Startups abroad
Not just for hippies and gap year casualties
As an entrepreneur (or budding entrepreneur), we are always looking for gaps and niches in order to exploit a market. It doesn’t take a MBA to tell you that business creation is not easy in a saturated market.
So why then, do we all focus on the most saturated market of all – the West?
The US, Europe and other advanced economies indeed are thriving environments to facilitate innovation, networks and investment. But imagine, what if you could pinch a few of the good ideas, and take them somewhere where there’s no competition.
Such a place could be in our poorer neighbours' backyards. However, developing economies have an image problem — prompting visions of crowded cities, tuktuks, mosquitos and diarrhoea.
What people often fail to see, are the vast unspoilt soils of developing economies, beckoning for foreign startups to be sown.
Now, no one’s saying there aren’t problems and challenges, and major ones at that. Some of the most common problems identified with setting up a company in these countries include corruption, poor regulation, security, little access to finance, but perhaps most unbearable of all, absence of high speed internet…
The key word here is ‘problems’. Problems have solutions. Solutions generate money. So, for a start, to set up a business in the developing world, you already have some areas upon which to base your business.
Unlike the poor sods that are born into poverty, you have the education, finance and tools to actually make strides. Better still, employ some of these locals. They know how to deal with corruption, regulation and security.
Employing locals isn't charity, they are valuable sources of local knowledge.
Which brings us back to the image problem. There’s also a tendency to associate work in the developing world with non-profits, volunteering and hemp clothing.
But the fact is, many of those who start off volunteering or backpacking are those that end up setting up a business there — these are the ones who get to see the opportunities around them. But there’s more than just eco-tourism and hostels.
Instead of fighting for a place in a startup incubator, go to Southeast Asia and set one up yourself. Maybe just sidestep the deadlocks and stripey trousers.
Want to read and understand more about the opportunities and challenges of setting up a business in a developing economy context?
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