Expat startups now have a choice of best countries

Starting your own business isn’t just about coming up with a marketable idea, it’s also about determination, extremely hard work and luck.

With the advent of the internet, businesses all over the world woke up to a new challenge as regards marketing their products and, more importantly, their ideas. In those days, entrepreneurship was regarded as tricky at best and dodgy at worst, but it’s now the hallmark of the technological age. Even so, some countries are more welcoming than others when it comes to entrepreneurial start-ups committed to making their mark in their chosen sector.

For expat entrepreneurs, the ease of setting up a business is crucial, with Germany recognising the value of innovative start-ups and making it as straightforward as possible. High quality services are important to German consumers, and the country isn’t limited to one major city. Large business hubs exist in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Munich as well as Berlin, giving new businesses a great choice of styles as well as venues.

Japan’s traditionally risk-averse culture contrasts with its world-changing innovations, especially in the tech sector. Many expat business people believe the country is about to perform a major cultural shift away from multinationals to entrepreneurship, with incubators, start-up funding and increased networking pointing the way forward. Tokyo isn’t hard to penetrate due to a sizeable expat community, and English is now far more widely spoken. Even so, learning Japanese is one hurdle which needs to be jumped.

The UK has been a good place for entrepreneurs, especially in fashion and other retail sectors, but no-one knows what will happen after Brexit kicks in. The business community is still strong, and starting a business is relatively straightforward, but the next 18 months or so are crunch time for start-ups, especially if they’re expat-inspired. It’s much the same with the USA, with political chaos now being seen as a true threat to the country’s innovative spirit and no-one knowing exactly what’s going down next. Surprisingly, due to its straight-laced reputation, Switzerland is now a hub for cryptocurrency and blockchain-based start-ups.