Colombia’s First International Telework Fair went off as scheduled on 26 July 2012. Before it started I was interviewed by Rafael Orduz Medina, the Executive Director of Colombia Digital. Here’s the video:
Colombia Digital is the sponsor of the fair together with the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications of Colombia. The opening ceremonies included presentations by Diego Molano Vega, the Minister of Information Technologies and Communication; Rafael Pardo Rueda, the Minister of Labor of Colombia; Carlos Tomada, the Minister of Labor of Argentina; Samuel Moreno Rojas, the Mayor of Bogotá; and Colombian Senator Claudia Wilches. Topping off these statements was the signing of a pact among these government agencies and a number of Colombian business organizations (including Cisco and Microsoft delegates) to accelerate the adoption of telework in the country.
Tag Archives: developing country telework
India flexes time for women
One of the interesting features of telework is the way it keeps popping up even when “management” tries to suppress it. Often this is because all the tried-and-true options have been exhausted. For example, in the 27 May 2011 edition of the Financial Times Amy Kazmin writes about the Tata conglomerate’s program (called Second Career) to retain the talents of young mothers. The problem in India, as in many countries, is a growing shortage of skilled workers (as contrasted to a surplus of unskilled workers). In one sense, India’s efforts in global off-shoring have been too successful. Many companies have used up the supply of local skilled talent and are scratching their collective heads in search of new talent supplies.
Where the needed skills are information/knowledge-related, telework may be part of the answer. As the FT states:
The Tata Group’s “breakthrough”, says Mr. Pradhan, was to realize that taking time out to raise children did not have to exile women from the job market permanently. “It is part of a normal social process for women — because of their unique space in humanity and bio-uniqueness — to take time to raise a family,” he says. “We said, ‘let’s focus on what is preventing women from coming back into the workforce’.”