Yunison
12/7/2015 23:30 EST
I am English speaking and would like to relocate to Uruguay.
Is it easy to set up small business?
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Morell
12/8/2015 06:16 EST
From what I have read, running a small business here is not easy. Here are some comments from the Facebook group.
" I fear that you underestimate our bureaucrats and have not yet experienced the strange desire of local people to buy stuff from friends and family rather than basing their decisions on price or quality. While individuals can grow what they want and can even can or bottle what they produce for their own consumption, the moment they decide to sell such "processed" produce in MVD, they will need permits from both the Intendencia where the stuff is produced and from the MVD Intendencia. If you want to do something as simple as issuing a legal invoice, you first need to apply for an invoice permit and number and after months or possibly years you can then have the invoices printed by an approved invoice printer. To add to the fun, the officially printed legal invoices are only valid for 18 months from the date of printing. I could go on... and on... and on... and... In short, if you are an entrepreneurial sort of person, the ROU probably isn't the place for you
An example... my local shops sell apricot jam and I live within sight of Uruguay's premier jam makers (Los Nietitos) but because everyone around here knows that apricots are disgusting, only I grow them and all the jam factories refuse to make apricot jam in spite of lots of imported Argie apricot jam being sold in the local shops. As said previously, the ROU has a collective economic mindset very different from other parts of the planet
I gave up on trying to change things (except for local attitudes to pets) 18 months after arriving here on the grounds that its next to impossible to do so and because I'm the incomer and I chose to live here because I like the place as it is. When I bought my farm, I couldn't help noticing the distillery at the bottom of my hill. Its a very fine triple pot distillery, it is beautifully maintained, it has its own dock on the Rio Rosario, it has a full time staff of 5, its has a deep well with soft water from the granite, it is fully illuminated by night and it has distilled nothing at all since 1988. My head was still full of western economics back then and because my family has close connections to distilling in Ireland and because I wouldn't use the horrible liquid known as Uruguayan whiskey to clean a paint brush, I hired lawyers and accountants to propose a joint venture with ANCAP (the state owned distilling monopoly) to make quality malt whiskey at the distillery. To cut a long, tedious and expensive story short, the distillery remains there fully staffed and continues to distill nothing at all. It is now clear to me that both ANCAP and the employees prefer to run a distillery that does not distill so now I just admire it as a large lump of surrealist industrial art with 5 full time curators."
What kind of business did you have in mind?
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focus
12/8/2015 09:08 EST
Hi Yunison,
It's not that hard to set up an impresa unipersonal but it's about 3x harder than you are used to and if you don't speak spanish I would put that at 30x harder. I would pay a consultant to help you set it up and to introduce you to an accountant.
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Wanderlustspirit
12/8/2015 21:34 EST
Fascinating personal story Morell! You continue to amaze! Love the "I just admire it as a large lump of surrealist industrial art with 5 full time curators." PERFECTO!
Thanks for helping to explain the entrepreneurial process you encountered & for the laugh!
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kimbo47
12/8/2015 23:57 EST
The Morell family are a wealth of TRUE and honest info about UY. Keep up the good work guys!
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edykizaki
12/9/2015 05:20 EST
about starting a personal business my friend who's dad is in politics commented:
Opening a business here is not so difficult, perhaps 1-3 hours and the following day you can have invoices printed...so there may be an augmented/negative perception on that at least...not sure about the ANCAP thing, but since that is a state-owned property, I'm sure there must have been a lot of complications with contracts -
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Morell
12/9/2015 06:15 EST
These are not my stories but ones posted elsewhere.
I thought they were worth repeating to give an idea of how things work, or don't, here.
I am afraid my life is much more mundane.
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carlitos
12/9/2015 07:53 EST
Opening a company here is very easy, you can even operate for 30 days and then open the company. They have a fix tax for small individual companies that is about 40 us per month. But you need to speak spanish.
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kimbo47
12/9/2015 13:27 EST
Carlitos,
maybe you can expand and give details on the type of business you are referring to. The detailed experience that an expat there has posted in the Facebook group seems to indicate it is more complex depending on the business.
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