Nicaragua

To make your way around Managua, you need to have a keen knowledge of the local sights and a gut intuition for distance; offices and homes in Managua do not have addresses but rather have spatial coordinates [e.g. kilometer 8 off the road towards Masaya is a side road facing south, 300 metres beyond opposite the gas station].

Starting a business in Nicaragua is much the same way, you need to have keen knowledge of the local business climate (since little market data exists) and a gut instinct for how you can reach your consumers. Being an entrepreneur in Nicaragua is challenging for many reasons, only one of them being how to get your business grounded in a competitive strategy that can be successfully implemented. Yet the rewards of entrepreneurship are plenty; this is something that many Nicaraguans understand and embrace. Just ten days before the application deadline for Pioneers of Prosperity program, 40% of the applications from across the 6 countries were from Nicaragua.

Nicaragua, the Central American country with the most recent memory and the most profound vestiges of socialism, is also shaping up to be the country where the grassroots enthusiasm for the private sector is strongest.

In a business landscape that has been barren of seed capital, an economy where risk was avoided and competition were discouraged, a program like Pioneers of Prosperity, which seeks not only to identify and invest in business owners who are making a difference in their country but also seeks to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs, has tremendous potential to make an impact.

Individuals respond to incentives, and communities follow role models. Pioneers of Prosperity… through rewarding individuals who have built businesses that generate value for their customers, their owners, their workers and the future generations and through shining a light on entrepreneurs who can serve as role models to other business leaders and  the youth…is a grassroots movement become the mainstream.

-Abby Noble
Pioneers of Prosperity