COSTA RICA

by A DA M B R UN S I N V E S T M E N T R E P O R T
 C O S T A R I C A I N V E S T M E N T
INTRODUCTION
I
n an April 2019 update, the
World Bank observed that Costa
Rica now has become an upper
middle-income country based
on steady economic growth over 25
years. “This growth resulted from an
outward-oriented strategy, based on
the openness to foreign investment and
gradual trade liberalization,” the World
Bank reported. Costa Rica’s GDP per
capita has tripled since 1960, and grew
an average of 4.5% each year between
2000 and 2013, compared to the regional
average of 3.8%.
One of the main drivers has been
a parallel escalation of value found
by corporate investors, and value-add
by the Costa Rican workforce. That´s
why companies begin by assessing the
deployment of certain processes and end
up integrating end-to-end solutions in
this single site. Amazon, Intel and P&G
are among the multinationals fitting that
description, and now employ thousands
in Costa Rica. More than 300 high-tech
multinationals operate in the land of
pura vida.
Costa Rica has made the global
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R E P O R T :
KNOWLEDGE
top 5 and been ranked No. 1 in the
Americas for number of jobs created
per 1 million people. It’s a preferred top
10 destination for knowledge-intensive
services including cloud computing and
cybersecurity, but also digital creative
such as AR and VR. FDI inflows have
grown by an average of 10.3% every year
since 2003.
Ready for a Challenge
The World Bank also noted Costa
Rica has the lowest poverty rate in Latin
America and the Caribbean, while
being the only tropical country in the
world that has reversed deforestation.
The country appears to be one of those
magical places where companies,
communities and the environment
can thrive simultaneously and
interdependently. But it’s not magic. It’s
hard work. And rather than rest easy like
its huge numbers of tourists, the country
aims to reach the next level through
strategies that leverage its dynamic scale
to provide a collaborative environment
for client-centered solutions, becoming in
ideal testing ground.
At the heart of the Americas, Costa
Rica is a clear platform for FDI. Its
openness to trade is reflected in a robust
list of free trade agreements that provide
preferential access to two-thirds of the
world´s markets including the U.S.,
China and the EU. But its sustainable
development leadership globally is
increasingly an element which is driving
several of the world´s leading companies,
including RE100´s and CE100´s, to see
Costa Rica as their partner for success.
The country produces 99% of its energy
from renewable sources and during
2018, it ran 300 straight days on clean
energy alone.
The larger goal? To not only reduce
traffic congestion, but to decarbonize
the transportation system, with a goal
of leaving fossil fuels entirely behind by
2050. A National Decarbonization Plan
calls for electric passenger and freight
trains in service by 2022. Costa Rican
First Lady Claudia Dobles, an architect
and urban planner by profession who
was recently recognized among Fortune´s
Top 15 world greatest leaders, is leading
the charge.
 Costa Rica is a fantastic option because of the
agility of the country — 5 million people, a
progressive government, and dedicated to achieving
sustainability in the widest sense. They are proactive,
creative, ready to take risks and super-engaged.”
— Simona Maschi, Co-Founder and Director, Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design

Costa Rica is increasingly known and incentivizing private investment the first location for the Interaction
not only for its free zones, but its Blue in R&D, as well as matchmaking Design Programme outside of
Zone — a designation conferred by between researchers and private firms. Denmark because the country is
demographers on six world regions home to a staggering 6 percent of the
known for human longevity. In People Are the Reason world’s biodiversity,” said CIID. Co-
Costa Rica, that zone is found on Costa Ricans already are known Founder and Director Simona Maschi
the Nicoya peninsula in the province for delivering services abroad in 13 says CIID has evolved from creating
of Guanacaste, where Chanel, languages. But the Costa Rican innovation for people to where “we
among others, is taking advantage government announced a strategy now stand for life-centered innovation
of what the BBC calls the region’s in 2018 to make Costa Rica a truly — human beings, but also plants
“amazing biodiversity, commitment to bilingual country, setting English and animals. In this transition, we
sustainability and high-tech uptake.” as a national priority. Building on a have explored Costa Rica as a natural
Costa Rica’s National Plan of globally respected education system second home after Copenhagen.”
