A Puerto Rico diaspora group launched a project to help Puerto Rico's economy.
ConPRmetidos had the first social for the Puerto Rico Global Initiative on July 7 in New York City. Scores of professionals of Puerto Rican descent attended.
The initiative aims at getting young businesspeople and professionals of Puerto Rican heritage living in the 50 states to help the island. Participants aim to aid island-based companies by sharing information and advice, promoting investment in Puerto Rico with information and networking spaces and resources for potential investors, and supporting career growth by linking Puerto Rico-based professionals with those in similar fields in the states.
The initiative is also trying to provide business opportunities for Puerto Rico firms by helping them enter state-side markets, said Isabel Rullán, co-director of ConPRmetidos.
Puerto Rico's economy has struggled for the last nine years. Though the island's unemployment rate has receded from a high of 16.9% in May 2010 it was still 12.4% in May. The island's economic activity index was up 0.2% on a year-over-year basis in May.
"There are so many Puerto Ricans eager to help Puerto Rico," Rullán said at a press conference July 7.
That night ConPRmetidos launched a roadshow in six cities in the continental United States to visit the Puerto Rico diaspora and encourage their interest in the project, said ConPRmetidos co-director Miguel Columna. The initiative will use an online platform to improve collaboration.
Puerto Rico Secretary of Economic Development and Trade Alberto Bac- Bagué said that PricewaterhouseCoopers would probably commit to expanding its operations in Puerto Rico any day. It could hire local accountants and people with masters of business administration. If it cannot find enough good candidates locally, because members of the diaspora want to return, many could be recruited, he said.
While Puerto Rico currently has 3.5 million residents there are from 4-to-5 million members of its diaspora, panelists said. Many of the diaspora are talented scientists and engineers, Bac- Bagué said. The diaspora has members with talents in many areas, said José Vázquez Barquet, president of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce.
The Puerto Rico government is giving in-kind assistance but no money to the Puerto Rico Global Initiative.
Governments around the world have increasingly turned for support from their diaspora in recent decades, according to a recent story in The Economist. Jews around the world have given Israel financial support since its founding in 1948 by buying its government's bonds and through other measures. In more recent years Connect Ireland and GlobalScot have tapped their diasporas' expertise advance their motherlands' economies.
