Costa Rican Talent: The Secret Ingredient

Fernando Cruz, President of the Board of Directors, CINDE • September 10, 2024 • 0 minutes read

Costa Ricans have committed to providing free and universal primary education, secondary education that provides key tools, and quality higher education with public and private options that stand out in Latin America and the world. Additionally, the construction of a robust universal social security system sends a clear message: the most important thing for Costa Rica is our people.

This commitment to the well-being and training of our human capital has been crucial in forging generations of Costa Ricans highly capable of facing the challenges of the global market. We have witnessed and participated in this firsthand at CINDE by introducing hundreds of multinational companies to the country's offerings, at the center of which is a key ingredient: highly qualified human capital with a rapid learning curve.

It fills us with pride to hear a senior representative of a leading global company discuss the reasons for setting up in Costa Rica and reaffirm that the decisions we made in the past were more than correct—they were visionary.

It is also satisfying to stand before an international committee selecting new corporate locations and argue that Costa Rica competes on equal footing in the league of foreign investment and export giants. According to CINDE data, the country hosts over 460 established high-tech companies, including 47 that are part of the Fortune 500 list. These companies have placed their trust in the country, and Costa Rica has risen to the occasion, always aware of the constant challenges that any major player in the big leagues knows to recognize and address promptly.

In this arena, every day the gazelle runs swiftly across the savannah, and the lion likewise prepares to catch it.

This was not the result of chance: During the difficult 1980s, like many export-driven economies, Costa Rica faced severe economic conditions that threatened devastation. Its human capital was the catalyst for a dramatic change in the country's economic structure, attracting foreign direct investment through the creation of CINDE as a coordinator of efforts.

Winston Churchill once said that one should never waste a good crisis. The Costa Rican example confirms the wisdom of his advice. This strategy positioned Costa Rica as an attractive destination for foreign direct investment. Year after year, it is recognized as a leader in its field, and it is clear that we must tighten our engines because the competition is fierce, and other countries do not spare efforts to strengthen their value propositions, legal certainty, security, infrastructure, and employability skills. The secret of a good leader is not to think oneself the
best but to work constantly to become so. Today, we must emphasize this.

With humility, we see a Costa Rica where agricultural products remain important, but to which a list of high-value-added items that have changed our country's productive matrix has been added. Fresh fruits are accompanied by medical devices as main export products.

Part of the success of this scheme has been the national conviction of the importance and benefits of the commitment that was made, and therefore it has been maintained and strengthened over time, regardless of differences in focus and ideology and above the political differences of the day. We must not forget this; the continuity of the State's Foreign Trade policy has made us different, with the participation of the public and private sectors being the gears of this model. One without the other simply does not work. Everyone must be involved.

There is still room to grow and much to do. At CINDE, we see the current challenge of reclaiming leadership in education as another opportunity to strengthen the existing curriculum at all levels, to inject employability skills, to take even more seriously that extended language instruction is indispensable, and that student coverage in high-demand careers and technical specializations must be on a larger scale. We as an organization will continue to contribute from our trench to achieve these goals.

We have no doubt that Costa Ricans continue to share the same conviction: the proper training of our people is the heart of our country's transformation, it is that differentiating ingredient, and it is up to us to develop it.