• Together with its allies Fundación Restrepo Barco, Microsoft and ADITUM, the company is developing an impact innovation initiative that seeks to close the connectivity gap in the territories where they are present. This is based on the exploration of new business models that allow ISA to improve the socioeconomic conditions of the communities. 

• This pilot project, which is being developed in the Arroyo Grande township, has the potential to be scaled up in a sustainable manner, benefiting other rural areas of Cartagena and reaching an estimated coverage of more than 13,000 people. 

ISA and its companies, Ruta Costera and InterNexa, designed an impact innovation initiative based on novel business models to provide rural connectivity. This initiative, which is complemented by an offer of technological education, innovation, and productive strengthening of the communities, is part of its social management model, Conexión Desarrollo, with which the company contributes to the progress of the territories where it operates. 

The pilot project being developed in the township of Arroyo Grande in Cartagena already has more than 70 homes connected and has the capacity to expand to other townships such as Arroyo de Piedra and Arroyo Las Canoas, on the Cartagena-Barranquilla highway, an area of influence of Ruta Costera, an ISA company. This project has the potential to benefit more than 13,000 people living in these communities. 

This initiative, which seeks to close the gaps in digital literacy, technology, and connectivity, is developed together with Microsoft, the technology giant, and ADITUM, a leading startup in the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem, expert in the introduction of non-conventional technologies. 

The training and innovation offer is led by the Restrepo Barco Foundation, as an ally of territorial development. This offer contributes to the strengthening of digital capacities and skills of communities to leverage productive vocations, promote digital empowerment, and enhance opportunities and educational, social, and cultural development; all with the aim of contributing to a more prosperous and connected territory. 

How is the service provided? 

To guarantee Internet access, ADITUM implemented a wireless access network. In the future, this technology will be complemented with fiber optic solutions and a technology specially designed to serve rural areas (TVWS – TV White Spaces), which will allow us to offer high availability solutions, higher speed, and stability in dispersed areas. Similarly, ADITUM designed more flexible plans (prepaid and without permanence clause) to facilitate access to the service. 

In addition, the new Social Innovation Room at the Nueva Esperanza de Arroyo Grande Educational Institution, which is equipped with the latest technology and Internet access, was made available to the community for the development of the educational offerings. Since the beginning of the program, the room has benefited more than 100 people in the community, as well as thirteen food, health, and beauty undertakings, with which it seeks to strengthen business plans and boost the economy of Arroyo Grande.  

“This project is part of the commitment of ISA and its companies to generate impact investments through new sustainable business models for territorial development. We seek to contribute through the articulation of capacities and alliances of value and social innovation, to close the connectivity gaps of more than 345 thousand homes in the communities of our area of influence in Colombia that today do not have access to the Internet”, stated Gabriel Jaime Melguizo Posada, ISA’s interim CEO. 

“The Internet is an open door to technology, to the future, to see life from another perspective. Many young people are lost because they do not have adequate knowledge. But if there is a good Internet, good knowledge and development, many risks are minimized,” said Arleydis Medina, the first customer of the Internet service. 

Impact innovation as part of ISA’s strategy to 2030 

The strategic vision of ISA and its companies is focused on the creation of Sustainable Value. The above considers generating a positive and lasting impact on the territories and ecosystems where it operates, contributing to the integral development of the communities in the area of influence.  

Through innovation initiatives, the company seeks to develop new scalable business models with financial sustainability. This is based on the application of two premises: 1) the use of non-conventional technologies, either by the hand of startups or through technological allies to close the gap in rural infrastructure; 2) and the deployment of a territorial development process, which supports capacity building and productive projects, seeking to provide services with purpose that generate a real social transformation.