Business Ideas to setup new company

Hi,

So I assume you have capital to invest, maybe management skills?

I can't comment much on the bar route, I can see a lot of expensive pubs downtown, and they seem to be doing well, so you probably can't go wrong with that :-)

But if you have contacts back in Dubai or elsewhere, setting up an IT shop is a much better opportunity: Hungarian developers and other IT professionals while making more than the average are still a good value on a global scale.
What I'd do is get a few very good, expensive guys with fluent English to be team leaders and customer liaisons, let them hire teams of much cheaper kids fresh out of school, and contract them out as competent teams (which they really are!) or do service contracts.
Set them up somewhere convenient with no dress code or other formalities, maybe a few toys, get a bulk contract with a nearby pizza delivery place, and they'll be in the "office" 24/7 :-)

If you don't have contacts but like the IT route, developing and distributing your own mobile applications is relatively low investment. There is more risk depending on how good your idea is and how you advertise it, but you have the pride of making your own product.

Armin1981 wrote:

I will be soon in Budapest after couple of mounths for forming a company and start working and living there

You do not know anything about the local business market but want to start a business and live and work here?

Does this have anything to do with the proposed 'investor residency' law change in Hungary which would give you Hungarian citizenship and then access to the entire EU?

Thanks for the replies.

@szocske : your idea is great but i am looking for something new or unique that will be very needed in Hungary. yes i have capital to start a new business.

@klsalle : you are correct. i want to apply for RP by forming a new company there. Want to run away from Islamic countries )

I have to come to budapest to open a company in person now by the new law and before that i will do the market research.

I did the same thing in Prague but at the moment doing this in Prague is little bit complex and required more paper works.

Plz let me as an expact that what you see is missing there. what type of business would be much interested to run there.

Many thanks.

Armin1981 wrote:

yes i have capital to start a new business.

Hungary had more small to medium businesses fail this year than in the past decade. It is not the ideal business environment at the moment. If one has the choice and flexibility, I would, personally, not suggest Hungary at this time.

Consider US (California or New York) for IT business. The US is much more business friendly than Europe (especially for start ups). There is an investor residency law in the US already, and you can always "outsource" to sub contractors in central Europe from the US -- getting the best of both worlds without the paperwork headache of starting and maintaining a business in Hungary.


Good luck.

I still think the highest demand is for jobs ;-)

Lots of smart people, willing to work for relatively little, without the nerve (and capital, and knowledge, and trust in the stability of the legal system...) to start their own business.

With most people making so little and lots unemployed, exporting stuff is more lucrative than trying to sell something locally.

Yes, the paperwork/bureaucracy is horrible, plan to have at least one full time employee for this. Plus accounting. Hopefully you won't need constant legal counsel after you are set up initially.

szocske wrote:

Lots of smart people, willing to work for relatively little

Which describes many places in the world today, so that alone is incomplete. It must be placed into a frame with an honest, independent assessment of the labor force's efficiency, productivity, consistency, organizational skills, capacity for quality, etc.

Amin, it seems that both of us have things in common. I am Egyptian with UAE residency. I am also want to invest in Hungary. I think we can help each other at least with sharing ideas about investment with minimum risk. If you are interested , pls pm and we can have furthet discussion. My time today is between Egypt, Dubai and Budapest. Although , i felt some how offended by i want to be a way from moslem countrirs, i think you are right. But the problem not in the religion * the islam * itself but about rulers and practices that made moderate muslems like me do not want to live in these countries. I guess u agre with me that UAE is exceptional

open a restaurant where you sell german style Döner Kebab because what the turkish restaurants sell here is really not eatable. yuck.
id even invest money in that business myself...

Hello,

I don't recommend investing in hungary if u plan to sell on the hungarian market.

Good workforce is continously leaving the country.
New taxes and regulations increased unemployment, the buyer force of the internal market is very limited.

As ppl have no money you must be extremely carefull with stealing and robbery.

Bank and communication fees are rising according to the extra taxation of these sectors.

Administration of a company, the taxation is extremely difficult.you can easily penalised for the smallest fault. You can spend hours even days in NAV...

If u still feel the power to start a company here, just pm me, i will try to answer your questions:-)

Andras

Hi Armin,

I can really resonate with what @entity and @klsallee was saying about your future prospects.

On the other hand I have a small business (although highly specialized and a 12 years solid business background and network) that I could keep away from sinking in the past 3 years, along with being a quasi fulltime father of 2 toddlers.

Still as a business owner I cannot stress it enough how tough it is to stay on top of taxation AND healthcare / social contributions regulations. Basically changing every year.

