Searching for best projects.. Opinions Please?

[41southchile]

Yeah actually you are right they screwed it up too with regards to water use, maybe its Israel I am thinking of that can efficiently farm in the desert. I just remember seeing photos of thousands of green circles in a desert, the centre pivots, and yeah checking on Wiki I was right it was Saudi Arabia but this is what they said,
Saudi Arabia is suffering from a major depletion of the water in its underground aquifers and a resultant break down and disintegration of its agriculture as a consequence.[1][2] As a result of the catastrophe, Saudi Arabia has bought agricultural land in the United States.[3][4][5] Argentina,[6] and Africa[7][8][9][10][11] Saudi Arabia ranked as a major buyer of agricultural land in foreign countries.
My bad, I just figured they knew what they were doing with water if they could do that in the desert, turns out like a lot of things in life for everyone, they didnt, ah well you learn something new everyday. By the way, I see Qatar is now milking thousands of cows in the desert too, since they had a blockade put in place, so they are pretty much good now for dairy. Ill keep thinking of other ideas.
Will keep learning too I hope.
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The circles are found here everywhere but its only used for Clover mostly.. but the irrigation system is good and working on electricity, and not complicated... if that system is not found in Chile, then maybe it will work... question... is water available in Chile or no??


Qatar imported milk from Turkey now, and their production is not that large, and remember Qatar has small population and alooot of money
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Yes, fascinating how things play out, you are right it does not have a huge population, Iwas just reading a few things about it over the last few weeks as today is the one year aniversary, Turkey has been a big supporter it seems, but the ironic thing is the blockade instead of hurting them has forced Qatar to make new aliances and become more self sufficient. I mean I know you can do a lot with money but to build a dairy of thousands of cows and have it producing in less than a year is still impresive.
Back to Chile, depends on where you are in Chie, water is avaliable, but is badly allocated and distributed and the whole system needs an overhaul.
Anyway back to Chile

[Aymen]

let back to Chile...

I'm planning to visit most or all Chile's main regions during my 2 months visit and i'll try to meet any business consultant firm who can advice me about different kinds of projects or even small farms that I can purchase or be partner with its owner... I'm not planning to invest big amount of money now... may be small-medium project just to know the culture and the business to provide good business case to my partners. then when they come to invest in Chile i'll add my money with them.... its always good to put your money with big people...they rarely lose..

[rocksana]

I found your question interesting and some of the answers too.
It is true that Chileans are not too keen on trying new foods. However, more and more middle class Chileans travel abroad and come back with new tastes. I would not say they become foodies all the sudden but there is a certain "proto-foodie" trend (I think mainly thai sort of food and indian but without spices... you will find a lot on this forum on Chileans and spices...)

Dates are not popular at all. But, increasingly popular tendencies are:
-gluten free stuff (quite expensive in Chile and the offer still quite poor)
-vegan stuff or veggie friendly
-protein stuff
-organic stuff

I think your dates qualify for all. But I also think perhaps you would have a chance if you introduce them in a more processed fashion, or simply if you market to those people.

Regarding perfumes I think it could be a very good idea. People definetily like perfumes, and it is very common for lower middle class for example, to buy cheap perfumes.
I remember seeing in an area called Patronato (where the enterpreneurs are mainly immigrants from Asia and Middle East), there are stores exclusively dedicated to imitation perfumes.

I am interested in following, how you end up managing in Chile. I hope you keep posting

Good luck

[Aymen]

I found your question interesting and some of the answers too.
It is true that Chileans are not too keen on trying new foods. However, more and more middle class Chileans travel abroad and come back with new tastes. I would not say they become foodies all the sudden but there is a certain "proto-foodie" trend (I think mainly thai sort of food and indian but without spices... you will find a lot on this forum on Chileans and spices...)

Dates are not popular at all. But, increasingly popular tendencies are:
-gluten free stuff (quite expensive in Chile and the offer still quite poor)
-vegan stuff or veggie friendly
-protein stuff
-organic stuff

I think your dates qualify for all. But I also think perhaps you would have a chance if you introduce them in a more processed fashion, or simply if you market to those people.

