Facebook opens its new office in the Colombian capital of Bogota on Wednesday, with Colombian-native Sandra Quintero as its top executive.
This marks the first time the social media giant has established a permanent presence in the country, which produces the third largest body of Facebook users in Latin America. According to social media site Socialbakers, over 17 million accounts were active in Colombia in 2013.
Sandra Quintero is Facebook’s top executive in the country. Quintero told Colombian financial paper La Republica that the office was assuming its new professional challenge “not only because of the strategic bet that Facebook is taking in Colombia but the importance of Facebook to the Colombian market and especially for the advertising industry in the country.”
A graduate in industrial engineering, Quintero has an MBA in international business and led the digital arm of Havas Media Group, an industry leader in Latin America.
Though not directly related to the country’s startup culture, the Facebook appointment seems in line with previous calls from the government to expand the role of women in the tech scene.
MORE: We need women in Colombia’s tech sector or we are in trouble: Innovation agency head
In a previous interview with Colombia Reports, Catalina Ortiz, general manager of iNNpulsa Colombia, the government’s unit created to support entrepreneurship, said that the inclusion of women in high-level positions is vital to the continued growth of Colombian business.
Though Colombia does boast one of the highest rates of females in managerial roles in Latin America, women are still largely underrepresented in politics and business.
Sources
- Facebook inicia operaciones en Colombia (La Republica)
- Facebook ya tiene gerente para Colombia: Sandra Quintero (Silicon Week)
- World Map of Facebook users (Socialbakers)
