At the Uruguayan consulate in San Francisco (California, United States) There is a window full of signatures. They are companies and educational institutions that pass through there. There are dozens of people that Uruguayans take to the world center of technology, the Silicon Valley. Wherever the headquarters of Apple, Meta or Google are.
The Uruguayan consul in the place, Ignacio González, spoke with Coffee & Business about his role. González defines himself as “a bridge” between Uruguay and that American technological ecosystem. In addition, he explained that his work consists, in this sense, in support both Uruguayan companies that provide services to US companies, as well as startups of local origin who seek to validate their ideas, find clients and investments in California and thus understand the Silicon Valley ecosystem.
For the diplomat, his main objective is to help Uruguayan companies to save time in contacts in the United States that can make them grow. That country is the main export destination for Uruguayan services linked to Information Technology (ICT)which represents 59% of the total sales abroad of this sector (almost US$ 594 million), according to the latest data presented by the Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technologies, corresponding to 2021.
The Uruguayan consul in San Francisco, Ignacio González.
These contacts between Uruguayan technology companies and Silicon Valley materializes through meetings, events and conversations, in order to promote trust between the parties. Local businessmen and entrepreneurs take them to the consulate who will go to the country and González selects the contacts that can empower them and generates the meetings.
He stressed that the consulate works in close coordination with the embassy of Uruguay in Washington DC, and together they promote Uruguay as an attractive destination for technological development. He mentioned that Uruguay stands out in exports of software services to the United States —the time zone contributes to this situation—, and the consulate strives to increase the exposure of the country and strengthen its image in the technological ecosystem.
Regarding the challenges and opportunities faced by local startups seeking to expand to the United States, González pointed out the importance of having a scalable business model and the possibility of obtaining investment. In this sense, it is essential that local startups have a connection with investors, companies and organizations that are willing to invest in them. Regarding the companies that sell services, the consul in San Francisco explained that boosting the country’s image is one of the challenges that Uruguay must face to position its services.
The current US economic situationunfavorable both for startups and for companies that sell services, has brought a blow to the technological ecosystem, González said, although Uruguayan technology companies “have known how to act quickly” to face this situation, so they have not been particularly affected, he acknowledged.
The companies that participate in these instances sign at the consulate office.
He also mentioned the need to build bonds of trust and the importance of continuous promotion of the country, and highlighted “the feedback positive” by investors and companies that have worked with local technology companies.
Since 2019, the year in which the diplomat is playing that role, The number of technology companies interested in these exchanges has been increasing year by year through the consulate. In 2022, around 60 Uruguayan entrepreneurs and businessmen participated in these instances. For this year it is expected that they will reach 100.
“From the United States, companies follow the evolution of the technological sector in Uruguay. Given this scenario, we seek to promote the country in its technological dimension due to its potential”, he concluded.
