ExpatHub Helps Foreigners to Relocate and Run Business in Georgia
ExpatHub is a one-stop-shop for entrepreneurial foreigners who’ve relocated to Georgia or are looking to relocate. The company has a wide range of essential expat services, though the focus is on law and accountancy. CBW had an interview with Janar Kokk, Managing partner of ExpatHub to learn more about how they navigate Georgian life and bureaucracy.
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is ExpatHub all about?
We’re first and foremost a law & accounting firm, specializing mostly on tax law, incorporating businesses and setting up tax-optimal structures, but we’ve expanded a lot horizontally and are now at a point where our team of lawyers and assistants can help expats in Georgia in virtually all legal and administrative questions – from legal help when purchasing real estate to helping people apply for a residency permit.
What motivated you to get started with your company?
Being an expat entrepreneur myself, I realized soon after arriving in Georgia and relocating part of my existing business here that high quality advice was extremely difficult to come by, especially for someone who doesn’t speak the local language. Having gotten a less-than-stellar experience from over half a dozen law firms and accountants, and being shocked at the amount of blatant misinformation that was often given, my business partner and I decided to do something about it and change the status quo. My own experience in the world of tax and finance came in handy, but we quickly vetted and hired a team of local professionals who are at the top of their game.
What were the main obstacles you needed to overcome to start a business in a foreign country?
When it comes to the overall business climate and bureaucracy, Georgia manages to set a good example. The country also constantly ranks highly on the World Bank’s global Ease of Doing Business index, and the reality is very much reflective of that, meaning that the legal side of starting a business is not challenging at all – compared to most other countries in the world.
As far as the obstacles go, Georgia is no different than any of the 5+ other countries I’ve done business in. Finding and attracting good talent is always the biggest challenge. As is navigating the local laws, but given the nature of our business, we had quite an advantage in this regard!
Starting a business in Georgia would almost certainly be much more difficult for someone who’s looking to attract the local clientele, however. Being fully expat-focused, we’ve not had to deal with that part of the equation.
What sets Expathub apart from the other players in the market?
We like to say that we have no competition, and our clients tend to agree.
While some law firms do market to parts of the same customer segment, usually defined as “foreigners in Georgia”, we’ve taken the service to an entirely new level, providing people advice that’s not only true, accurate and verified (i.e. our advice is always backed up by references to the applicable laws), but also doing so in a language that they understand, by native or native-level English and Spanish speakers.
While our legal experts are Georgian, our customer-facing team consists of almost entirely expats, most of whom are native English speakers. And when it comes to law, you want to be 100% sure that no stone is unturned. 95%, or “good enough” just doesn’t cut it, and even the slightest chance of something getting “lost in translation” can result in a large tax bill or worse.
Having spoken to our clients, those for whom we’re the first law firm or accountancy they’ve worked with in Georgia tend to be happy, while those who’ve had prior experience with other providers tend to be over-the-moon happy. That, to me, shows that we’re doing the right thing and really pushing the bar on quality.
Who’s your team, and what’s your work process like?
In less than a year, we’ve grown from just myself, my business partner Tom and a single accountant to a team of over 15 employees and contractors.
Our team consists of expats and locals alike, and our key strategy is to double down on everyone’s individual strengths. Each and every team member doing only what they’re good at and enjoy is something that quickly radiates into results.
What are the advantages of doing business in Georgia?
Georgia is a very unique place that’s going through a period of rapid change. Such change always comes with its challenges, but opportunities are also ripe.
Taking our own example, it’s still very possible to find markets that are in a desperate need for disruption, and by doing things quicker and better than the competition, and reacting to the changing needs and preferences to the customer, the market will quickly notice and reward it.
Being that Georgia is also a relatively small country, marketing too is a little easier here than it would be in some larger countries. Word of mouth also carries a significant weight. For someone like us, that’s a great thing, as by now we do very little actual marketing. Most of our business originates from personal recommendations. But it’s also something that keeps a company in check. Mess up a few times, and you can count on the recommendations to slow down immediately.
What challenges and opportunities do you see in the upcoming year?
Our main and biggest challenge will remain attracting talent and keeping up with the continued explosive growth of the company. We’ve barely scratched the surface with the suite of services that we want to provide, so there’s a long way to go for us. But all of this is incredibly exciting, and the reality is that none of us knows where we’ll be in a year’s time – that’s the benefit of listening to the customer and going where the market tells us to go.