Could Cuba become the next destination for software development?

Could Cuba become the next destination for software development?
BY NORA GÁMEZ TORRES
ngameztorres@elnuevoherald.com

In Havana's iconic Bacardí building, teams of computer programmers are
working for U.S. companies with the tacit permission of the Cuban
government.

Could the island become the next international hotspot for software
development?

That's not far-fetched, says John McIntire, chairman of the Cuba
Emprende Foundation, which has been working with the island's Catholic
Church to train entrepreneurs and private business owners on the island.

"It's already happening. I know of half a dozen companies, all based in
Miami, that already have software development teams in Cuba and there
are probably more that I don't know about," McIntire told el Nuevo Herald.

"I also know some big outsourcing companies, based in the United States,
that are looking to establish operations" in Cuba, he added. "Until now,
they have only been visiting Cuba, establishing relations and starting …
relations with programers."

Most of the U.S. companies hiring computer engineers and programmers in
Cuba put them to work programming or designing applications for cell
phones and internet sites, as well as more complex coding with open
source software, added McIntire, pointing out that Cuba has many highly
educated programmers who are currently "underemployed."

With salaries of approximately $5 per hour — a more "competitive" rate
than at other programming centers in the region — and in the same time
zone as the United States, contracting Cuban programmers "looks very
promising," McIntire told a recent conference organized by the Americas
Society/Council of the Americas and the Andean Development Corporation.

Formal office spaces like the Bacardí building are expensive, and
therefore many teams of programmers work from their homes, in rented
apartments or even from their office in government agencies and companies.

The people working in the Bacardí building probably also work for Cuban
state enterprises, McIntire told el Nuevo Herald. "The government knows
full well that those are independent programmers who work for foreign
companies. They are allowing it, but not promoting it ," he added.

The private production of software for export is a unique enterprise in
Cuba, where the government holds a monopoly on all imports and exports
and the vast majority of private businesses are limited to the tourism
industry.

The Obama administration, as part of its campaign to ease sanctions on
Cuba, allowed U.S. companies to hire Cuban programmers in 2015. But the
Cuban government has not said whether programmers can legally work for
foreign companies, leaving the issue unclear.

"You can get a personal license as an applications developer and pay
taxes … but you cannot operate as a business," said Víctor Manuel
Moratón Hernández, a computer engineer who with Fabián Ruiz Estévez
co-founded NinjaCuba, a web page for people offering or seeking
employment in technology.

"I developed software with U.S. and French companies. They usually go to
Cuba looking for programmers for mobile apps or web pages, but if you're
not part of the network of contacts, you don't have access" to those
jobs, Hernández said in an interview from Twitter headquarters in San
Francisco.

Hernández is among the winners of the "10x10KCuba" contest, who
participated in seminars at Stanford University and Miami Dade College
and visited the headquarters of Google, Facebook, Twitter and Airbnb.
The contest was sponsored by the Cuba Emprende Foundation, as well as
#CubaNow and other organizations, to promote exchanges between island
programmers and leading-edge U.S. companies.

Estévez said the exchanges have been "very important for relationships
and knowledge, to give some direction to what we are doing, and to learn
how to value what we're doing in Cuba."

Janse Lazo, a computer engineer and executive director of MiKma, a
mobile app to advertise houses for rent on the island in national
currency, said he hopes those types of exchanges continue.

"We want to start to transmit the know-how acquired here to the start
ups in Cuba," he said. "Sometimes there are good ideas, but you don't
know the business side. We want to boost the culture of entrepreneurship
on the island."

Despite the enthusiasm of Lazó and the other pioneers, one of the
principal obstacles to Cuba's rise in the world of offshore programming
is the island's limited access to the internet.

ETECSA, the government's telecommunications monopoly, has reported that
as of January, it had only 328 WiFi access points in parks, plazas and
other public places. The agency also has announced plans for an
experiment with home access to the internet — now unavailable to all but
a few Cubans.

"It's complicated, with the lack of access to the internet, because you
have to search for information and then integrate all that coding into a
remote depository," Hernández said.

He said he often uses the limited access offered by ETECSA through its
Nauta accounts on cell phones and WiFi hotspots. "It's expensive, it's
awkward, because you're connecting to the internet in a park, but for
the time being, that's all there is," he said.

"The only major problem — if we assume the Cuban government will
continue to allow it — is the infrastructure, the connectivity,"
McIntire said. "The government should allow either foreign investments
or offices" for teams doing that type of work.

"The talent is there," said Ric Herrero, director of Cuba Now, one of
the organizers of the 10x10KCuba contest. Several accelerator programs
that participated in the contest "highlighted the quality of the
entrepreneurs that we selected."

"The principal obstacle now is the current administration and mood in
the United States, which offer fewer incentives for taking risks,"
Herrero said.

Follow Nora Gámez Torres on Twitter: @ngameztorres

Source: Cuba could become the next destination for software development
| Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article135249259.html