CORPORATE RELOCATION | Where CoRelo?
HONDURAS ...."HONDURAS IS THE DESTINATION OF CHOICE FOR HARD-NOSED, BOTTOM LINE BUSINESS TYPES. THE LURE: BIG PROFITS AND UNLIMITED INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY."
Honduras has worked very hard to position herself as a leading option for Corporate Relocation. A solidly legislated financial and geographically zoned infrastructure has been developed to make the process seamless. Not only for the incoming business, but for the new families moving with the business who will need housing, schooling and support towards cultural and social integration.
None of what is happening in Honduras is a matter of chance. Since 1980 successive democratic governments have made it official policy to seek foreign investment and use it as the engine to drive and develop the nation's economy.
Honduras is utilizing her Caribbean location, affordable property prices and low cost of living to lure retirees, escape artists, and just plain dreamers....mostly Americans, Canadians and Europeans.
The opportunity to live blissfully in a tropical paradise, on less than $1500 a month can be an irresistible pull.
In return, Honduras benefits from a welcome infusion of capital and investment. Look at some of what is going on in the different manufacturing areas that Honduras has opened up.
Apparel and Textile
 With its flexible, highly skilled work force, Honduras is the apparel production center of Central America.
Worldwide, it ranks as the third largest supplier of assembled apparel items to the United States.
Low labor costs, favorable logistics, major tax breaks and international trade agreements all contribute to a 65% annual growth rate.
Partnership in the "JUST IN TIME" chain of production with U.S. and Mexican manufactures provides a tremendous marketing advantage over Asian competitors.
"JUST IN TIME" production is further facilitated by easy access to Puerto Cortes, their world class shipping port on the Caribbean.
The "Full Package" concept of making the items in their entirety, in Honduras-from cloth to buttons to zippers-creates opportunity for both manufacturers and efficient suppliers.
Light Manufacturing
As in Apparel and Textiles, the expanding Manufacturing sector is advantaged by labor costs, logistics, tax breaks, trade agreements, Puerto Cortes, and memberships in the "JUST IN TIME" club.
And, as in the clothing industry, a highly cooperative arrangement with government in the area of human resources assures a flexible, english-speaking, well educated workforce.
Product areas noted for production excellence, and identified as investor opportunities include automotive electrical and electronic equipment; industrial and commercial air conditioning; heating and refrigeration systems; pumps and pumping systems; electrical motors and generators; and, audio and visual equipment.
Agri-business and Forestry
Representing more than 40% of the GNP, agriculture and its related industries is the most important sector of the economy with bananas, coffee and forestry sub sector products like wood furniture continuing as export mainstays.
Innovation, technology and a talented work force is creating entirely new export opportunities in non-traditional agriculture products, aqua-culture products and processed-foods.
Six maritime ports, four international airports and a modern regional transportation network ensure easy access for all products to the vital U. S. and Central America markets
Free-trade agreements, opens up a whole new world to the export of both traditional and non-traditional products.
A year round growing season and micro-climates creates opportunity in exotic agriculture and various wood products.
Export opportunities for agricultural products include winter and oriental vegetables, mango, watermelon, and various plants, roots and tubers.
Processed foods and Aqua-culture with demonstrated export success include African palm oil, vegetable oils, fruit preparations, dairy products, "farmed" tilapia and cultivated shell fish.
Tourism
Honduras' stated strategy in this sector is "sustainable tourism" which means creating business opportunities that not only facilitate economic growth, but also promotes and protects the countries natural and cultural legacy.
As part of this strategy the government offers legal and fiscal incentives including a special fund to assist investors in project development, large or small.
With its Caribbean coast, lush interior, beautiful river valleys and breathtaking mountain vistas, Honduras' tourism industry has one of the fastest growth rates in Central America.
A rich array of ecosystems, archaeological sits and protected natural reserves opens the door to any number of possibilities, including activities linking archaeological tourism with eco-tourism, one of the fastest growing tourist businesses in the world.
As a major settlement of colonial Spain, and the cradle of Mayan civilization with its ancient ruins, the country is also a natural for the growing market of mature and high-income travelers attracted to exotic locales offering a rich variety of history, culture and art.
Services Improvement and expansion of the telecommunication industry created by privatization is opening up a new and promising investment opportunity for companies involved in customer and business support services.
Such services can capitalize on a young bilingual population with a knowledge of technology and a warm natural hospitality so important in customer relations.
The Services Sector directly benefits from programs conducted by the National Competitiveness Program to train technicians and other workers for jobs in Call Centers/Customer Service Centers, Business Procedures Outsourcing Centers and various Back-Office Services.
One of these programs alone supports 800 small and medium sized companies, and 15 worker training locations.
Honduras, with its political and social stability, a wealth of affordable natural resources, plenty of land for agriculture, forestry, mining and tourism - and an inexpensive, trainable labor force with an extraordinary work ethic, has added some additional incentives to its attractive corporate relocation options.
