Haiti has its business advantages: Millions of young talented people who need jobs; the lowest wage in the Caribbean-labor costs; creativity is one of the strongest asset of the Haitian people because of its rich culture; a great tourism potential; proximity to the US market; some tax incentives, especially in trading with the US; low competition in many industries; and numerous other advantages.

While Haiti presents a lot of business opportunities, operating a business in Haiti is still challenging.

Leslie Gervais, business and financial consultant in Haiti with over two decades of experience working with local banks and businesses, says that the business environment in Haiti is really a reflection of the living environment.

Some of the major factors impacting both the quality of life and the business operations are related to infrastructure--the cost and quality of electricity service, the condition of the roads, and cost of communications.

Electricity service

Cost and quality of electricity service have a wide impact on the quality of life and the business operations.

Electricity is not widely available in Haiti. According to USAID, prior to 2010 only an estimated 25% of the population had access to electricity services. In Port-au-Prince, electricity was available on average only 10 hours per day, and half the population was illegally connected to the power grid. This situation impacts the population at large, interrupting many activities that rely on the use of electricity.

Electricity cost in Haiti is the most expensive in the region at 32 US cents per KW. According to the World Bank’s "Doing Business 2012" report, the price to connect a warehouse to electricity in Haiti is exorbitant for the local population estimated at about 4000% in per capita income. In the region the cost is up to 600% in per capita income.

How does it impact businesses? Besides the installation and monthly electricity usage costs, businesses have to invest heavily in back-up systems, additional generators to cover the times when there is no electricity provided by the state. All these costs add tremendously to the operational costs of many businesses.

"This alone is a major obstacle to investment because the energy also is the direct reflection of quality of life. This is a country that should be working 24 hours a day. Haiti should never be closed at night, people should be going to school at night, people should be working at night because you have so many things to do and so many needs to satisfy, in a limited time. You have to triple your rhythm," says Gervais.

The government announced reforming this sector as one of its priorities.

Communications

In the last few years, Haiti has advanced a lot in terms of mobile connectivity and usage. Since 2005, when Digicel entered the cell phone market, the competition increased the service quality and lowered the cost. According to Centre de Facilitation des Investissements (Center for the Facilitation of Investments) in Haiti a third of the population is subscribed to mobile phone services. 

However, the cost of this service is still very high. "The cost of communications is extraordinary," sais Gervais. On a regular basis the cell phone and Internet services cost his consulting company 500 US Dollars a month, easily. "To me that's a lot of money to be spent. I can cover it, but for a small business that depends a lot on the Internet, that can be costly," says Gervais.

Roads

The state of roads makes businesses spend more money on transportation. While a small car will do in regular metropolitan areas of more developed countries, in Port-au-Prince, because of the state of the roads, businesses need to buy bigger cars. For the same reason vehicle maintenance cost is also much higher.

Be honest, pay your taxes

There is still a lot of work to be done in improving the country's infrastructure, living conditions, and ease of doing business. In order to do that the Haitian government needs to invest billions of dollars. There is one way that every Haitian and every business in Haiti can help the country and themselves: Pay their taxes and contribute to the country's budget. Right now tax evasion is very common in Haiti.

"The authority of the state of Haiti cannot be done through only the sheer presence of military people or police officers. It also indirectly has to be in the inherent values that the leaders, the elite shows. There is nothing more important than what you would call moral authority. This is one of the major things that has to be recuperated. People who were elected, people who've been captains of industries, top professionals, the elite, whether it's intellectual, financial, economic, or religious, they have to be the monument of the change we want in Haiti.  Their general attitude, their transparency, their position s­­­­hould be consistent and it comes to simple things, such as, pay your taxes," says Leslie Gervais.