Fundación para el Futuro de Colombia (Foundation
for the Future of Colombia, COLFUTURO) began in
1991, thanks to the initiative of a group of leading
citizens from the public and private sectors who were
committed to developing the country through its most
valuable resource: human capital. Ana Milena Muñoz
de Gaviria, the wife of the then president César Gaviria
Trujillo, led this effort to create COLFUTURO.
The initial idea was to establish a foundation offering
the financial and academic support that would allow
the most talented and able Colombians to access
postgraduate education in the world’s best universities
and, later, successfully face new challenges related
to knowledge and development. This idea was well
received given the political and economic outlook of
the country at the beginning of the 1990s.
Based on the argument that education and training
of human resources for the country should be a
shared responsibility, COLFUTURO’s initial financing
employed a mixed model, with both the state and
the private sector providing the first resources.
In 1991, COLFUTURO received contributions of
USD $12 million: USD $7 million from the main
companies and businesspeople in the private sector,
and USD $5 from the Secretariat of the Presidency
of the Republic, Ecopetrol, Federación Nacional de
Cafeteros, and Financiera Eléctrico Nacional (now
Financiera Energética Nacional).
In this way, COLFUTURO began to fulfill its mission.
In 1992 it selected its first group of beneficiaries: 46
Colombians from different parts of the country who
would study in world-renowned universities.
Each year, the number of students receiving support
increases. At the start of the new century, however,
COLFUTURO saw that the help it provided was not
sufficient—the country needed more Colombians
with top-level postgraduate education abroad. The
goal, then, was to support 1,000 students per year.
To meet this new objective, an agreement was signed
in 2009 with Colciencias and Icetex, through which
the government agreed to contribute the funding
corresponding to the scholarship loan waivers. This
not only committed the national government; in
2009, COLFUTURO’s Board of Directors called on
Colombia’s principal companies to reaffirm their
commitment to the Foundation. As a result of this
appeal, donations of USD $25 million were received.
Thanks to these contributions, COLFUTURO was able
to support close to 1,000 students from 2010 until
2013. In 2013 the national government, through
Colciencias and Icetex, renewed its commitment with
COLFUTURO to finance 2,000 students in 2016.
As a result of this agreement, it was possible to support
1,509 students this year, and the pool of resources
has grown to around USD $53 million. During its
existence, the Foundation has directly provided
(including committed moneys) USD $210 million.
History
7
The foundation
Beneficiaries 2015
