Are there any successful foreign business stories here in DR?

Hello, if you give us some more insight you will get more direct answers. Please tell me it isn't a bar or restaurant. There are some success stories, but there are more sad stories.

It's better to find a demand then produce a product than produce a product and find a demand.. I've had the best success finding businesses that failed from poor management then copying them while learning from their mistakes. Why try to copy someone who is more experienced than you with an existing client base? That's the Dominican way. One thing about a failed business is everyone has something to say about why it went under. After losing two storefronts to greedy landlords, my biggest priority is owning the property.

its diff fe cult....peeps here are poor/// and when they work for you...they do well...much better than being poor...govt controlled...so u gotta realize you gonna bring up some ployees...

The answer is simply No. Work on line is the best option to not lose everything.

Removing restaurants and bars from the equation, there are very few foreign owned small businesses of which I am aware. Kite surf instructing businesses and a few boutique shops. If you beat all the odds and start to be successful, there will be at least 2 locals that will clone your business and you will all suffer.

windeguy said:

The answer is simply No. Work on line is the best option to not lose everything.

Removing restaurants and bars from the equation, there are very few foreign owned small businesses of which I am aware. Kite surf instructing businesses and a few boutique shops. If you beat all the odds and start to be successful, there will be at least 2 locals that will clone your business and you will all suffer.

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restaurants all fail because they sell the same things..italian food, pizza, and steak.

if someone on the NC opened a really good Jamaican restaurant, with other caribbean offerings like roti, it would work.

at least the Dominicans could not wait until it started to have success and build one nextdoor.

Business that cannot be easily replicated by locals is viable, especially if it depends on foreign revenue.

Businesses like cobraboy's or MikeFisher's cannot be easily replicated because:
- they have high capital startup requirements (likely some Doms could put up money, maybe to buy a "washing machine")
- require knowledge of the industry (50/50 chance of success by copying the operational model)
- depend on foreign revenue (good luck for the copycats with this part)

For me the number one rule would be do not have a partner......

rubio_higuey said:

Business that cannot be easily replicated by locals is viable, especially if it depends on foreign revenue.

Businesses like cobraboy's or MikeFisher's cannot be easily replicated because:
- they have high capital startup requirements (likely some Doms could put up money, maybe to buy a "washing machine")
- require knowledge of the industry (50/50 chance of success by copying the operational model)
- depend on foreign revenue (good luck for the copycats with this part)

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i had thought of getting into the stereo business, mainly building high quality speakers, but then i figured that there is no demand for it here. i have been to the so called high end stores, and i realize that nobody here has any interest in good sound reproduction.

the advantage i would have had is that i would have no copycats setting up shop beside me.

Dominicans only care about "LOUD",...not "GOOD"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Criss Colon said:

Dominicans only care about "LOUD",...not "GOOD"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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that is exactly why i did not bother.

A Puerto Rican chap called Figueroa Agosto had a fairly successful business venture based in the DR.

It's not just that good ideas are copied, they're copied so badly that the entire idea loses its demand. Pizza is a good example. Try to open a shop with real ingredients and someone opens next door with queso plastico. They stay open long enough to undercut the good shop, but they can't grow and don't last bc the product is crap.

snoopy15 said:

I have read so many bad stories here on the forum about other foreigners that I am wondering if opening a business here is a bad idea. Have you guys ever met any other foreigner that came here and made his business successful?

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the owner of lifestyle hacienda resort in cofresi is from austria. his business is very successful.

Well , with all do respect, if you know the answer, why did you post the question?

drescape24 said:

Well , with all do respect, if you know the answer, why did you post the question?

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you missed the point. it is a quiz.

the gorgon said:

you missed the point. it is a quiz.

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I failed! [emoji20]

snoopy15 said:

I am planning to open a business here in DR. I am currently making a living of an online business but just to have some more income coming in, I am looking to open a business here.

I have been living here on and off since 2010, I am fluent in Spanish and I hang out more with dominicans than foreigners.

I have read so many bad stories here on the forum about other foreigners that I am wondering if opening a business here is a bad idea. Have you guys ever met any other foreigner that came here and made his business successful?

It's not like I am investing lots of money in it, whatever I am investing I am ok with losing it if things don't work out, I had businesses before (not here) that failed and I was ok with it, actually I was happy that at the very least I had the courage to try it.

What do you guys think? Is it a good idea to start a business here in DR?

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For each success story there were another 300 failures.

It's a good idea to start a business anywhere in the world only if you know what you're doing and have a real business plan to back it up, along the financials to make it happen.

Less than 10% of business started by foreigners in the DR had a real business plan to fall back to. Out of that small number about half had the financials to support it. Out of the half that had such support, only 1/3rd had the backbone of the owners to carry them for the long haul and then 1 out 4 of that leftover did have a real, really good business that fit the DR like a glove.

The DR is about the long haul rather than the quick success stories.

The DR can take your 1k biz money and give you back 100k that ten fold, or it can take your 1 million and give you back an extra debt to go along with it.

Market research is the key to a successful DR business. It's not about creating a new demand, but seeking to offer a supply for a demand that goes unfulfilled "as is" today.

Think of this:

The DR vehicles market is tilted in favor of motorcycles to that of 4 wheel cars. Yet not a single entrepreneur has conducted market research to establish a Dominican motorcycle manufacturing plant here.

The gov would bend over to assist you in creating such corporation and support it 100%. Not only for the jobs it would create, but for the initial kuddos of starting an industry niche in a country where none exists today.

Just to provide an example...

snoopy15 said:

My business is not unique at all, actually there are many similar businesses here in DR but it's one of those businesses that there is always a need for an extra one, there is high demand for it. It's not restaurant/bar or anything related.

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Again, it's not that there is already supply for the demand, but where you see a fail(s) in their meeting the demand of their markets where it counts!

I could have the best ice-cream in town but with the lousiest cones as well.

Entrepreneurs thrive on servicing the shortcomings where others don't see potential sales.