Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller provides a comprehensive look at the financial and business environment in Latin America. He begins by discussing the current state of the expat community in the region, highlighting the upcoming Latin American seminar that has now sold out. Johnny also touches on the potential for an international financial crisis, drawing comparisons between the U.S. and Latin American banking systems. He notes that while the U.S. is moving toward internet banking, Latin America is experiencing a real estate bubble similar to the 2008 U.S. crisis. Johnny emphasizes the lack of a central bank to bail out failing institutions in Latin America, making the situation more precarious. He concludes by discussing his friend's experience at Citibank, who is unaware of the financial risks in the region.
Johnny then delves into the expansion of first-world banks like Citibank into Latin America, where they acquire underfunded local banks for their real estate and branch networks. He highlights the 'gringo advantage'—the perception among many Latin Americans that first-world banks are superior, even though they often charge higher fees and offer worse service. Johnny contrasts this with the poor service and high costs of traditional Latin banks, which many locals despise. He also notes that while first-world banks profit greatly from these acquisitions, their Latin employees often remain unaware of the financial realities, leading to a sense of false superiority and misplaced loyalty.
In a more personal reflection, Johnny critiques the mindset of a friend who works for Citibank in Latin America, highlighting how the friend's pride in his job has led to a sense of superiority over local workers. Johnny describes the friend's behavior, including trying to sell him a Citibank credit card and being dismissive of the bank's history of corruption and financial misconduct. He explains how the friend is unaware of the systemic issues in the banking sector, despite having a degree in finance and business. Johnny also discusses the broader context of financial illiteracy in Latin America, noting that only a small percentage of the population has internet access or engages in online banking, and that there is a significant distrust of banks and computers among the average Latin American citizen.
Johnny then shifts focus to the challenges of internet banking in Latin America, attributing these challenges to low computer literacy, lack of trust in technology, and cultural preferences for physical documents. He contrasts this with the United States, where online banking is more prevalent and brick-and-mortar banks are struggling. He provides advice for expats starting businesses in Latin America, emphasizing the need for personal involvement and cultural adaptation.
Finally, Johnny discusses the challenges expats, particularly gringos, face in finding basic materials for educational projects in Latin America, using the example of a teacher in Guatemala. He highlights the importance of being 'on the ground' to identify business opportunities and explains that while the teacher has a good idea, the necessary materials are available in specialized sections of large cities. He suggests that the teacher could start a business by reaching out to local schools and colleges for a wish list of materials.
Topics
Expat community in Latin America, Upcoming seminar and its sold-out status, International financial crisis, Banking systems in the U.S. and Latin America, Real estate bubble in Latin America, Lack of central banking support in Latin America, Citibank's role in the financial system, First-world banks expanding into Latin America, The 'gringo advantage' and its impact on Latin employees, Comparative banking practices between first-world and Latin banks, Financial exploitation and misinformation in Latin banking, Citibank's corruption and financial misconduct
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:32 Current Status of the Seminar 00:01:12 Financial Crisis and Real Estate Bubble 00:03:07 Connection Between U.S. and Latin American Banking 00:04:07 Warning Signs of a Financial Bubble 00:05:14 Lack of Awareness Among Latin Americans 00:06:03 The Gringo Advantage and Its Impact on Latin Banks 00:06:45 The Acquisition of Latin Banks by First-World Institutions 00:10:29 Profit Margins and the Gringo Advantage in Latin Banking 00:10:58 The Gringo Advantage and Citibank Pride 00:12:01 Citibank's Bailout and Corruption 00:15:48 Internet Access and Banking in Latin America 00:16:40 Challenges of Internet Banking in Latin America 00:17:44 Projected Growth of Online Banking in Latin America 00:18:16 Comparison of Brick-and-Mortar Banks in the US and Latin America 00:18:58 Importance of Personal Involvement in Expats' Businesses 00:21:06 Need for Action and Adaptation in Business Planning 00:22:00 The Challenge of Finding Educational Materials in Latin America 00:24:33 The Importance of Being on the Ground to Spot Opportunities 00:26:40 A Business Idea for Expats in Education
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you expat wannabes I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America the show that tells you just what it's like to live Work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started All right. Now today as I record this on the 30th of December I just like to give you an update on my Latin American seminar. That's coming up in about three weeks Turns out as of today three weeks before the event. I'm completely sold out So I'm taking the Latin seminar link off the expat wisdom website now