All that being said, if you or @sherif1986 need any help - like a good accountant or further ideas on what to invest into then please PM me.

Good luck,

Dez

Thanks from all of you guys one by one for giving me some ideas and advises . If i wish to explain more, my business plan was rejected last September for Newzealand (always my dream land) for business immigration unfortunately. That's why i was trying to find a solution for myself. I travel and did the market research in Prague but the process is taught and time consuming now.

At the moment i am very unsure about two places to invest about 500 K USD in it. Malaysia or Hungary the only two options left for me. i have applied MM2H visa for malaysia and it was approved just need to transfer the amount and start business there but i do not like to be in Asia unless that would be my last option.

I have read all of your ideas and comment about my post and i came to this point that Budapest might be a very bad option for me as i guessed ?? I am interested to open very unique different type of restaurant so i can franchise it later on.

I should make up my mind till next 3 weeks maximum.

Cheers all,

Hi Armin,

If you want a successful restaurant, you have to target rich ppl with good location and services and highger prices.

If u want a cheap restaurant u have to cheat on your income ( simply no entering some of your income into the cash register) and pay in cash to your employees.
Meantime you must be extremely carefull, in restaurants employees often stealing.

I heard, that Uruguay is now one of the fastest growing countries.
Or if u have 500k eur some areas in the usa will give u investor visa.

I have a project planned for texas but it needs 2million+ usd investment.

Regards,

Andras

Entity wrote:

Hi Armin,

If you want a successful restaurant, you have to target rich ppl with good location and services and highger prices.

If u want a cheap restaurant u have to cheat on your income ( simply no entering some of your income into the cash register) and pay in cash to your employees.
Meantime you must be extremely carefull, in restaurants employees often stealing.

I heard, that Uruguay is now one of the fastest growing countries.
Or if u have 500k eur some areas in the usa will give u investor visa.

I have a project planned for texas but it needs 2million+ usd investment.

Regards,

Andras

Hi Andras

I have been reading all your comments here and they are very useful.

It seems things are not too good in Budapest.

I, like Armin, wish to come to Hungary and start a business with my family.  I am a UK national and so is my son but my wife is Thai so we need to sort her immigration out also in the process..

Any ideas much appreciated but rather than hi-jack this forum I will start a new thread.

Thanks...

Sadly yes.

I closed my business as well here.
I'm sad, because the second version of my business management software was almost market ready... Hard decisions..
Its time to move.

I don't know the future, but there is a small chance that Hungary will leave EU and / or a civil war starts. Ppl getting poor and the anger grows..

Sherif , Armin

Are you moved already to Hungary or not yet
If so please help to start my first step
If not please clarify why?

Thanks
Mohamed Wahdan

Medo2015 wrote:

Sherif , Armin

Are you moved already to Hungary or not yet
If so please help to start my first step
If not please clarify why?

Thanks
Mohamed Wahdan

For info, you are participating on a thread inactive since 2013.

I invite you to create a new thread and to introduce yourself properly and ask for help from members.

Be sure to be as clear as possible so that members can best advise you.

Thank you

Regards
Kenjee

True, seen oh so many legit businesses come and go in Hungary, easy resident permit with a business visa...
I personally doubt anyone would open a legit business in Hungary with the hopes of actually turning a legit profit...
Of course we have old time friends who are Hungarians who own everything from chicken restaurant chains to Mercedes Benz car dealerships and have workers build new grocery stores for them in lake side resorts in Hungary.
These legit business owners started over 25 years ago when it was only for those with a good business plan and allot and I mean allot of nerve.
Know one guy who had to walk away from his legit business in Budapest because the mafia was squeezing him to death, he opened another now very successful business but had his back covered.

My husband and I often talk about what if's here in Hungary.
I know he was here in 1989 for a business venture which did not turn out like we hope it would.
He was told back then to invest in real estate by some smart old Hungarian friends of his, the issue was in trust with the gov. My husband grew up in communist Hungary and knew his very hard working mother lost her privately owned dairy business after WW11 and that his once wealthy family lost it all.( Her shop was located on busy Vaci Utca, now so trendy)
He was afraid to invest in Hungary in 1989. Even now with being a citizen in Hungary and being retired he still does not 100% trust the s*** will not hit the fan again over here.Can not say for sure but looks like things are getting a bit conservative here again.
For non citizens it really would not surprise us to find out the gov. has decided to not let foreigners own property in Hungary. Who knows, for now it's buy and invest but perhaps it will be get the heck outta here if HU leaves the EU.

The probability of leaving the EU is almost zero, they just used its threat as a leverage... So we should not fear that.

On the other side, it doesn't take them long to make new laws for their specific needs... But thank god thats within some boundaries, so it barely effects average people.