Science and Technology 2015-2021 that includes 62 universities and 223 They’re not the only ones who feel
focuses on the seven critical areas of technical high schools, the initiative at home in Costa Rica. As the nation’s
earth & space science; nanotechnology has a strong chance of achieving its ambitious, visionary plans come to
and new materials; biotech; natural goal quickly and effectively. fruition with the same diverse and
resources; clean tech; digital tech An outside perspective always helps. robust results as its flora, fauna and
and health, with goals that include Just ask the Copenhagen Institute of enterprises, Costa Rica may well find
increasing to 50% the percentage Interaction Design (CIID). its next level among the elite and
of firms with innovation activities “We have chosen Costa Rica as model nations of the world.

Costa Rica’s future workforce is set to be one of

the most educated in Latin America and globally

Note: Numbers inside bars shows global ranking, out of 140 countries.
Source: Source: World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey. The Global Competitiveness Report 2018. SITE SELECTION MAY 2019 3
 C O S T A R I C A
CORPORATE SERVICES
Western Union knows the value of Costa Rican
talent in adding value to global services.
W
hen a company has a 13%
share of a $689 billion
market, by any definition
it’s a healthy chunk
of change. To be precise: $90 billion
and change.
Two years ago, that was Western
Union’s share of the global remittances
market, whereby individuals move
money between countries and currencies.
Latin American countries historically
have been among the most active
remittance recipients, which was part
of the reason Western Union (WU)
decided 21 years ago to launch a Latin
American Regional Operations Center
(LAROC). The choice came down to
two countries.
“We almost chose Panama as the site
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I N V E S T M E N T R E P O R T :
THE MONEY
for LAROC over Costa Rica,” said Dan
Marostica, global head of Consumer
Protection Compliance and the very
first LAROC site leader, as recounted
in a December 2017 blog by Jacqueline
Molnar, chief compliance officer/board
chair, Western Union Foundation.
But Costa Rican President Jose María
Figueres signed a letter stating that any
site Western Union established would
be a free trade zone, thus making
LAROC the first service-free trade
zone in Costa Rica. “In April 1998, at
a formal gathering of Western Union
executives and Government officials at
the Casa Presidencial, President Figueres
announced that Western Union would
establish an operating center in Costa
Rica,” Molnar wrote.
Today that center in San José has
grown from 30 employees to a Global
Shared Services Center of Excellence,
with 1,400 employees and plans to
hire more. Overseeing the operation is
Erick Van der Laat, vice president of
accounting and controller, and Western
Union’s regional director of operations
for Latin America. He came to WU 11
years ago after helping P&G expand
in Costa Rica and then working in
international corporate auditing for
KPMG in South Florida.
But like many who have spent time
in Costa Rica, he wanted to come
back. He’d married a Costa Rican, and
they wanted to settle there. He joined
WU at a time when the operation was
transitioning from a 35-person contact
center to a full-fledged 700-employee
global services center.
“When I joined, it was to bring
accounting and finance functions to Costa
Rica,” Van der Laat says, led by transaction
settlement tasks from the United States. “At
the same time, we had other organizations
growing, such as credit and collections and
compliance,” he says, as keeping the global
money transfer business free of fraudsters
and criminals was taking on increasing
importance. A sister site sprang up in
Lithuania, and the Costa Rica site quickly
grew to employ 1,300. Some local leaders
worried when the site then outsourced
many of its call center jobs, bringing
payroll back to around 800.
But Van der Laat says counting jobs
was an “incorrect” measure of
success. A better metric, he says,
was “the opportunity to bring in
higher-responsibility, higher-
level jobs to the center.” Before
another two years had gone by,
the site again had grown to 1,300
employees.
