Argentina: More near-shore than offshore
Published: 27 Jul 2004 16:10 BST
We consider Argentinean people to be the most European population in Latin America. There are also a lot of English speakers as we start learning English from five or six - English is almost obligatory.
If a lot of your guys have European passports and salaries are lower in Argentina than Europe -- why don't they simply relocate over here?
That is true. But we are providing opportunities to people in Argentina that no one else is. We are the vehicle for these opportunities. It is very good to work for Globant, in terms of the conditions we give to our employees and the different companies they can work for. We also have concrete contracts which mean employees have to stay with us for at least two years before they can go and work for someone else.
If Argentina has all this going for it -- why haven't we heard more about its offshoring potential and tech pedigree?
Our government and politicians are not making a big effort to push Argentina as an offshoring destination. Sometimes we are happy with that as it means we don't have so much local competition. At the same time smaller countries than ourselves such as Ireland, the Czech Republic or Romania get more press than we do. There are some programmes that help us as local companies to grow but they are not really making a big enough effort. I was recently in Egypt at a big exhibition and there were huge stands constructed by the government to push small companies. Those are the kind of things that need to be done. Our government is not taking that role.
How would you answer the claim that the very economic and political instability in Argentina that has driven down wages and made you an attractive off-shoring destination, is also deterring other companies because of the perceived fragility of the economy?
Today, Argentina is growing steadily, the political factors are quite stable but even in the worst case we will take advantage of that. All our market is in the US or UK and all the delivery part is in Buenos Aires so all we have to do is continue to deliver the services. And we are confident that we will be able to continue to expand. Argentina has an excellent network of public universities and we are one of the premium employers in Buenos Aires and have attracted staff from IBM and EDS.
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