President Barack Obama recently made the decision to start normalizing U.S. relations with Cuba, and that move is likely to have a huge impact on both countries. This could even trickle down to small businesses based in the U.S., which will now potentially have a new market into which they might be able to expand.
Perhaps the biggest reason for this is that the U.S. will work with Cuba to broaden internet access among citizens, meaning that people on the island nation will no longer be quite so isolated in terms of interacting with the outside world and, potentially, making purchases with companies large and small across the globe, according to a report from the Huffington Post. However, it’s also going to be critical that companies put themselves in a position to succeed if the trade embargo is indeed lifted.
The first thing that companies will have to do, of course, is look into their current standings, the report said. The fact of the matter is that a lot of companies may still have to improve their more local situations before they try to branch out into any foreign market, however new and exciting it might be. Moreover, they might need to do a significant amount of homework to see if their offerings would benefit or be of interest to Cubans in general, and try to figure out what they can do to help their own causes to gain a foothold in the market.
How can this be done?
The homework here can, of course, be done in a number of ways, including simply reading up on Cuba in economic publications so that they can better understand the nation and its people, the report said. However, that might also include taking the chance to visit the country once the travel restrictions are finally lifted, so that they can see their potential new market firsthand. This might also help to familiarize them with the nation’s understandably small but growing middle class.
Companies that want to position themselves for success in this regard might want to consider the ways in which getting their finances in order can help them. That might include finding more affordable small business insurance – including policies for liability insurance – that could potentially save them as much as a thousands of dollars per year.
