At Silicon Valley Day in Mexico City, held Sept. 11, the City of San Francisco launched a new economic development initiative called LatinSF.
LatinSF was created as a public-private partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the San Francisco Center for Economic Development (SFCED), to create a help established Latin American companies expand and assist startups to locate in San Francisco.
LatinSF will also support San Francisco-based companies that are seeking to expand their businesses south.
LatinSF goals include:
- Providing an end-to-end concierge service to Latin American businesses seeking to locate in San Francisco, including market intelligence, assistance with relevant city permitting, referrals to professional service providers and potential partners and assistance in identifying real estate opportunities
- Promoting San Francisco as the U.S. capital of innovation and entrepreneurship throughout the Latin American region
- Partnering with existing Latin American businesses and government agencies to build a welcoming business ecosystem in San Francisco
- Showcasing San Francisco businesses, products and services to the Latin American market
- Facilitating trade missions to Latin America for government and business leaders
According to the Economic Development Blog, the Mayor is on an official trade mission to Latin America, and the visit has secured tangible results with the announcement of the first LatinSF partnership with Startup Mexico, a government-backed incubator and accelerator for tech firms in Mexico and the rest of Latin America.
LatinSF has secured sponsors including AeroMexico and the Mita Institute and Tech Accelerator, which is a business accelerator, tech forum and venture fund which is helping build the innovation economy in Mexico.
According to the Economic Development Blog:
The initiative aims to replicate the success of the China- San Francisco economic development initiative ChinaSF.
SFCED Executive Director Dennis Conaghan said the demand for assistance for Latin American companies has been steadily growing, and they believe the timing is perfect to reach out to the region.
“We can never take our economic recovery and expansion for granted,” said Mayor Lee, adding that LatinSF was another way to diversify the economy, attract new companies and jobs to the City and create opportunities around the world for businesses based in San Francisco.
