German proactive stance on expat entrepreneurs helps new arrivals

For millennials, expat start-ups are all about entrepreneurial efforts to come up with new, winning ideas.

A sense of adventure, the expat vibe and the entrepreneurial spirit are all necessary equipment for success nowadays. Risk-taking is the norm, and many would-be business owners now prefer to found their businesses outside their countries of birth. The tricky part is taking into account the destination country’s bureaucracy, laws and processes, especially if you aren’t yet fluent in the local language.

Germany is one of the many countries nowadays which welcome new arrivals with new ideas and the courage to make them into successful businesses. Without fluent German, this would be almost impossible if it weren’t for institutions and groups whose task in life is to help foreign start-ups reach their full potential. A good number of German universities and colleges are now associating with a start-up incubator able to put expat entrepreneurs in contact with a ‘buddies’ network composed of local service providers and other expats who’ve been there and done that.

The Buddies network itself was the brainchild of a Southern Indian expat who’d arrived in Germany to complete his engineering degree but soon realised he was on the wrong path. He felt he needed to create something, moved to Berlin and began working on his own start-up aimed at expats like himself who needed advice in order to follow their dreams. MyHelpBuddy.com went live online last year after Startup Incubator Berlin realised its potential. The incubator advised the site’s co-founders on the first and subsequent steps, and is now out there helping other newly-arrived expat entrepreneurs take advantage of all the assistance Germany is giving to those willing to take a chance on their ideas.

The website now offers newcomer orientation sessions as well as individual buddies willing and able to take new arrivals through the steps necessary to make their ideas into reality, and those who’ve successfully done just that are invited to become buddies helping others to navigate the way forward. It also gives advice on surmounting German bureaucracy and provides a translation service for applications and forms as well as access to legal consultants and more. It’s all about connectivity with the right people at the right time, and its creator and co-founders are proud they’ve provide a much-needed service.