Start a Business Abroad Love to travel? Look abroad for new entrepreneurship opportunities.
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Forget studying abroad--Amanda Knauer wanted to take the overseas experience a step further. This adventurous American packed up and started a business in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Knauer, 25, had the entrepreneurial bug but felt that starting up in the U.S. was too expensive. She did some research and, with a recommendation from a friend familiar with Argentina, took the leap. She landed in Buenos Aires in late 2004, and by early 2005 she had started Qara Argentina, a luxury leather goods manufacturing company. "I came to Argentina looking for my opportunity," she recalls. "The beauty of the leather inspired me, and I saw it as an entryway into this world [of entrepreneurship]." It hasn't been easy, she notes-even though she speaks Spanish, she had to learn local language inflections as well as a new set of local laws.
H. David Hennessey, a professor of marketing at Babson College, says research is key to starting a company abroad. "Know the size of the market and the needs of the consumer," he says, adding, "With the internet, it's easier to get [that information]."
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