In all of Central America, Costa Rica ranks as the most entrepreneurial country. According to Washington’s Global Institute of Entrepreneurship and Development, there are more entrepreneurial opportunities in Costa Rica than in any other Central American country. Although good news, there are still some areas that need improvement.

As reported by the institute, the areas where Costa Rica is strongest include abilities and perception of opportunities. Although this shows that entrepreneurship is doing exceptional well, there are some issues. The institute also discovered several weak areas. For example, Costa Rica lags in such areas as the absorption of technology, process innovation, and risk capital.

Although there is a tremendous potential for enterprise innovation in Costa Rica, there are also challenges. Because Costa Rica has long been conditioned, there are limitations in its capacity to make governmental systems and economic institutions stronger.

In looking at entrepreneurial scores as a whole, the United States comes out the clear leader. Of the 132 nations evaluated, the United States had 86.2 points, whereas Chad was at the bottom of the leader board with just 9.9 points. Other scores included Costa Rica, Panama, Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua with 36.2, 32.4, 25.6, 21.2, and 19.4 points, respectively.

According to the 2016/2017 Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum, Costa Rica maintains position 54 out of 138 world economies. While Costa Rica dropped two positions from the 2015/2016 cycle, when isolating Latin America, this country sits in the third position for competitiveness. Following is Panama in position 42 and Chile in position 33.

The current Global Competitiveness Index revealed another fact about Costa Rica. The economic strength of this country is based on two things: the quality of its healthcare system and educational system. That means that the workforce in Costa Rica is healthy and educated. Therefore, Costa Ricans are capable of adapting well to change and solving complex tasks. Another strong point for Costa Rica is its high level of innovation.

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However, Costa Rica faces challenges specific to its government bureaucracy. Other weak areas that need improvement include the country’s high interest rates, difficulty in accessing financing, poor use of public resources, and subpar/inadequate infrastructure. In particular, the roads in Costa Rica are horrible, considered some of the worst in the entire world.

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.