Hi SpecialEd,
I'm not saying it's impossible, and hell, why not go for it if you have the time, money and determination? But just know it won't be easy. And just when you think you are doing ok, you could have a string of bad luck where chicas flake, tech problems occur, someone breaks in and steals all your equipment (this happened to a guy in Cartagena who tried to open a cam studio about 10 years ago), Police raid the place looking for a payoff, or you are accused of employing an underage chica who had a fake ID, etc. There's a lot of variables trying to open a sex-oriented business in Colombia.
-A 4-bed apartment is very small scale
Yes, it's smaller scale than your plan but that also means much lower overhead and much easier to control all aspects of the business. He only needs from 3-6 chicas at a time, but it is still quite a headache to keep them all in line and working. My friend seems pretty challenged even though it is small-scale so I can't imagine what it would be like as a huge operation.
- Medellin is gringo central so there is more competition for models
Yes, definitely some validity to this. And it's gotten worse every year since the gringo invasion started around 2006. It's funny how some gringos think Medellin is only city in Colombia.
-From what I've read, getting a high speed internet connection is not so easy in Colombia. You need at least a 1MB upload speed for an HD connection. I think many Colombian women would not have that.
It's no problem as long as you have the money to pay for it.
http://www.claro.com.co/portal/co/pc/per...#03-planes
For 10mb download/2mb, HD cable, and local phone line, I pay COP 140,000 per month. I have an "amiga" who works on MFC and she works from her home on the 5mb/2mb plan and has no tech issues. I think it costs her COP 70,000 per month which isn't a lot for most pretty, young Colombianas nowadays. Even if they can't afford it at first, they will quickly find out that they can work out of their bedroom and cut the studio out. Many "white knight" customers are the first to advise the chicas to do this and often offer to spot them the money.
I think your best chance of success is if you went to a 2nd tier town like Cucuta, Ibague, Sincelejo, Monteria, etc. and target girls who want to make better money than a normal, shitty job (but who don't want to sell their ass in a prepago sense). Also, you might want to consider keeping it at a reasonable size- maybe 10 cupos. You'll get more attention the more attractive, young colombianas coming in and out of the place. And too much attention in Colombia is never a good thing. Good luck!