Erick Van der Laat
Robotic Process Automation
(RPA) Development Adds Value
Without Subtracting Jobs
When the LAROC first opened, it was
amid a services boom that also featured
big investments from such companies as
Intel and P&G, all drawn initially by Costa automation and better onboarding
Rica’s cost-competitive labor force.
“The arbitrage was huge. The savings
were huge,” Van der Laat says. That
advantage still exists, but to everyone’s
benefit, Costa Rica today is beyond low-
cost to deliver a boutique, productive
and high-performance solution. For
Western Union, around five years ago,
that important value-add took the form
of increased digital services that went
beyond the company’s 500,000 retail agent
locations globally.
“We created a team in Costa Rica that
would help us understand how to identify
customer behaviors so we can strengthen
the logic of our risk engine,” he says.
“Many other things have happened. But
that was one of the greatest evolution
points of our history. We moved from back
office to front-facing revenue generation. It
was not the dollars we were saving, but the
intelligence we were gaining.” The CINDE Job Fair over
Another turning point came three years
ago, when WU started implementing
14 years has brought
lean practices, all focused on pleasing together more than
the customer at the same time as the
team is learning from that customer. The 100,000 people to
center isn’t just delivering on its KPIs, but
learning from customer behavior in order
match the country’s
to innovate. best companies with the
“We can only make innovation occur
with the most talented individuals, and
best Costa Rican talent.
the most engaged workforce,” says Van der
Laat. “We invest in our talent, in having a
safe and amiable environment.”
The Costa Rican center is also
developing RPA, but rather than inciting
fear for employees’ jobs, “they
are only helping us do more and
greater things,” he says. “Now
we have over 90 robots executing
around 50 different processes
for functions around the world,
saving us around 17,000 hours of
non-value-added tasks per month.
It has not resulted in anyone being
separated from their jobs, and
we’ve seen an improvement of work-life
balance for our employees.”
It also increased retention, with attrition
dropping from around 30% four years ago
to around 13% today thanks to strategic
practices for new employees, who often
come to the company straight out of Costa
Rica’s esteemed high schools. Connecting
better with the new talent has also meant
refreshing WU leaders’ ideas — something
the collaborative business environment
and open demeanor of Costa Rica only
encourages.
A new onboarding concept, created
in Costa Rica with collaboration from
Lithuania, has been shared with other
locations in Mexico and Argentina, and has
spawned engagement committees on topics
ranging from organizing special events to,
following Intel’s model nearby, which has
also established a data science team — a
perfect example of benefiting from Costa
Rica’s strong knowledge services cluster.
And it’s all happened at normal wage levels.
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Western Union started
operations in Costa
Rica in 1998 with 35
employees, employs
1,385 employees
today and aims to hire
200 more in 2019.
8 MAY 2019 SITE SELECTION
“The other thing I find interesting and
beneficial is they can use the technology
better than anyone else,” Van der Laat says
of the young newcomers. “Sometimes, we
just let them create.”
Talent Comes From a Unique
Education Ecosystem
Costa Ricans are know for their wit,
creative and innovative drive, and WU has
certainly leveraged this, gaining rewards for
company and employees alike. This valuable
skill in the knowledge economy being taken
into account for their next expansion, as
the company recently announced plans
to strengthen LAROC by hiring for 200
more positions in 2019. Some of the hiring
process was carried out during a Job Fair
in February, organized by CINDE - The
Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency.
“The diversity and richness of Costa
Rican human talent have been a key
element in the consolidation of the
regional operations center of Western
Union in Costa Rica, 20 years after its
establishment,” said Roberto Golcher,
regional manager of talent acquisition for
WU’s Latin America division. “For Western
Union, CINDE Job Fair is the platform
that connects our collaborators and leaders
with the greatest diversity of talent in
Costa Rica.”
