『Doing Business in Central America Podcast』のカバーアート

Doing Business in Central America Podcast

Doing Business in Central America Podcast

著者： The Central American Group
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今ならプレミアムプランが3カ月 月額99円

2026年5月12日まで。4か月目以降は月額1,500円で自動更新します。

概要

 Manufacturing Infrastructure, Real-Estate Development, and 3PL Solutions マネジメント マネジメント・リーダーシップ 個人ファイナンス 経済学
エピソード
  • A discussion on the TMF Group’s Global Business Complexity Index with Adrian Owen

    A discussion on the TMF Group’s Global Business Complexity Index with Adrian Owen
    2025/06/03
    Thinking about establishing your company in Central America? Contact us. Adrian Owen Podcast Download Adrian OwenManaging Director-Mid AmericasTMF Groupadrian.owen@tmf-group.comThe Central American Group: Hello. Welcome to the most recent episode of the Central American Group podcast. In these recordings, we speak with individuals who have expertise in Central America and, often, the Latin American region as a whole. Today, we have with us Adrian Owen. Adrian is affiliated with the TMF Group, which publishes the Global Business Complexity Index (GBCI) annually. Welcome, Adrian. Would you please tell us a bit about yourself and the organization that you represent? Adrian Owen: Yes. Good morning, Steve. Thanks very much for the opportunity today to talk about Central America. So, my name is Adrian Owen. I’m the managing director of a region we internally refer to as Mid-America, which encompasses Central America, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. The company I work for, TMF Group, is a leading provider of critical administrative services. We publish the Global Business Complexity Index each year and help clients invest and operate safely around the world. We have more than 12,000 colleagues in over 125 offices worldwide, and our locations span 92% of the world’s GDP and 95% of foreign direct investment inflows. We position ourselves, Steve, as a key part of our clients’ governance, providing the accounting, tax, payroll, fund administration, and legal entity management services essential to their success, particularly when they enter new jurisdictions. We ensure rules are followed, reputation is protected, and operational compliance is maintained. We work with most Fortune Global 500, FTSE 100, and top 300 private equity firms. Concretely, in Mid-America, I’m based in Costa Rica and oversee operations in the eight countries I mentioned. The Central American Group: Well, that’s very interesting, and it must be quite a challenge for you. One thing I’ve noticed appearing on the Internet, along with some related stories, is the TMF Global Business Complexity Index. First of all, could you tell us what it is, how it’s compiled, and what its ultimate purpose and importance are? Adrian Owen: Yeah, sure, Steve. The Global Business Complexity Index (GBCI) is a key piece of research that helps those navigating rules and regulations cut through layers of complexity, enabling them to conduct business effectively and successfully across borders. It’s TMF Group’s flagship annual report. It provides a detailed analysis of the complexities associated with establishing, operating, and expanding businesses across multiple world regions. It includes a global ranking of 79 jurisdictions based on the complexity of their business environments. The GBCI is built, Steve, from over 290 data points that analyze complexity across three key areas, including rules, regulations, and penalties around business operations, accounting and tax, human resources, and payroll. The index ranks jurisdictions from most to least complex, identifying the root causes of complexity, including bureaucracy, frequent regulatory changes, and a lack of digital infrastructure. Beyond the rankings, the report offers valuable insights to customers on global trends affecting international business operations, including rising digitalization, shifts in tax policy, and changes in compliance obligations. For companies looking to expand into new markets, it’s an essential guide for assessing operational risk and planning effectively. The Central American Group: Well, given that you look most specifically at your role in Central American countries, in recent years, what has been the trend in levels of complexity in that region compared to competitors that are located in Latin America as a whole? Adrian Owen: Yes. I would say that Central American countries, Steve, have made remarkable progress in reducing business complexity, especially when compared to some of their Latin American neighbors. In the most recent edition of the Global Business Complexity Index 2024, countries such as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua have emerged as some of the least complex jurisdictions in Latin America. Indeed, most Central American nations now fall into what I would say is medium to low complexity globally. One reason for this, I would say, is that they’re relatively straightforward human resource and payroll processes, which are easier to manage than in many other countries. Meanwhile, accounting, tax, and global entity management remain more intricate but are improving thanks to digitalization and regulatory reforms. Compared to other Latin American countries, some of which I see continue to struggle with bureaucratic inefficiencies and frequent legislative changes, Central America tends to stand out for its growing stability and business-friendly reforms. Even compared to some more developed markets, which tend to be ...
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    18 分
  • Manufacturing in Costa Rica with Ascential Medical and Life Sciences

