Mariano Rodriguez, associate director of Hayco dominicana, cites the motivations for investing in the country.
The Dominican Republic is standing out for the foreign investments coming into the country year after year. In fact, due to the so-called foreign direct investments (FDI), there are some 700 foreign investment companies (FIEs) registered and distributed throughout the country.
According to a report by the Export and Investment Center of the Dominican Republic (ProDomonicana), 40.8% of these companies are located in Santo Domingo, followed by Santiago, which accounted for 20.9%, and San Cristóbal, San Pedro de Macorís and La Altagracia, which together accounted for 18.8%. The remaining 25 provinces accounted for 19.5% of the total number of EIEs.
One of these is Hayco, a manufacturer of fast-moving products involving household cleaning and personal care items. Its associate director, Mariano Rodríguez, cited to elDinero some of the reasons that attract foreign investors.
“We are committed to the social and economic development of the country. We are committed to the social and economic development of the country, promoting high-level technical jobs. Dominican Republic, for us, meant a great opportunity to respond to the demands of our clients, who are mainly in Europe and the United States,” he said.
Motivations
One of the main reasons that attracted Hayco to establish itself in the Caribbean country was the environment of economic and social stability that the country offers. Rodríguez emphasized that economic and social stability has been a determining factor in the company’s decision making, allowing them to operate successfully and with confidence in the Dominican market.
The second factor that proved attractive, he explained, was the Free Zone Industry model and the Free Trade Agreement, which facilitates the company’s operations and exports to Europe and the United States.
“When we made the decision to expand, to set up a plant in the Americas, several studies were made in Central America, Mexico and South America, and the Dominican Republic stood out for three factors. One of them was the Free Zone Industry model and the Free Trade Agreement”, he said. He also explained that the country’s geographical location also plays a crucial role, since it allows shorter delivery times, especially to the United States and Europe.
According to Rodriguez, the fact that the delivery time from the Caribbean to United States is only three days, compared with the four to six weeks from Asia, has been a significant competitive advantage for the company. “If we refer to the United States, in three days you already have the cargo from port to port. From Europe, you have 15 to 18 days available…,” he explained.
The third factor he highlighted was the country’s port infrastructure, which has facilitated Hayco’s logistics operations. With approximately 60 export and 120 import containers of raw materials per week, the efficient port infrastructure has been an enabler for the company, allowing them to carry out their operations in an effective and agile manner, he said.
Economic impact
According to Rodríguez, every year since its arrival in the country, Hayco has grown by 30-40%, closing 2022 with a 49% growth, exporting more than 30 million products that translate into tax contributions to the country of around US$3 million. In addition, its ‘Donald Espie Hay Building’ in the Las Americas Free Zone Park in the Dominican Republic received LEED Platinum (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification by the USGBC (US Green Building Council).
“We have five plants located throughout the world. Three in China. One in Portugal and one here in the Dominican Republic,” he said. He also pointed out that since its start-up in the country, in the last six years, it has grown year after year in terms of exports of US$157 million. This, he explained, has helped the national economy, not to mention the contribution in taxes.
Rodriguez detailed that they currently have a payroll of over 2,500 employees or jobs, of which 99% is local talent, he added. “We are a global conglomerate of more than 6,000 employees,” he said.
Work
About the business model, he said the following: “We do the plastic manufacturing, high precision choice and at the same time we also do what is the assembly or final packaging of the product. That is, a vertical integration of currencies and contemplating the purchase of resin, which is what we use for plastics and we have approximately 70% of the material we use for the part of our local assembly and packaging”.
Regarding their environmental responsibility, he highlighted the conscious use of plastics, emphasizing that they do not manufacture single-use plastic products. “Yes, they are all reusable and part of our culture here in the company is not to use disposable plastic utensils and each of our employees uses a reusable water bottle and everyone here consumes water in their day reusable and we have our own water filtration system, which allows us to be self-sustaining.”
Source: Eldinero.com.do
