Personal Development & Travel: 4 Reasons Lisbon is fast becoming a global tech hub
Flying on a near empty plane from London Luton to Lisbon was strange to say the least. During early September I visited Lisbon on a entreprenrial networking trip. I’m grateful to my former University’s business department, LSE Generate, for organising this trip for Alumni and current students. The trip consisted of masterclass sessions organised by a variety of experts from Founders, Marketing specialists, chefs, academics working in tech, NGO practitioners and more. The ultimate aim was to expose us to the many facets of social entrepreneurship in Lisbon, to inspire us to continue to keep social impact at the centre of our current and future ventures.
Reason 1: Tasty Hospitality
Having grown up in England, “non-English” cuisines are usually more flavoursome. In 2019 tourism accounted for approximately 20% of Portugal’s GDP. Despite C-19 hampering world travel, Portuguese’s residents still have a desire to show the very best of their country.
I experienced this when I communicated via body language to an elderly lady, that I was locked out of my AirBnB. Her compassion led her to calling the landlord, whom helped me resolve the issue.
Lisbon’s food culture is beautiful in it’s simplicity.
Our first session saw me brush up on my desert making skills, whilst hearing the amazing life story of finance professional turnt cooking class entrepreneur Filipe Cordeiro of Cooking Lisboa.
A concoction of over a dozen LSE Alumni, students & staff; a Portugese Master Chef and a professional kitchen led to one thing. Freshly cooked and warm Pastéis de Nata.
Thankfully I got to taste more than Portuguese deserts! Experiencing both traditional cuisines such as fresh shrimp, medium grilled tuna steaks, or chicken dishes, as well as international cuisines such as vegetarian Asian inspired food or dining at a refugee run Syrian restaurant.
Reason 2: Enterprise friendly Fiscal Economics
During the 2008 global financial crisis, Portugal was one of several EU countries that disproportionately suffered highlighted by the controversial acronym ‘PIIGS’.
The Portuguese government were forced into ingenuity. As the public sector was under crisis, heavy investment into private sector entrepreneurship was made by the government.
Our session with Fernando from Made of Lisboa, a service run by Lisbon City Council, helped to expose us to Portugal’s diverse government start up schemes.
Portugal has a number of attractive incentives such as there Startup Visa which allows people to come even if their business is in the ideation stage or giving returning Portuguese expats a 50% income tax discount. Foreign investors and skilled professionals also benefit from a 10 year tax holiday by working and residing in Portugal.
Reason 3: Educated, but Relatively Affordable Workforce
The average annual salary for a developer in Portugal is approximately €21,000, which is far above the UK’s average annual developer salary of £38,000 (approximately double the salary when converted in euros!).
Portugal’s tech ecosystem is also open to non-traditional routes of education. My favourite and ironically the shortest session was with Code Academy. They teach people how to code in a 14 week full time bootcamp. From the unemployed, to dancers, to students — Code Academy has given many Portuguese people a life line to reinvent themselves as technical experts.
Their continued reputation has now meant their graduates get placed into tech companies, earning the same salary as computer science students from Portugal’s top Universities! Another cool fact, is that only their students can become teachers — highlighting the sustainable nature of this organisation.
Portugal is ranked 10th in Europe, 24 places higher than Spain, for English speaking proficiency.
Lisbon has a number of technical and business focussed universities such as NOVA or Universidade de Lisboa. Coming on a ‘University trip’ it only made sense we visited the recently opened NOVA business school campus.
As an urbanist, I thought the architecture reflected the transparency, flexibility and innovation that NOVA was clearly going for. We also got to pitch our business ideas. Pitching whilst wearing masks in front of a lecture hall of people, is a truly surreal experience.
Reason 4: Culture of Business Nurturing
I felt a strong sense of a “willingness to help”.
Upon reflection it links to Reason 1. Portugal is extremely hospitable and this translates into the start up ecosystem.
Although we were only there for 5 days, from my conversations & observations I felt a spirt of connectiveness.
A tech hub is only as good as its connections. Lisbon felt extremely interconnected.
People kept emphasising that the entrepreneurial ecosystem is relatively small (it makes sense as the country has a population of only around 10 million and a younger tech ecosystem), so one can network deeply in a relative shorter amount of time.
Formally the accelerators and start up programmes helped to foster this connectiveness. Some of which we were able to have sessions with such as Start Up Lisboa, BETA-i, Fintech House, Mustard Seed Maze or Impact Hub, which can be a fantastic start to getting familiar with the people behind Lisbon’s tech ecosystem.
Informally the “willingness to help” and share one’s personal network was evident from the conversations I had with the various Lisbon start up key players.
This philosophy, if kept, can continue to allow Portugal to be an attractive start up hub spearheaded by Lisbon.
Overall the 5 night trip was a privilege. It showed me how Portugal has strategically positioned itself as a tech nation, with Lisbon at the forefront. Lisbon makes use of its hospitable culture to attract a multitude of entrepreneurs seeking coveted access to mainland Europe, whilst giving them comprehensive start up ingredients to proliferate across the world.
