This month I returned for what is becoming an annual summer trip to the Baltic countries. I spent the bulk of my visit this time in Tallinn, Estonia — boy I love that place — visiting a few prospective investments.

I also ran a few administrative errands for my personal Estonian company, which frankly was almost entirely unnecessary since the Estonian e-residency program facilitates handling all this admin work online remotely, No need to even drop in.

For those of you whom are not yet in the know, I strongly encourage you to look into Estonia’s e-residency program if you have any appetite whatsoever to do business inside the European Union. For non-European citizens, the benefits are enormous. Even for EU citizens like myself, I found numerous reasons to obtain Estonian e-residency and subsequently create a local Estonian company. I embarked on this adventure more out of intellectual curiosity than an immediate need. However, upon making my first investment into an Estonian startup last year, I found that having Estonian e-residency dramatically facilitated all the paperwork.

A Baltic Tiger

When thinking about European resourcefulness and innovation, it’s hard not to admire a small country like Estonia. The Baltic country with a population of only 1.3 million boasts four tech unicorns. That’s more than here in Japan, whose population is 100 times greater !

Estonian-born Skype kicked off a startup boom when first eBay, then subsequently Microsoft acquired it for $8.5 billion, and its founders reinvested all of their profits in their home country. Since then, three additional Estonian companies have surpassed the $1B unicorn valuation threshold: Playtech (gambling software), Taxify (ride-hailing), and TransferWise (money transfer).

The fruitful convergence of the presence of “Skype mafia” role models, the country’s entrepreneurial DNA, and a digital government infrastructure in Estonia have fostered an accommodating environment for startups. On a per capita basis, Estonia ranks 6 times higher than the European average, with over 31 startups per 100.000 inhabitants !

Japan highest among Estonian e-residents, but…

Upon meeting with Estonian consular officials last year, I learned that of Estonia’s 50,000 e-residents around the world, Japan ranked among the highest source of them.

However, the corollary to that honor is that these privileged members hailing from Japan have a reputation inside the Estonian government of doing nothing once they obtain their e-residency status. In other words, very few Estonian e-residents based in Japan honor the “spirit” of the e-residency program, such as by investing in Estonia, participating in public sector activities online, or even creating a simple Estonian company for personal use,

Determined to repair Japan’s image, when I heard this I decided on the spot to create my own Estonian company, despite not having any pressing need to do so.

Registering a new company in Estonia was a piece of cake. Once I obtained my e-residency, I established my new Estonian company in less than an hour. No kidding, And 45 minutes of that time was spent upgrading my Windows OS to recognize the smartcard reader, so it actually takes a mere 15 minutes for all the Estonian business creation formalities. The process can be accomplished entirely remotely, though a local registered contact in Estonia is necessary (see the government’s marketplace for service providers, or feel free to email me if you need a referral).

As I am writing this post I realize that I must sound like a paid advertising salesman for the Estonian government, but I assure you that I am not compensated for this. My evangelism is purely altruistic. I suppose that the newly-converted are the most zealous, to paraphrase the old adage.

Still hesitating ? It might entice you to know that Estonia assesses no corporate income tax on undistributed profits.

Elagu Eesti !