Hi Everybody, This is Mo originally from Tehran, Iran. I run a fitness centre and swimming pool (which is   a family business) in Tehran. Also, I have got my Master degree in Business Sport Management from Deakin University in Melbourne. we (me and rest of my family) have recently decided to move somewhere in Europe to live and work there. Hungary is one of my options to live. However I need to do more research about that.
I read all the comments and just noticed that the majority of them have written more than 2 years ago. So, I would like to know if you guys still believe that the climate of business is not good enough and if I should consider other options.
we are mostly willing to do our previous business and open a Gym or a sport club (for instance martial arts, wrestling, zumba, etc). Do you think that is right thing to do or not? our capital can be vary from 200k to 2M Euro (of course we would like to take the precautionary principle and not to bring lot of money into a none known business climate.
my second option is having an import and export company which enables us to import persian goods (such as spice,saffron, handy crafts ...) to Europe. What do u think about that? any idea ?
Thank you all in advance!

Hi Mo,

I think the climate is not getting any better. The same government in six years now, lot of far right sounds. This 'great' government communicates about immigrants (or refugees, who knows what) as unwanted persons, worse case terrorists, and lot of blind ppl follows their worlds. You can expect a lot of antipathy and racist stuff.

The good thing, that hungary has a 'Invest to get citizenship programme' ( for 300k EUR you can get hungarian citizenship and you will get back your money after 5 years, more here: http://www.mfa.gov.hu/kulkepviselet/CN/ … erview.htm).
And a hungarian citizenship grants you free movement over Europe.

If you have availabe 2M EUR, I suggest some western European country, easier to find customers who can pay for your services and also the administration is much easier.

Regards

Andras

Hey dear Andras,
first of all thank you for your kindly reply. I read the links which you sent me. the second option (300K) seems such a great idea as that is fast and unlikely to lose anything. However, the economic issue in Hungary seems to be like an issue for a new business. what do you think about my second option which was importing and exporting goods from middle east to europe? Do you guess that's gonna work or not? in west europe which country do you suggest by the way (consider the concepts of the quality of life, easy procedure of migration, education for future children, the climate of business, the open and friendly atmosphere for foreigners especially for muslims, the rate of crime, and the cost of living)? I think these elements are absolutely needed to be considered for a successful migration pattern.
cheers

Hi Mo,

Your welcome,

As citizen of a EU member you are free to move any EU country and do business. It is not necessary to settle in Hungary at all after you got the Hungarian passport.

As the my answers to your questions would be reflecting my personal opinion, therefore very-very subjective, It is better if I not share this publicly. If you don't mind, send me a private message and I will answer your questions.

Regards,

Andras

Entity wrote:

If you have availabe 2M EUR

If one has "even" 1M Euro, one can purchase a full EU passport in Malta.

The Hungarian program just gives "residency", it does not provide a Hungarian passport. And there are some minor restrictions on moving to other countries, not being an EU citizen.

Mo Babaei wrote:

in west europe which country do you suggest by the way (consider the concepts of the quality of life, easy procedure of migration, education for future children, the climate of business, the open and friendly atmosphere for foreigners especially for muslims, the rate of crime, and the cost of living)?

Are you specifically looking at EU only countries? There are many non-EU countries as well. For example, Switzerland sits pretty much smack dab in the middle of the continent (but I would not call Switzerland, and the Swiss People's Party, migrant friendly). Meanwhile, Kosovo has a large Muslim population, but is not in the EU (yet). Germany is welcoming (former western Germany more so than form eastern Germany), and recently voted the best country to live in, but you will have to learn German (if you do not already speak it). In fact, you will have to quickly learn the local language to do business unless you plan to service only an expat or immigrant community (which might be pretty small in some countries). So, if you consider Hungary, do know that Hungarian is not an easy language.

You speak English, but the UK is becoming more and more difficult to immigrate into (conservative government -- and may yet hold a referendum to exit the EU ... probably won't but if they do getting access to the EU market will be more difficult for your business if based in the UK).

But overall, due to the illegal immigration event now ongoing from the middle east, I think, in my humble opinion, that legal immigration from the same region will be now a more uphill battle than it should be, or was a few years ago. But then again, many of those immigrants will probably stay in Germany, so you have a ready made consumer base that may want to buy things from "back home". It is kind of looking like Germany is a good business target. 

I do not know if an import business will work or not. But I suspect many others are thinking the same due to the recent sanctions being lifted off Iran, so it might become a crowed field, very rapidly, so you would probably need to get into the business quickly.

