Doing business in the DR

[SS2]

SS2 - get yourself an apple (manzana) cart. Just like 1929.

Actually come down, sign or commit to nothing, invest nothing, spend a month, do research, go home, have cooling off period.

Come back later if you still think the dream is alive. I think someone who starts off the post as you did, at least admits he hasn't enough understanding of the situation to decide and I would only recommend that during your trip something that looks too good to be true will be just that, so write it down, come home and examine your options.

"It" will be in the DR when you get back , for less $ .

Thanks...I don't know about the manzana cart, but you did offer some good advice. It sounds smart, to come back home and have a cooling-off period. I will do just that! But I'll probably be down in August....any of you NICER ones ( ) wanna show a young, hot girl what Santa Domingo's really about? Bet you all thought you were conversing with an old retiree...

Any way, I'm just kidding. But I will be down in August, and I'm hoping to stay in touch with some of you. I know when you visit a country as a tourist, it's hard to empathize with those actually living there. And for all of you that are, I understand why you would be so harsh with your comments. You've probably seen things and experienced things that I can't even imagine. So thank you, and I'll keep you all posted on what's happening.

One more question (probably not the last)....has anyone heard of the apart-hotel "Esmeralda"? It was suggested to me by a friend, but I wanted to know if anyone has ever stayed there. If not, where would you recommend staying for a 2-3 month period?

I know, now I'm getting off topic...

 

[ricktoronto]

What the heck is that?

? Hlywud

What's that little brown thing to the left of your name in your signature? It looks like a satellite or a cracker noisemaker. Just curious.

 

[AnnaC]

I'll take a crack at it. Since his username is Hlywud, those little brown things wud have to be theater tickets or little pieces of film.

 

[PICHARDO]

More like a load of ....! LOL
Somebody forgot to flush the thingy!

 

[PICHARDO]

To be honest:

Two movie ticket stubs for the next showing of Starman Part 2 with Jeff Bridges...

 

[ricktoronto]

Well what are the little white spots?

I'll take a crack at it. Since his username is Hlywud, those little brown things wud have to be theater tickets or little pieces of film.

I thought they might have been dice or dominoes but the shape is wrong for the former and the color is wrong for the latter.

 

[pati]

Maybe a musical note?????

 

[PICHARDO]

Opening up a business in the DR has been on my mind since I first visited the country over 3 years ago. I am planning a move down to Santo Domingo in August (for a 3 month period) in order to enhance my research. I live in Toronto (Canada) and attempting to open up a business here is tough enough, let alone trying to do it in a country where you've never lived before. I hope you will all forgive me, because I'm sure this question has been raised time and time again...but what do I need to know about opening up a business in the DR? Should I begin my application process for residency, or is that not a priority until I've settled in down there? Are there government regulations to foreigners (Canadians) operating businesses (like a restaurant or nightclub) in the DR? And for anyone that lives in the Punta Cana region (or is familiar with it), why don't restaurants or nightclubs exist outside of the resorts? When I was there, I ate at a restaurant called "Capitain Cook's" which wasn't that good, and the service was horrible, and our bill (for 25 people) came to $2700 (US). Have others tried to open up restaurants and failed, or is it prohibited through govt. laws?

Sorry for the repetitive questions, but if anyone can forward any info, it would be appreciated.

OK SS2:

I'm a Dominican living abroad with multiple ties in the RD, I owned several business in DR within a period of 10 years and to be honest its never your lack of will to suceed or experience or good planning or a good partner(well sometimes it does) or many other factors that are common to the entrepenurial venture failures in most capitalistic systems in use today BUT>>>

The DR has too many what ifs and what nots to be giving you the benefit of the doubt and feel like I did in fact help your self steem in a constructive and honest manner, The DR lacks an electrical power grid you can depend on to watch a TV show in completion much less to run a business without major headaches, many will jump: Electrical Generators! but the cost of running and keeping your gasoil supply steady it's like working with the Cirque d' Soleil, add the constant changes of the production material's price towards the sky with no return date or time, the lack of support from the local state agencies whom can't even properly administrate themselves let alone help with your needs, the copycat artists that will be too happy to take all your harwork and just open up 10 to 20 new joints next door to you, because they think you hit a goldmine of sorts there, the list can go on and on forever, yet if you take your time and research your market and potential and take it one step at a time, you can achieve your goal with a risk of not turning a profit equal to any venture in the US as an example and not like the 1,000.000.00 to 1 in the DR, I tried even the Import/Export track in early 1990's I used to send a full container of 3.5" IBM DD/DS disks to the DR, I made a decent profit on it, by the time I was starting to recap the initial investment ten other guys started to do the same with no market knowledge and by the end of the first 4 months they had to get rid of their cargo for pennies on the stock price, they lost loads of money and I lost a decent biz to hawks, it's quite a self replicating virus infecting all kind of biz there, and I repeat again: I'm a Dominican Born in the DR of Dominican Parents and educated there as well, but as many countless DR1's had openly and quite honestly said here: Be aware, be very aware before you decide to take your hard earned capital and invest in the DR without a proper at least understanding of the forces in play, go to the DR stay for long periods of time say for 3 or four months and check out the business there from a local point of view not from the eyes of a tourist who got marveled by all the potential this paradise could offer, and it will give you an upper hand when you set to start your biz like a Dominican instead of the star-struck investor going the way of the DODO...