None more important than the package of fiscal and legal incentives designed to facilitate, protect and promote foreign investment.
These include: the Free Trade Zone Law, the Tourism Incentive Law, and the Intellectual Property Law.
1. THE FREE TRADE ZONE LAW (FTA)
No matter when they came, or their product, all companies enjoy the same benefits under the law. All companies can locate in places most convenient for manufacturing facilities
All companies are exempt from all export or import duties on materials, equipment or supplies required for manufacturing operations.
All companies are exempt from income, city, and country taxes.
All companies are entitled to 100% ownership and 100% repatriation of capital and profits.All companies have minimal paperwork requirements in clearing incoming or outgoing shipments.
Because of the 1987 amended version of the Law, the Free Zone concept was dramatically expanded, not just in geography, but also in facilitating business development.
As a result, the Law also provides the following benefits.
Private Industrial Processing Zones (ZIP) and Export Processing Zones (EZP) can be established throughout all of Honduras.
Export companies set up in these zones are extended the same benefits as companies in Free Zones, including exemption from all taxes.
Part and parcel of The Law's Industrial and Export Processing Zones is the accompanying development of private industrial parks that offer tenants a whole range of serfices from the most basic to on-site customs facilities, employment agencies, health clinics, legal assistance and banks.
Today, there are 28 of these state-of-the-art parks in operation or under construction. Nineteen are in the industrial heartland Sula Valley. Located in northwestern Honduras, the valley stretches from the Port of Cortes on the Caribbean to Villanueva, 60 Km to the south.
In addition, to Puerto Cortes (2) and Villanueva (2), there are sites in Choloma (8), La Lima (1), El Progresso (1), and Bufalo (2). San Pedro Sula, the nations second largest city hosts 3 ZIP parks. All nineteen parks are within an hour and half of the port, and five within an hour. Locations south of Sula, which includes Tegucigalpa, the nations capital, are within 4 hours of Puerto Cortes.
2. THE TOURISM INCENTIVE LAW
As with manufacturing, the Honduran government has pulled out all the stops to attract foreign talent and investment for the Tourist Industry. For approved tourism-related businesses, large or small, the following benefits apply.
From the start of business, new projects are granted a 10-year holiday from income tax.
No income tax on new equipment required for construction or the beginning of operations.
No taxes on advertising and promotional materials, or replacements for damaged equipment.
No import taxes on new cars or cars bought by rental companies.
Tax exemptions for new or used aircraft and ships.
3. THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
Once an investment commitment is made, whatever the investment, the investors right of ownership is guaranteed by the law's recognition of internationally recognized standards and agreements.
Foreign industrial and intellectual property is protected through the regulation and of patents, models, designs, industrial secrets, brand names and commercial announcements or names of origin.
No one can say the people who make things go in Honduras are not doing everything possible to make investment and offshore relocation an irresistible option
| |  Dan Taylor, the owner of KEYHOLE BAY
Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
will be one of the
Speakers at the Conference.
__________________________
KEYHOLE BAY....includes single-family estate home sites and luxury condominiums in breathtaking hillside and seaside settings.
Call it an “island paradise” … or a “sunlit Eden” … Call it “the most exclusive community – and best investment - in the beautiful Bay Islands … Or simply call it “Keyhole Bay”…
But, best of all, for a fraction of what you’d expect to pay for such luxurious living in a tropical paradise, now you can call it “Home.”
"Welcome to Keyhole Bay..."
These luxury condominiums – there will be only 45 in all – are the final stage of a private Caribbean community catering only to those who are accustomed to enjoying the finer things in life.
For more information:
CLICK HERE | | | | | MOVING TO HONDURAS
If you are really serious about pursuing what Honduras has to offer, there are some basic facts and figures that you will want to know.
Location/Geography
Situated in the north-central part of Central America on the Caribbean, it is about 1000 miles southwest of Miami. Its Pacific coastline and Guatemala lie to the west, El Salvador to the south, and Nicaragua to the east. About the size of Tennessee, it is the second largest country in the region, generally mountainous, and marked by fertile plateaus, river valleys and narrow coastal plains. - Officially known as the Republic of Honduras
- Time zone CST (UTC-6)
Population - Estimated at 7, 2000,000 with a 2.1 birth rate, it is 90% Mestizo, 7% Amerindian, 2% black and 1% white.Tegucigalpa, the Capital and largest city, has 1,248,000 inhabitants with a metro area of 1,436,000.
- San Pedro Sula, the industrial center has a city population of 900,000 people with another 300,000 in the surrounding area.
- Over 76 % of the population is Spanish literate with English spoken widely in business.
Government - A Constitutional Democratic Republic with three independent branches of government, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary to provide checks and balances to any single concentration of power.
- National Elections are held every four years.
- The country is comprised of 18 Departments/Provinces, each led by a Governor.
Security - Enclaves where most foreigners establish themselves and build homes offer a high degree of Security with their own private security forces, in addition to the protections provided by local law enforcement.
