Instituto Para La Economía Social - IPES

What Instituto Para La Economía Social - IPES does

Instituto Para La Economía Social (IPES) is a public district establishment (establecimiento público del orden distrital) of the Bogotá District government, legally constituted by Acuerdo 257 de 2006 and reorganized by Acuerdo Distrital 761 de 2020. IPES is attached to the Secretaría Distrital de Desarrollo Económico and serves as the sole district-level entity mandated to manage Bogotá's informal economy. Its primary beneficiaries are informal vendors and street traders in Bogotá, with secondary support for entrepreneurs, micro-enterprise owners, and the vendors and users of district market plazas. The institution employs 165 staff and operates a single headquarters at Carrera 9 # 10 - 59 in the Candelaria locality of Bogotá.

IPES delivers a portfolio of programs across the informal economy value chain. Core offerings include Plazas de Mercado (district-administered food market plazas), the REDEP network of regulated public-space kiosks and service points, Puntos Comerciales (regulated commercial spaces), Ferias Institucionales (temporary and enterprise fairs), Fortalecimiento Empresarial (business creation and strengthening), and Formación y Capacitación (workforce training). Underlying technology is modest: a content management/portal-based institutional website (ipes.gov.co) and the HeMi/RIVI platform at hemi.ipes.gov.co, which digitalizes informal vendor registration. There are no disclosed APIs, SDKs, integrations, or AI/ML components; technology use is limited to standard public-sector administrative tooling.

The business model is non-commercial. IPES is fully funded through Bogotá District budget allocations and provides all services free of charge to informal vendors and citizens. There are no disclosed revenue streams, no pricing models, and no funding rounds; ownership rests entirely with the Bogotá District government. Distribution is via direct citizen service channels — physical offices, telephone/toll-free lines, the HeMi digital platform, the network of market plazas, and field-based commercial alternative infrastructure deployed across Bogotá's localities.

Name

Instituto Para La Economía Social - IPES

Legal name

Instituto para la Economía Social - IPES

Website

https://ipes.gov.co

Company type

Public

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Instituto Para La Economía Social (IPES) is a Bogotá District public establishment that administers district market plazas, commercial alternative networks (REDEP), business strengthening, and workforce training programs for Bogotá's informal economy participants, including street vendors and micro-entrepreneurs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bogotá

HQ country

Colombia

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Public Budget Funding: IPES operates as a district-level public establishment (establishment público del orden distrital) funded by government budget allocations from the Bogotá District government. The entity generates no commercial revenue as it provides public services to informal economy participants.

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

IPES is a Bogotá District public establishment that administers the city's network of market plazas and delivers programs supporting informal economy participants. It provides regulated commercial spaces (kiosks, commercial points), institutional fairs, business strengthening and entrepreneurship support, vocational training, and informal vendor relocation and registration services. All offerings are funded by the Bogotá District government and provided free of charge to citizens.

Product overview

IPES is a government social services entity offering a portfolio of programs for informal economy workers. The core offerings include: Plazas de Mercado (managed market plazas for food supply), REDEP (kiosk and public space service network), Puntos Comerciales (commercial points), Ferias Institucionales (institutional fairs), Fortalecimiento Empresarial (business strengthening), and Formación y Capacitación (workforce training). These programs provide income alternatives, enterprise development, and relocation support for informal vendors in Bogotá, working toward food supply, security, and socioeconomic development objectives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Plazas de Mercado (District Market Plazas)
• REDEP (Red de Prestación de Servicios al Usuario del Espacio Público)

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing): Global research-policy-action network focused on informal economy workers, particularly women. Comparable as an organization whose entire mission centers on informal worker support and formalization policy, mirroring IPES's core constituency and policy objectives, though operating as an international NGO rather than a public agency.
• ILO (International Labour Organization): United Nations agency setting international labor standards and running programs on the transition from informal to formal economy. Comparable as an organization whose policy frameworks and metrics shape how entities like IPES design and justify informal-economy formalization programs globally.

Broad incumbents

• SENA (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje): Colombia's national vocational training institute, a public-sector entity providing workforce training programs that overlap directly with IPES's Formacion y Capacitacion offering. Comparable as a public-sector training provider serving similar informal and vulnerable worker populations in Colombia.
• Prosperidad Social (DPS): Colombian national agency administering social programs for vulnerable populations, including conditional cash transfers and inclusion initiatives. Comparable as a Colombian public-sector entity whose mission intersects with IPES's informal economy population and shares a similar budget-funded program delivery model.
• ICBF (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar): National Colombian public institute delivering social services and welfare programs. Comparable as a Colombian government-established institute (establecimiento público) with legal personality, administrative autonomy, and budget-funded service delivery, sharing IPES's institutional structure and governance model.
• Secretaría Distrital de Desarrollo Económico de Bogotá: IPES's direct parent secretariat in the Bogotá district administration. Operates broader economic development programs that encompass IPES's social economy mandate, making it the most direct administrative peer at the district level and the entity to which IPES is legally attached.

Regional players

• Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico de Medellín: Medellín's district economic development secretariat performs functions comparable to IPES in supporting informal vendors and micro-entrepreneurs, but serves a different Colombian city. Comparable as a regional government counterpart running analogous informal economy formalization and economic development programs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/instituto-para-la-econom%C3%ADa-social---ipes

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Instituto Para La Economía Social - IPES