E-Residency and Entrepreneurial Upsides
This article is written by Mohammad Eslim, a Contributor Author at Startup Istanbul.
It has been a long 20-year journey for Estonia until it became this technology ridden developing country. They started with the e-Tax boards in 2000 and by 2002, Estonia founded the Digital ID card. Right to this moment Estonia has by far the most highly-developed national ID card system in the world.
The digital ID card is useful in many ways than not; for example, your e-Residency depends on it as it’s a new digital nation for global citizens, powered by the Republic of Estonia. With e-Residency, anybody in the world can apply for a government-issued digital identity and start a location independent business online. Estonia is the first country to offer e-Residency, a government-issued digital ID available to anyone in the world. Moreover, E-Residency offers the freedom to easily start and manage a global business in a trusted EU environment.
With e-Residency program being inclusive, which means any person on this planet, from 157 country, is legitimate to apply for e-Residency in Estonia. Speaking about legitimacy, e-Residency isn’t some type of blockchain community or some random linking group, this residency is actually real digital ID and companies created with the same access to the European market and the same rights and obligations as any company.
Third point is that the program is transparent, which is something every institution and administration have in common and the final core point the program is based on is being empowering as e-Residency stands for the equality of opportunities.
The program believes in giving the entrepreneurs the tools needed for you to advance in any entrepreneurial path you have chosen, in addition to the same access to the market no matter where you are or where you live, because any entrepreneur shall have the tools to pursue their own dreams with rich potential.
The current numbers of companies established and owned by e-residents from around the world shows that 5,000 out of 8,000 companies are directly created by e-residents. Ukraine is the country of which most companies are built by e-residents. That is probably due to the large number of IT specialists and people who are trying to avoid dealing with the strain of bureaucracy and people who are focusing on finding new clients especially in the EU.
The e-residency program help entrepreneurs have access to tools and companies. If you have a startup idea then as an entrepreneur you can apply for startup visa which is attractive. Being an entrepreneur in Estonia doesn’t mean you have to be there to manage or create a company and you eventually become independent provided with opportunities to reach out for companies and startup ecosystem within EU and the United States. It gives the entrepreneurs the feelings of being connected with Europe and the world.
Finally, e-residency could be used to promote a strong culture, a strong history and a strong vision of the world on the account of it giving motivation to entrepreneurs, there are tools to build a business in the middle of Europe as a market with little fees to get yourself a successful business while in your home.
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