The Estonian startup sector is developing rapidly and raising ever bigger amounts in investments, yet the companies that are keeping their offices here have to engage in very strong competition for talent and workforce, Startup Estonia manager Marika Truu said on November 13.
“On the one hand we have a very good bureaucracy-free business environment which makes Estonia attractive, yet on the other hand we have only 1.3 million residents, which means that all our successful startups which keep their offices here are in big competition for talent to hire,” Truu told BNS, adding that this means we must be able to showcase Estonia very well in order for talent to wish to come here.
“Our statistics today show that approximately 20 percent of the employees of the Estonian startup sector are foreigners and from very different cultures and nationalities.
The biggest numbers of new people are coming from Brazil, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and India. Estonia looks like a fun place for them to relocate to. The startup visa is helpful in this, enabling to bring in talent outside of the immigration quota. Approximately 5,000 people work in the sector at this point,” Truu said.
During the first half of this year, Estonian startups raised €160 million.
It is difficult, however, to lure top-level specialists and managers to Estonia, Truu said.
“The reasons for it differ: Do we, for instance, have support services available? Mostly these people wish to arrive with families and they will be looking around for whether they can also find a good job also for their wife or whether they can find good schools for their children where education is available in English as well.”
