Young entrepreneurs continue to invest in Haiti amid significant challenges

PORT-AU-PRINCE—In 2018, Claudy Barthol, 30, started investing in a vocational training school for youths. His idea was to create a profitable business that would be, at the time, beneficial to young people’s socioeconomic advancement. Although insecurity was already prevalent in Port-au-Prince, it had not yet reached the current level marked by increased gang attacks on civilians and public and private institutions, including schools, contributing to hindering the country’s economic growth. From 2018 to 2024, the young entrepreneur tirelessly worked to establish and maintain his business operations, aiming at equipping young men and women with a profession or trade in an effort to deter them from being forced to join gangs.

Now in its sixth year of service, the Center for Research and Professional Training School (CREP, in French ) hosts 250 students. Based in the commune of Tabarre, about five miles northeast of downtown Port-au-Prince, CREP  has been, in recent months, regularly disrupted by gang violence, which generally affects attendance. However, despite the security challenges, the vocational school continues to offer diverse training programs, including plumbing, refrigeration, tiling and electricity, attracting young people from numerous quarters of the Cul-de-Sac Plain—La Plaine, such as Cazeau, Clercine, Carrefour Fleuriot, Caradeux, Santo, Croix-des-Missions, and others.

It’s a mission to help young people, Barthol says

For Barthol, training young people to equip them with professional and vocational skills to keep them away from gang-related activities is a mission. “Abandoning this mission is out of the question,” he said. Despite the insecurity and related difficulties faced by his business, Barthol remains optimistic and continues to invest his meager resources in youth education in Haiti.

“The motivation to help young Haitians is a mission to which I am committed,” Barthol said. “Despite all the risks I continue to face, I know that I am contributing to society. I will not be discouraged.”

“One day, I wondered how I could be useful to my community, and that’s when I decided to create a vocational school,” Barthold told The Haitian Times via WhatsApp. “Initially, the idea was to assist young girls and boys who wanted to learn a trade but lacked the economic means to do so.”

Thus, in 2018, he launched a small enterprise focusing on professional and vocal training. At that time, the school had only ten students, eight of whom received full scholarships, and the two paid half the tuition. The young entrepreneur recognized that operating that way was only sustainable with outside funding, which he did not have. Nonetheless, he persevered. He did not want to increase the school tuition or make some of the students pay, fearing they might be unable to attend. 

From the beginning, Barthol, a journalist and law student, decided to finance the school with his salary to pay teachers, purchase training materials, and cover other operational costs.

“The story that marked me in this journey is that at the time, I was barely earning 4000 gourdes or just over $30 (USD) per month and had to pay a teacher around 2500 gourdes or about $19 (USD), not to mention purchasing practice materials for students,” he recalled.

Whether it is insecurity or financial, obstacles have not discouraged Barthol, who is launching a new scholarship program in 2024 amid worsening conditions in the commune of Tabarre, especially after the recent escalation of gang violence on February 29. He aims to save as many young men and women as possible from joining gangs so that they can survive. He wants to encourage them to earn a living honestly and without harming others.

“Although nothing seems to be working in the country,” the law student recognizes, “I  am determined not to give up and not to forget all the sacrifices I have already made,” he exclaimed. “It is rewarding to see the school training around 250 young people in manual trades today,” rejoiced Barthol.

The effects of insecurity on small and mid-sized enterprises 

CREP, along with other small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), plays a crucial role in the Haitian economy as a job creator and contributor to socioeconomic vitality across the country. Although there has yet to be any recent data published on these businesses in Haiti, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reported in 2011 that about 10,000 companies were operating in the sector, employing up to 375,000 workers.

These businesses range from all sorts of boutiques to bakeries, beauty salons, pastry shops, printing houses, photo studios, vocational schools, tailors, street vendors and sidewalk stallholders. They operate primarily in the lower segment of Haiti’s goods and services market, spanning the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors of the economy. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) noted at the time that entrepreneurs in this sector often faced challenges in accessing bank credit are required a robust business plan to develop their operations.

