How would you describe the company’s DNA?

LUIS CARLOS OCHOA PARIS Our DNA is built from a long and international career with Citibank for nearly two decades. We brought all of the firm’s international experience and flavor together with the huge network and relationships built abroad for so many years. The way we structure transactions reflect our deep product understanding, huge international network, and our capacity to access the market even during complex times. That is our main DNA—we are able to replicate our whole international reach and knowledge in Colombia while exporting that abroad across the region. In Colombia, we have clients across eight cities. It is a truly regional investment boutique bank with a clear international focus and coverage.

VALDEMARO MENDOZA Tyba is an investment app that operates in Colombia. Our value proposition is centered around giving the public access to investments. We have simplified the investment process so we can explain it in terms that people can understand. Tyba does a profiling to understand the level of risk the user wants to invest in, and then we offer the best product for their needs, mainly mutual funds, retirement funds, or certificates of deposits—we do the entire investing process, and users can follow their investments through the app. A user can make their first investment in just seven minutes. We have been on the market for a year and a half and now have about 280,000 users and 26,000 people investing with us.

What impact do you expect the company to have?

LCOP Given that we have a powerful regional and international access, we are capable of bringing powerful private equity firms, global investors, and large corporate names to deploy capital among our clients while investing in Colombian companies and Latin American names.

Of the transactions we have structured and managed, about 70% were international investors brought into the equation by our firm. Having that international flavor and reach while leveraging our connections help us manage the network properly in benefit of our clients. COVID-19 has created a risk-averse crisis. Liquidity was not reaching companies as fast as it was required. Nonetheless, we brought in large financiers and banking institutions to support those needs, either on the equity side or debt.

VM Expanding assets on investments has a direct impact on wealth creation for clients, and that is our main contribution to society. When people start investing, they start generating wealth, and this process starts being exponential instead of linear. We are at that point in Colombia where the middle class is becoming more consolidated, and when it starts to grow, investments will be an area of high growth. We help people buy the financial products they need, though we are not in the brokerage business nor are we a trader company. In the end, investments are financing companies. Once there is a larger market and higher penetration of investment products in the market, companies can borrow or raise capital much easier and cheaper.

To what do you attribute your success?

LCOP First and foremost, we focus on building an extremely high-performing team with a true passion for our firm and industry. We want to build the future leaders of our firm. We ensure that whoever we hire to work with us has a true passion for this business while having tremendous family values and professional skills. That plus using our international and local network, which combined with the above values, equal success for our firm. Speed, precision, excellence, and execution are paramount for us when serving our clients.

What are your goals for Tyba in terms of regional expansion for the mid and long term?

VM The first challenge that we face is making sure we are a regional platform, because Colombia is not a large enough country for an exclusive market. We expanded to Peru, initially doing a pilot with 100 clients, and now we are launching for Banco de Crédito del Perú clients. The next step is to launch in Chile, with the same strategy that we used in Peru and Colombia.