Bring 'Em Back
“Bring the Talent Home,” a government-funded project that aims to create a business network with the Estonian diaspora, kicked off Tuesday, promising to connect with thousands and to return at least 25 emigrants.
The platform for achieving these goals will be the new website, www.talendidkoju.ee.
Siim Raie, director of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told ETV that the plan is to attract youth who have lived abroad and earned a higher education from universities in North America, Europe or Asia.
“The problem is that after finishing school abroad, many are given good on-the-spot job offers. Our mission right now is to make an alternative offer that would bring them to Estonia," said Raie.
He explained that the state is looking for both employers and employees, and that candidates do not necessarily have to physically come back.
Project team member Artur Elme said that currently there are about 10 attractive offers lined up.
In addition to “Bring the Talent Home,” there is also the Dream Foundation project, "It’s not too late," which helps Estonian students study abroad and find work there, and the Archimedes project, "Study in Estonia," which invites foreigners to earn their degrees in Estonia.
“The bigger goal is obviously creating a sort of reverse brain-drain. That's what the president was talking about in NYC,” Martin Kõiva, a member of the project’s team, told ERR News.