I have noticed many Gyro shops in Budapest and copy shops run by Iranians, they have been in HUngary for years now.
I also have seen several import shops with middle eastern wears in the city.
Not sure how popular middle east goods would be with the average Hungarian.
Hungarians are willing to try new things but overall I would guess they perfer their own types of foods ,The weather in Hungary is not for light weight styles of middle eastern clothing and I don't think the hIppie movement is all that large in Hungary, no need for household goods that scream 1968.
Pricey middle eastern carpet shops can be found in Hungary but I have noticed a few have gone out of business over the past few years. Too pricey for the average Hungarian and those carpets are usually passed down in families, not a hot thing to just buy on impulse.
My son' ex bro in-law sold Persian carpets 15 years ago in Hungary, I know he got beat the heck up once and was in the hospital, think the HU mob was making  a move on him.
We started a import'export business from the US to HU back in 1989, or rather my husband did with 3 other American Hungarians.
We sold everything we could get our hands on in the US of good quality since at that time Hungarians would buy anything, they needed everything too.
Toilet seats, Ray Ban sunglasses, makeup, swim suits and even adult toys!! Hard to believe my husband placed a bid at auction on adult toys , I was angry when he brought home 750 of them, they sold like hot cakes in Hungary so what do I know about business?
In the long run, we lost more time and money then we should of, HUngarians don't do business like you would think, hard to collect money, some people overprice so high that there can be no room for reorders. Products sat on store shelves way too long because of greedy store owners overpricing everything.
Everyone wanted to get rich quick.
We would never in a million years every do business in Hungary again.
Good luck.

Hey Klsallee
thanks for your kindly reply.
I didn't know that Hngary is not going to give passports to its foreigners investors. are you sure about that? I mean even I invest on their 'government investment plan" (give them 300k for five years)?
about small countries like Malta I am so indecisive because I think they might go out from the Euro Union in the future!!! Do you think that is possible to happen?

hey Klsallee
thank you again for your kindly reply.
well switzerland seems such a dream. I even did not dare to do some research about that as I have heard that is kind of impossible to go and live there!!!
UK sounds amazing and I love to go there (I used to live in Sheffield for a year and that was just awesome). I consulted with a lawyer and have been told that it is not easy at all and  it might take several years for whole of my family to move there (as I have a big family which is four seperated family in fact because my brother and sister are married and have children).
Kosovo I don't think that is a good option as the country seems so poor. I read about Bulgaria which is almost the same (less muslim population which is about 10% percent and a better economy). For bulgaria one of the options is paying 170K none refundable to get their citizenship (which seems better than Malta at any aspect).
i recently just feel that I am getting lost within the Euro Union map and its countries rules and legislations !!!
Regards

Mo Babaei wrote:

I didn't know that Hngary is not going to give passports to its foreigners investors. are you sure about that? I mean even I invest on their 'government investment plan" (give them 300k for five years)?

Absolutely sure. See from the link already provided above about this program:

"The Hungarian Investment Immigration Program (“Program”) provides an opportunity for third country nationals (non-European Union citizens) to acquire permanent resident status in Hungary through investing in Special Hungarian Government Bonds issued by the Government Debt Management Agency (“AKK”)."

It states only "permanent resident", not "citizenship". These two statuses are different.

I am a permanent resident in Hungary. But I am not a citizen and do not have a Hungarian passport. As a permanent resident I pretty much have equal rights to any Hungarian (I can work, start a business, pay into and use the Hungarian health care system, etc.). The only thing I can not do is vote in national elections, because I am still not a citizen.

A lot of "scam-ish" sites refer to it as a citizenship program, but that is somewhat misleading. It can be a path to citizenship, in that you go through the normal manner of living in Hungary, learning the language, studying and passing the citizen test.

Mo Babaei wrote:

about small countries like Malta I am so indecisive because I think they might go out from the Euro Union in the future!!! Do you think that is possible to happen?

Have never heard that Malta may leave the EU. And I doubt they will. Small countries often get a large (maybe disproportionate) share of EU development funds and grants, and I doubt Malta will decide to walk away from all that fiscal support.

Mo Babaei wrote:

well switzerland seems such a dream.

I lived in Switzerland for many years. I found it overrated in many ways.

But, if Switzerland interests you, here is information on the Swiss investor residency program (I think everyone should pursue their dreams):

http://live-in-switzerland.com/e/reside … estor.html

Hey klsallee
thank you so much for your kindly reply again:)
I do not know how to thank you for inspiring me
all the info was really useful
I am going to do some more research and see what can I do
cheers:)

Hi Armin,

Your advice is too old but never know...
I am already in south of Hungary (Baja 6500) preparing and building "cruising hovercraft" to serve as a river taxi on Danube...When finalized, can become the very renting business of lounge duration, with relatively small investment..!

