Panama Forum

BinaryMan
Joined 2015
Posts: 2

9 years ago

Relocation and starting an agricultural business in Panama

9 years ago

My business group (5 people +/-) is planning to move to Panama and start a farm using aquaponics and perhaps light manufacturing (canning and food preservation for better distribution or export). I've been doing the primary research online but you can only get so much from that. We have at least 6600 USD per month of passive income and 60k saved, the excess income may be directed at the business.

One of the primary concerns is where do we set up shop? I have seen that the "touristy" prices of a house in Panama City are $200k+, but I've also read claims that sub 50k housing (on decent sized land plot, rural probably) can be found under an hour away from Panama City. We will eventually install grid independent hardware for power/water/sewer, but we do want stable power and clean water hookup as an option and we do want to be within a certain distance of the high quality hospitals in an emergency (I have read medical is a LOT cheaper than USA).

I also read the labor laws and it appears that part-time workers can have flexible arrangements like independent contractors. We are planning to take good care of our workers giving them some of the food we produce and housing eventually. I assume minimum wage applies on an hourly rate for part-timers, but I don't know if barter can be part of this (for example, housing + food + stipend + medical). For someone who has nothing or no job, obviously this is a better living condition and we are hoping to build a socially responsible company.

I have merely assumed "somewhere around the outskirts of Panama City" because for example Boquete doesn't have enough of a market to sell the food on a population basis. I want to have access to infrastructure but not be "in" the city itself. I have not found a public listing of the target properties (realtors don't advertise the cheap properties and there are many scams). I suspect I need to find a local realtor and lawyer who won't overcharge, and we need to find a specific location that will work for us for living and business.

Apparently an LLC can be 100% owned by our group, but we can only have 1 person officially employed or managing the business (although everyone has skills to pitch in) since the rest must be locals. I'm not sure if that applies to expats that have obtained permanent residency. It also seems relatively easy to get permanent residency for the group (deposit funds, buy property or be part of the business).

For anyone who actually runs a business I'd also like to know how it actually went down. I often assume all the rules that I read is the reality, when in fact things often go much differently than the laws would suggest.

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