What kind of financial help is Germany providing for businesses during lockdown?

The self-proclaimed “Lockdown Light” during the month of November in an attempt to curb the rise of Covid cases has brought a halt to a large number of businesses throughout Germany. In an attempt to compensate for the economic damage, Merkel and company have designed a relief package depending on the nature of your business. It can be overwhelming to sift through the qualifications and criteria – read on for a simple overview of what is available for you and your business, with a focus on companies based in Berlin.

If you are a small or medium-sized business

The 10 billion euro program allows for those directly affected by the lockdown to claim up to 75% of their November 2019 turnover. Those remaining open but can prove that 80% of their revenues come from the businesses that are shut down will also qualify for financial aid. There is a cap of 1 million euros to be claimed per business.

If you are a start-up/venture capital firm (in Berlin!)

Those based out of Berlin since March 11th, 2020 or earlier may qualify for significant funding from the IBB. If the company has potential for high growth in the technological or creative scene then the different loan options to be used towards investment or running costs could be of a huge help. The help could come in the form of anywhere from 200,000 – 800,000 euros. Find out more on the website.

If you are self-employed

Self-employed individuals are subject to the same compensation as those of small and medium sized firms. However, if there was little turnover in November 2019, the self-employed are given the option of using their average weekly turnover in 2019 instead as a comparison mark.

Useful Links

In such difficult times finding the available resources to stay afloat can be the real difference maker. We are attaching various articles and links below that can prove as useful to many out there:

• Government FAQ page
• Artists and Self-Employed
• Bridge Aid Funding

The 30 Best Cities to Live in for Expats 2020

International life is becoming a norm nowadays as more and more people are moving abroad each year. In a survey put together by InterNations, some 20.000 expats ranked which cities in 2020 are the best for relocation. 

Aspects considered include general features of life in a new city, such as living expenses, medical costs, the working conditions as well as the ease at which one makes new acquaintances with locals.
Barcelona notably has been ranked 7th by the 20,000 expats. If you’re thinking of relocating there, know that we have a Club GLOBALS community waiting to connect with you there, as well as our very own Barcelona guide to help you get familiar with, we believe, one of the most beautiful and artistic cities of Europe.

So, all the all the more reason to join our community today!

Discover which cities are best ranked:

30. Brussels, Belgium

29. Melbourne, Australia

28. Muscat, Oman

27. Miami, Florida, US

26. Tokyo, Japan

25. Panamá city, Panamá

24. Tallinn, Estonia

23. Vienna, Austria

22. Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

21. Manama, Bahrain

20. Bangkok, Thailand

19. Calgary, Canada

18. Budapest, Hungary

17. Madrid, Spain

16. Sydney, Australia

15. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

14. Mexico City, Mexico

13. Prague, Czechia

12. Doha, Qatar

11. Aachen, Germany

10. Basel, Switzerland

9. The Hague, Netherlands

8. Zug, Switzerland

7. Barcelona, Spain

6. Lisbon, Portugal

5. Montréal, Canada

4. Singapore

3. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

2. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

1. Taipei, Taiwan

Source: Insider

GLOBALS Homes and the BIM: A World of Real Estate Opportunities

On 12-13 September, the Berliner Immobilien Messe (BIM) was organized in the renowned Charlottenburg Palace in West Berlin. This fair takes place on a yearly basis and provides real estate market insights to those who are interested in purchasing property or a piece of land as an investment or for private use. 

GLOBALS Homes was there too. Even under strict COVID-19 measures, our team still enjoyed the ambience and shared some nice ideas with the exhibitors and speakers. Mario Paladini, founder and CEO of Club GLOBALS, had the honour of interviewing Dr. Florian Forster, who is the founder and organizer of the Berlin Immobilien Messe. Watch the video interview below made by GLOBALS TV:

Our aim was to get to know the real estate players and the current circumstances in which the real estate market finds itself, notably since the pandemic took its toll. It turns out that, although a multitude of projects in Berlin have already been completed, the outlook for the construction of real estate properties in Berlin’s central locations is getting tighter.
These findings corroborate the viewpoints shared during GLOBALS Homes’ previous event on “The Future of Housing and Living 4th Ed.” which took place in August 2020. However, Berlin remains a hotspot for real estate projects, especially in East Berlin, given the recent announcements Elon Musk gave on the soon-to-come Giga Tesla factory. Check out our blog for more on this topic.

GLOBALS Homes, a platform which provides homes to buy, rent and rent furnished in Berlin and Barcelona, is continuously looking to improve its product offering by seeking out potential partnerships with key actors at events such as BIM. Stay tuned for upcoming real estate fairs!

