Best for small business: Balearics, Canaries, Cyprus or Malta?
Aug 5th 2016, 12:34 pm
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Joined: Aug 2016
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Best for small business: Balearics, Canaries, Cyprus or Malta?
Hi guys, I've been browsing this forum for a couple of months now but couldn't find anything that spoke to my needs.
Basically, for years now, I've been weighing up the idea of starting up a business somewhere around the Mediterranean. It would be a bakery-cum-cafe (basically we make nice stuff with a place to sit; I know - as if the Med needs more of those!) It has always been a pipe dream but 'Brexit' has kicked my butt into gear as who knows what'll happen in a handful of years, right? My partner and I have some savings that we originally planned to use for a business here. However, we're bored of life here. The weather is awful and there seems to be less and less opportunities.
So, having read the title, you're probably guessing where I'm going with this. We're looking to move the idea (we don't already have a business) to somewhere in Southern Europe. Which location would be the best for starting up a business. I know that is a daft questions because it would be completely different in every location and in every aspect (except perhaps in the Balearics and Canaries) but rather than spam individual sub-forums for information, I thought putting out a general call would be wisest.
Have any Brits moved abroad taking a small business idea (and not an already existing business model) with them and made a success of it? I keep reading threads and threads about retirement, etc. and I know Southern Europe isn't the best place for youth employment but surely there's opportunities? Surely they're after the business? After all, the plan is to employ local people.
The location matters because all have similar climates (which is a big plus) and all have similar customers (in the way of large tourist crowds in peak season, maybe odd locals off season). Again, I realise they're all going to have different business rates, taxes, health and safety rules, employment laws, etc.
Originally, we'd thought of Malta but it seems really crowded from the information I can find, though perhaps more favourable to business. That's when the search switched to the Spanish islands, primarily the Canaries because my partner has been out there multiple times (including doing the usual casual bar work) and found the place beautiful and to have the lifestyle we're ultimately after. I also speak Spanish conversationally. Naturally, though a thousand miles apart we thought to include the Balearics: big tourist destinations after all. Then a neighbour who owns a holiday home in Cyprus suggested there, saying they seems desperate for foreign investment and businesses. So, as you can imagine, my head is spinning somewhat..!
I'm right at the very start of the planning stage for moving this idea abroad. Any guidance on refinement would be appreciated. I've tried bits and pieces of research into the pros and cons of each location and business climate, but, as I said, anybody who has perhaps undertaken this themselves and has advice to offer would be a real help!
(Sorry for the long post..!)
-Jay
Basically, for years now, I've been weighing up the idea of starting up a business somewhere around the Mediterranean. It would be a bakery-cum-cafe (basically we make nice stuff with a place to sit; I know - as if the Med needs more of those!) It has always been a pipe dream but 'Brexit' has kicked my butt into gear as who knows what'll happen in a handful of years, right? My partner and I have some savings that we originally planned to use for a business here. However, we're bored of life here. The weather is awful and there seems to be less and less opportunities.
So, having read the title, you're probably guessing where I'm going with this. We're looking to move the idea (we don't already have a business) to somewhere in Southern Europe. Which location would be the best for starting up a business. I know that is a daft questions because it would be completely different in every location and in every aspect (except perhaps in the Balearics and Canaries) but rather than spam individual sub-forums for information, I thought putting out a general call would be wisest.
Have any Brits moved abroad taking a small business idea (and not an already existing business model) with them and made a success of it? I keep reading threads and threads about retirement, etc. and I know Southern Europe isn't the best place for youth employment but surely there's opportunities? Surely they're after the business? After all, the plan is to employ local people.
The location matters because all have similar climates (which is a big plus) and all have similar customers (in the way of large tourist crowds in peak season, maybe odd locals off season). Again, I realise they're all going to have different business rates, taxes, health and safety rules, employment laws, etc.
Originally, we'd thought of Malta but it seems really crowded from the information I can find, though perhaps more favourable to business. That's when the search switched to the Spanish islands, primarily the Canaries because my partner has been out there multiple times (including doing the usual casual bar work) and found the place beautiful and to have the lifestyle we're ultimately after. I also speak Spanish conversationally. Naturally, though a thousand miles apart we thought to include the Balearics: big tourist destinations after all. Then a neighbour who owns a holiday home in Cyprus suggested there, saying they seems desperate for foreign investment and businesses. So, as you can imagine, my head is spinning somewhat..!
I'm right at the very start of the planning stage for moving this idea abroad. Any guidance on refinement would be appreciated. I've tried bits and pieces of research into the pros and cons of each location and business climate, but, as I said, anybody who has perhaps undertaken this themselves and has advice to offer would be a real help!
(Sorry for the long post..!)
-Jay