Van der Laat reminds us where that
talent comes from.
“Something every single Costa Rican
is very proud of is the fact that there is no
army in the country,” he says, noting the
precedent set by Costa Rican President
José Figueres Ferrer in 1948 when he
ceremonially broke a mallet to officially end
the military and devote all those funds to
education and health care instead. “With
education, it’s not only free, but mandatory.
Every single kid has the obligation to go
to school. The strongest universities in
Costa Rica are almost free … In Costa
Rica a lot of people go to university. It’s
very accessible and affordable.” And it
often follows attendance at a technical high
school with a focus on accounting, IT or
customer service.
The young Costa Rican, Van der Laat
says, “is highly educated, and eager to grow
and continually learn. It’s up to us to keep
them motivated and challenged. The talent
is different here. When I walk the floors
here and in other locations when I travel,
it’s a different dynamic. There is more
cooperation, a greater desire to fix issues
and discuss the relevant topics. That is not
always happening every place.”
Time to Be Human
Nor is gender equality, which Van der
Laat is proud to say is nearly achieved
with a 50/50 split at LAROC, part of
an awareness of women’s leadership
potential that goes all the way to the top in
Costa Rica.
At LAROC, Van der Laat says he sees the
last vestiges of the old “machoistic” society
falling away, as he sees women routinely
exceeding expectations, growing stronger
and more assertive in their roles, and
moving up the ladder without preference or
favoritism.
“By them sharing that on a daily basis,
along with the other 80,000 people
employed in the shared services business, I
think this is how we are impacting society,”
he says. “Because we will no longer accept
the disparity as something that is okay.
Instead we are raising our voices and
demanding equality.”
Van der Laat says the differences between
Americans and Costa Ricans are striking.
“For Costa Ricans it’s very important to
know the people you are working with,”
he says. “When you try to do a happy hour
after work, it’s very forced in the U.S. —
it’s almost like a meeting ... In Costa Rica,
people want a relationship. Right off the
bat, that creates a very different dynamic.
You’re not working with a stranger.
“It triggers a whole different culture,” he
continues. “A former U.S. colleague saw me
taking one-hour breaks for lunch and said,
‘Isn’t that wasted time?’ ‘No, it’s recharging,’
I said. I disconnect from my job. We can
get beyond just talking about the weather,
because I know what you like to do on the
weekends, how your mom is doing, how the
fishing was.
“It’s a very different dynamic,” he says,
“which I have not observed anywhere else
in the world.”
 C O S T A R I C A I N V E S T M E N T
HIGH TECH & ELECTRONICS
erardo Chaves
Rodriguez is
Costa Rica
general manager
for Qorvo
(formerly
Triquint), a U.S.
semiconductor
company that
provides high-
performance
radio frequency solutions for
advanced wireless devices, defense
radar and communications.
He says the company, which
employs more than 8,000 worldwide,
entered the Costa Rica market a
decade ago as it took advantage of
the rapidly growing smartphone
market, and has grown dramatically
since. In response to market
demand, the company has tripled its
manufacturing capacity in Costa Rica.
Asked why the Costa Rica location
makes sense not only for assembly, but
for testing, he says, “The know-how
in the manufacturing and excellent
execution over the years has made
the company think of the Costa Rica
operation as a logical place to invest
and grow. This, added to the excellent
business climate in Costa Rica, makes
it a no-brainer decision.”
Qorvo’s business mission is
connecting the world. So how well
does he think Costa Rica’s business
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ecosystem is connected to the world?
“This is one of the strengths of
Costa Rica environment,” he says.
“Supply chain connections, network
infrastructure and telecom, logistics
infrastructure, and a political
environment that promotes the
attraction and incentives for foreign
investment, added to the strategic
geographical position, make Costa
Rica an ideal place for business
development.
