Expat entrepreneurs drawn to Argentina

live/study abroad — By Bob Riel on August 18, 2006 at 12:23 pm

An alluring cosmopolitan lifestyle combined with low costs have drawn a number of expat entrepreneurs to Buenos Aires in recent years, according to this article.

There’s more to Argentina these days than tango, tourism and tasty beef. Lured here as tourists, adventuresome foreigners are increasingly deciding to stay – launching businesses that offer everything from English tea to pad Thai and even California-style burritos topped with guacamole and spicy salsa.

Despite a crippling 2002 devaluation that saw the peso lose two-thirds of its value practically overnight, eviscerated workers’ savings and sent unemployment and poverty soaring, Argentines never lost their famous predilection for living well.

And with startup costs and wages still low in post-crisis Argentina, entrepreneurs say their savings in dollars, euros and pounds go a lot further here – letting them chase entrepreneurial dreams while reveling in the nation’s cosmopolitan blend of Latin America and Europe.