A German entrepreneur sees opportunity in Venezuela's crisis

Even routine shipments have taken on new significance for Thilo Schmitz — including the one currently at sea. A freighter carrying gluten‑free pasta is en route from Panama to La Guaira, the "gateway to Venezuela," a Caribbean port just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Caracas. The five‑day journey is being followed closely, as this niche product is currently selling better in Schmitz's supply chain than ever before.

"In recent days, pasta shelves across Venezuela have been virtually emptied," the German‑Venezuelan entrepreneur told DW. "Everything is sold out, including ours — even though our pasta is three times the price."

The long lines that formed outside Venezuelan supermarkets in early January, as people stocked up on essentials amid the prevailing uncertainty following the removal of President Nicolas Maduro by the United States, provided Schmitz with a bit of breathing room. After all, the business he took over from his father in 1996 primarily relies on selling office and school supplies.

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It is normally a crisis‑proof business: Six million Venezuelan schoolchildren always need notebooks, pencils and calculators. But in the current situation — with the country's future uncertain after the shift in power from Nicolas Maduro to interim President Delcy Rodríguez — an impoverished population is far more likely to spend its limited money on gluten‑free pasta than on a pair of scissors.

Schmitz remains optimistic about the political situation: "I cannot imagine this government under Delcy Rodríguez seeking open confrontation with US President Donald Trump. In the short term, I expect things to remain stable. And the population will not take to the streets — people are simply too afraid."

Almost exactly six years ago, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the closure of schools caused his school‑supplies division to collapse. But giving up has never been an option for this entrepreneur born in Caracas. He has built a life in a country where sudden upswings — and, later, bitter downturns — have long been part of the national DNA, a pattern that has only intensified since Maduro's assumption of office in 2013.

Schmitz began importing medical technology from Germany in 2022, selling it to hospitals and practices. But even that has become difficult these days: International air traffic to Venezuela has been suspended for five weeks. As a result, the laparoscopic instruments produced by a mid‑sized company in Tuttlingen — used for minimally invasive abdominal surgery — are now piling up in German warehouses.

"The instruments are destined for two hospitals: One in Caracas and one in Valencia," he said. "For a minimally invasive appendectomy, you only need three small abdominal incisions. Our clients are desperate, but we have no idea when we'll be able to fly again. We have major orders worth a million dollars, but for now we can only wait."

Schmitz said the delayed delivery of these instruments had not yet put Venezuelan patients at risk, but that could change with his next planned investment. Schmitz is currently in promising talks with a company that aims to supply dialysis machines and spare parts to Venezuela. And if transport were to falter in that case, the consequences could be dramatic.

Supplying medical technology in Venezuela is a major market opportunity, because the country's hospitals are severely outdated. "There has been no investment in hospitals here since 2015," said Schmitz. "They're using X‑ray machines that still emit radiation and no longer meet global standards. Much of the equipment is ten, twelve, sometimes even fourteen years old."

For now, Schmitz — who once generated $35 million a year from school supplies, and even sold luxury fountain pens through eight Montblanc boutiques — has to focus on getting through the next few weeks. He will still be able to pay the salaries of his 45 employees on time in January, despite the lack of revenue. But February will be more difficult.

Schmitz finds himself serving as a kind of counselor. "My employees leave the house only when absolutely necessary, out of fear of the pro‑government Colectivo militias. Many of my employees had no electricity, which meant they couldn't cook and spent days getting by on bread and bananas. And now these people have endless questions —and they expect answers from me."

As Schmitz's employees look to him for answers, Rodríguez's new government faces a similar task — only on a national scale. The government must explain to the population how it intends to revive Venezeula's dilapidated oil industry: Venezuela holds the largest proven crude‑oil reserves in the world, and the sector is one from which Donald Trump has promised substantial revenues for US companies. The infrastructure needed to extract this "black gold" is even more outdated than the medical equipment in Venezuela's hospitals.

It may be some time before Schmitz's birthplace gets back on its feet. Yet the entrepreneur remains convinced that Venezuela has a future. "What we need most is legal certainty," he said. "Without the rule of law, there can be no investment. The transition through a constituent assembly could take a year and a half — and, after that, the country will need new elections."

This article was originally written in German.

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