By Hector Calabia
IDG News Service,
Buenos Aires Bureau
BUENOS AIRES –
The big city
on the right bank of the River Plate sports many names: the Queen of the Plate,
the Capital city of Tango, the City that Never Sleeps, the New York of the
Southern Cone, or simply the Port. Call it as you may – the fact is that is one
of the biggest capitals of the world, the richest in Latin America, and one of
the busiest and most active IT centers of the world.
Its small
"microcentro", the financial and corporate center, concentrates the
headquarters of most corporations and banks that operate in the country. Most
of the big IT firms are there too. For Adrián Richeri, Novell Territory Manager
for Argentina, 80 per cent of all big business in Argentina is conducted at the
microcenter. "This makes things simpler," he said. "You are at
walking distance from your most important clients and suppliers."
This big city, including its suburbs, has about 12 million people—or about one-third
of Argentina's population—. The city proper, which comprises the Federal
District, has about 3 million people. Its per capita income is the highest in
Latin America, about US$15,000 in 1999.
According to Nacho
Mazzini, SGI General Manager for Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, Buenos Aires has
Latin America's best communications infrastructure, superior even to certain
American and European areas. "This fact, teamed to the availability of
first rate professionals (in all sectors) draws the interest of corporations
that are looking for the best place for their headquarters in Latin
America," he said.
It is a good place to live in. According to the
Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), an initiative of the World Economic
Forum, Argentina is within the second best group of countries that are growing
without violating critical environmental barriers. This is the same level as
the United States and Great Britain, and above countries such as Italy and
Belgium. It is the only Latin American country in this category.
"Practically all the important IT corporations have
their own offices in Argentina," says Carlos Pallotti, Vice-President for
Latin America of Datastream Computec. "Most of them have their Southern
Cone headquarters in Buenos Aires, serving Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay,
Bolivia, Chile and Perú."
Entrepreneurship is fostered by the high educational level
of the city. There are more than 10 public and private universities operating
within the city area, and many other college level educational institutions.
For Andy Freire, founder and chief operating officer of the very successful
on-line office supplier firm OfficeNet, this is part of his life experience. He
got his undergraduate degree here and pursued graduate studies in the U.S.
Freire says that his friends are the founders of the best
known dotcoms in the subcontinent: DeRemate.com, MercadoLibre.com, Patagon.com,
Salutia.com. "These projects all belong to friends of mine, we have all
started them approximately at the same time, and we often get all together, and
talk, and many of us have completed our education in the U. S., and we have
decided to come back to Argentina and start our businesses here."
This is the reason why so many dotcoms have been born in
Buenos Aires. "Our commercial offices for Latin America are in
Miami," says Brian Gahan, chief operating officer (CEO) of Cybrel Digital
Entertainment, founders of the music portal Yeyeye.com. "But Buenos Aires
is our editorial and inspiration center."
One of the drawbacks of the city, however, is the high cost
of living here. The cost of living is roughly equivalent to that of London,
England. According to The International Salary Calculator, if you make say
US$50,000 a year in Los Angeles, California, you would need $62,555 living in
Buenos Aires. Top executives salaries are on par with US wages, but middle
management and employees make much less than in the U.S.
Buenos Aires is also a good city for testing new
technologies. "Argentines are 'cholulos' (snobs)", Novell's Adrián
Richeri says. They enjoy to show the latest cellular phone, and the most
"in" technologies. That is why Buenos Aires has the highest cable TV
and cable-modem penetration in Latin America. Local enterprises are not
conservative at all, technologically speaking. "They often serve as
test-beds for new technologies, for which there is still little experience
abroad." Oracle designed and installed the world's first intranet in
Buenos Aires, back in 1995, when not even the word "intranet" was
being used.
Besides, the city is one of the main centers for IT
publications, both on paper and on-line, in the Spanish-speaking world.
|