This paper seeks to deepen our understanding of how the emergence of industrial engineering degrees in a Colombian region related with industrial, economic and societal dynamics in the first decades of the twentieth century. To this end, it explores the insertion of the graduates of the first cohorts of the Chemical Engineering programme of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) into existing companies in the region, and their participation in emerging industry initiatives. The research provides previously unpublished primary sources and extensive bibliographical documentation. A relationship with the programmes in vigour in Spain at the time is identified, the way in which chemical engineering contributes to the training for work of the graduates is observed and the ways in which their participation in the workplace strengthened the business processes of the time and country are found.