[00:47] I know there are others who are trying to sign up for it right now, but there's just no more room That means you'll have to wait five or six more months to see if I'm gonna do another one Which depends on a lot of things not the least of which being how tough big brother makes it for you guys up north Who want to travel outside the country? It is getting tougher and tougher You know after all a farmer never wants his sheep to wander outside the gates Let's they stumble off to greener pastures on their own never to be sheared again So we've got that immediate concern and then there's that problem of an international financial crisis Which we hope won't happen, but we know will it's always looming because there are so many ways it can be triggered And when that comes it'll throw a big ass wrench into everyone's plans including any plans I might have to do a future seminar So I'm not saying my January seminar will be my last but a lot of things have to fall into place for me to do
[01:38] Another one because as you well know the world as we know it can't just keep on chugging along like this That's not gonna happen You wouldn't be listening to shows like this or Richard Martin show if you thought world events and the first world style of life Was gonna go on as usual Enough said about that now today I'd like to start out by mentioning an interesting fact I just came across regarding banks in fact a recent Richard Martin show got me started on this because his report on what's happening to The local neighborhood banking situation in the US first world is exactly the opposite of what's happening with local banks and banking down here In Latin America. I knew I just had to throw my two cents in on this Did you know that there are about a hundred thousand bank branches in the United States not banks? I'm talking bank branches and nowadays about half or more of all banking
[02:25] Transactions are done on the internet up in the first world that is and because internet banking Transactions are growing by leaps and bounds every year It's been reported that brick-and-mortar branch banks are well on their way out and will be completely a thing of the past Within the next five or six years already. It's been estimated that over 2,000 branches have been closed in 2013 alone, and there'll be many more than that closed in 2014 meaning your neighborhood brick-and-mortar branch banks gonna disappear And of course every strip mall in the states has one or more of those banks, too So all that's gonna do is contribute to the glut of commercial real estate That's being dumped on the market creating what some call strip mall ghost towns, and I'm sure you've seen plenty of those So what does that have to do with Latin America? Well falling right in line with the usual lag time phenomena. We talked about down here in Latin America
[03:15] That is whatever happens in the first world takes anywhere from a year to 25 years to get down here anyway down here in Latin America, it looks a lot like it did back in the states in 2002-2001 2002 you remember back then when the economy was overheating and everything was balls to the wall anyway I'm saying down here you're seeing a carbon copy right now of what happened just a couple of years or less Before that gigantic first world real estate bubble blew in 2008 in fact down here They're strip mall crazy They're going up everywhere and it seems like just like in the states way back before the blowout The first tenants in those strip malls are a bank branch or two Which just goes to show you how far behind the curve Latins really are and of course I've mentioned before in past shows that all The signs and symptoms are here for a gigantic blowout very soon
[04:04] And it'll be a repeat of exactly what happened up in the states in Europe But Latins are completely oblivious which in itself is a sure sign of a bubble looking for a pin But then you might ask why aren't the banks that are opening all these branches smarter than that especially since down here now One of the very largest banks is Citibank who now I believe have over a thousand branches in Central America alone Don't you think their management is painfully aware of what happened up in the states just a few years back And they don't want to repeat of that down here in Latin America Well, you'd think so anyway, right because down here in Latin America if they go belly up There's no fed down here to bail them out with taxpayer money I mean face it Citibank was part and parcel of that gigantic financial blowout and they got tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars of your
[04:49] Taxpayer bailout money remember or maybe you don't want to remember sometimes it's easier that way, right? So anyway, the other day I was talking to a Latin friend of mine who happens to be in middle management at Citibank He's in the credit card division and over a year ago when I tried to explain the bubble to him the one right before his eyes Down here in Latin America the one him and his staff aren't actively taking part in his eyes just glazed over He thought it was nuts So I've long since quit bringing up that subject in front of Latin Americans anyway They just don't get it and about three years ago when he first got that job at Citibank He jumped on the phone and had to tell everyone he knew all about his great fortune at landing a position at a real First-world gringo bank Citibank and of course he called me too and I congratulated him though
[05:36] I wasn't quite as excited as he was about it, especially when I said to him Do you know the history of Citibank and of course he didn't why would he let's even ones with fancy university degrees are not big on research and Investigation all he knew was that he was lucky enough to be hired by a first-world gringo company in the expansion phase And that's all he cared about and all he wanted to know man. His buttons were busting He felt like he won the lottery. Yep You guessed it that gringo advantage works for corrupt first-world financial institutions like Citibank, too And you know, he even developed an uppity attitude towards his own friends that still worked at Latin banks He definitely was elevated to a higher status at least in his mind He was though. I should say that feeling was pervasive with all Latins
