Hi all,
I'm a native Dominican in my early thirties and have a profound whish to go back to the DR and start a solar energy business in the next three years. Currently I live and work dual in London (UK) Amsterdam (NL) for an energy consultancy since I have spend most of my life in Europe. Have been back on three ocassions to the DR in the mid 90's Sto. Dgo. for a couple of years, spent time with local familiy and went to the DR sec. school to improve Spanish etc, then in 2005 for my UK masters dissertation in renewable energy and recently in 2008-2009 while working for a local solar company in the POP region. My last episode was awesome, gained a lot of experience and skills but had to leave because money was running really low, stacked up some debts buying solar panels for family and my local wages were just not up to much.
Nonetheless I love the place and have quite a good network (family and business) to start something up. I know it's unusual since most Dominicans look for a way out and don't really consider coming back unless its for holidays. However as most of you know the electricity situation in the DR has been a mess for the last 30 yrs. With the volatility of fossil fuel prices and solar PV getting cheaper the DR and Haiti for that matter have serious potential for solar. Big challenges for solar retail in DR are still cost of financing and security i.e. theft. On the side I have done some charity work providing Dutch development funds to install solar panels on a public school in Cabarete.
Was wondering if anyone on DR1 knows of young Dominican professionals who have returned to the DR from abroad to set up a business and what their experiences have been? I've been reading DR1 for some time and although many threads are not relevant for me i.e. sanky stories, scams, third world complaints it's a superb source of info on a variety of topics.
Thanks in advance!
Richard
I'm a native Dominican in my early thirties and have a profound whish to go back to the DR and start a solar energy business in the next three years. Currently I live and work dual in London (UK) Amsterdam (NL) for an energy consultancy since I have spend most of my life in Europe. Have been back on three ocassions to the DR in the mid 90's Sto. Dgo. for a couple of years, spent time with local familiy and went to the DR sec. school to improve Spanish etc, then in 2005 for my UK masters dissertation in renewable energy and recently in 2008-2009 while working for a local solar company in the POP region. My last episode was awesome, gained a lot of experience and skills but had to leave because money was running really low, stacked up some debts buying solar panels for family and my local wages were just not up to much.
Nonetheless I love the place and have quite a good network (family and business) to start something up. I know it's unusual since most Dominicans look for a way out and don't really consider coming back unless its for holidays. However as most of you know the electricity situation in the DR has been a mess for the last 30 yrs. With the volatility of fossil fuel prices and solar PV getting cheaper the DR and Haiti for that matter have serious potential for solar. Big challenges for solar retail in DR are still cost of financing and security i.e. theft. On the side I have done some charity work providing Dutch development funds to install solar panels on a public school in Cabarete.
Was wondering if anyone on DR1 knows of young Dominican professionals who have returned to the DR from abroad to set up a business and what their experiences have been? I've been reading DR1 for some time and although many threads are not relevant for me i.e. sanky stories, scams, third world complaints it's a superb source of info on a variety of topics.
Thanks in advance!
Richard
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