On top of financial challenges, the sector is currently threatened by increasing insecurity. While official figures on the impact of gang violence on these businesses are not yet wholly evaluated, the Haitian press has reported numerous acts of looting and vandalism in Port-au-Prince and its surrounding areas. These incidents include the burning of pharmacies and schools on St-Honoré Street, as well as businesses like STICO printing, Informatek, Nicky Purified Water, and MonCash and NatCash offices between Delmas 3 and 18 in March.

Haiti’s economic growth has been affected by a fifth consecutive year of recession in 2023. According to the Haitian Institute of Statistics and Informatics (IHSI) in its “Economic Accounts for 2023“, the GDP, which had already declined by 1.7% in 2022, experienced a further production volume drop of 1.9% in 2023. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached 592.7 billion gourdes—about $4.5 billion (USD) in constant value during the fiscal year 2023, down from 604 billion gourdes—about $5.6 (USD) in 2022. 

According to IHSI data, all three major sectors of Haiti’s economy—primary, secondary, and tertiary—experienced a decrease in their added value during the mentioned fiscal year. The primary sector declined from 101.3 billion gourdes to 95.6 billion, the secondary sector decreased from 142.4 billion gourdes to 137.1 billion, and the tertiary sector dropped from 325.7 billion to 316.2 billion between 2022 and 2023. IHSI indicates that in recent years, besides socio-political disruptions, insecurity has been a major cause of stagnation across nearly all sectors of activity.

Investing in Haiti: A patriotic commitment

As everything shifts amidst the escalating gang violence, Makendy Louis-Juste, 30, a technician specializing in mobile phone repair, is preparing to launch “Zebra Multi Services” in Delmas. He has already invested in various equipment to offer several services, such as photo and jersey printing, copy production, school notebooks, business cards and flyers for all occasions.

“You don’t make a profit without taking risks,” he assessed. Additionally, Luis-Juste sees investing in Haiti during these challenging times as a “patriotic commitment” to bring progress to the country and contribute to local economic development.

“I consider every problem as an opportunity to create solutions capable of bringing a positive change,” Louis-Juste told The Haitian Times. “I believe that each person capable of contributing to the social and economic development of the country is thereby solving a problem.”

Louis-Juste, also a photographer and graphic design specialist, started as a merchant of electronic gadgets such as laptops, phones, and USB drives in 2015 with an investment fund of 15,000 gourdes, or about $114 (USD).

This investment choice aligns with the young entrepreneur’s various academic training. However, he highlights the persistent challenges of maintaining an operational business in Haiti. Louis-Juste remembers the “peyi lòk” turmoil in 2018 when he lost everything he had spent that year in his business.

“Young people investing in Haiti, regardless of the field they are in, require a lot of courage and determination,” the graphic designer said, criticizing the lack of access to financial credit for small businesses in the country. “I always remember this saying: ‘The distance between the dream and reality is action’.”

Stability: The first step in revitalizing the economy and SMEs

Economist Michaëlle Paraison, in an interview with The Haitian Times, estimates that the insecurity climate in Haiti is leading to the bankruptcy of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). She explained that this situation could have a significant impact on the social life and economy of the country, resulting in increased unemployment and a substantial loss of tax revenues for the government. Paraison added that many more households could fall into poverty, and businesses would struggle to maintain their financial liquidity.

“Small and medium-sized enterprises are very useful in society; they are the lifeblood of the economy,” stated the Haitian economist. “Within SMEs, a significant amount of financial flows circulate to increase the economic growth of the country.”

Restoring security in the country is imperative, she believes. 

“Restoring security is the “first step” in reviving economic activities, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, which provide income for people and allow the state to collect taxes. Once stability is achieved, we need a strategic development plan that integrates small and medium-sized enterprises with the aim of economic recovery.”