5 Reasons why you should build your IT team in Lisbon

Several multinational companies have already established their base in Lisbon. A lot of new startups are attracting foreign talent and the city is growing as one of Europe’s main tech hub.

#1 Culture

Besides the already famous cuisine and portuguese hospitality, the country also shares a similar business culture with the rest of the Western World. Being in the same timezone as London and with several flights a day to main european cities, Lisbon puts the “near” in nearshore without much effort.

#2 English Proficiency

The country has been awarded with a respectable 15th place out of 72 countries on English Proficiency (EF EPI, 2015), ahead of countries like Spain, Italy or France.

#3 Education

With a world class telecommunications infrastructure and a high quality education system, the country sees thousands of IT graduates entering the job market every year. Couple that with a (still) relatively high unemployment rate and you have a wide pool of talented candidates that is sure not to dry up in the next decade.

#4 Taxes&Wages

To get ahead, companies need to cut costs while still being able to improve the quality of their end product. This was the conundrum of the 20th century. However, with globalization and the disruption of international markets due to technological innovation, the 21st century’s answer to it has but one name: nearshore – the establishment of a dedicated team of developers in a foreign country. Portugal’s labour costs are about 50% of the EU average. There are also several government financial and tax incentives should you decide to set up a business here; which is also increasingly easy to do so due to bureaucratic reforms in recent years, you can now create a business in 2.5 days (4th fastest country in the world).

#5 Political Stability&Quality Of Life

Lisbon, Portugal’s crown jewel, is increasingly talked about as one of Europe’s leading innovation hubs. The capital was the first one to be awarded with the European Entrepreneurial Region of the Year in 2015 by the EU’s Committee of Regions and is rated by an Allianz 2016 study as the 5th best performing startup community in Europe. Adding to it, the city also boasts a high quality of life (15th out of 47 major cities, Deutsche Bank 2017) low cost of living and is listed as one of Europe’s safest cities.

It is difficult to sum up Lisbon’s qualities in just 5 points (in honesty, we could write a book or two about it). If, when deciding on the place of your new office, you are looking for the trifecta of up’n’coming, affordable and high-quality human capital, look no further, because Lisbon is the right place for you and your company!