Venezuela's Entrepreneurs See Flickers of Hope in Diversifying Economy Amid Turmoil
In the midst of renewed political turmoil and US pressure on Venezuela's leadership, entrepreneurs are cautiously optimistic about diversifying their country's economy. Gone are the days of relying heavily on oil exports; instead, they see an opportunity to rebuild sectors such as agriculture, real estate, technology, and fintech.
The nation's devastated startup ecosystem, once largely cut off from Western markets by sanctions and capital controls, is slowly regaining momentum. With sweeping reforms, entrepreneurs believe that what remains of the country's battered business landscape could experience a resurgence.
"Foreign investment in Venezuela is currently negligible compared to regional peers," notes Francisco Litvay, an entrepreneur who helps companies establish offshore operations or relocate within South America. However, he argues that the upside if the country stabilizes and attracts its diaspora back could be enormous.
Venezuela's agribusiness sector, for example, has seen a surge in demand for food due to widespread shortages. The nation's superapp Yummy and fintech Cashea are just two examples of companies that have managed to thrive despite severe constraints.
If conditions improve, Litvay believes that Caracas could eventually join cities like Medellín and Mexico City as a regional startup hub. "Caracas has many of the characteristics that made Medellin the largest [digital] nomad hub in South America: Mild climate year-round, geographic proximity to North America, fun culture, great lifestyle."
Stephany Oliveros, a Venezuelan entrepreneur who fled the country in 2017 and now lives in Spain, is equally optimistic. She believes that sectors such as fintech, logistics, workforce upskilling, energy reliability, healthcare access, and consumer-facing apps are early opportunities for growth.
Oliveros, who founded the platform SheAI to provide A.I. education for women, argues that companies that can reliably serve a returning professional diaspora will "win early." The startup ecosystem itself may even benefit from years of scarcity, as founders build lean, scrappy systems fast.
Despite the optimism, obstacles to making Venezuela attractive to investors remain formidable. Corruption and entrenched institutions must be addressed before credible economic reforms can take hold. Venezuela currently ranks 188th out of 190 countries in terms of ease of doing business, with unreliable infrastructure, shallow local capital markets, and sudden policy shifts further complicating the outlook.
Oliveros remains cautiously hopeful about Venezuela's future, noting that "I want Venezuela to have a 'South Korea' moment." However, history may be against her.
In the midst of renewed political turmoil and US pressure on Venezuela's leadership, entrepreneurs are cautiously optimistic about diversifying their country's economy. Gone are the days of relying heavily on oil exports; instead, they see an opportunity to rebuild sectors such as agriculture, real estate, technology, and fintech.
The nation's devastated startup ecosystem, once largely cut off from Western markets by sanctions and capital controls, is slowly regaining momentum. With sweeping reforms, entrepreneurs believe that what remains of the country's battered business landscape could experience a resurgence.
"Foreign investment in Venezuela is currently negligible compared to regional peers," notes Francisco Litvay, an entrepreneur who helps companies establish offshore operations or relocate within South America. However, he argues that the upside if the country stabilizes and attracts its diaspora back could be enormous.
Venezuela's agribusiness sector, for example, has seen a surge in demand for food due to widespread shortages. The nation's superapp Yummy and fintech Cashea are just two examples of companies that have managed to thrive despite severe constraints.
If conditions improve, Litvay believes that Caracas could eventually join cities like Medellín and Mexico City as a regional startup hub. "Caracas has many of the characteristics that made Medellin the largest [digital] nomad hub in South America: Mild climate year-round, geographic proximity to North America, fun culture, great lifestyle."
Stephany Oliveros, a Venezuelan entrepreneur who fled the country in 2017 and now lives in Spain, is equally optimistic. She believes that sectors such as fintech, logistics, workforce upskilling, energy reliability, healthcare access, and consumer-facing apps are early opportunities for growth.
Oliveros, who founded the platform SheAI to provide A.I. education for women, argues that companies that can reliably serve a returning professional diaspora will "win early." The startup ecosystem itself may even benefit from years of scarcity, as founders build lean, scrappy systems fast.
Despite the optimism, obstacles to making Venezuela attractive to investors remain formidable. Corruption and entrenched institutions must be addressed before credible economic reforms can take hold. Venezuela currently ranks 188th out of 190 countries in terms of ease of doing business, with unreliable infrastructure, shallow local capital markets, and sudden policy shifts further complicating the outlook.
Oliveros remains cautiously hopeful about Venezuela's future, noting that "I want Venezuela to have a 'South Korea' moment." However, history may be against her.
- it's got some decent roots but needs some serious TLC to perk back up. Diversifying into agriculture and fintech sounds like a solid plan, but let's be real, corruption and institutional issues are the real hurdles here 
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. But seriously, if Caracas can get its act together and become a regional startup hub, that'd be dope. The diaspora's return could be huge, but history does tend to have other plans 
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. If they can build lean systems fast and address corruption head-on, Venezuela might just get its economic mojo back 
. Fingers crossed for them! 
. Companies are starting to thrive in weird ways too, like that superapp Yummy and fintech Cashea. If Venezuela stabilizes, who knows, maybe Caracas could become a major regional hub 
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. And it's also super tough to compete with other countries that have been more stable for longer 
. Still, I'm rooting for the Venezuelan entrepreneurs – they're gonna need all the help they can get! 
anyway i was thinking about how they have food shortages now so maybe agriculture is a good idea? but then again, isnt Venezuela like super hot all the time? dont people want to live somewhere with 4 seasons or something? 
, but we'll have to wait and see if the government can get its act together 
. Corruption and all that stuff is still a big issue 