[06:22] They all basically wish they were working for a first-world company like that because you see for the average Latin guy making 300 bucks a month it's the next best thing to sneaking into the United States and earning minimum wage and don't think Latins don't know that the Minimum wage up in the States is like between seven and eight bucks an hour to the average guy down here making 300 a month That's a fortune a salary five times or more than what they get down here And by the way that middle management Citibank employee I'm talking about before he got the gig at Citibank He worked for a week little nondescript Latin bank that got bought up by Citibank and bought up cheap In fact, that's how a lot of first-world banks infiltrate down here They locate a week underfunded Latin bank one that's sitting on a lot of real estate. In other words a lot of branches First world banks like Citibank and Scotiabank will then buy up the whole ball of wax
[07:12] Mostly they do it for the branch real estate property They just move right in change logos and equipment do some training whip the people into shape and they're ready to go all the sudden They've got an instant 50 hundred or even 150 branches and of course that gringo advantage and because a company like Citibank is First-world they make sure they heavily advertise that in their marketing and promotional blitzes Which never fails to draw in a good percentage of all the Latins in the neighborhood who had been banking at traditional Latin banks? And I can tell you personally that every Latin I've ever spoken to hates his own Latin American bank with a passion For the usual reasons hours waiting in line brain-dead tellers very bad service Undecipherable bank statements unexplained fees and charges etc. You name the problem every Latin bank has got it in spades
[08:01] So it's no big stretch for the average Latin to change banks And now that they know there are some first-world gringo banks that have landed They've got high hopes thinking that a first-world bank would be infinitely better At least in their minds a first-world bank will never lose their money or go under little do they know, huh? And in fact, that's what banks like Citibank count on they count on the fact that Latins know little or nothing about banking and finance Which is true, but I know a lot of first-world people up in Chicago who don't know much either including unfortunately Members of my own family anyway nearly all Latins feel the same way about things that come from the first world They think first-world products including franchises businesses and such banks included are much better than anything Latin America has ever produced So does Citibank do a better job than the local Latin competitors?
[08:49] No, but their buildings and branches are much nicer newer and more glitzy-looking first world all the way But that's what they're selling right in fact I can tell you their statements are even harder to read than the local corner Latin bank not to mention my middle management Citibank Latin buddy told me Citibank actually has higher charges across the board including credit card interest rates than its standard Latin bank Competitors and Latins who use Citibank don't seem to care because few of them analyze their statements anyway And they figure that basically all banks have the same charges, which they don't so bottom line Citibank And the other first-world banks that have landed are making a killing compared to their branches up in the first world Which I'm sure are also making a killing But they've got some real competition up there and up there they pay first-world rents and first-world salaries, too
[09:36] Anyway with banks down here credit card interest rates can be up to a hundred percent a year They never tell you that of course they only quote the monthly rate since the psychology of telling you you're paying a hundred percent A year would be just too much for anyone to handle or maybe not since I know some Latins that think it's so cool to have A credit card they really don't care what interest rate they pay and how do I know that well? That's because more than half of the Latins I ask have simply no idea though I know some people up in the first world who don't know what kind of interest they pay on their credit cards either Hmm now isn't that interesting so like I said first world banks are starting to land down here They're buying up a week Latin banks that have got a lot of branches and real estate and the extremely low rents that go along with
[10:22] Those properties as well as inheriting those $300 a month salaries that they pay 90% of their employees bottom line for first world Banks who happen to come down here profit margins are huge I've been told up to three and four hundred percent more than they are up in the states They've discovered the gringo advantage and they just can't lose and as far as my Latin friend at Citibank Well, he's just as happy as a pig and feces and every time I see him, which of course is never at Citibank I wouldn't step foot in that place unless they were giving away money anyway He's totally drank the Kool-Aid and wears his little Citibank sports coat or the pin or logo Everywhere he goes is pathetic really an unfortunate side effect of the gringo advantage. I'll admit. Oh Yeah, and in his house, he's got Citibank refrigerator magnets and a Citibank sticker on his stereo
