After Treaty of Ryswick was signed by Spain in 1697, more than 40,000 white settlers and halve a million blacks arrived in Haiti, to make the sugar trade a corner-stone of local economy. In 1791, after a successful slave uprising against France, Haitians became the first sovereign nation in Latin America and Caribbeans. Later in history, Haiti had seen multiple coup d'etat and a parade of brutal dictators, such as "Papa Doc" Duvalier with his hideous Tonton Makouts.
First democratic government appeared in Haiti after the Presidential election in February 2006. Today, there are more than 20 political parties in 149-members, bicameral Haitian Parliament - Assemblee Nationale. With that the majority members party has only 13 seats. All of the other parties have only one or two parliamentary members. Traditionally, politics in Haiti is highly personalized.
Haiti is one of the poorest and most unstable nations in the Caribbean. Most of population relies on remittances, subsistence agriculture and foreign aid. This is, clearly, not a friendly place for startups. Investment climate in Haiti has been deteriorating for almost a decade and local entrepreneurs have had very difficult time attracting financing into their projects. Additionally, harsh administrative and legal climates, absence of qualified personnel and outdated telecommunication infrastructure have grossly undermined the growth perspectives of local startup ecosystem.
At the same time, low costs, absence of competition, quick growth of mobile Internet and large expatriate community may be positively exploited by aspiring local high-tech entrepreneurs.
The amount of international remittances in Haiti is reaching $2.4 billion (or more than 30% of GDP) which creates a large market for FinTech startups specializing on e-money transfers. Additionally, there's no legislation in Haiti which restricts use of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies or limits citizen's rights to organize or to participate in ICOs.
Business Notes for Startups Founders:
political climate: not friendly;
economic climate: not friendly;
regions to focus: locally;
industries to focus: FinTech (cryptocurrencies), e-jobs;
major limitations: small economy (GDP is less than $8 billion), GDP annual growth rate is under 2%, 80% of population lives below poverty line (per-capita is less than $800), 40% of labor force is working in subsistent agriculture, very high level of inequality (GINI at 61), excessive level of bureaucratization, lack of infrastructure (fixed Internet penetration rate is less than 15%), feeble legal system, absence of VC and seed financing, deficit of qualified personnel, very high CB interest rate (20%), high inflation (15%);
stimulus: low competition and costs, low trade tariffs, preference trade agreement with USA;
opportunities: to create an e-business aimed at young generation of mobile Internet users in local niches of FinTech (international remittances) and e-jobs;
Cryptocurrencies and ICOs: legal.