While the Caribbean And Latin American markets offer a tremendous business opportunity, most small companies typically do not have the resources in-house to attend to this market that is often considered to be a long way away, expensive to reach and difficult to do business with.  Then there are always the possible physical dangers, what with all the bad news that always seems to stem from this region.  While many would recognize the size of this market potential few capitalize on it for reasons that are often illogical or not even true.

Popular myths and stereotypes, combined with the fascination of the world press to publish bad news over good, all combine to often create a rather poor image of a good market place.  While clearly some countries are much easier to do business with than others, due to corrupt governments and business practices as can be seen by their ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2005 by Transparency International.  Here for example, Chile is ranked equal with Japan at 21 from the list of 158, slightly below the USA at 17 but above countries such as Spain and Portugal.  Costa Rica and El Salvador ranked 51 and Colombia ranked 55 are at a level where doing business is much safer than say Venezuela 130, Paraguay 144, and Haiti jointly at 155 with Turkmenistan.

It is particularly worth noting that Colombia previously had a poor reputation for foreigners wanting to do business there due to the high levels of violence and kidnapping.  However, under the present government of Alvaro Uribe Vélez there have been dramatic beneficial changes that now make this country an excellent business opportunity for both exporting to and importing from.  There has been a significant reduction in the levels of kidnapping, homicides, and guerrilla activity that has opened the country to trade and tourism and this trend is set to continue.  With a low level of inflation, high GDP growth rate and a highly skilled workforce this beautiful country is clearly a top choice for many European and USA businesses looking to enter the region.

While there are many websites that contain a wealth of statistical data about the countries of the world such as CIA The World Factbook, the choice of country with which to trade within the CALA region for any European or USA business is much more complex than simple land mass, population and GDP statistics.  Most small companies decide that they simply do not have enough resources to open such distant export markets and the cost of employing the necessarily skilled staff for this task makes it difficult to foresee a decent return on investment.  In general the export initiatives run by government are much more orientated towards the larger businesses, but CALA-LINK is focused and specialized in serving smaller companies.

If you ever thought of expanding your export business to or from the CALA region, but have been put off by the complexity and cost for the resources required, then CALA-LINK could be the ideal way to grow your business.  We have a range of proven business models across a wide range of industry sectors that can be easily tailored to fit your business goals and budget.