Want to Start a Business? Don’t do it in Spain!

October 30, 2013

How’s this as an idea for Spain’s new brand campaign?

“In ease of starting a business, we’re just ahead of Gaza. Sure, you could take your entrepreneurial idea and go to Sudan, Zambia or Uzbekistan (where it’s easier to get started) but we have tortilla de patatas–Spain’s greatest contribution to human civilization. Good luck getting an omelette like this in Uzbekistan!”

Yes, Spain is 142nd out of 189 countries on the World Bank’s World Bank’s ranking of how easy it is to start a business. Just ahead of Gaza.

We all know that the Spanish brand is suffering. But this is truly sad.

The government, of course, recognizes the problem, and in typical Spanish fashion, has decided to do absolutely nothing about it.

Well, that’s life. Thanks to El País for the heads up.

I’m going to go have some tortilla de patatas.

P.S. Update, years later: Allegedly, things have improved, and we’ve moved up in the rankings. But things are still hard for businesses and autónomos, and none of the political parties want do do anything about it. Oh well.

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About the Author Daniel

How did I end up in Spain? Why am I still here almost 20 years later? Excellent questions. With no good answer... Anyway, at some point I became a blogger, bestselling author and contributor to Lonely Planet. So there's that. Drop me a line, I'm happy to hear from you.

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