Gheidy Gallo: Boyacá's great lever

“Proudly from Boyacá!” is the phrase that opens all her social media accounts and publications. What might seem like an advertising slogan is actually a message that has shaped the professional and personal journey of Gheidy Gallo (Sogamoso, 43), who has always championed the power of the regions in building the country and has been an ambassador for what she defines as “the best” of her fellow countrymen: temperance, optimism, and perseverance. “Temperance comes from the character of this rural, mining, and agricultural population, now in its third or fourth generation,” reflects Gallo. "Optimism can be seen in a phrase I grew up with: ‘The faith of the coal miner’; no matter how hard life is, no matter how much adversity there is, you always find the light. And perseverance, I saw that in my grandparents and parents. We are very determined people; we believe that life flows, but when it doesn't, you have to persevere in your goals." Armed with these values and thanks to the support of her family (“a home that was austere in resources but multimillionaire in wisdom”) and Acerías Paz del Río, she completed her high school education and went on to the National University in Bogotá, which she remembers with amazement: “I met the most brilliant people of my life in that mini Colombia; it was a quantum leap.” She began her professional career at the age of 19, while still studying, as part of the team responsible for designing and executing negotiation strategies for the FTA with the United States and the Northern Triangle, led by Martha Lucía Ramírez and Ángela María Orozco. Since then, she has continued to build bridges with the aim of making things happen, bringing people together and believing in the complementarity of the public and private sectors. The diversification of the country's agro-export basket, which made Hass avocados the fastest-growing export fruit in history; the creation of the Women Entrepreneurs Fund and the More Women Entrepreneurs program by the Office for Women's Equality (with more than 1.3 million beneficiaries), and the launch of ProBoyacá are achievements that Gallo highlights as proof that it is possible to move from rhetoric to action. "It shows that when we unite, we are stronger. This sometimes sounds like a cliché, but it is not. When political will is combined with business strength, magic happens, because governments (good, bad, or mediocre) are temporary, and entrepreneurs have a spirit of permanence," he adds. What may sound idyllic on paper can be difficult when it comes to convincing the various actors that it is possible to agree on the same vision. When he proposed the creation of ProBoyacá, one of the first responses he received in Bogotá was: “You've gone mad. What business sector in Boyacá? All they have there are potatoes, Jorge Velosa, Nairo Quintana, farmers with little trains and arepas.” Three years after its creation, ProBoyacá - Región Libertadora brings together 60 companies from different sectors in Boyacá and Casanare, representing 65% of the region's income. It is also actively involved in the implementation of the Boyacá 2050 Master Plan, which seeks to triple the region's GDP through the reactivation of the railway and its consolidation as a logistics and production hub in the central-eastern part of the country. There are already tangible results from this conversation between the provincial government, the national government, and the company: “We are making trains made in Boyacá for $187 million, with a Conpes document and future validity,” he says. In addition to the material development of the region, the organization is thinking about preparing the next generation of these entrepreneurs. To this end, it has created, in partnership with the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia, the leadership school ‘A liderar SuPersona’ (Lead Your Super Self), which trains young people between the ages of 14 and 16 in values and skills. "We placed a lot of emphasis on the values that we believe should define or characterize any type of business, public, environmental, or other leadership. In addition, we emphasize that, regardless of whether they want to be politicians, CEOs of global multinationals, or activist leaders, companies will always be great allies. A company can never be an enemy of leadership, but rather a source of opportunities, development, and hope," says Gallo, proud of this first edition of the program and excited about what is to come. When she thinks about the future, her daughter Sofía, who is now 13 and will have to choose between Colombian and Japanese nationality at age 21, comes to mind. “My daughter is one of the great passions of my life and one of my greatest sources of pride. One of my main motivations for contributing to the construction of the country is that, in eight years, she will decide to be Colombian because it makes more sense than having a Japanese passport,” she reveals. Gheidy Gallo will therefore continue to build bridges and bring people together so that Sofía and many others can find in Boyacá and in our country, as she says, “the best place to build their life project as they wish, of their own free will.”