    Manufacturing in Costa Rica with Ascential Medical and Life Sciences
    2025/03/10
    A conversaton with Sergio Vargas of Ascential Medical and Life Sciences Contact the Central American Group if you want to establish a manufacturing facility in Costa Rica. Sergio VargasGeneral ManagerAscential Medical and Life Sciencessergio.vargas@ascentialtech.comThe Central American Group: Hello. Welcome to this episode of the Central American Group podcast. Because of our operations in Central America, mainly in Costa Rica and El Salvador, we can talk to some very interesting people. Today, our guest is Sergio Vargas. Sergio is the general manager of Ascential Medical and Life Sciences. Sergio, how are you today? Sergio Vargas: Hi, Steven. Good morning. I’m doing well. Thank you for having me. The Central American Group: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your company? Sergio Vargas: My name is Sergio Vargas, and I’m the general manager of Ascential Medical and Life Sciences. I’ve been with the company for almost 10 years. I moved to Costa Rica a year ago to help the company with essential Latin America. The Central American Group: Where were you before that, Sergio? Sergio Vargas: I’ve been in a different place. I started in California almost 10 years ago. I stayed in California for eight years, then moved to our main facility in Minnesota. The Central American Group: How many years have you been with Ascential? Sergio Vargas: Almost ten. It will be 10 years this year. The Central American Group: Okay. Well, let’s ask the first question then. What are the products that Ascential Medical and Life Sciences manufactures? Sergio Vargas: We build custom automation solutions for diverse industries but focus mainly on the medical industry. The Central American Group: You focus mainly on the medical industry, but do your products serve any other industries as well? Sergio Vargas: Yes. They can help almost every industry that needs automation, such as electronics, auto space, and food and beverage. The Central American Group: Is Ascential Medical and Life Sciences a manufacturer of dedicated products, or do you work as a subcontract manufacturer for other companies? Sergio Vargas: Right now, we don’t have our product. We specialize in helping our customers develop their automation solutions. So, if a customer has a, we help them improve their processes, quality, and production. The Central American Group: Besides manufacturing products for these companies, does your company provide engineering services to help them design products that fit their needs? Sergio Vargas: Correct. That being said, we have engineering services. If a customer has a production line that needs automation, our engineering team helps them select the right solution to automate their process. The Central American Group: Okay. Given that you have many facilities, and again, you can mention where the facilities are that Ascential Medical and Life Sciences has. Sergio Vargas: Again, for automation, our central location is in Minnesota, but we also have locations in Ireland, Singapore, and San Diego, California The Central American Group: Besides those locations, what led your company to set up in Costa Rica? Sergio Vargas: As you know, Costa Rica has a prominent medical device hub. It was a no-brainer for us to be here next to our partners to help them with their needs. The Central American Group: In addition to your other manufacturing locations, what do you see as being the primary advantageous reasons for being in Costa Rica? Sergio Vargas: One of the main reasons for being in Costa Rica is the high-skill workforce. Being here in Costa Rica, I was surprised by the highly skilled talent, and the young team I have here, my engineering team, has stepped up. They are talented. Also, the tax advantages have been, for example, in the Green Park free zone, where the tax incentive that the government provides is a huge advantage for companies like Ascential Medical and Life Sciences. The Central American Group: Yes, and if you’re a listener, we have podcasts on a free zone regime in Costa Rica, and you can learn about that by listening to some of our other podcasts. But let’s go to the next question. What challenges do you face in Costa Rica manufacturing, and how do you address them? Sergio Vargas: As a high-tech company, sometimes we are not able to find the right components locally. We work with international and local suppliers to try to accommodate our needs. We have an ERP system that allows us to work with our different facilities to try to find the right components at the right time. The Central American Group: It’s always a challenge to find individuals in the labor force who can fill companies’ skill requirements. So, what I’d like to know is, does Green Park provide any assistance to you in finding persons to fill the jobs that you need to have filled? Sergio Vargas: Yes. Once we identify a position that we need to fill and have a job description, we usually send an email to the Green...
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    11 分
  • Costa Rica Foreign Direct Investment Promotion: A Conversation with Pilar Madrigal of CINDE.

