Mexico is missing out on the significant opportunities nearshoring offers, including the potential to become a major exporter of services to the United States through contact centers.
Antonio Fajer, CEO of Pentafon, highlights this gap by noting that while Colombia's economy is only 25% the size of Mexico's, its market for export services through contact centers is just as large.
Mexico has favorable conditions and abundant human talent to expand in this market. However, the challenge lies in ensuring that this talent possesses a high level of English proficiency.
Fajer also emphasizes that opportunities extend beyond customer service and sales. There is significant potential in the administrative tasks that support company operations, such as accounting and procedural work.
"As a country, we are falling behind in the race to export services, particularly to the United States. We’re talking about the world’s largest economy, and I believe that, as a country, we haven't done a good job. We lack strong positioning due to negative perceptions of insecurity, limited bilingual skills, and inadequate preparation, which is entirely false," he says in an interview with Expansión.
He adds that other countries, such as Costa Rica and Colombia, have successfully positioned themselves as viable solutions. "Not to mention India or the Philippines, which have been doing this for many years."
Fajer believes there’s still time to ignite the export of services through contact centers. "Why? Because we have tremendous potential to become the top provider for the United States and the global nearshoring services market."
The United States is experiencing its lowest unemployment rate in 60 years, leading to rising labor costs. As a result, the U.S. is looking for alternatives, with offshoring and nearshoring as the primary options.
When it comes to offshoring, countries like the Philippines or India are options, but they come with two major challenges: drastically different time zones, which complicate operations, and cultural differences.
Many corporations have already started shifting operations from offshore to nearshore, which benefits both the industry and service sectors.
"So, what exactly is nearshoring?" you might ask. It's Latin America. And when you look at Latin America, countries like Colombia and Costa Rica have done an excellent job. However, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find the right skilled talent, and the cost of bilingual workers is rising."
Mexico has a population of 120 million, and while the percentage of bilingual people is lower, the absolute number is much larger compared to Costa Rica, which has fewer than 4 million inhabitants.
This means Mexico has millions of people, both unemployed and in the informal sector, who could seize better opportunities. However, the key question is whether the government is truly committed to helping people earn a better living.