 

[mountainfrog]

Title

I nominate SS2 the lemming of the year.

M?frog

 

[gringo in dr]

About the power grid, which is very rare to be on for any 24 hour period, in the US you get 110 volts. Over here you get anywhere from 70 volts to around 170 volts. Surge protectors were never designed to deal with a constant overvolt/undervolt situation. Your surge protectors as well as all your electrical equipment takes a beating and soon burns out altogether. The only solution I've heard is you can set your trace invertor to switch to battery power while the power grid is operating outside a set range of voltage. But of course this means you will be running on your batteries even while the power grid is working. That will not leave you enough "grid time" to keep your batteries charged.

So again you are looking at a generator. Huge, though still can be stolen, noisy, expensive, needs maintenence, and hopefully you can keep a decent supply of deisel full on hand for when the gas stations run out again.

None of these things are complete road blocks, but you have to keep them in mind.

I almost forget to mention because of our very stable power system your digital clocks will run fast some days and slow other days. Normally to the tune of 10 - 15 minutes per day.

 

[Onions&carrots]

I told you the same thing (Pichardo's words) in three words:

DON'T CARRY INVENTORY. BTW Pichardo's story is very interesting.

 

[SS2]

?

I nominate SS2 the lemming of the year.

M?frog

"Lemming"?

 

[DomAm]

Discouraged Dominican

Interesting reading. I am an ex-pat Dominican living in Florida. I visit DR about 3-4 times a year to check on my dear mom who's enjoying her retirement after having worked in the U.S. for many years.

When I visit DR I feel the temptation to invest, however, I remember
12 years ago when I shipped 2 MAC tractor trailers, 1 Mercedes Benz flat-bed tow truck, and a Japanese-made car (do'nt remember the make/model) and lost it all to a consignee and other sharks. Never again....

 

[Frank13]

Doing buissness in D.R.

I have read all of yours messages on this board and i would like to know how many persons (of all of you) have a buissness in D.R.?
Thank's
(Sorry for my english ,im speaking french )

 

[Escott]

I do a small hobby type Condo rental business in the DR.

 

[PICHARDO]

I own a Pastry shop in Santiago, a "Parts Procurement Services" in Santiago, I'm Partnering in a "Commercial Server farm for E-Shops" in Santiago, a fast food joint venture "PicaPollo" in DR launching soon in the last quater of this year, a joint venture "PinPanPizza" in the DR launching on the second quarter 2005.

Beach front property for investment in Puerto Plata, Samana, Boca Chica, residential property for rent 4 multi of 4x4x4 in Santo Domingo DN, 14,000 irrigated "tareas" in La Vega, a 450 square meter lot in Vista del Valle Santiago for development, 580 M2 for development in Los Alamos Santiago, 3,500 tareas in Santiago Rodriguez.

Export exclusivity rights of several Dominican Products to the Continental US, in process of adding several others as well in the near future, Owner of several biz ventures in the DR that went nowhere because of inestability and lack of support of local agencies *failures*, if you're familiar with Santiago, owned and operated along several family members the first biz I had in the corner of Independencia and Cuba, a Reposteria called "Caridad" which was handed over to an uncle who later made a crap out of the place, among others...

And on a lighter note I should add that I haven't visited the country not once in 16 years, yet many family members depended and still depend on these biz for their income, I have a project to build a massive five star Restaurant and Nightclub in Santiago, sometime in the very near future(against family and friends well meant warnings)...

Pour votre information seulement, Merci beaucoup!

 

[Onions&carrots]

Interesting reading. I am an ex-pat Dominican living in Florida. I visit DR about 3-4 times a year to check on my dear mom who's enjoying her retirement after having worked in the U.S. for many years.

When I visit DR I feel the temptation to invest, however, I remember
12 years ago when I shipped 2 MAC tractor trailers, 1 Mercedes Benz flat-bed tow truck, and a Japanese-made car (do'nt remember the make/model) and lost it all to a consignee and other sharks. Never again....

Dom-Am what was your total monetary loss?

 

[Onions&carrots]

I have read all of yours messages on this board and i would like to know how many persons (of all of you) have a buissness in D.R.?
Thank's
(Sorry for my english ,im speaking french )

Family is into farming of which I'm an integral part.

And on a lighter note I should add that I haven't visited the country not once in 16 years.----Pichardo explain your double negative?!?

 

[PICHARDO]

A grammatical and uneducated mistake of a person with the English lexicon of a 11th grade student, I never went to school here therefore never had the chance to cultivate the idiom as I would had liked to, nevertheless I think most of my ideas are able to be expressed making use of my street linguistical abilities thus being able to convey my point accross the great divide with moderate results...

Likewise you will be a poster boy living in the DR and while going out the door after being asked where are you going your answer would happen to be:
Voy a salir para afuera!
I'm going out to the outside!
A pretty common Dominican oxymoron, yet one that still propagates along the cultural and social divides.

 

[Frank13]

doing buisness in D.R.

A lot of persons on these board tell sensitively de same discour ex:``be careful ,``,``buisnesses here are not easy``etc.
I'm looking to do buisness in D.R. but i'm a little bit afraid of what they said.
So does someone have life experience to share ?
What i want to know is , where, in which domain, how many have you lost ,
how it arrived.

N.B.:I'll go in D.R. (Puerto Plata),in april and i'm ready to meet people who can explain how to do buisness in D.R.