10 reasons to team up with Canary Islands companies to make business in Africa

The geostrategic position of the Canary Islands

Have you ever noticed how incredibly close the Canary Islands are to Africa? It may seem obvious, but if besides the geographical proximity, you also factor in their excellent connections it almost seems like both continents aren’t separated. For this very reason, and many others that I will present below, the Canary Islands are an excellent location from where to base your African-bound operations.

In addition, teaming up with companies from the Canary Islands to serve African countries is also a wise decision, given their expertise and experience in that regard.

This is why I have developed the following list:

10 reasons to team up with Canary Islands companies to make business in Africa

1. Solid suppliers. The Canary Islands offer a solid infrastructure of services with contracting guarantees to companies operating in the Mid-Atlantic Ocean and Africa.
2. Tax incentives. The Canary Islands present the lowest corporate tax in the European continent (4%).
3. Connectivity. The Spanish archipelago has eight airports, six of which are international with over 34 million passengers every year. This includes 48 weekly direct flights to Africa (under normal circumstances). Besides, the Canary Islands have an extensive network of commercial and fishing harbors and marinas, some of them leading ports of Spain in passenger and cargo traffic, both between the Islands and from and to the rest of the world.
4. Proximity. The Canary Islands are merely 60 miles away from Africa. If you add the above mentioned excellent connectivity, you can work in Africa without being in it.
5. Europe in Africa. The Canaries belong to Spain, which means you get to do business in Africa as if you were in Europe, enjoying top-class safety, healthcare and economic reliability.
6. Competitive workforce. The Canary Islands have a foreign speaking (10% of the population are expats) and highly qualified (over 1,000 STEM graduates every year) workforce.
7. Telecommunications. One of the largest and most important fiber-optic submarine cable set linking Europe, Africa and America is in the Canary Islands providing world-class connectivity.
8. One of the best qualities of life in the world. The Canary Islands offer excellent weather conditions all year long (that’s a key factor why they welcome 15+ million tourists every year), alongside short commutes and excellent leisure, sport, an urban and natural alternatives to enjoy life after work with friendly people.
9. Turnover of staff rates. The Spanish archipelago presents one of the lowest turnover of staff rates in Europe. The situation is very different from a big European capital where anyone can snatch your employee from your company when he was having lunch downstairs. So the islands can help attract, but also maintain talent.
10. Valuable knowledge. The Canary Islands have been doing business with and in Africa for decades. Their knowledge and experience is invaluable when starting new businesses in the African continent. Some of the leading regional companies have operations in most West African Countries.

As you can see, teaming up with the Canaries Islands to do business in Africa can help reduce risk for your company and provide an extra upside as a result of leveraging local companies support and knowledge on the field. Pick your reason and go for it.