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Daniel Meylan's Blog
An American Entrepreneur’s Perspective on the
Business Opportunities in Peru in 2009
By: Daniel R. Meylan
President and Founder - Weavers
I am an American businessman with 36 years of banking and insurance experience. I have been I involved in multiple new businesses and have watched the United States economy and business environment ebb and flow. I currently teach and consult with emerging business owners throughout the United States. From March 1 to March 6, 2009 I had the good fortune to join a United States Trade Mission to Peru as a guest of the Chamber of the Americas, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The purpose of this trade mission was to introduce Colorado and Texas businesses to the extensive economic opportunities that currently exist in Peru. Gil Cisneros the Executive Director of the Chamber the Americas, did a marvelous job organizing a series of meetings with top Peruvian and US government officials as well as key Peruvian business leaders. Every day for the three days of our mission we heard the same encouraging story about Peru from the perspective of each individual presenter from both the public and private sectors of the Peruvian economy. Here were the prevailing themes:
Peru is a great place to do business!
Peru is a safe and secure place to invest in business!
Peru is a vibrant and growing country!
Peru has incredible natural and human resources!
The Peruvian’s, as a people, have an attitude of eager expectation about
their immediate and long term future!
Peru offers considerable business opportunities and security for those
businesses that are willing to make an investment in Peru!
The public and private sectors within Peru have formed a strong alliance to
foster and promote the growth of the Peruvian economy!
When the trade mission was complete I extended my stay to make myself more familiar with the grass roots opportunities within the country and to provide business consulting and teaching services to a group of emerging business owners. What I heard and saw and experienced during that additional time confirmed everything we had heard during the trade mission. The commerce I observed from retail consumer activity, to restaurant crowds, to people engaged in gainful employment, to intense traffic and an airport jammed to capacity in the middle of the night served to support that Peru is indeed a vibrant and thriving country. American based franchises from Burger King to Starbucks, to Papa Johns Pizza were all being patronized at a level beyond what we would see today in the United States. In a large women’s clothing store in downtown Lima we saw people standing in multiple cash register lines 25 deep to pay for their purchases after 8pm on a Thursday evening. A comparable store in America today would be all but vacant at that hour of the week. I did not have time to visit the interior of the country but am planning to organize another trip to Peru later in 2009 with a group of US business owners where we will take the time to explore the business opportunities throughout Peru.
For those American’s who would like to seriously consider possible business opportunities in Peru the best resource is the American Chamber of Commerce of Peru aka AMCHAM www.amcham.org.pe The American Chamber of Commerce of Peru is an independent non-profit organization founded on January 17, 1968 to represent American, Peruvian and foreign companies. Its membership includes 2500 individuals who represent over 500 companies, whose sales account for 60% of the GDP of Peru. AMCHAM provides a “Matchmaking Service” that connects interested parties wanting to engage in business to or from Peru.
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