Two-Way Street
Just as important are the
ways the country’s people make
connections, thanks to a globally
respected education system, talent
pipeline system and multilingual
capabilities. Asked how Qorvo taps
into and cultivates that talent, Chavez
Rodriguez says human resources are
one of the key points for Qorvo’s
strategic growth.
“Qorvo has found a breeding
ground for innovation and new
technology development,” he says.
“We are committed to the knowledge,
talent growth and development
of our workers. Top talent is
recognized with incentives, creating
a culture of constant improvement
and development. Qorvo provides
scholarships to talented employees
who want to develop careers in the
core business. Additionally, English
classes are provided for key employees
who require English-speaking skills
improvement. This is part of our social
responsibility to our employees.”
The company is rewarded in turn.
“We are recognized for excellent
execution and performance,” he says.
“We compete head to head with larger
Qorvo operations around the world.
Qorvo Costa Rica has been leading
Assembly and Test technologies in
the company for many years. Now
the market is evolving into new
technologies.”
Chavez Rodriguez considers
the Costa Rican lifestyle highly
evolved too.
“I can highlight the excellent
work/life balance that give the
possibility for people to grow in the
work environment without losing
the possibility of sharing quality
personal life time,” he says. “The
salary levels are good enough to allow
personal growth projects outside the
companies. In my case, I love to ride
motorcycles, and I can ride across the
country and enjoy this hobby without
limits. Many other people I know have
developed their own activities such
as hiking, sports and many others,
thanks to the free time provided by
convenient work schedules. I love to
travel with my family to know new
places — all thanks to the possibilities
I have found with this company.”
 C O S T A R I C A I N V E S T M E N T R E P O R T :
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

To the Stars
Ad Astra Rocket Company’s innovations are
important to transport on this planet too.

12 MAY 2019 SITE SELECTION

 W
hen Costa Rica
President Carlos
Alvarado Quesada was
driven to inauguration
ceremonies for him and his cabinet in
May 2018, the vehicle delivering them
to Democracy Square in downtown
San José was Central America’s first
hydrogen fuel cell electric urban bus,
named Nyuti. The name means “star”
in the language of the Chorotega
people of northwestern Costa Rica,
where the bus’s manufacturer Ad Astra
Rocket Company (AARC) has an
operation in Liberia, Guanacaste.
Known for its national parks,
cowboy heritage and dormant
Miravalles Volcano, the region
could soon be better known as a key
player in the green and advanced
manufacturing economies, thanks
to Ad Astra.
The bus was part of a hydrogen
ecosystem demonstration partnership
led by Ad Astra to validate and
measure hydrogen as a carbon-free
fuel, generated from renewable water
and Costa Rica’s clean and abundant
domestic electricity sources such as
solar and wind.
The public-private partnership
with Costa Rica’s Development Bank
System includes companies such as Air
Liquide; vehicle specialist US Hybrid
Corporation; global engine innovator
Cummins Inc.; and Relaxury S.A.,
a subsidiary of Costa Rica’s Purdy
Motor S.A, which operates the bus for
the partnership.
“Costa Rica has made excellent
progress in de-carbonizing its electric
grid, or about 30% of its energy
needs,” said Franklin Chang Díaz,
chairman and CEO of Ad Astra and
a former astronaut, last May. “The
other 70%, which lies primarily in
the transportation sector, remains to
be done, and hydrogen could help us
bridge that gap and become the first
country to achieve total independence
from carbon-based fuels. The new
government’s clean energy and de-
carbonization commitment gives us
hope that, through teamwork and
focus on a common vision. we could
achieve a national objective in a short
time. This extraordinary achievement,
obtained by a young team of Costa
Rican engineers and technicians,
demonstrates the great potential of our
youth to lead in advanced technology
projects of high social, economic and
environmental impact.”
Catalyst for Transitions
The development of the hydrogen
ecosystem, initiated by Ad Astra
in 2011, has generated valuable
new skills, technological “know-
how” and operational expertise to
the nation, making it an industry
pioneer in renewable hydrogen as a
transportation fuel.
