announced a modification of the pension system that gives greater prominence to the public system and renewed his commitment to the energy transition. And this is where Saúl Kattan comes into play again.
Ecopetrol is a petrochemical conglomerate owned by the state of Colombia (listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges). In 2022, it billed 30,763 million euros. It is the first company in Colombia and the fourth in Latin America by volume of business. “This year, 25% of Ecopetrol's investments will go to green energies, especially hydrogen,” he points out. 2022 has been the best in the company's history. He managed to double his net profit to 6,445 million. “The country continues to consume a lot of oil. There are two messages: the energy transition is fundamental, but we have to guarantee the energy sovereignty of the country”, says Kattan.
Today Colombia does not import oil, but some gasoline, because the two refineries it has are not enough to meet Colombian demand. There are 300 exploration permits granted, both in the area near Venezuela and on the Caribbean coast, for offshore exploitation.
Saul Kattan has learned in his business career that the worst is “paralysis. A lot is analyzed, a lot is studied, there are many documents. But there comes a time when you have to make decisions. Trapped with the endemic problem of violence and social inequalities, Colombia now wants to give itself a chance. “It is a safe country to invest. There has never been a default and democracy is consolidated ”, he assures.
In Mobile there were about 40 Colombian technology companies promoting their products at the fair. Kattan puffs up his chest: “Colombia is well known for promoting coffee, which is great. But Colombia is much more than coffee!”