[11:11] That's when I mentioned to him only half joking that he should get a Citibank tattoo on his neck I know I know I really shouldn't give him any ideas, right? So it's pathetic that he's turned into a kind of a monster now that he thinks being a Citibank employee makes him a little Bit higher class than the rest of his buddies that work at local Latin establishments and all that I'm sure will kill our relationship in the end, but that's life, right? In fact his Citibank pride and mania you could call it got to me one day and when we were having lunch He actually gave me a sales spiel and tried to sell me a Citibank credit card and I could take no more of that crap And that's when I looked at him dead in the eye and I asked him if he knew that before Citibank came down to Latin America they were virtually bankrupt and part of the corrupt incestuous financial octopus that practically brought down the entire financial system of the first world and
[12:01] That the only reason they're down in Latin America now is because they got this huge hundred billion dollar plus taxpayer bailout If not, they would have simply died a slow death or vaporized Which is all they deserved and I told him Citibank like the rest of the big banks that got bailed out Were run by white-collar crooks criminals and thieves But they had top political ties and the bigwigs at Citibank worked a system of revolving doors through the Fed and the top Government cabinet positions like the Treasury Department and that billions in bailout money That was supposed to help the average American get out from under those upside-down mortgages and such well that didn't happen Instead a lot of bank officials became rich or richer a lot of that money just disappeared and some of that does what's keeping the Stock market all pumped up right now and the rest supplied the startup toll for all those bank branch
[12:50] Expansions down here in Latin America. Anyway, I went through a long discussion with my friend from Citibank Explaining the finer points and the facts about how Citibank was a totally corrupt institution And you know what he did he kept playing with his iPhone and text messaging. He didn't hear a word I said and if he did he chose to block it all out So that should give you an idea what's on the mind of the average finance graduate down here Yep, that's what he got his university degree in finance and business. That's another thing. He's extremely proud of He's one of the very very small percentage of people about 2% of Latin Americans that has an actual college degree of any kind As opposed to up in the first world where more than 40% of people have a bachelor's degree though As you probably know already about 80% of that 40% up in the first world have degrees
[13:39] So useless that they never ever get a job in their chosen career, but you knew that already, right? So anyway, like I was saying my soon-to-be ex-friend from Citibank has a bachelor's degree in business and finance So I assumed since he graduated recently that he was more than well-versed in all the financial problems that were happening in the world These days including the Fed problems the bailouts the massive inflation in Argentina and Venezuela the Greek Spanish Ireland and Cyprus Problems the problem with the Japanese yen and the euro and the undervalued one all that stuff I mean that's basically what a person in business and finance studies, right? And with all that happening in the very last few years He should be really up on that stuff and know a hell of a lot more than I know about it At least he should have some deeper insights. You'd think right and you know when I tried to have a nice conversation with him about that
[14:31] 2008 worldwide financial and real estate fiasco, you know, the bubble the bust the derivatives the upside-down mortgages the bailouts You know what? His response was I don't remember much of that really I was in university back then get my degree But he said I know it turned out all right in the end I know the Federal Reserve intervened and fixed everything and the European Monetary Union bailed out places like Spain Cyprus and Ireland Then he told me that in 2008 when all that unprecedented stuff was happening He said he was in finance school at the time yet They studied almost nothing about the event and I thought what that doesn't make sense The guy was taking a business in finance degree What can be more important than studying the world financial system collapsing before your very eyes? Yes folks. Welcome to Latin America
[15:22] Now that goes a long way to explain why Latins even very educated Latins Don't realize that they're in the midst of a gigantic real estate bubble themselves But don't worry a few of us gringles and expats will be here when it blows and we'll pick up the pieces You can bet on that Now that's not to say the soon-to-be ex-friend of mine from Citibank Didn't have a few interesting points to make about what's happening down here in Latin America in other business and financial areas Fact is he's the one that mentioned to me that only about 17% of the households in Latin America have internet access Not exactly 24 7 but most of the time and he's the one that also told me that less than a third of those people About four or five percent of the entire Latin population Engage in internet banking of any kind which by the way
[16:09] Like he said includes people just checking their balances and not actually moving funds Meaning only about two or three percent of Latins do all of their banking from home or their smartphone The fact is he says regarding online banking. There's gonna be a huge learning curve for Latin folks so it's gonna take a lot of years before they ever catch up to the first world if They ever do since for the vast majority of average Latins there's already a kind of a fear factor regarding computers and a healthy amount of distrust in dealing with banks and Now my banking friend said we're supposed to ask the average Latin to get on a computer push buttons Remember passwords just to move funds around right now The average Latin just does not feel good or secure about doing that not to mention the average Latin has a sixth grade education