Ad Astra, a U.S. corporation with
its HQ and main lab located in
Webster, Texas, near NASA’s Johnson
Space Center, is the developer of the
VASIMR® (Variable Specific Impulse
Magnetoplasm Rocket) engine, an
advanced plasma space propulsion
system aimed at the emerging in-
space transportation market. Its only
other R&D subsidiary is in Costa
Rica, where the company employs 14
engineers, all from Costa Rica, and
where the team generated its first
plasma in 2006.
AARC also owns and operates Ad
Astra Energy and Environmental
Services (AASEA), which in turn has
an operation in Costa Rica under
the same name that is working on
developing the renewable energy
infrastructure in Costa Rica and across
Central America by offering wind
power, energy storage and waste-to-
energy solutions. It’s through AASEA’s
lab and a partnership with EARTH
University and Cummins that work
also has progressed on a new type of
portable electric generator based on an
internal combustion engine fueled by a
mixture of biogas and hydrogen.
Asked how he would evaluate the
workforce development and skills base
in Costa Rica, Juan Del Valle, Ad
Astra’s operations director in Costa
Rica, notes that the country “already
has a record of hosting advanced
manufacturing facilities, particularly
in the areas of medical devices,
advanced electronics and a nascent
aerospace cluster of tier-2 and tier-3
companies. The success of the country
for attracting these investments is
partly due to the availability of an
educated, English-speaking workforce,
and a good coordination [among]
the government-backed investment
agencies, the local universities and the
manufacturing companies.
“As our country transitions to
a service- and knowledge-based
economy,” he says, “advanced
industries where high value-added
products are created will be essential to
our development.
Blue Zone Leadership
How does the company’s
earthbound high-tech division fit in
with the national decarbonization
strategy? And how might this can lead
to innovation, economic development
and job creation in this arena?
“For over nine years, Ad Astra’s
Costa Rica facility has been developing
clean energy technologies with the aim
of replacing fossil fuels in key sectors
of the economy, especially heavy-duty
transportation and public transit,” Del
Valle explains. “This effort pre-dates
Costa Rica’s recent announcement of
a National Decarbonization Strategy,
a policy which we welcome and
fully support.
“The region of Guanacaste, where
Ad Astra is located, already produces
over 40% of Costa Rica’s clean
electricity,” he explains, “and we
believe it is on the road to become
a regional hub for the development
and commercialization of sustainable
technologies. The province offers
the infrastructure, transportation
links and amenities required to
host a diverse array of companies
based on advanced technologies and
manufacturing.”
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 C O S T A R I C A I N V E S T M E N T
DIGITAL & SERVICES
INTO TECH?
THEN CR IS FOR YOU
Meteoric is the best word to describe the
growth of Costa Rica’s services economy.
I
n 2000, Costa Rica counted
three contact centers from Sykes,
Amadeus and Equifax; and three
shared services operations from
P&G, L.L. Bean and Western Union.
Today? That tally has ballooned
to 157 companies, including a shared
services center from Fortune 500 No.
1 Walmart. Moreover — befitting a
land known for its ecological diversity
— the roster also now includes one of
the largest cybersecurity centers for
IBM globally; engineering & design
centers from Emerson and Intel; a
digital tech center from Akamai;
digital services centers from Accenture
and Possible; and regional offices
from the likes of Bayer, PolyOne and
ThermoFisher Scientific.
“The Costa Rican services sector
continues the dynamism shown
during 2018 as we enter 2019,”
said CINDE Managing Director
Jorge Sequeira said at an expansion
announcement by Neustar in
February. “During 2018, companies
in the Costa Rican services sector
generated more than 3.000 jobs.”
According to data from CINDE
and Costa Rica’s central bank, service
exports from FTZs grew at an average
rate of 16% every year from 2009 to
2015. The digital technologies labor
force is growing at 6.8% annually.
