First-world societies understood this and now provide jobs and dignified lives to their entire workforce.
I had the opportunity to live in Canada, and I did not have to go very far to realize that this society had more opportunities for people to have a decent life. I wondered why, but I could not find a concise answer until I started working as a Busser or dish collector; I do not think it was the dream job of many people, but with it, you could earn enough to go to the biggest festival in Toronto, eat out from time to time, have decent clothes and even if it was organized to have a car in less than two years.
Looking further into what made me different from a “Busser” in Colombia, I thought at the time of hiring, looking closely, they had trained me in other subjects: English Proficiency, Customer Service, frequently asked questions, words most used in the restaurant environment, service times and I even had to take a government-issued certification on how to handle alcoholic beverages, all how a prerequisite for entry into a million dollar restaurant.
Interestingly, this story does not only happen in restaurants; it occurs in the whole society that uses specialists for everything. You find experts in car doors of cars from 2000 or experts in gas piping for heaters specifically, as well as an expert in picking up tables, serving your water when your glass is two-thirds below the level, and every 5 minutes checking that you are not missing anything, in a 1 million dollar restaurant.
Likewise, everyone has a standard of living and access to different opportunities, better and better… Just like in Colombia.
In Colombia, we consider high-demand operational services as services without added value and therefore not worthy of decent compensation; likewise, their providers perform them by discarding always offering poor quality jobs, resulting in low satisfaction rates widespread throughout the continent and generating high rates of social inequality and informality.
What can we do to change this in Latin America?
For countries to function, they need more than programmers and people with different vocations…
Domestic workers, painters, electricians, general service personnel, and waitpersons, among many other professions, currently with a low value within the spectrum of social consideration.
What would happen if these people received professional training and became specialists, and therefore could aspire to more than a minimum wage for offering a service with greater security and guarantee, a benefit for a society with many million-dollar businesses?
I see this as an excellent opportunity to put technology to work and provide access, education, and visibility for all these people to connect with the employers who need them.
Our company considers this thesis as its core, and we are looking for a strategic ally that will allow us to impact people’s lives, as Platzi does; we believe that using the technology and experience that Platzi has as an e-learning and you as its leader, coupled with the exponential growth we are looking for together with Alex, fit our growth standards and vision, to continue to change the world.
If this makes sense to you, and you see the possibility of a partnership of any kind, I leave my contact details where we can review how we can get to work to make this a reality.
