New R.E.P. cultivates project management professionalism in Latin America.

After working at one of the largest insurance brokerage firms in the world for nearly nine years and teaching project management courses, Andrés Felipe Gómez had a realization: There was a huge gap between project management theory and practice.

And that thought led to a life-changing move.

“I thought, okay, I can retire and found a company that can specialize in consulting and training in the project management field.” 

That was three years ago. Today, as founder of Gomez Project and Training Ltd., Bogotá, Colombia, Mr. Gómez is capitalizing on one of the fastest growing industries in all of Latin America. At the same time, he is helping to close that gap between theory and practice — by supplying project managers and Project Management Professional (PMP^®) training courses to local and regional governments and organizations.

Significant Achievement 

In April, Mr. Gómez took his organization to the next level by becoming PMI’s 1,000th Registered Educational Provider (R.E.P.), an accomplishment that should not be understated, says Keith Rosenbaum, PMI R.E.P. administrator.

“Our providers go through a rigorous quality review process in order to gain admittance into the program and every third year they must undergo the same type of quality review process to ensure that they’re still maintaining those standards,” he says.  

For Gomez Project and Training Ltd. the impact of being recognized by PMI was felt immediately.

“I have been receiving a lot of calls,” says Mr. Gómez. “First to congratulate me, and then also to give me work, to offer me consulting, and especially training opportunities.”

The legitimacy of a PMI endorsement has also helped the organization influence other Colombian cities and the surrounding region. Employees now teach project management courses in Panama, Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina.

“We are trying to get more people involved in formal project management,” Mr. Gomez says. “There have been failures, and they don’t want to fail again.” 

The Benefit to PMI

The milestone, however, is also important to PMI. Latin America is a region with a budding project management industry and PMI is interested in aiding with the growth. 

“It is certainly PMI’s goal and part of its strategic plan to promote project management discipline throughout the world,” Mr. Rosenbaum says. “It has been an enhanced effort on the part of PMI to focus in on some of specific regions such as India, China, Japan, and Korea — areas where there are a large number of PMP [credential holders] and we are looking to expand the number in those regions by providing more training organizations to increase the number of people working in project management.”

Mr. Gómez echoes the importance of spreading project management professionalism, adding that the R.E.P. recognition is a step in the right direction.

“In the governmental sector especially, they are always looking for project managers with a PMP^® [Project Management Professional] or CAPM^® [Certified Associate in Project Management certification],” he says. “They say, ‘We would like to have an R.E.P. conduct this training, endorsed by PMI project management framework, the PMBOK Guide.’  I think that’s going to better our performance and that’s a good thing, a good thing for everyone here in South America.”