Doing business in Estonia is pure joy!

Breakdown of the Estonian services sector in 2008 by turnover (%)

others

19%

warehousing

28%

consultancy and advisor

12%

real estate service

11%

telecommunication

11%

arhitectural services

6%

health care

4%rent

4%legal and

accounting activites

3%human resources

2%

Business Services in EstoniaBusiness services amount to nearly 17% of the services

sector turnover in Estonia. The predominant sub-sector is consultancy and advisory which comprises 12% of turnover in the services sector. This is followed by legal and accounting services with 3% and human resources services with 2%.

Enterprises in the sector are generally local small-scale companies; there are also a number of subsidiaries of international corporations. In many cases, especially in auditing, consulting and legal services, the existence of international networking is an important selling factor for companies. According to Äripäev’s (a business daily news-paper) database, there were approximately 5,300 enterprises in the business services sector in Estonia and 2,900 people were forecast to be employed in the sector in 2009.

Examples of companies in the sector: Powerhouse (public relations), Arvato Services Estonia (call centre), Rimess (auditing and accounting), Advokaadibüroo Sorainen (law office), Glikman & Partnerid (law office), Advokaadibüroo Luiga Mody Hääl Borenius (law office), Hill and Knowlton (public realtions), Mercuri International Eesti (advisory) and many more.

Source: Statistics Estonia

Main advantages and strengths of Estonia in the business services sector Well-developed infrastructure supporting the development of business services

Highly developed telecommunications infrastructure

High digital infrastructure level Excellent internet coverage Electronic ID-card and ID-related

services

Multilingual and educated labour force with low labour costs creates a competitive advantage for the company

Educated Skilled and cost-efficient Multilingual Scandinavian work culture combined

with Eastern European knowledge

Transparent government policy and increasing need for business services

Transparent government policy Growing advisory culture