What makes Costa Rica talent so special?

By: Gina Solari
Director of Transitions & Communication – Intertec International

Costa Rica is well known for our beaches, volcanoes, breathtaking landscapes and our “green eco-friendly” efforts as we proudly host 5% of the worlds biodiversity. What many might not know, is that Costa Rica’s economy drastically changed with the arrival of Intel’s operation to our country in 1996, when they decided to establish a cutting-edge chip assembly factory as well as support several regional back office processes for their North and Latin American business centers.

This important milestone created for our country the opportunity to showcase our talent to the world, and by the early 2000’s close to a dozen multinational companies began pioneering what is known today as Costa Rica’s high-tech services industry. Flash forward to 2018 and over 200 companies both multinational and locally owned operations are exporting their services in diverse and sophisticated areas of finance and accounting, engineering, research & design, supply chain, back office, contact center, software architecture & development and digital marketing just too name a few.

This sector employs over 50,000 people and has fostered an environment of tech-savvy, multilingual and fast learning individuals that thrive knowing their work supports companies and consumers from all over the world. Costa Rica’s story in this sector has surprised many, yet with a workforce of 2.3 million our country has a long history of policy development and investment in two critical areas for social and economic growth which are: Education and Healthcare.

Such advancements in these areas have allowed Costa Rica to lead the region in terms of quality and availability in their education system, surpassing bigger economies and populations of countries such as Chile, Colombia and Argentina. To understand why education is so ingrained in the Tico culture it’s important to mention that the first democratically elected president in 1825 was a school teacher. For over a century the quest to make Costa Rica a literate country has been in place and because of that today our country also has one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America with 95% of our population able to read and write and in more recent years they commonly do so in more than language.

Did you know the average life expectancy of a Tico is 90 years old? Many attributes our high quality of life to the “pura vida” mantra we all live by, but the reality is our free and accessible health care system plays a huge part in our social systems structure, which aims to provide all Costa Ricans with a long, thriving and productive life.

The grouping of these elements is what has made companies all over the world chose Costa Rica to outsource many of their critical and regional IT and Business Process functions. According to CINDE (Costa Rica’s foreign direct investment agency) the evolution and diversification of these processes has enabled companies to have in our country teams providing support in over 10 different languages. According to Tholons, it is no wonder Costa Rica for several years now has held the #1 spot and ranked as the best country to have an Outsourced operation in.  So if quality of talent is the key driver in your projects and goals for 2018, feel free to contact us to learn more about Costa Rica and our advantages.