They’ve done it – and don’t regret it: migrants to
Edinburgh
 |
George Minev, RuVisa (moved from
Bulgaria)
George arrived from Bulgaria 20 years
ago.
|
Being familiar with the intricacies of completing visa forms, he
decided to create a company that assists businesspeople to rapidly
get visas to Russia. Nowadays, RuVisa assists with all BRIC and
various other countries. “The biggest nations have embassies and
consulates in Edinburgh”, George explains. “Compared to London,
embassies here are around the corner which means that we can access
them quickly.” Nevertheless, RuVisa founded another branch in
London to also capture the biggest market south of the border.
George now employs 7 staff. George concludes that “besides
being business-friendly, Edinburgh is a great place for raising my
kids. There is no better place to live, work and grow a company
than here.”
 |
Annette Götzkes, LanguageLinks (moved from
Germany)
Annette stayed in Edinburgh after
university
|
Annette stayed in Edinburgh after finishing university here. “I
didn’t have any concrete plans to create a language school”, she
remembers. “I began formalising things when I got my first
corporate client, BP. A designer friend created the logo, I opened
a business account, bought a fax machine and LanguageLinks was born!”
Soon afterwards, Lidl, various Scottish Councils and other big
players queued for her services. Annette also became the preferred
language supplier for Standard Life – the Edinburgh-based FTSE 100
life assurance and pensions business. LanguageLinks now has a pool
of tutors teaching German, Italian, Spanish and French. Besides the
successful business, Annette enjoys Edinburgh’s vibrant cultural
life: “I find it astonishing that a city of this size has four
theatres and hosts one of the largest art festivals in the
world. I also like the residents’ openness, their wit and
easy going ways.”
After completing his PhD at the Tokyo
Institute of Technology, Sethu headed eastwards to become a
research assistant professor in Los Angeles. The next step further
east brought him to the School of
Informatics at the University of Edinburgh where he became
Professor of Robotics. Sethu knew that the School’s research is
internationally recognized, that Informatics in Edinburgh delivers
more world-leading research than any other school in the UK and
contributes 10% of the UK's world-leading research in the Computer
Science and Informatics Unit of Assessment (UoA). Any plans to move
further east? After living in Tokyo and Los Angeles, “I find
Edinburgh a perfect size in terms of raising a family. Culturally
it’s very rich, too. Edinburgh brings everything together. For me,
that’s enough reason to stay.”
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