[16:57] So for the average Latin, it's gonna take a good long time And it's not just the fact that the average Latin doesn't have a computer in the home right now or one that works It's the fact that the average Latin who does have one at home sees it crash all the time and get infected with viruses So naturally they have little faith in doing serious things like moving their money around which is another big reason why companies like Amazon And Craigslist have not even begun to crack the Latin American market yet When here's another big reason why Latins are so hesitant to use internet banking down here Everyone's used to having a hard copy printout in their past book and you get none of that when you do internet banking It's just been in the last few years that they have a high acceptance of credit cards and the lag time effect for that was 20 or 30 years and
[17:44] Online banking my Citibank contacts said he thinks there won't be 50% of Latin Americans using it That's the figure. Remember that's quoted for people up in the States right now Anyway, he says that won't happen for at least 10 years, which probably means 15 So if you think about it, that's very likely one of the main reasons banks down here have no problem at all with opening new brick-and-mortar branches since they see that online banking is just not taken off the very Phenomena that's killing brick-and-mortar banks up in the United States. Oh, and here's another thing I forgot to tell you about brick-and-mortar banks in the States more than half of all US branch banks That's 50,000 of them now actually lose money every year. So they're closing them down Whereas down here in Latin America branch banks always seem to turn a profit and it's easy to see why what with the very cheap
[18:33] Salaries and the very cheap rents It's nearly impossible not to run in the black which by the way It's one of the reasons why so many gringo brick-and-mortar businesses survive quite nicely, too even though I'd say more than half of them would be considered very bad bets if Attempted up in Boston or Cleveland and just a word of warning for all of you who do want to start a brick-and-mortar business here Don't think you could take your great idea put your first world spin on it start making some dough Leave it in the hands of your Latin business partner if you have one or manager and head out for a six-month walking tour of South America one of the tricks to making it a lasting success is that you have to be around you just cannot leave a place like that unattended for any length of time because it'll revert back into what resembles a third world style business bottom line the gringo owner
[19:20] Operator needs to be around to crack the whip or more precisely To keep up those first world standards that made the business a success in the first place The fact is a lot of gringos make that mistake once they've had a successful business all the sudden They think they deserve a nice long European or vacation back to Cleveland and they leave their best people in charge all Latins Of course who slowly but surely dropped the ball not that they're gonna steal from you though They may more likely they'll just let certain things slide and the place will eventually get hardening of the arteries And when you get back and look at the numbers and the burnt-out lights and the dirt in the corners of the bathrooms You'll wonder what the hell happened Well, the fact is nothing happened your help just reverted back to their Latin standards of doing things That's all nothing to get mad at but if you don't want that happening
[20:06] You've got to be there. If not you some other first world person that you put in charge Alright now, let's change gears a bit because I want to read an email But before I do I like to mention that there's a lot of people who listen to my program who want to come down here And start off making a bit of money by doing that English teacher thing And if you've been listening to this show a while, you know I occasionally tell stories about gringo English teachers I know and just how they're getting along doing that and how many of them after a while Ditched the English teaching thing all together to start a business which many times was their original goal in the first place With the English teaching thing just a way to make a few bucks and get their feet wet down here And that's because so many gringos come down here without a specific business plan I mean without some kind of great pre-hatched business idea already and like I said before
[20:53] Pre-arranged business plans that you've hatched up in Cleveland before you came down often don't make sense Once you've gotten down here and had a real good look around all the expats I know that have had great successes down here They'll tell you you do need boots on the ground before that really great business idea or niche hits you right between the eyes But that's not enough The thing is you have to act on it and act soon before some other gringo jumps in and fills that niche Because like I've also mentioned many times you don't want to have gringos as your competition you want Latins to be your competition and why is that it's because they are no competition and For so many gringos the ideas are there, but the actual doing well. That's a problem I can't tell you how many gringos I know who started out as backpackers coming down here later as teachers who have just a ton of great business ideas
[21:45] But no motivation because you see once you fall into that groove of making a little money down here even if it's only three four of five hundred bucks a month and you find like many of those guys do who are living on the Cheap as it is that you could get along just fine on that kind of money Especially if you got another gringo or gringo roommate sharing expenses with you Then a lot of them just find it's not so urgent to jump into that new business no matter how great an idea it might be So the real trick is not to get too comfy working for the man down here because you see if you really want to live like A first-world gringo you're gonna need at least fifteen hundred bucks a month which coincidentally and quite nicely works out to the average social security payout Anyway, the email I'm gonna read right now is exactly related to that