    Costa Rica Foreign Direct Investment Promotion: A Conversation with Pilar Madrigal of CINDE.
    2024/10/01
    Costa Rica Foreign Direct Investment Contact the Central American Group if you want to establish a manufacturing facility in Costa Rica. Pilar MadrigalDirector of Investment AdvisoryCINDEpmadrigal@cinde.org The Central American Group: Hello. Today, Pilar Madrigal is with us. She is the Director of Investment Advisory at CINDE, a Costa Rica foreign direct investment promotion agency based in San Jose. Pilar, could you please share information about CINDE, investment in Costa Rica, and your role there? How are you today? Thank you so very much. It’s an honor to be here with you. You are also well-known and recognized, and I’ve followed your trajectory in foreign direct investment. So, I’m pleased to be here with you. I’ve been in various roles with CINDE, a private nonprofit organization with a 40-year history of promoting Costa Rica foreign direct investment for the past 26 years, always focused on promotion, strategy, etc. CINDE in Costa Rica, as you know, has been a key player in attracting foreign direct investment, helping many companies set up operations and invest in Costa Rica through the years. The Central American Group: Costa Rica’s journey in attracting FDI has been fascinating, marked by significant changes in its economic model. Pilar, could you shed some light on the evolution of Costa Rica foreign direct investment promotion over the years? Pilar Madrigal: Yes. I see this in three periods. The beginning was between the ’60s and the ’80s. Costa Rica adopted an import substitution industrialization model like many other Latin American countries. It was aimed to reduce dependency on foreign goods and promote domestic production. The idea was to foster industrial growth for the country’s local companies and attract foreign companies exporting from Costa Rica. By the early ’80s, we faced an economic crisis in Costa Rica foreign direct investment promotion for different reasons. One of the sectors that was heavily affected was agricultural goods like coffee and bananas. At that point, we started implementing some economic reforms and considering positioning Costa Rica in global markets. That was created in the early ’80s, and we started focusing on exports for Costa Rica foreign direct investment promotion. It was then that a critical law was made. It’s called the Free Trade Zone law. The idea was to begin promoting exports by creating policies for domestic companies to export with incentives and to attract foreign-based companies and have them export. That was in between the ’80s and the ’90s. It combined local and new companies to promote exports and Costa Rica foreign direct investment. Now, as of the ’90s, from the ’90s to today, there has been a complete focus on, and it was a significant leap in positioning ourselves as a destination for Cost Rica foreign direct investment. We clearly defined some sectors at that time. The biggest and most well-known case is Intel. I think everybody knows that story. However, we started focusing on attracting high-tech companies in manufacturing and companies in the services industry, primarily in high-value services. Again, we went from an import substitution program to an export promotion of local and foreign companies. Then, in the last decades, we have been solely attracted by foreign direct investment. The Central American Group: You’ve gone through a period where you were trying to substitute imports. Many Latin American countries have tried that and gone through a period of doing that, and that isn’t the optimal way of engendering economic development. Recently, you’ve successfully attracted one industry to Costa Rica foreign direct investment. Can you tell us what that is? Pilar Madrigal: Yes. This is just for the definition of everybody who listens, and I’m sure everybody knows, but just for clarification. We see three main pillars of Costa Rica foreign direct investment or three types of FDI. One is resource-seeking FDI, which is when a company seeks to invest in a location because of its natural resources. That’s typically prevalent in the energy and mining or sometimes in the agri-food industry. That’s resource-seeking. They’re looking at what resources are available in that country. The second one is market seeking. That is a company seeking to invest due to the market size and the growth potential within that market size. There is a high correlation between FDI and the growth of GDP within a country and the size of the country. The third one is efficiency-seeking. That’s when a company is looking to invest in a location because of better production processes, efficiencies, lower costs, etc. We are at CINDE in Costa Rica, and that’s where we are focusing on efficiency-seeking. Why? We’re a small market. Market-seeking, it’s not something that companies are looking for. We don’t support mining, and there are not necessarily a lot of incentives for resources in this area of...
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    27 分
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