Regarding perfumes I think it could be a very good idea. People definetily like perfumes, and it is very common for lower middle class for example, to buy cheap perfumes.
I remember seeing in an area called Patronato (where the enterpreneurs are mainly immigrants from Asia and Middle East), there are stores exclusively dedicated to imitation perfumes.

I am interested in following, how you end up managing in Chile. I hope you keep posting

Good luck

Thank you so much for your reply...

You gave me a different point of view to look to the things... which is typical market... it collects everything and the smart businessman should target the best category.

I'll continue posting as much as I can to get more knowledge... and I hope I can meet few of you in Chile in person

[Space Cat]

I think it's not traveling but the Internet because people in their 20-30s are open-minded to all kind of experiences even if they are not doing well enough to travel.

Our small city has a Cambrian explosion of the food culture. You can buy a damn ramen from a truck near the main square. The Thai restaurant here is always busy and has been popular for years in spite of the "Chileans don't like spicy food" meme.

[HybridAmbassador]

Sushi? raw fish! No way..that was said from the Chileans afraid to try new food a long time ago. But look now, every flaite saying, you don't know about Sushi? Oh Hombre you're living in the cave age, try it you will like it, be cool!..

[Aymen]

if Food trucks are everywhere... what about the quality of food?

i.e. is the middle class and lower class (who want to imitate the rich people) will pay more for fancier food or food that presented in fancy way?

your thoughts???

[Julito]

Chilean sushi, as much as I've tried to come at it ain't Japanese sushi. Apart from the seaweed wrap and rice the combinations have been modified to local tastes and beyond that further bastardised into a local chef's "creations". If it sells, ok for the locals if they like it but I've yet to find the traditional Jap accompaniment, wasabi sauce.
Reminds me of when I was working in France, you never get a bad meal in France but after 6 months I was absolutely hanging out for something Asian spicy. The French were in Vietnam so figured there had to be Vietnamese restaurants around and there were, but I was warned. The Viet restaurants it turned out had modified everything to French tastes. So the number of Vietnamese immigrants never got to the critical mass needed to sustain its own tastes in food or indeed win sufficient numbers of French patrons over to their authentic food.

[Julito]

There is a good authentic Thai restaurant in Valdivia run by 3 Thai guys. The story is they jumped off a ship some years back. They say they're from Bangkok but what they serve isn't Royal Thai food, ie. from around Bangkok. My figuring is they're from somewhere inland up North because they steer clear of seafood, it's "never available". Regardless, their food is the most authentic Thai I've had anywhere in Chile by a country mile.

[eeuunikkeiexpat]

Chilean sushi, as much as I've tried to come at it ain't Japanese sushi. Apart from the seaweed wrap and rice the combinations have been modified to local tastes and beyond that further bastardised into a local chef's "creations". If it sells, ok for the locals if they like it but I've yet to find the traditional Jap accompaniment, wasabi sauce.

Yep, and I am p-a-r-a-n-o-i-d at how every Tomas, Pene y Geraldo establishment is pumping out sushi. Parasites and food poisoning at your own risk for the wanna be cuico brave who overpay for horrendous imitations of the real stuff. And yeah, you need to insist on the green paste or it is not included as Chileans just use cheap burned water liquid false soy sauce on it or the crappy tasting toxic cheap chino soy sauce. And enough of the cream cheese crap already!

Since I am not rich to go to Santiago whenever for the real stuff, I stick to sashimi using factory frozen salmon, reineta or corvina with my brought from the States supply of wasabi and Kikkoman soy sauce.

[AnciaVagar]

Considering the economic demographics of Chile, there may be opportunities for self service "laundromats" in the right areas, but I don't know if they are already commonly available.

[eeuunikkeiexpat]

Considering the economic demographics of Chile, there may be opportunities for self service "laundromats" in the right areas, but I don't know if they are already commonly available.

I can already see the crime wave of vandalism to late night holdups by drug deranged flaites. Probably work in controlled highly trafficked public areas though. Might want to market it based on laundromat scenes from famous USA flicks.