‘Community’ is one of e-Residency’s four core values. Find out how you can connect with over 100,000 of the world’s entrepreneurs when you become an e-resident of Estonia.
Community. It's one of the best advantages of being an e-resident.
Picture over a hundred thousand ambitious and entrepreneurial people. Perhaps it's easier to imagine that number of people packing out a physical space, for example:
Now, imagine all of those people spread across different parts of the world. A networked diaspora of digital business professionals living and working from anywhere. They're connected by their interests in business freedom, digital innovation, and location independence. And by their ownership of an e-Residency digital ID card, which links them into Estonia's broader digital society.
But how can new e-residents benefit from the e-Residency community? Where can you network? Who can help you with your business plans? Might there be new potential clients or partners out there? What can you do to get connected?
I'll try to answer these questions in this final post of a series explaining the key ways to take advantage of e-Residency - whether due to it's ease, opportunities or trustworthiness. In this post, I cover four key strategies of how you can benefit from the e-Residency community - one of the programme's most important values and unique selling points. The value of the e-Residency community is encapsulated in the statement:
Connect with the world's entrepreneurs
E-residents tell us they feel a huge sense of inclusion and belonging that comes with Estonia’s digital community. There are members in 179 countries, so wherever you are in the world you will find a network of experience, advice and support from like-minded people.
Estonia is a magnet for startups and entrepreneurs. And we don't mean this merely in business terms, but also culturally. The country is full of problem-solving people, looking to create, innovate, and collaborate. Whether you are in the country, or running your business from anywhere in the world, that culture touches every aspect of Estonian business.
As a crucial and growing part of this ecosystem, Estonian e-residents comprise a truly international community of people with a passion for entrepreneurship. When you become an Estonian e-resident, you’ll join this active, supportive and growing network.
In 2023, our community is made up of over 100,000 e-residents from more than 170 countries. Since 2014, e-residents have started over 27,000 companies in Estonia.
See more statistics at the e-Residency dashboard:
E-resident Julian Maier is the founder of URBN TIGER. He finds e-Residency simple and easy to use, and is grateful for "being connected to real people, who actually care about what I am doing and are supportive."
E-residents value personal and business freedom, travel frequently, and run their enterprises independent of location. E-Residency opens up opportunities to meet and befriend like-minded folks wherever you are.
Watch our video about e-resident Christoph Huebner and his quest for community and freedom:
Please to watch this video.
An old (misquoted) saying of Ernest Hemingway muses that there are Estonians in every port. Well, these days it’s more than likely that there is at least one Estonian e-resident in every port too.
E-residents can meet online in social media community groups or webinars, or in-person at community events held on a monthly basis in different cities around the world. Some e-residents even start their own local community networks and have regular meetups.
Becoming an e-resident provides a connection to Estonia as well. In fact, academic research found that being an e-resident can also imply a sense of membership – a symbolic type of ‘digital diaspora’ even – in the state.
A recent survey of nearly 200 e-residents provided some extra proof of the loyalty and pride that comes with being a part of our community. The survey asked how they found out about e-Residency. 30% responded that they were recommended the programme by a friend or colleague. It's nice validation that e-residents are finding it useful enough to refer to their friends, and supports our claim of a strong, engaged community.
E-residents are entrepreneurs with a passion for business, innovation, and solving the world's problems. They have plenty of experience of running a company in Estonia. And they’re ready and willing to provide advice and shortcuts to do things legally and efficiently.
The e-Residency Team provides dedicated content and support to e-residents, on all topics relevant in your journeys. They provide written content, guides, case studies, and videos across our online channels, broadcast regular live Q&As, and host regular events.
The e-Residency Marketplace is a complementary network of service providers helping entrepreneurs overcome barriers to growth. They bring deep market-specific knowledge and experience in supporting e-residents.
And don’t forget the Estonian e-resident International Chamber Association (eerica), an independent, membership-based organisation of e-residents formed to provide support to the community.
There are few hierarchies in the tech community in Estonia. So as an e-resident, you’ll only be one or two degrees separation from the right people. Take the opportunity to meet Estonian founders or pitch to investors at business conferences like Latitude59 in Tallinn or sTARTUp Day in Tartu. Here you can connect with Estonia’s founders community, access policy influencers, and find mentors who have turned startups into unicorns.
Or check out our new opportunities portal to find accelerators, incubators and investors:
Dr Priya E. Abraham became an e-resident in 2017 and established Cyberconnecting OÜ in 2018. Cyberconnecting advises and coaches solopreneurs and small businesses about safeguarding their digital interests and cyberbrands. Priya met another e-resident Oliver Gasser at a meeting of eerica in 2018. As a result of meeting and common ground after the pandemic, they co-founded a business togethr. Vaeliou is a boutique SaaS application built on an integrative anthropological approach to work and people.
On meeting Oliver thanks to their e-resident connection, Priya noted the benefits of the networking opportunities brought by the programme:
“E-Residency is a door opener to an international network presenting high-calibre experts from various fields. The input and feedback from entrepreneurs and business leaders were invaluable for our solution.”
Being a small country, Estonia’s public and private sectors work closely together. The country’s entrepreneurship-friendly government regularly consults business stakeholders, holds events, and engages in dialogue to better the business environment. E-resident founders can also participate in these discussions and events and access the country’s policy making community.
In addition, the e-Residency Team facilitates in-person or online events, which we curate on our online Events Calendar. We also moderate social media groups for all our community members, from prospective e-residents on Facebook and Reddit, to experienced founders on Discord.
In fact, it was at an e-Residency community event in Berlin in 2022 that Julian Maier (introduced above) made contact with the e-Residency team, and became, in his own way, a believer. "I really felt this connection," says Maier. "I liked the whole community vibe, and the other people who were hanging out there."
Join us for our monthly e-Residency Live Q&A with our team & special guests answering questions about e-Residency & starting a company in Estonia.