  ***

Have a nice day.
                                                                                             King Regards,  Stevan

This is just the right topic on entrepreneurial outlooks as perceived by 16 respondents worldwide:

http://blogs.angloinfo.com/angloinfo-wo … repreneur/

TL;DR Hungary didn't make it to the top 10

dezpapp wrote:

This is just the right topic on entrepreneurial outlooks as perceived by 16 respondents worldwide:

http://blogs.angloinfo.com/angloinfo-wo … repreneur/

TL;DR Hungary didn't make it to the top 10

Very odd that Switzerland did not make the top 10 either. I was an entrepreneur in Switzerland when I lived there, and I felt it was a very entrepreneur friendly country. And it had all the criteria listed at the above web site to rank it so: "educated population, entrepreneurial, innovative, provides easy access to capital, skilled labour force, technological expertise, transparent business practices, well-developed infrastructure and well-developed legal framework".

And while Swiss costs are a bit more, but not that much more, than one may find in some high tech job markets in the USA (where I also was an entrepreneur) taxes in Switzerland are often less than the USA, Germany, France (all which made the list), and much, much less than in Hungary.

Hi Armin,

If this topic still interesting for you, just drop me an email: ***

Kind Regards,

Zoltán

Exactly as stated, no passport even with a permanent resident card.
I just received my 10 year permanent resident card and it does not come with a HU passport.
That is only for citizens of Hungary.
If you could actually legally move and start a business in the US, that is the place to do it.
Gyms in Hungary come and go . At the moment most in my opinion are overpriced compared to the large chains of gyms in the US.
In the US gyms such as 24 hour fitness, Golds Gym etc. are national chains where you can purchase a franchise.
In the US another good business to own is a "Supercuts" hair salon franchise. In the US you do not need to be a licensed hairdresser to own a salon, although your manager would need the license to run the salon for you.
These are very well organized businesses. They used to offer franchises for Supercuts for around $20,000 to start but that was 35 years ago last time I looked into doing that myself.
It all really depends on what neighborhood and what mall the shop is in. As a new owner of a franchise you are usually offered the worst locations to start.
I wouldn't be surprised if they now start at at least $200,000 or more. They are gold mines really, I worked in them off and on in several states, always busy no matter what location they are in.
Sad thing is I was wanting to start one in Cal. 30 years ago, seriously had the money .In 1990 and was still doing hair when several HU friends pulled funds to start a import/export in HU instead of backing me. They were lucky to break even after the HU affair. We would all be sitting pretty now if they backed me with the $ in 1990. Sometimes people just want to do things the hard way, no one wanted to listen to a women hairdresser, the guys all knew better...Right.
Should of just got a small business loan of my own and let them just toss the money out the window without getting involved in business in HU.

Gyms in the US have one time buy in fee to members and then a monthly fee is taken out of the banks for membership. The hopes are that because of the low monthly fees most people really won't show up, most don't go everyday to the gym.
People sign a one year or longer contract to the gym.
As long as the management keeps it running smoothly it is a no brainer.
Most small businesses in the US are franchises, they set up a business plan etc. for you, like a formula.

Restaurants are one of the hardest types of businesses to run successfully. In Hungary most people want either cheap food or fancy food. Most locals can't afford to eat out often, usually only on special occasions.
If you don't speak HUngarian etc. I think doing business with the public and many employees in HU is a bad idea, just opening yourself up to a ton of issues.

My friend's husband is from Iran and they just opened up their own slate mine in N. Calf. 3 years ago. Super busy with 30 some employees now. He learned all those skills in Iran in the old family business there. He was an engineer building bridges in Tehran before they came to the US in 78. Never built any bridges in the US but went back to what he knows best, the old family business of mining.
Doing so well they now have time for their grandkids who all live on a huge farm they bought near the mine. Her husband only works part-time at the mine now after basically building it up himself from the ground up.
Guess doing what you know best is better then just trying your hand at something you know little about.

Dear  Mr Armin ,
I have read all the facts from members , interesting !! . I have recently moved to Budapest from Barcelona and I have seen something here that would be a HUGE restaurant/cafe franchise with the right investment , management training , product location and design , local / touristic awareness and the understanding of VISION .
You will recieve great returns and wellbeing on this .
If you are interested to talk about my idea ( as I am aware of idea thiefs out there !! ) and we ( the idea/ visionary business artists )  need to protect ourselves and recieve the just financial benefits ) .
I am sure you understand the position I hold .

I`m am not the person in the photo !!

Please contact me personally at : *
I wish you well

Yours Sincerely

Feargal O laoi

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