Colombian Entrepreneurs Unite to Share Colombia With the World! See Colombia and Off2Colombia to share content to help promote Colombia

 

We at Colombia Travel Blog and our big brother site See Colombia Travel are always dedicated to bringing you as much information about Colombia as we can. That’s exactly why we’ve teamed up with Off2Colombia – in order to bring you videos, photos, articles and much more that relates to Colombia. Our collaboration comes from a shared love of Colombia, and the shared desire to see it promoted as one of the best travel destinations in the world.

Josian Chevallier and Mickael Teo are two guys from France that decided to leave their successful careers in London to take the chance on Colombia. One year later, they’re still here and their company, Off2 Colombia, is rapidly gaining popularity. Off2 Colombia is an internet portal dedicated to bringing you up to date, interactive information on Colombia.

We got the chance to sit down with the two and discuss what it was that made them decide Colombia, what it is that’s kept them here, and what they hope the future holds for Off2 Colombia.

Colombia Travel Blog: You left a life in Europe to move to Colombia, what prompted that move?

Josian: We’re both internet entrepreneurs that are passionate about travelling. A lot of our friends had taken trips to South America with plans to stay in Colombia for a week or two before moving on but ended up staying for 2 months – the maximum possible on a tourism visa.

The other reason was the lack of information when we were planning our trip to Colombia : the travel books had very basic information and were out dated (we had a to buy a travel book with reviews from 2007 and we were getting into 2011). The internet had decent information but it was not structured and proved of very little help to decide where to go. It became obvious there was a need for an independent, interactive and well informed website to help people designing their trip to Colombia.

CTB: What did you expect and how did Colombia match/differ from your expectations?

Mickael: Obviously after what we’d heard we were expecting a lot, but still Colombia exceeded our expectations. When we moved here we found there was so much opportunity; it seemed like everyone we meet wanted to invest in the country. As we travelled round, too, we found Colombia to be a place that had so much natural beauty: Colombia is the country with the most diverse nature in the world, 3 mountain ranges, deserts, some of the best diving in the world… and the list goes on and on.

Josian: Yeh, we’ve travelled a lot of places, over a 100 countries between us, but Colombia is one of the richest in terms of travel that we’ve ever visited, it matches the amazement of countries like Mongolia, the fauna of Brazil and the kindness you find all over Asia.

On the business side, we were completly amazed, Colombia is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best places to invest right now. Sam Zell, the Chicago equivalent to New York’s Donald Trump, declared Colombia a place to invest on par with India (no wonder with the decline affecting the whole US/Europe right now).

How does life in Bogotá compare to life in Europe?

Josian: It’s different here, people don’t look at you like a competitor, they want to help you. In places like London you find yourself competing with other people all the time, whereas here people want to help you and to see you succeed. Interpersonal relationships are better, too.

Mickael: It does take time to get used to the pace, though. Things move a lot slower here which can be tough at first when you come from somewhere as fast-paced as Paris or London.

Josian: But things are possible here once you know how things work. I’m 100% certain you would not be able to start a business like Off2Colombia in Europe: the visa, the struggle to start a company, the money to invest…

CTB: What makes Colombia so special for you guys?

Josian: Colombia has so much to offer, there’s amazing variety and some of the nicest people in the world, but it goes beyond that, what you get in Colombia is unique: The Caribbean coast and the Pacific Coast, the bob-smacking Cocora Valley with the highgest Palm Trees in the world, Malpelo, the best diving spot in the world for sharks, La Guajira the Northermost point in South America with the desert falling into the sea… If you want to experience travelling again, come to Colombia.

CTB: Tell us a little about Off2 Colombia?

Mickael: Whether you’re a backpacker or after 5-star luxury, the idea is that you can come to Off2 Colombia to plan the trip for you, which attractions, which hotels, which restaurants? We have photos of Colombia and videos we collected while travelling to help you decide what you want to visit. But Off2 Colombia is also much more than that; it’s a community of writers, travelers and Colombians all coming together to provide information. We have a forum where people can communicate, ask questions, help each others, and generally just chat.

CTB: Your videos are very popular and a great part of the site, what gave you the idea to start that feature?

Mickael: We think that’s the way travel is going. People want to see videos to get a feel about where they want to travel. If you searched for videos of Colombia on YouTube you’d either find poor quality videos taken by people on the camera phone, or very professional videos done by advertising companies or Colombia tourist board. Either way it’s not a genuine statement about a place or does not give you the desire to visit. Our videos are semi-professional and aim to make you write your own story in a place we have enjoyed.

CTB: What do you hope to achieve with Off2 Colombia?

Josian: We hope to become the primary source of information about travel to Colombia, whether you travel to Bogotá on business or want to plan a trip round the Caribbean Coast. The site is in English for now but we plan to have a Spanish version in the next few weeks and a French and German one before the end of the year.

Mickael: That and to cover all the country. So far we feel we cover about 75% of the country’s attractions and we want to get to 100% within the next 6 months. In the coming weeks, additions to the site will include information and videos about unique places such as Canyon de Crystal, the Tatacoa Desert… Sceneries and experiences you can only experience in Colombia.

CTB: Anything else?

Michael and Josian: See you in 2012 in Colombia!

You can check out Off2 Colombia here, and join in the action on their Colombia forum here. Help Off2 Colombia by joining their Twitter and Facebook!