Now, look around your favorite US supermarket as you shop for groceries this winter.  The vegetable department is a good place to start. As you survey the bounty of beautiful fruits and vegetables available for you to enjoy year round, you may notice a small plastic sticker on the plump, juicy tomatoes, avocados, oranges, peaches, nectarines and more....it will probably say ‘Produce of Chile’.   Remember, while you are up north and enjoying a winter snow, we are enjoying a warm and quite beautiful summer. This explains those stickers on the produce.  You are looking at fruit and vegetables that were most likely still attached to their respective trees or vines down here in Chile just last week.  It is truly amazing how fast produce can be picked, processed and packed for shipment into the USA and then off it goes to stores all across the world.  This as well as countless other advances have all occurred in a relatively short period of time. 

Take a walk to the freezer section of Costco, if you have one of those warehouse stores nearby. You will most likely find that the frozen salmon you just put in your cart originated in Chile. Chile is the world's second largest salmon producer, Norway being number one! Then there are the wood paint stirring sticks you may need from the local Home Depot.  The sticks come from Chile; or, because one third of the world's copper comes from Chile, whenever you flip on a light switch, you can probably thank this country for the copper wiring used throughout your house. Combine all of this with a stable, democratic society and a progressive economic system, set up by Harvard educated pencil-pushers and you can easily see that Chile is a shining star and has, in many ways accomplished the impossible. Chile had a National budget surplus last year, sold more goods to foreign countries than it purchased and kept inflation to a low and manageable level of just over 3%. There is a strong middle class with a high percentage of home ownership along with an excellent education system that now requires English to be taught to all students. 

As we look around the world, we view Chile as a country that has not only paid its dues but it has also formed a solid base that can sustain an avalanche of its own economic growth and prosperity.  We really cannot see this type of preparation for future growth in any other country on Earth.  Europe and the USA are becoming large debtor nations with huge impending Social Security problems.  The primary exports from the USA, besides weapons are technology and knowledge and there is no question that the USA possesses these resources in abundance.  These are all much more difficult to come by in a country which has fairly recently lifted itself from the depths of poverty and are now in high demand in a country hungry to feed its engine of growth and prosperity.

The volume of wine, produce, salt and other goods which Chile has contracted to sell to the world grows with each passing year and shows no sign of decreasing in any of the scenarios we have envisioned as the future of Chile. It is exciting for us to be viewing this economic growth from within this country as well, for we feel the pride that each one of Chile's citizens wears as a badge of honour.  Everything looks to be in place for Chile's grand entrance into the world economic community - it is a country whose future is being noticed more and more in boardrooms around the world.  There have been whispers in the past and these whispers have given way to investments.  No one can say that Chile is an irresponsible investment, no one!  The time is right for investments, technological advancement, American ingenuity (remember that?) diversification and most importantly the introduction of "Smart Money."

We have recently been introduced to a whole new crop of Chile's industrial movers and shakers.  It turns out that with the many foreign investment incentives and the high number of wealthy Chilean corporations, Chile is not so much in need of financial capital.  What the wise operators in Chile are aware of is that it is, in a sense, naive in terms of big business.  It isn't the Presidents and Vice Presidents per se but the rest of the organizations who need a broadening of their perspectives. We still see typewriters in use at many locations (this is actually something we like to see sometimes).  The people of Chile do have a newfound sense of prosperity but they are still immature and not quite sure how to handle this progress.  Plus there are so many ideas just waiting to be tested.  Most people from the USA have experienced so much more in our lives.  We were born into prosperity.  Most of the successful in Chile have experienced prosperity for a relatively short time.  They are just beginning to see heroes emerge who were able to raise themselves from poverty to wealth.  People from the United States have seen and heard these success stories for almost their entire lives.  McDonald’s, KFC’s Colonel Sanders, Bill Gates, Apple Computers and Sam Walton (Wal-Mart), are but a few of the many incredible success stories which are accompanied by thousands of other smaller scale rags-to-riches stories. People from the USA now have a certain cultural expectation of prosperity.  Through all of this we have seen and been involved in the creation and building of the financial and economic empire that is the USA.  This is the main reason we have so many immigrants entering the USA - it is the land of opportunity, or at least it has been.

So what is the point anyway?  Well, what we have become aware of is that Chile is in the perfect position to really benefit those who are importing certain attitudes, procedures, and systems which have become common and everyday in the States but which escape the thoughts and expectations of the average Chilean. The bar needs to be raised, but the window of opportunity will be short, so for those who get in now, we honestly believe the sky is the limit.  The financial and business leaders of Chile are infinitely aware of this and therefore the term "smart money" has been circulating around various boardrooms where the future of Chile is being mapped out.   Chile needs your knowledge and is willing to pay for it.  Should an investor enter Chile with capital, so much the better.  We know of a few opportunities for sizable investments in the neighborhood of, say, $30-50 million dollars.  With that amount of money one could buy into an established Chilean company which will actually reciprocate by depositing an equal amount of money back to the corporation or actually a trade of shares of ownership.  The Chilean company knows that along with the outside ownership comes outside technology, systems and know-how.  In addition, hopefully, will come visions for the future.  Chilean companies want to hire US corporate Vice-Presidents,  Managers and Directors.  They revere the more seasoned business players. Youth is good, but when poised on the brink of explosive growth, the wisdom that comes with experience is preferable.

For hundreds of years Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina have had their respective histories.  International corporations from Europe and the USA have long had operations in the Southern Cone.  Before the Panama Canal, a great number of freighters plied the waters of the Straights of Magellan and made the great port cities of these countries their ports of call. That was then and this is now.  Now is the beginning of the new Global Age.  Many of us are feeling change is in the wind as we look at the great Northern Empires in the USA and Europe.  We are looking for the newest, safest and best place under the sun.  We all, well some of us anyway, want a piece of heaven on Earth and maybe a little bit more than our fair share of the new prosperity.

If one comes to Chile with the desire of building a nice retirement home for oneself, on a beautiful parcel overlooking the ocean, a river or a lake and perhaps have a golf course nearby, that is one thing and it is a very viable plan for a good number of reasons.  However, on an entirely different level, if those same people have families who need to work and who need opportunity, people who either own or represent corporations or have expertise working for a progressive northern operation, they have a whole different reason to relocate to Chile.  Corporate planners should begin educating themselves regarding the opportunities possible if they invest and export their technology and systems to Chile.  Chilean corporations are looking for firms to invest in their companies, not for the money but for the knowledge and vision these firms can provide  There are opportunities all over the world but few are as ripe for planting a seed and actually seeing it grow and bear fruit, as is possible, at this very moment, in Chile.  The figurative soil has been tilled, the water system is in, and transportation, warehousing, distribution and infrastructure are all in place.  Everything is ready to simply sow and fertilise. This same logic would equally apply for a smaller venture as well as an individual looking for a new job in a new land. hether one is seeking a corporate officer’s position, middle management or a position in a field of technical specialization, there are solid opportunities waiting.  If you are looking to develop your own small business and you have some expertise or you are interested in partnering with an existing Chilean firm, chances are that you may possess the special vision and insight necessary to make a success of yourself in the Southern-most country in the world.

In so many respects Chile has been hiding out while building the foundation for a new second Millennium, First World Country. The cover has been pulled off, the curtains are being drawn back -the signs  read “now open for business!” The question is, are you ready to step up to the plate?   If so, look to the South, behind the protection of the worlds driest desert and the nearly impassible Andes.  Hiding in plain sight, for all to see is a beautiful country named Chile.

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