Where are they, what do they do, and how many of Cuba’s private companies face critical risk due to fuel shortages? Official data maps a storm affecting 96% of the sector.
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As blackouts in Cuba reach up to 20 hours a day and fuel on the black market surpasses $6 per liter, thousands of Cuban entrepreneurs are asking the same question: Can my business survive this energy crisis?
Before answering, we need to understand who we are talking about. How many mipymes actually exist in Cuba? Where are they located? What sectors do they operate in?
In this first article of the series “MSMEs without power”, AUGE analyzes data from the Oficina Nacional de Estadística e Información (ONEI) 2024 Statistical Yearbook to map Cuba’s private sector and identify who is standing directly in the line of fire.
The Universe: 9,236 private MSMEs
According to the 2024 Statistical Yearbook published by ONEI, as of December that year, there were 9,236 registered private MSMEs in Cuba.
Behind each number stands an entrepreneur, a family, a life project. These 9,236 businesses are not merely statistics—they represent the effort of thousands of Cubans who chose to build something of their own over the past decade.
This is not a marginal sector. It is the most dynamic productive fabric to emerge since the economic opening initiated in 2010. But size alone is not the key variable. What truly matters is where these businesses are located and what they do.
Distribution by province of MSMEs (ONEI, 2024)
However, the impact will not be uniform. It also depends heavily on sectoral activity.
Economic activity (ONEI, 2024)
The key question: who depends most on energy?
Not all MSMEs rely on fuel and electricity in the same way. Some require energy every minute of their operations. Others can endure temporary interruptions. A very small fraction—very few—might survive prolonged shortages.
We classified sectors into three levels of energy dependency:
Applying this classification to ONEI data:
The results are striking:
What this means in practical terms
When energy disappears, this is what stops:
At the center of it all stands Havana, with 3,966 MSMEs—nearly half of the country’s total—facing the same structural fragility as the rest.
What the 2025 Business Climate Study already foreshadowed
In December 2025, AUGE surveyed 175 MSMEs executives for its first Business Climate Study.
Two findings now resonate with almost prophetic force:
First: The energy crisis was already a central concern
The study revealed that 48 % of businesses had invested in solutions such as solar panels, generators, and battery systems. What was once a preventive measure has now become a condition for survival.
However, the remaining 52% either could not or did not prioritize such investments. For them, operational paralysis may be imminent.
Second: Managers trusted their internal capabilities, but distrusted the environment.
The energy crisis has confirmed that pessimism: no matter how strong individual effort may be, if the energy system collapses, businesses collapse with it.
What comes next
This article is the first in a series. Upcoming installments will examine:
- Article 2: The specific impacts the energy crisis is already causing across sectors
- Article 3: The direct fuel import measure—who can realistically access it? Why does it remain ineffective for most?
- Article 4: Practical recommendations for entrepreneurs trying to keep their businesses afloat in this environment
Conclusion: the answer begins to take shape
We return to the guiding question of this series: Can a Cuban SME survive without fuel?
The data from this first analysis suggests:
- 7,491 MSMEs (81.1%) operate in sectors where fuel is part of the production process. Without it, they simply do not exist.
- ,413 MSMEs (15.3%) face severe impact that could lead to closure if the crisis persists.
- Only 332 MSMEs (3.6%) could withstand prolonged shortages without existential threat.
