Barriers to finding emerging market real estate are high. Traveling to areas such as Panama, Central America, where the opportunities are often involve unique challenges running the gamut from stress related to cultural differences as fundamental as the inability to converse with another person to enjoying the risk of death from disease or poisonous animal.
We’re not saying the areas we go are not relatively safe to the natives, but, due to our immunological differences, and lack of savvy in how to live in remote places, the foreign first-world investor takes on personal risk when attempting to do business in a foreign nation.
An opportunity builder in emerging markets must possess a rare and eclectic group of talents. This person must have experience and comfort in the 50th floor board room, at ease discussing technology server-stack room with the tech people on the third-floor, conversing and sleeping with a team of tough foreign laborers or scouts in the jungle. We almost don’t exist as a business-person demographic.
You have to like it –and not many do. We sleep in remote, risky places. We regularly get ill or suffer minor injuries. We love it. We’re successful in this type of venture because few would take on what’s required to find the opportunities. That’s our opportunity. We enjoy being here because of the adventure.
ETI is successful for a number of reasons –an important one of these is because there are few people are able or willing to do what we do. We don’t see “traditional” business people developing emerging market opportunities.
As we meet and get to know our contemporaries in business –the others having come to Panama to develop investments for first-world investors, they are, as a group fronteir-types: quick-witted, tough, independent, extremely flexible and creative.
When we’re investigating opportunities, we hang out with leather-skinned missionaries, Peace Corps workers, local scouts.
Our biggest economic opportunity is that we’re developing business where few are willing to go –we love creating opportunity in this environment, and knowing not many others would; we have a financially powerful niche opportunity.