Cali’s Expat, Entrepreneurs, and Nomads Meet-up.

More and more people are discovering Colombia as a great destination for working, living and investing. In Medellin, it’s easy to figure out how. You just go to El Poblado or nearby and that’s where most of the foreigners are and you can piggyback off all their experiences. Here in Cali, it’s a different story with fewer of us spread out over many different barrios.

Welcome to Cali’s first business based expat meet up. I’m Graham, additional Cali adventurer, occasional contributor, and co-founder of Cali’s Expat and Entrepreneur (EEN) meet-up group!

As an entrepreneur and new resident of Cali, the first thing I did when I arrived in this beautiful city was start looking for opportunities to network with other business owners and business builders here in the city. In order to build my local network I started:

• Reading and researching Blogs (including this one)
• Searching Facebook groups, meetups, and events
• Constantly looking for opportunities to mingle with other business-minded individuals in order to surround myself with people who are both smarter and more motivated than I am.

As far as expats go, Cali is still relatively uncharted territory, at least when compared to Colombia’s other major centers. The business networking scene is no different, under-developed and largely unexplored. But to my co-founder Dominik (of Zenmotero) and I, that didn’t spell defeat, but opportunity.

Our First Meetings

The first meeting we held (after an open call out to as many local expats as we knew) amassed a total of three people, Dominik, Brett (of Make Medellin Yours), and Myself! It didn’t matter that there were only three of us because we realized that if we enjoyed the knowledge and conversation we shared, along with a love for Cali and the multitude of opportunities we believe it represents, then other people would as well. We weren’t wrong, at our second meet up a week later, ten people showed up at ColBru Cafe in San Antonio to share their experiences living and doing business in Cali. Since then our largest meeting drew 24 people to Ruby’s Bar in San Fernando, owned and operated by an expat couple, and our average numbers grow every week!

In the short time since the group has been running, members have already seen the following benefits:

• ability to collaborate on a variety of business ventures.
• utilize one another’s services (the group is great for networking but spam/pushy sales practices are strongly discouraged).
• become students, mentors, sounding boards, and of course friends.

Join Us; Whether You’re Living Here or Passing By

We now meet every Thursday evening at 5pm (Cali time) at a different location around the city. We share successes (and frustrations), ideas, opportunities, and refreshments. Many of our members collaborate on a variety of projects (including this one) and we are constantly seeking ways to make the meeting more valuable and interesting.

Whether you’re looking for feedback on a project idea, advice on taking a business to the next level, information about living, working, or investing in Cali, or just great conversation with a diverse group from across the globe, we hope we’ll see you at the next EEN meetup.

Same Time, Different Place.

How to Find the Cali EEN Group

The Facebook group Expats in Cali – Colombia is currently the best place to find the meetup location each week. We are working on other channels to communicate the location including the website MeetUp and WhatsApp among others.

There is no cost to attend the meetups, and as such, they are truly what you choose to make of them. Each attendee is responsible for their own consumption, and as with so many things in life, what you get out of the meeting will depend largely on what you put into it.

We hope if you live here or are just passing through that you’ll come join us and share your experiences about Cali.