Study Suggests Spain is Best Place to Start a Business

Study Suggests Spain is Best Place to Start a Business

If you’re studying business in Spain then the studies suggest that you’ll be more successful of an entrepreneur than anywhere else.

Record numbers of New Businesses are opening all over Spain

A study from the Financial Times (FT) shows that Spain really is the best place for aspiring entrepreneurs to study.

The research is based on information from full-time and executive MBA alumni (Master of Business) from the world over. The findings showed that more of the most successful entrepreneurs received their business schooling in Spain than any other country.

Even though Singapore and the UAE were considered to be the best place to actually launch your startup, the data suggests that many of these business students stay in Spain when they finish their studies; making the country the sixth-best place in the world to start a business, placing them ahead of Germany, the USA, and the UK.

Something that is more interesting is that the Spanish were second place when it came to successful entrepreneurs behind only Mexicans. It looks like there might just be something about the Spanish water that inspires business potential.

Part of the reason for this entrepreneurial success could also come from an economy that has made it hard for young Spaniards to find full-time employment; causing them to go into business for themselves.

Despite this the main cause for celebration must still be the incredible Spanish business school performance. The Financial Times data shows that Spain had the highest proportion of students who went on to set up their own company following graduation, pushing Swiss schools and US schools down to second and third.

It’s a pretty simple process to set up a company in Spain for both Spaniards and EU nationals. Even people who are outside of the EU shouldn’t have too much difficulty becoming an entrepreneur in Spain.

Spain recently changed their labour laws and the result is that it’s even easier to start business in Spain. These changes include relaxed employment laws that give potential business owners the chance to make bigger risks when it comes to growth strategies.

Another survey was carried out this week by BMC Software that discovered Spanish companies are some of the best companies in Europe when it comes to creating a creative and innovative workplace.

The study showed that 73% of the people employed in Spain feel that they can have their voices heard when it comes to creating change and innovation in their company; which is much higher than the 42% in the UK. Spanish companies also proved to be effective at inspiring their employees as 74% of employees are happy with the way their employment leaves them feeling.

These datasets show that Spain has come a long way from the old, nepotistic ways that Spain used to work. In the old days who you knew was always more important than what you knew. Things are continuing to move forward, which is good news for the youngsters and the increasing number of expats considering Spain as a place to start a new business and  can make a new life.

Bloomberg Suggests Lack of Spanish Government is Blessing in Disguise

Bloomberg Suggests Lack of Spanish Government is Blessing in Disguise

Spain is doing very well without a government

Most economists would be driven crazy by the idea that a country could go nine months with no one at the helm. Spain is currently a strange situation where the opposite seems to be true however. The country hasn’t had a leader since last December when the national election resulted in a hung parliament. The country went back to the polls in June but, once again, no party was able to secure a majority or a coalition.

Things haven’t changed much since June. The leaders of the parties refuse to budge and are not accepting any peace offerings made to them. It’s looking like Spain could face an unprecedented three elections in one year and the third one could even take place on Christmas Day.

While it seems like such a thing could lead to economic disaster things are actually going well for Spain. Things are going so well that the political analysts at Bloomberg are suggesting that this lack of leadership could be more of a blessing for Spain as they navigate their way out of a recession as living in Spain continues to go well.

No one is quite sure how but the stats don’t lie and they say that Spanish GDP grew 3% this year; which is better than most other European countries. There are plenty of reasons why there as this growth but main underlying factor seems to be that Spain has always had a decentralised government with local authorities and bureaucracy meaning that Spain has always been good at taking care of itself.

It’s different from the UK where London could be considered the centre of power. Spain is a country with many regional powerhouses including Barcelona, the Valencian economy along the Mediterranean, the cultural capital of Seville, and other places of power such as Malaga, Santander, Bilbao and San Sebastian.

The bumper tourism season this summer has also helped a lot with jobs created organically rather than through some kind of employment program. This has worked perfectly in combination with the employment reforms acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his PP introduced that allow businesses to come to their own agreements with unions. The end result is a strong and liberal job market.

The Bloomberg piece is basically suggesting that Spain has a lot of policies and regulations that allow it to run itself for the near future at least. It’s obvious that there will need to be some leadership at some point so things can be tweaked but, right now, Spain is pretty much on autopilot and things are going quite well and has kept the cost of living relatively low. 

Many hope it continues for as long as it can.