- Tourist areas and the many attractions throughout the country have an established reputation for secure, safe environments with on going vigilance by special Tourist Police as well as the national and local police.
- Overall the U.S. State Department reports crime in Honduras to be restricted to particular locales, officially characterizing it as endemic.
- A recent comparative study at San Diego State University concludes "the crime rate in Honduras is low compared to industrialized nations."
- Reports from Interpol concur, noting that in terms of violent crime per 100,000 citizens, the U.S. has 4600, low crime Japan 1400 and Honduras only 238.
Banking - The official monetary currency is the Lempira with the Central Bank of Honduras serving as the regulatory agent of the banking system.
- Honduras is a participating member of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Development Bank (IDB) and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE).
 - A dynamic private banking sector includes Lloyds, Citicorp, and at least eighteen other banks.
Telecommunications - A reliable international system offers direct dial, landline, cellular and satellite telephone service, plus internet capability. Also available are broadband and high speed wireless communication.
- Sprint, AT&T and MCI provide operator services to locations worldwide.
Transportation - Four international airports, served by seven commercial airlines and five cargo carriers provide easy connections to locations throughout the world, including frequent passenger flights to Miami, New Orleans, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston.
- There are six maritime ports, five on the Caribbean/Atlantic coast and one on the Pacific. Puerto Cortes, the only deep-water port in the region, provides 24/7 modern roll-on, roll-off services and refrigeration facilities.
Education - Public and private, bilingual institutions serve the needs of native born, and settler children on all levels, elementary, secondary and higher education with graduates regularly moving on to top flight universities.
- A network of high quality technical schools provide specialized training enabling young Hondurans to meet the demands of an increasingly complex work place.
Health Care - An impressive mix of clinics and hospitals, public or private, offer a range of affordable medical services with high tech facilities often linked to medical centers in Houston and Miami accessing them to 24/7consultation.
- Many English speaking-doctors trained at top American medical schools such as Harvard.
- With medical costs fixed by the local market rate, a doctor,s visit is $ 15, a day in the hospital, $40 and prescriptions 75% less than in the United Sates.
Other Information - Natural Resources: timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, hydropower.
- Exports: $1.726 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): coffee, shrimp, bananas, gold, palm oil, fruit, lobster, lumber.Imports: $4.161 billion f.o.b. (2005 et.): machinery and transport equipment, industrial raw materials, chemical products, fuels, foodstuffs (2000).
- Major trading partners: U.S., El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala (2004).
| | | INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
An infusion of capital from European investors is contributing significantly to growth in various other sectors. Included are construction, food product exports, and the expansion of agribusiness.
Canadian interests maintain a strong presence in the mining sector. Other Investors from Panama and El Salvador are active in the financial service sector, although traditionally the biggest investor used to be the USA.
The Central American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S (CAFTA) and similar pacts with countries throughout the world is central to all this. The advantage of being in Honduras, with all its fiscal and legal incentives, has been dramatically increased by free trade access to the global marketplace.
It should be pointed out though that the benefits of membership in CAFTA are brought about by what has attracted CAFTA and other trade organizations to Honduras.
And CAFTA is not the only objective indicator of what Honduras brings to the table. Other objective measures reflect the same mutual attraction, further underscoring why it is people want to do business there. They include:
THE UNITED STATES 2004 MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE (MCA) Called the "Gold Standard" of U. S. foreign aid, it was extended to Honduras in recognition of its record on economic development, protection of private property, and democratic stability. Given the extremely high MCA standards, Honduras, thus far, has been the only county in Latin America to qualify.
By sustaining its exemplary record, Honduras secures on going access to large financial resources providing a boon to targeted long-term strategic infrastructure development and the expansion of job creation in agriculture exports.
Focus of the infrastructure development is a complimentary route to the Panama Canal in the form of a high-speed highway connecting Puerto Cortes on the Caribbean in eight hours to a Pacific port in El Salvador.
ECONOMIC FREEDOM
  In its 2006 annual rating of economic freedom indices, the conservative, Washington based Heritage Foundation rated Honduras higher than the United States in terms of Fiscal freedom, including freedom from burdensome taxation, and freedom from government, and what are seen as burdensome rules and regulations.
The comparative assessment noted a near equal rating in the area of Financial Freedom and its impact on investment.
DEBT RELIEF
In the same spirit of recognition as the Millennium Challenge, the World Bank acknowledged Honduras record of accomplishment with the announced cancellation of part of its debt obligation over a period of fifteen years.
The move will enable the government to channel additional resources into the alleviation of poverty through jobs creation and economic growth.
Talk to a savvy Honduran, and there is a good chance they will proudly note these three milestones. Who can blame them? Collectively, and individually, the three represent an important nod of approval and an official acknowledgement by the world, that Honduras is indeed creating a pro-business, pro-investment culture of prosperity. BACK TO WHERE CORELO?
| |
CONFERENCE UPDATE SIGN UP
To get on the Conference Update Email List,
CLICK HERE
|
| |
caribbean real estate 