[22:30] So listen up and it happens to come from a gringo who came down here very recently and had instantly hooked himself up with a teaching Job at a private school and here's what he says and again. I'll paraphrase a bit here He starts by saying hello and good evening Johnny I just wanted to share some of my thoughts with you after some thoughts about Researching and preparing lessons for my students here in Guatemala You see I teach science at a private school in San Cristobal I was doing some research putting together a science project for my students Based on an acid and base lab that I wanted to do with my chemistry and physics class So naturally I set out to collect all the materials necessary But in doing my search for these things I found that most of the materials were very hard to come by or the alternatives were slim and
[23:19] Ordering from Amazon would be costly and would take way too much time Then I remembered you always talking about how having your boots on the ground here Produces its own business ideas or allows you to visualize the gaps and niches and how they can be filled In other words just having boots on the ground in your eyes open often creates business ideas Now since I've found that finding these basic chemicals for reactions and demonstrations Are hard to come by for example chemicals like I mentioned plus materials for designing balsa bridges and mousetrap cars and solar panels for solar sprint race competitions and Baking powder and soda and microscopes and other materials all that stuff that a science and physics teacher might need are not
[24:04] Readily accessible to educators down here in Guatemala Even though up in the states when teachers want to do projects like that They have no trouble at all finding the supplies and so I started to think about the opportunity there to provide educational materials for educators as an actual business idea or Providing seminars and workshops myself that would expose fellow educators down here to these ideas and resources Then he signs off by saying have a nice evening Now that's a case where you can see exactly what I mean when I say you need boots on the ground to see the Opportunities now the thing is what our teacher friend doesn't know Probably because he hasn't been down here long enough or doesn't have a car or easy Transportation to explore some of the nooks and crannies in the big city in his case Guatemala City
[24:51] Which has about two million people by the way? Well, here's the facts I can tell him for sure that nearly all of the stuff. He's talking about is available But not in one place Now you see every medium and large-sized city in Latin America one that's over. Let's say 200,000 people They have little districts in the business sections of their cities that concentrate on certain types of items like for example in Guatemala City There's a special little section of town that handles all kinds of chemicals for agriculture for food processing metalwork welding Plastics processing you name it. They've got the chemicals in small quantities and in bulk So if a person can locate that area, which I've been to many times you could pick up just about any chemical you need Then there are sections of town that handle just the jewelry making and repair business
[25:38] So there there are lots of little hole-in-the-wall joints that sell microscopes polishing and grinding equipment gold silver brass copper and all the chemical reagents used in jewelry making as well as Kills and ovens and metal casting machines and vacuum machines then believe it or not There are little sections of town that deal just with glass blowing and glass manufacturing Then there are small sections of town that handle nothing but wood or plastics or metals and throughout every medium and large city There are hobbyist shops where they have all kinds of hobby supplies Just like in the states plastic models midget airplanes helicopters even estus rockets Remember those as well as slot cars and electric trains. They've got everything you just have to locate that stuff and then there are sections of town that have masses of
[26:26] Electronics and electric shops and they carry all the supplies necessary to breadboard electronic projects I'm talking transistors integrated circuits anything you need to make a little electronics hobby project for yourself But you have to find those places So bottom line our teacher friend has a very good idea for a business and I'm guessing he won't have to order anything from Amazon He could find it all in any big Latin American city and to do business like that I'm guessing all you'd have to do is send an email out the private high schools and colleges in his area Asking their science and chemistry teachers to provide him with a wish list for their own experiments class projects and science fair stuff So he'd have to locate all that stuff stock a certain amount of it And he'd be off and running with a brand new business and he'd have instant clientele
[27:12] I'm sure not to mention he could grow a tiny hole in the wall little business like that into a chain of science and hobby Stores throughout Latin America. That's if you have that kind of ambition and the startup costs maybe 5000 bucks to stock the basics and of course a lot of legwork, but once that's done the sky's the limit great idea, huh? You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border Email me the expat files at gmail.com and don't forget to check out expat wisdom.com to sign up for your free Reports on Latin America. See you next time. Nos vemos