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The number of IT graduates has
grown at an annual rate of 5.6% and
the number of engineering graduates
has grown at an annual rate of 6%.
Perhaps most impressively, Costa Rica
graduates 74 engineers per 100,000
inhabitants, while India graduates 57
and the United States 55.
Among recent projects:
Digital technology company
Akamai in March 2019 inaugurated
a new facility on three floors at Roble
Corporate Center that consolidates
its various Costa Rican operations
while also expanding its global
services. Established in the country
in 2012, Akamai expects to grow its
300-employee center by up to 30% by
the end of 2019.
“Costa Rica is well-known for its
highly qualified human talent,” said
CINDE Chairman of the Board
Eric Scharf. “Our commitment is to
continue supporting companies like
Akamai to continue growing in our
country and to keep attracting other
new enterprises that bring qualified
opportunities to Costa Ricans.”
Amazon now employs more than
6,000 in Costa Rica, including
teleworking positions employing
around 600 from remote locations
around the country, providing services
and support for Amazon Web Services
(AWS) and for software development.
According to the LinkedIn bio of
Alejandro Filloy, general manager
for Amazon’s Costa Rica subsidiary,
“The Costa Rica operations, which
consistently attains top-tier rankings
for performance within the Amazon
ecosystem, has emerged as the
country’s third-largest employer with
substantial growth planned in the
immediate future.” Amazon opened
a software development center in
Costa Rica in 2014 and serves several
of its business units including AWS,
Kindle, Amazon.com and Amazon
Media Group.
Neustar, Inc., a provider of
real-time information services, has
announced it will expand its business
footprint and workforce in STEM-
related computer and information
services skills as it increases its
employee base. Throughout 2019,
the company intends to hire more
than 50 professionals in technical and
leadership positions in engineering-
related functions and activities.
“Since 2011, we have operated
an office in Costa Rica, and our
experience has proven the market has
a deep pool of strong, well-qualified
tech talent” said Neustar Senior
Vice President of Engineering and
Operations Peter Burke.
 The Accenture Excellence
Center in Costa Rica is a part of
the company’s Global Delivery
Network, delivering strategy, digital,
technology and operations services
from a location in Heredia (near San
Jose). This center serves as a hub for
deployment of best-in-class practices
to other locations globally. Its digital
unit develops Augmented Reality and
Virtual Reality solutions for clients
in Europe and several other locations
across the globe.
IBM in February announced the
company is investing $21 million in
2019 to expand its Global Security
Services Operations Center (SOC)
in Costa Rica, from which security
events are monitored for hundreds
of clients in more than 130 countries.
The expansion at the site in America
Free Zone triples existing capacity.
IBM first launched BPO operations
in 2004. Costa Rica is one of nine
global SOCs IBM operates around
the world, and the prime location for
the Americas. “As the business grows,
the Costa Rica SOC is expected to
take several new workloads,” says
IBM Costa Rica Communications &
Corporate Relations Lead Johanna
Fernández Borrero, “and considering
the skills available and the already
installed capacity, it was decided to
Our office usually sets an example
because of our collaborations with
other offices. It's clear that this is
something that runs in our DNA.”
— René Zuleta, General Manager, POSSIBLE Costa Rica
expand operations in the country.”
IBM continues to work with
universities to cultivate further
cybersecurity skills. Asked which
other factors were important to the
investment decision, she says, “On top
of skills — which is the main factor
in cybersecurity — political stability
and cost effectiveness play a big part
too. Of course the infrastructure is
key in order to maintain a world class
cybersecurity practice running and
operating 24x7.”
Perspectives on Thriving
In a Sweet Spot
Company leaders talked to us
about how and why they’ve evolved in
Costa Rica.
“Experian Costa Rica started
operating in Costa Rica in 2009 with
just over 100 employees,” says Adrian
Sibaja, Experian’s director of service
delivery for Costa Rica and Chile.
