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Employee Stories

Juan Ospina

My career journey in Colombia

A picture of Juan Ospanca

How have you got to where you are now in your career? Tell us about your career journey so far?

I think the answer to that is wide. For me it has been a mix of different things. Being hard working and consistent but also flexible and adaptable to change; taking opportunities as they had come; building the right relationships; and overall being always open to learn, have new experiences and challenges.

I started my career, about 13 years ago, at a local bank in Colombia that is currently a SCB client. In there I used to support the activities with correspondent banks and thanks to this I developed a huge interest on finance and international banking. After this I had the chance to work with a real sector company on financial planning, and then with an impact investment fund.  Sometime later I joined SCB at the Representative Office in Bogotá as Office Manager; then in 2022 I became a Client Manager and from April 2024 I assumed the role of Head Client Management Latam, supporting the team and the clients’ portfolio in the region. 

What’s the best career advice you’ve ever been given?

The best career advice I ever had – at my very career beginning – was, I should evaluate myself and discover what I really wanted for my professional and personal life, then focus and work hard to get there.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced when working?

The biggest challenge I’ve faced, is in my current role, to have regional responsibilities with clients and a team located in different countries, with different languages, cultures, ways of working and doing business. Even regulation is different on each country we serve, and our clients’ needs are unique for each one. However, this makes every day more interesting and challenging.

If you didn’t do the job you do now, what would be your other career choice?

If I could have choice another career, it would have been psychology. I’m very interested on understanding human behaviour and the reasons we do what we do, and I try to apply the little I know on my daily life so I can understand my relationship with others and try to make the best of them. I know it is not late for this so I’m thinking about doing short learning programs on psychoanalysis.