Buenos Aires Tips for Foreign Businesspeople
Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina and sometimes dubbed ‘The Paris of Latin America’ due to its cosmopolitan European appearance and character, can be a tough nut to crack for foreign investors and businesspeople looking to profit from one of South America’s most promising economies. For anyone flying into Argentina looking to set up business, this is where you’ll start and conclude your journey – this is where you’ll set up meetings, buy office space, and get to know the passion of the Argentinian people. Here are some local Buenos Aires tips for businesspeople setting up startups in this wonderful city.
Currency
The US dollar carries an incredibly high value on the streets of Buenos Aires. Ensuring the necessary implications are in place before you begin to establish a business is of course important, as you cannot hope to grow or expand a business if you fail to understand the workings of the currency. Look into exchange rates early on. Ensure you are familiar with the economic structure before any business is carried out, so you can be prepared and understand the processes involved. As you would with setting up business in any new country, getting a firm understanding is needed to ensure you are familiar with any regulations involved. Understanding the currency will eventually become second nature but is something to consider and take into account long before you begin your business venture.
Culture
To fit in in Buenos Aires, you’ll need to understand the culture not only of Argentina but specifically of the porteños – the people of Buenos Aires. Knowing their unique lifestyles and forms of communicating will prove vital in creating business relationships and will gain you the respect of the locals when you display your familiarity with all the things that make the city so exciting, unique and special. A considerable part of this is learning Argentinian Spanish, which you’ll find is preferred in much business over English – learn as soon as you can and practice with locals to hone your accent, which is distinct from European Spanish.
Furthermore, the people of Buenos Aires are highly cosmopolitan and liberal, with a Parisian grace and a London or New York style of bustle that makes this a uniquely beguiling city. Morning espressos, lunchtime wines, candle-lit steaks and late-night drinks are part and parcel of the porteño’s daily life, and you’ll do well to tap into these delightful local delicacies and traditions (as well as the likes of Tango and Fútbol) in order to grow your sense of belonging in the country’s capital city. If you are to establish yourself within a new country, gaining an understanding of their culture is fundamental and can ensure you seem more familiar, and therefore more reliable to go into business with.
Districts
Whether looking for a place to set up some office space or having a prospective look around flats, the city of Buenos Aires has distinct barrios – or districts – that each possesses a unique character and with it special pros and cons. Park-spotted Palermo, for instance, is the home of the hip young things, with expensive bars and chic eateries lining tree-fringed streets, making for one of the most desirable areas to live in the whole of the city.
City office space is in high demand due to the relatively slow pace of new builds in the city center, which means you’ll be paying a high tariff for the most desirable locations to conduct your business from. Plaza Italia and Monserrat are popular for startups with minimal office space requirements, though you may well find that it’s hard to justify the rent as you first get out business off the ground.
Geography
The two most significant features of Buenos Aires’ geographical situation, on the east coast of Latin America, are its huge shipping potential and its proximity to Uruguay and its smaller capital of Montevideo. To begin with the huge trading port in Buenos Aires, down towards the Retiro district and beyond, constitutes one of the significant investment or business opportunities in Buenos Aires and indeed the whole of Argentina, with imports and exports of everything from wine and beef to fabrics and raw materials, which are a crucial part of the Argentinian economy and one that’s worth looking into.
The main port of the city – Zona Portuaria – is currently congested and inefficient as the city attempts to create highways and alternative routes for lorries carrying cargo to more efficiently deliver their goods to the shipping yards where they can be loaded onto international liners. Watch this space for improved reliability and opportunity. Diminutive Uruguay, meanwhile, is only a short ferry from Buenos Aires and should be considered when doing business in Argentina’s capital – it’s a delightful and friendly country and the capital city of Montevideo is thriving with small businesses looking for regional partners.
Finance
Buenos Aires and Latin America more generally have a special financial ecosystem that’s relatively divorced from those in Europe or North America. This includes a raft of financial services and banks that operate throughout Latin America and which will form an imperative part of your business life when setting up in Buenos Aires. Consider the likes of Bonsai Finance whose loans are targeted towards individuals and start-up businesses or local banks with whom you’ll certainly need to set up an account.
Beyond the realm of financial institutions, you’ll want to look at establishing useful contacts with those in Buenos Aires whose experience in the regional economy will guide your decision-making and investment criteria when it comes to the big moves you’ll make to establish a financial foothold in the promising Argentinian economy. Do your research and network as much as possible in your first weeks and months in order to gain financial security as a pillar of your exciting new venture in Latin America.
Argentina’s capital is a wonderful place to start an exciting business venture; use these helpful regional tips to build the foundations of your business, ensuring all success in the future.
