Published Thursday, May 13, 2021

By Adam Bruns
Managing Editor,
Site Selection Magazine

When I asked Holly Sullivan, head of worldwide economic development for Amazon, about places outside the U.S. where the company was looking to ramp up growth, she listed half a dozen places in the world. Costa Rica was one of them.

“How we’re making those decisions is working backwards from the customer,” she said. “Where do we need to continue to double down on that talent opportunity and double down on innovation to exceed our customer expectations?”

Amazon is on its way to employing thousands in locations across Costa Rica, with half of management positions filled by women, and over 1,500 employees working 100% from home outside the San José metro area. It’s followed up with the news that Amazon Web Services will open a new office in San José to support the rapid adoption of cloud computing across Costa Rica.

The e-commerce giant is not alone in its desire to grow innovation and exceed customer expectations. It’s also not alone in choosing Costa Rica as a place to achieve those goals.

In its 2020 Impact Report, released this spring, CINDE — the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency — announced its fifth straight record year for job creation, having welcomed 19,806 new jobs from investors such as AstraZeneca, IBM and Samtec. Those jobs arrived via 81 projects, 26 of which were first-time Costa Rica investors. That means 55 repeat investors. Among the sources of job growth are Coca-Cola and Sykes in the Northern Pacific region; Firestone in Turrialba; Del Monte in the Southern Region; Panduit in the Western Region; and Yellow Pallets, Cocojo and APM Terminals in the Atlantic.

The companies’ countries of origin span the globe: Of the 26 new entries, 14 of them came from non-traditional origins representing 11 different countries such as Japan, Denmark, France, Germany, India, the UK and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Those investors are likely to stick around and grow for a while: The 332 companies supported by CINDE have seen continuous employment growth that in 2020 reached 134,026 jobs, with more than 81,000 of them in services, and 38,248 jobs in the fast-growing life sciences sector.

“Over the years, Costa Rica has become the destination par excellence for nearshoring,” said CINDE Managing Director Jorge Sequeira, noting that manufacturing didn’t skip a beat either. “Our position was reaffirmed during the pandemic thanks to a joint public-private effort that led to an agile and efficient response to ensure business continuity. The country’s connectivity platform was put to the test and 98% of service companies showed that they were able to operate 100% remotely within a matter of days — while still enjoying the benefits of the free trade zone.” That amounted to 70,000 people working from home.

The ability to do that was helped by a modern legal framework that allowed remote work implementation across multinational companies in a record time, and increased mobile penetration reached 148% with 92% being smart phones which is above the U.S. penetration rate. Fiber optics also grew 146% between 2019 and 2020.

Costa Rica also was able to ensure business continuity and avoid business disruption. This response capability was headed by the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Procomer and CINDE through bi-weekly roundtables headed personally by the Minister together with over 26 business chambers to address challenges, provide clear information and collaborate with solutions, a true private-public focus.


“Assurance of this business continuity with a clear rule of law and openness to trade demonstrated multinationals’ trust in Costa Rica as their strategic partner for the new nearshoring,” said Eric Scharf, President of the Board of Directors at CINDE.

Multinationals obviously are buying what Costa Rica’s selling when it comes to FDI attraction. It comes full circle when you examine what the entire world is buying from the land of Pura Vida. According to PROCOMER, Costa Rica closed 2020 with more than $11.6 billion in goods exports, up 2% over 2019 for a new record, even as exports around the world dropped by 9.2%. Leading the way were an 8% jump in precision and medical equipment exports (which represented 34% of exported goods), a 7% increase in exports of corporate services and a 5% increase in ITC services exports.

The nation’s success isn’t measured in numbers alone. In addition to being saluted among the Global Best to Invest investment promotion agencies in this publication for several years CINDE was also voted the world’s best IPA by the International Trade Centre’s comparative evaluation model, and received special recognition from the United Nations for mainstreaming gender in investment promotion.

Equality is one of elements within Costa Rica´s differentiation approach to investment based on “People, Planet, Prosperity” — and its impact to contribute to the corporations’ ESG goals. CINDE’s results reinforce Costa Rica’s contribution and compliance with the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations, and CINDE reports its results’ impact on four main SDGs: Decent Work; Gender Equality; Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; and Quality Education.

“Costa Rica’s commitment to sustainability is our flagship to develop the right conditions for multinational companies that are looking to invest with purpose,” says Jorge Sequeira. No wonder more than 25 members of RE100, an international initiative that brings together more than 100 influential businesses committed to 100% renewable energy, have invested in Costa Rica.

In approving in March 2021 a $1.7 billion arrangement to support Costa Rica’s recovery and stabilization from the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Monetary Fund talked to Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado Quesada about innovation and climate change mitigation being part of the country’s new economic program.

“Boosting productivity requires setting the right conditions for domestic companies to thrive, improving the regulatory framework, and reinforcing our commitment to trade and foreign direct investment, to help companies integrate in global value chains,” the president said. “Competitiveness will also be boosted by stimulating innovation, including among small and medium-sized enterprises, and by reducing infrastructure bottlenecks. We will rely on public-private partnerships to rapidly increase the quality of our road network, and we will also strengthen our digital infrastructure.”

But in Costa Rica — as many say in the U.S. — it’s human infrastructure that will prove to be the strongest girder for prosperity.

“There is an increasing demand for professionals in services, science and technology globally that academic institutions are not managing to fulfill,” the president told the IMF. “We recently approved legislation to strengthen and modernize the National Institute of Learning, so as to better prepare for the fourth industrial revolution.

It couldn’t come at a better time, as this year, on September 15, Costa Rica will celebrate the bicentennial of its independence. The recent success and forthcoming growth spotlighted in the following pages will make that celebration all the sweeter.

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Would you consider the country is leading the way toward the Fourth Industrial Revolution?  We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com