“At that time the plans for growth
were unclear. However, over time
we were able to position ourselves
as a strong performing organization
to the point where today we are just
over 1,000 employees and continue
plans to grow.”
The reasons for the site’s selection
by the global consumer credit
company? “Costa Rica was chosen as
a site given the availability of highly
educated talent, economic stability
of the country, time zone friendliness
and the obvious labor arbitrage,”
Sibaja says.
Business leaders have heard for
years about Costa Rica’s outstanding
education system, talent pipeline and
multilingual capabilities. How does
Experian cultivate that talent?
“These characteristics of Costa
Rica are absolutely a value-add to
our operation,” Sibaja says. “Over
time we have developed a talent
acquisition process through the use
of the multiple tools that we have
SITE SELECTION MAY 2019 15
 and a highly capable team. We are very active in
the job market through the different channels
like social media and job fairs while at the same
time using referrals as a strong tool, given that
our own employees are our best talent acquisition
tool. We also work very closely with organizations
like CINDE and university job fairs, and we are
very open to taking in internships where we work
with technical schools and universities bring in
students and develop teams.”
Roles range from call center professionals to
technology and data analytics. And innovations
from those teams often roll out well beyond
the site and even the nation. “An example that
we can share is that our center in Costa Rica
has developed a Center of Excellence in Smart
Automation,” Sibaja says.
In Pursuit of the POSSIBLE
POSSIBLE is a digital agency that is part of
WPP and Wunderman Group and works in
creative, technology, strategy and data science to
help clients strengthen and build trust in brands.
René Zuleta, managing director for the company’s
Costa Rica site, says, “Costa Rica was chosen
primarily as a technology delivery nearshoring
solution based on the high quality of the talent
found here as well as our geographic location that
makes it very easy to work with from a time zone
perspective.”
The site today has just over 100 full-time
Source: World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey. The Global Competitiveness Report 2018.
16 MAY 2019 SITE SELECTION
employees, “and on average we have 130 people
working on projects when we include temporary
employees such as freelancers or local partners
that support us,” says Zuleta, who joined the
company in 2008 when there were fewer than
25 people.
As for skills and the country’s talent reputation,
“POSSIBLE has a strong focus on culture and
our people,” he says. “Almost all of our hires
come from internal referrals. We also work closely
with some of the top universities in Costa Rica
to bring in top students for internships, keeping
many of them once their internship is over. We
also cultivate our relationships with some local
partners, share good practices or collaborate
however relevant in order to bring in highly
talented people whenever needed.”
What do he and his colleagues do for fun?
“Our people participate on a lot of sports on
their own or together,” he says. “For the past five
years we’ve had people participating in a relay race
that starts at midnight in San José and ends at
Puntarenas” on the Central Pacific coast. “Besides
that, we have people who swim, practice jiu jitsu,
mountain bike, do trail running and do CrossFit.
It’s a very active office.”
Zuleta says the telecom, power and other
infrastructure in the country “offers everything
we need at the moment.” In terms of cost of
living, Costa Rica has become a slightly more
expensive place to live and do business compared
to some other LatAm countries, he says. “Our
main competitors in this sense are Argentina and
Brazil. However, Costa Rica continues to be very
competitive due to our high-quality labor, well-
educated people with an amazing attitude that
makes us easy to work with, and a great cultural
fit for the U.S. market.”
Zuleta says the site “is well known within
POSSIBLE as a standout technology hub. That’s
our focus. Our creative, project management
and UX capabilities are well known to focus on
the technology services we provide. Finally, our
office focus is to work as an excellence center
specializing in certain platforms and technologies
within the network.”
That means collaboration across geographies,
time zones and types of people. “Our office
through our people is very well known for its
attitude and collaborative spirit,” he says. “Our
office usually sets an example because of our
collaborations with other offices. It’s clear that this
is something that runs in our DNA.”