Opening a company

Hi Luis,

Welcome on board 

I suggest you browse through the Panama Business directory so that you may get some contacts : https://www.expat.com/en/business/centr … ca/panama/

Maybe you will also be needing a certified chartered accountant regarding company laws.

all the very best
Bhavna

Hi Bhavna,

Thanks for your advise.

Have a good day,
Luis

Hi Luis,

I also have plan of moving to Panama. Can you consider me as one of your employees? I'm now a Sales and Marketing Staff here in the Philippines.

Your reply will be very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Angel

I only know of one honest lawyer here, Celma Moncada.  She ought to get a Nobel Prize in Justice.  Its so corrupt here that she has filed a denunciation against a Supreme Court justice.  If you are opening a business here budget in extra 25% or more for bribes.

I know many foreign companies with very nice high quality products
they all tell me that they have to pay so much in bribes to get anything done that's impossible to make any profit
all of them are in the process of leaving panama

Tough1, I completely disagree. I have found many honest people here, including lawyers.

I would add that I have been in business going on 3 years and have never paid a bribe (unless you count a cup of coffee)

One the advantage to have a corporation in Panama is if you are from the 48 friendly country you can have direct path to residency and citizenship.

When I incorporate my corporation I use Pols attorneys, they are really reliable and Honest

Hola Castan...

como te ha ido con el proyecto del negocio electronioc en Panamá?

Saludos.

Hello Fernando,

Can you please write in English is this English speaking forum?

Thank you,
Christine
Expat.com

Hello Christine...

The first good point to open a company in Panama begins to learn the Spanish language and Panamanian environment... that simple.

Thank you.

Panama is only good for big businesses if you want to succeed you need to invest a lot of money. Things are very expensive here even when compared to Europe.
Processes are slow, time and money consuming and will give you lot of headaches.
Another problem is the size of the country. With probably 3.5 million people your customer base is relatively small. Most local people will not be your customers.
Your clients will mostly be the rich people and foreigners or other business people, which means even less people who might be interested in your products or service.
You need to think of panama more like a city then a country which much competition in almost every sector. I met so many people that lost serious amounts of money here and really regret their investments. Please be very careful. Do not let the big shopping centers and skyscrapers deceive you. The economy is not as good as it seems to be.

@ tecnorado
this is very true panama has become an overextended shopping mall
the poor can only afford cheap items
the rich can import or travel abroad when they need some crazy gadgets
go to the malls and observe before you invest anywhere

My advise is, if you really want to start business here, try not to compete with the chinese or other big businesses. As a foreigner you can invest in real estate, build and sell houses, rent apartments, hotels. Maybe find some spot for a good restaurant. But for sure it requires a lot of money.
You need minimum $100 000 dollar to start.  But in my opinion it is not sufficient. The best idea for investment is, check some plots in the city, and build small single room apartments for rent. This should be possible with about $120 000 dollar (not in panama city but in chorrera, arajan, santiago, david, etc).