We have visited many businesses while here in Costa Rica and I have learned so much from all of them. There are some similarities I’ve noticed to how we do business in the US, including punctuality, the expectation of professional attire, along with a friendly demeanor and firm handshake at introduction. While punctuality is not quite as important in everyday life, for business affairs and appointments it is. In an appointment setting it is expected to be starting on time and possibly even early. Expect at the beginning of every meeting for the first 10 minutes or so to be socializing about yourself before beginning on the meeting topic. As I wrote about in my last blog post, waste is minimized as much as possible, especially in business practices and manufacturing. For example, Sibö Chocolate company located in Heredia uses every single part of the Cacao fruit in the making of their chocolate, even if it is not used in the chocolate itself. Sibö values eco friendliness more than anything when developing their business so they wanted to find packaging other than plastic for their chocolates. They also noticed that they had a lot of Cacao husks that were being wasted. To provide a solution for both of these issues, they began to create paper packaging out of the Cacao husks. This practice has inspired competitors to also find an alternative and more eco-friendly way to package their products, resulting in the market as a whole to create less waste.
Being abroad has been one of the best experiences of my life! Throughout this trip I have noticed myself more willing to try new things and just go and do things I normally would be hesitant to do. From trying new foods to swinging on a tarzan rope swing over a canyon in our ziplining excursion! I would highly highly recommend anyone to go abroad if they can!