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The autumn 2016 edition of the “Expat Time" is out – and SpeakerHub has an interview in it! Published by ING, Expat Time is a magazine created for expats living in Belgium. The magazine helps expats with topics such as buying a property, understanding the pension system, investing, and starting your own business in Belgium.
Andras Baneth, founder of SpeakerHub was interviewed and explains some of the benefits and challenges of starting up a business in Brussels.
See the original article here, or read below.
Here is an excerpt from the interview with Andras Baneth:
I started my first business when I was 12, when I launched a school newspaper. It lasted for five editions, but it was a step in the right direction. I became a full-time entrepreneur in 2011 when I left my job as a European Commission official and dedicated my time to EU Training, my e-Iearning venture to help candidates pass the EU concours and become fonctionnaires. It has won various prizes and more than 80,000 people have used our service.
My latest venture, SpeakerHub, came from a different experience. I've been organising events and doing lots of public speaking for many years, and I've been frustrated that there is no single source where I can find speakers or market myself as a speaker. SpeakerHub is a global, free platform for anyone who's available to speak at conferences. or is a trainer or moderator, to create a profile so that event organisers around the world can find and invite them.
Setting up the company in Belgium was more about practical aspects than careful planning. I’ve been living here for 10 years, so it was natural to create my company with a Brussels address. As an entrepreneur, I want to focus on growing my business and pleasing my customers, without dedicating any significant portion of my time to tax or accounting issues. Given the complexity of the Belgian tax system, it does require some spending on a good accountant. There are hidden gems: that is, special tax arrangements that companies can benefit from. The fact they exist is positive, but that you need experienced professionals to find them is less so.
I don't think the act of setting up a business is the main issue in Belgium. The bigger question is running it, especially when it comes to taxation. social security, hiring new staff (and the payroll). For clerical or administrative tasks, wages can be quite prohibitive, and the relative rigidity of hiring and firing can be daunting when there is so much uncertainty in my own business planning and cash flow. On the other hand, for value added" work, such as strategy. marketing or similar tasks, you can tap into an amazing pool of talent - in large part due to the fantastic international community in Belgium.
EU Training grew from a very basic investment and then organically, we never took any loans. This also meant that growth was steady but slow. For SpeakerHub, I launched it less than a year ago from my own savings, but I do see the limits of growth, so I'm looking for investment to scale it up significantly.
Special thank you to the Expat Time for featuring us. If you would like to contact us, please click here. It is an honour to have been able to share our ideas and what we've been working on with SpeakerHub.
Are you with the media? Want to find out more about what we are doing differently? Send a message to the founder of SpeakerHub here.
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