This article is written by Nardine B. M’barek, a Contributor Author at Startup Turkey.
While attending Startup Istanbul 2017, Kaspar Korjus gave us the honor of
presenting to us e-Estonia, an innovative idea thanks to which entrepreneurship
became much easier. With the digitized nation, everything is easier and cheaper. E-
Estonia is named the most advanced digital society in the world by Wired 1. During the
session, we had a Q&A session with Mr. Korjus in order to answer all your inquiries
concerning e-Estonia, we will, therefore, provide you with answers within this article.
15 years ago, the goal of the government of the Republic of Estonia was to
reinforce its relationship with its citizens, allowing them to enjoy more sophisticated
services that are provided online through a digitized platform powered by the
Republic’s government.
During Startup Istanbul 2017, we invited Mr. Kaspar Korjus, the manager director of e-
Residency, in order to provide us with details and information regarding e-Estonia,
and e-Residency. Mr. Korjus delivered an information session, in which he talked to
us about e-Estonia. He talked about the nation’s main goals and aims at starting from
giving the opportunity to not only Estonian citizens, but to people from all over the
world to enjoy the services of the digitized platform, and to achieve successful
results thanks to the companies they could establish and manage through the online
platform.
At the end of the session, we had a little Q&A session with Mr. Korjus, during which
he answered the audience’s inquiries and questions. It furthermore clarified our idea
about e-Residency, and allowed us to think about this initiative even more.
Mr. Korjus first talked about the first US citizen that became an e-resident, who is Mr.
Hamid Tahsildoost. Mr. Korjus stated that three years ago, there was an international
interest given to the digitized nation of e-Estonia, which made the staff visit the United
States of America. The latter also spoke about Mr. Tahsildoost, and how he really
believed in the success of such a nation, how the money is transferred, and how the
most important thing about this initiative was that no importance is given to the
physical boundaries.
We have made our own researches on Mr. Tahsildoost and found a blog post that he
posted back in 2014 when he was about to apply to become an e-resident. He stated
that he travels a lot to Estonia and was very interested in the new program that was
going to be launched by the government allowing citizens, and non-citizens to get
legal identity cards, which would enable him later on to conduct business online
1 Wired is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses
on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé
Nast, it is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has been in publication since
March/April 1993.
without the trouble of having to physically move from place to place. Mr. Tahsildoost
made it clear to his readers that this is a revolution in the field of technology and
entrepreneurship, and that everyone should try it.
Back to the Q&A session with Mr. Korjus, a guest from the audience gave us her
feedback regarding e-Residency. She stated that It is easier to pay taxes, open a bank
account and start a company, that’s why she chose it. It will be easier for her to
manage her company, taxes, and legal stuff from the online platform instead of
waiting for hours to do it.
Mr. Korjus added a few details about what makes e-Estonia great by stating that the
community helps each other with the startups, which makes people interested in it,
and helps grow the number of e-residents, and people who are ready to join e-Estonia
in order to start making their lives better and easier.
1 Wired is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses
on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé
Nast, it is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has been in publication since
March/April 1993.
References:
Mr. Hamid Tahsildoost blog post: https://hamidtahsildoost.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/what-
is-e-residency/
