USAID’s Opportunities Without Borders program offers support to the migrant and returning population from Venezuela in Bucaramanga, allowing them to promote their ventures in the beauty and well-being sector. This innovative approach positions them in the market.
Creativity and innovation in a business stand out in the market and generate recall among consumers. In Bucaramanga, the beauty and wellness sector, with the arrival of migrants and returnees from Venezuela, is distinguished by its innovative ventures.
According to the report “Challenges and opportunities of migration management in Colombia 2022-2026”, from the Venezuela Observatory of the Universidad del Rosario, “the inclusion of migrants in the social and productive fabric of the country will not only represent an economic benefit individual and family, but also an opportunity for the Colombian economy and productivity”, which translates into a key argument that the current immigration policy must take into account.
For this reason, the socioeconomic and productive integration of Venezuelan migrants, returned Colombians and members of the receiving populations is the main purpose of Oportunidades Sin Fronteras (OSF), a USAID project, in alliance with the public and private sectors, which aims to improve the employability of target populations through market-driven, licit and formal economic opportunities.
The April 2024 report shows that through the strategy, 1,300 businesses in sectors such as food and beverage, trade, health, beauty, industry, construction and green sustainable businesses received support from OSF, and 4,688 people have been trained in skills for entrepreneurship.
Far from home, an opportunity
Angélica Delgado, Jesús Pérez and Martina Duarte are three stories intertwined by OSF and the desire to start a business in the beauty and well-being sector in Bucaramanga as a vehicle to get ahead far from home.
At the age of fifteen, Angélica Yazmín Delgado discovered her passion for care, well-being and beauty, an interest that led her to professionalize for years in the world of facial, body, spa and personal care aesthetics in Caracas, Venezuela. Clients who arrive at the Bodyline facilities are greeted with the smile and kindness of Angélica for 7 years, a woman who came to the capital of Santander to improve her quality of life, create a business and generate employment.
“I arrived in the country in search of products to take to my beauty center that had been with me for 17 years in Venezuela, I saw a business opportunity and stayed in the country. At that time I was alone and I decided to bring my family after three months,” said Delgado, who also knew that he could stand out with his business in Colombia when he visited the country for a conference in which he realized that many of the techniques he implemented in their beauty business in the neighboring country, they were still unknown to the professionals in the Santander territory; which is why he made the decision to personally train Colombian colleagues in different techniques.
“The basis I have in uses of advanced equipment such as microdermabrasion, ultrasonic peeling, which when it arrived 7 years ago, they still did not know about it,” explains the entrepreneur, who has knowledge in manual techniques with non-invasive ozone therapy.
Also read: Grooming: a commitment to well-being that is here to stay
The main challenges he faces at 47 years old, now far from his homeland, is not having an immigration card with which he can make corporate alliances with companies and offer his services to employees, just as he did in Venezuela. However, the projects to continue strengthening do not stop, since she assures that “I am with the project of creating an online academy thanks to the support of USAID.”
Jesús Miguel Pérez’s main driving force is his family. This man, originally from the state of Miranda, in Caracas, is the founder of Don Bigotes, a barbershop that has been providing services in Bucaramanga for 7 years. “The barbershop is identified by the good work we do, the attention we give to the client, the environment we provide.”
In the midst of difficulties, his path has been prosperous. Pérez remembers how four years ago his barbershop was located in Real de Minas and how now they are near Sanandresito La Isla.
“The ups and downs teach you a lot. “This is a process in which one has to receive the losses with joy.” She arrived in the country with knowledge acquired in Venezuela and resides in the city providing a barber service that has satisfied her clients.
Like Angélica Delgado and Jesús Miguel Pérez, Martina Duarte is a Colombian who returned to the country after living in Mérida and thus promoted her 23-year-long business in aesthetics in Bucaramanga. From a young age she dedicated herself to studies in beauty, beautician and nursing. When she lived in Venezuela she worked with cosmetic surgeons in the recovery care of patients.
“I returned to Colombia when Venezuela began its economic decline, and I returned to my country at the Cúcuta headquarters,” said Duarte, who has been leading Expo Wime for four years, a trade fair that brings together the popular economy, aesthetics, and cosmetology. , beauty and well-being while positioning her business that bears the name of Spa Martina Duarte VIP.
The importance of innovating in your business
Iván Guillermo Ramírez Zambrano, CEO of ConexaLab Innovation Headquarters, explains the benefits for a business in the current market of innovating with its processes and products.
“Innovation allows a business to stand out by offering unique, more efficient or more attractive products or services to customers. It also allows companies to develop more environmentally and socially sustainable solutions,” comments the expert.
You may be interested in: Extraordinary manicurists: inspiring stories from migrant women’s beauty salons
For his part, regarding what an entrepreneur must take into account for his business to be innovative in the market, he states that “he must have a culture of innovation. It is essential to have this in the company to be able to be innovative, it must be in the DNA of the companies and that is accompanied by a very well-defined innovation process. Discipline is an elementary factor and the second must be the attitude to innovate, which is seen in its culture, performance and taking calculated risks.”
Furthermore, he is emphatic about the importance of having an open mind to be able to understand what the client wants, what the market and society need, and to be one step ahead. “One of the characteristics that the innovator has is that he must be a good future planner,” says Ramírez.
