There are multiple compelling reasons to consider starting a tech sourcing company in Latin America, especially if your business is based in the UK and looking for reliable after-hours support. One of the clearest advantages is the time zone alignment. While outsourcing to East Asia often means dealing with a 7 to 10 hour time difference, most Latin American countries are just 4 to 6 hours behind the UK, making after-hours coverage far easier to manage without burdening teams with extreme working hours.

Here’s a snapshot of how Latin American cities align with London’s working hours:

Country / City Time Zone London 9 AM London 12 PM London 5 PM
Mexico City UTC -5 3 AM 6 AM 11 AM
Guatemala UTC -6 2 AM 5 AM 10 AM
Colombia / Panama UTC -5 3 AM 6 AM 11 AM
Bolivia / Chile UTC -4 4 AM 7 AM 12 PM
Argentina / Uruguay UTC -3 5 AM 8 AM 1 PM

This makes Latin America a natural candidate for UK-based companies that need either full follow-the-sun coverage or simply extended support hours.

Beyond time zones, Latin America is culturally aligned with the West in many important ways. English is taught in most schools, and there’s a general familiarity with Western customs. From our experience working with teams in Mexico, we’ve found that upskilling in English is both achievable and impactful. What’s often missing, however, is confidence and familiarity, not just with the language, but with the norms of corporate life.

For example, Latin American professionals are often extremely warm, friendly, and expressive. This is a beautiful cultural trait, but in corporate settings, especially when working with European colleagues, it can sometimes come across as too informal. We’ve seen well-meaning team members share memes or jokes via internal messaging platforms, unaware that their European counterparts might interpret this as unprofessional. This isn’t unique to Latin America, we’ve seen similar dynamics with some African colleagues as well. But what’s remarkable is how quickly these small etiquette issues can be ironed out with a little bit of cultural onboarding.

In fact, this realization led my sister Laura and me to start a project called ELCEF, the English Language and Cultural Exchange Foundation. Our aim was to address the gaps we saw, not just in English instruction, but in helping professionals gain the confidence and cultural fluency needed to thrive in international environments. We noticed that most language programs in Latin America didn’t provide much exposure to real-life conversations with foreigners, let alone training in corporate etiquette or navigating different accents and dialects.

What started as a language initiative evolved into a vision for full cultural training, teaching not just how to communicate, but how to succeed in global teams.

The more time I spend in European corporate environments, the more I see the opportunity. Latin America is full of incredibly hard-working, capable professionals who just need a bit of targeted support to become global assets. And the numbers back this up.

According to the OECD, Mexico ranks among the highest in the world in annual hours worked, at around 2,120 hours per year. Costa Rica follows closely with ~2,073, and Chile and Colombia aren’t far behind. Compare this to:

Germany: ~1,340 hours/year

UK: ~1,500 hours/year

France: ~1,400 hours/year

Netherlands: ~1,400 hours/year

This work ethic, combined with improving English proficiency, cultural adaptability, and excellent time zone overlap, makes Latin America one of the most promising, yet underutilized, regions for tech outsourcing.

The potential is here, it’s just waiting to be unlocked.