Start a business in el Casco

How Can I Make A Living in Casco Viejo?

One of the questions we’re asked most frequently is what business opportunities exist in the Casco.  For most of us, the romance of living in a reviving historic town must be balanced with the reality of earning a decent living.

One route, of course, is to work for an existing business. Casco Viejo residents, both foreigners and nationals, work in a variety of industries throughout the city, including banking, law, technology, constuction and hospitality.  There are also a number of residents employed by the growing scientific and non-profit sector based in the nearby former Canal Zone, such as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, UNICEF and the United Nations. 

The other approach is to start your own business.
The big picture perspective that one must take to this question is that the neighborhood is developing quickly, but it is still in its early stages.  Anyone who has had the good fortune of living in an emerging destination before it became a household name will know that the most fun times are always early in the process, when there is activity and promise, but before things get too commercialized and crowded. 

Here is a quick summary of a few businesses opportunities in the Casco:



Bar, Café & Restaurants: For business owners (particularly restaurant and retail) there is a sweet spot in the evolution of a neighborhood where there is enough traffic to make a profit, but not so much that high rents leave little for the business owners. We think that Casco is just entering that sweet spot. Several of the city’s best bars and restaurants are thriving in the Casco, and they thrive because they have created destinations and do not passively rely on pedestrians to show up at their door.  With the opening of several planned high-end hotels in the coming years, those who have established their niche (and secured multi-year leases) will be in the best position to survive.



Hotel and B&B:  There is quite a bit of demand for lodging in the Casco right now, and we believe that the first small hotels or bed & breakfasts here will do well.  Hotel occupancy in the city is high (80%+ for high-end hotels), room rates are rising and we have solid demand for the nightly rentals we manage.

Mobile Professionals: Some of the happiest residents of the Casco are mobile professionals who moved to Panama but maintained their businesses.  Most of these people are creative professionals (web designers, graphic artists, photographers, journalists), but we even have an attorney with a small firm in New York who is building a house with the idea of telecommuting to meetings. What draws these people (and makes us particularly envious of them!) is that they are able to continue earning Northern fees while having only a Panamanian cost of living.  Because of the high-speed internet, cheap phone rates (less than .07 per minute to the US), inexpensive English speaking workforce and US-dollar economy, we think that there is an excellent opportunity for small web-based and creative businesses to "off-shore" themselves to Panama, just as so many large businesses have done (e.g. Dell’s call centers).