Innovation Attraction Program and Startupnight 2020 in Dubai

The ‘Innovation Attraction Program’

Designed and executed by Dubai SME and promoted by his Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, took place at the same city between the 10th and 14th of February. We had the pleasure to showcase GLOBALS, and our Founder Mario Paladini was moderator of the Startupnight event and also business coach for the startups attending. The Innovation Attraction Program wants to help over 25,000 startups from around the world to start doing business in Dubai.

The event was composed of three parallel events; Startup Alliance, Startup night and Step Conference. It has been a week full of startup demos, pitches, success stories, conferences, business, fun, and party.

The events

DUBAI SME together with Startup Alliance, from Berlin Partner, helps startups from around the world to help to start their business in Dubai. Startup Alliance happened between the 8th and the 10th of February. Lots of meetings between global startup and locals, aiming to help local startups to scale out of the country by finding new partners, and also a door to foreign startup to make business in EAU.

Not less important, lots of conferences from some world references about startup related topics have helped entrepreneurs and startups to improve their skills. So they get the next level and finally and not less important, an introduction to the EAU culture in order to start business with the right hand.

Durant the week, Dubai SME has hosted again the Startupnight the 11th of February with demos, pitch, and party. They hosted international innovative Startups together with some of the leading businesses, investors and experts from Dubai. Where our CEO got the honor to be the master of ceremony. 

Resume

Finally but not less important, Step conference was closing the week. It’s the most experiential tech festival in the middle east offers to startup the possibility to meet top VCs, investors, participate in the Startup Basecamp, Pitch Competition, Mentor’s Corner, Investor Meetings, and more.

The week started with a desert Safari Saturday the 8th followed for cultural and market sessions related to Dubai. In the evening, participants got the chance to meet Dubai based investors. It was an introduction to Dubai’s ecosystem, so the Monday participants could take the most of the meeting with Dubai’s industry experts and ecosystem. Tuesday and Wednesday were full of startups pitches, expositions and the main events. Finally, on Wednesday some participants had the chance to go around the Dubai Expo 2020 space. It created huge expectations around Dubai Expo 2020, which is going to be one of the most impactful events of the year in the whole world with more than 150 days of duration.

Testimonials

New team member at GLOBALS

Introduction

We are happy to introduce you Jordi from Catalonia. He is joining Globals.co for  6 months starting at the beginning of December 2019 thanks to an Erasmus Young Entrepreneur. Jordi is passionate about rural and international development, specially about co-creation, build communities, mobility and sharing economy. So, if you are on that, he will love to connect with you.

History

After his second university year He did an international volunteering service in Senegal, which gave him more points of view. Then, He got involved in an entrepreneurship program, which gave him the resources and knowledge to start a startup. These two experiences have driven him to what He is now; a social innovator and changemaker. When He realized that to make a deep impact, it must be cultural, He shifted his career, from renewable energies to Anthropology, but he’ve been working always for the same purpose; make a more connected, shared and sustainable world.

Projects

With the same NGO, He hacked the people, entities and governments of his county, the poorest region in Catalonia (the one with less immigrants and with more depopulation), to welcome refugees. They have welcomed the first refugee family from El Salvador. To make it grow, they will make it Open Source to spread it around, so people and NGOs from will be able to replicate the project.

His first social startup; Opportumeety, a digital platform for social networking on the go; it allows to share your events trips, connect with your communities around and by SDGs in common in airports, stations and public transports. But they are focused on events, where people usually travel the days before and after. They are going to launch next January 2020 and it’s a bootstrapped mobility start-up.

Closing

He is willing to learn about German market and culture, also learn about event and networking industry, the fields of his own startup. As he loves to meet meet people from other cultures, travel and events, he hopes to contribute, learn and enjoy a lot from this experience.

He hopes to meet you at some Welcome event 2020. You can connect with him at Linkedin here; https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordiva/

Club GLOBALS cordially invites you to our next gathering in Los Angeles.

We would like to welcome you to join us to get to know each other and network with internationally-minded people.

PROGRAM:

6.00 p.m : Arrive

6.45 p.m. : Welcome & Intro

7.00 p.m. : Networking

8.00 p.m. : The End

CONNECTING  Entrepreneurs with Business Partners – B2B Matchmaking

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER From Senior High-Level International Speakers

ENJOY an evening with like-minded guests

Join as a partner

Start Alliance Dubai

Welcome to the team Sharifa!

Hello everyone,

I’m pleased to introduce myself as the newest member of the Club GLOBALS team. My name is Sharifa and I’m a 20-year-old student. I will be undertaking an internship in Marketing, Community Development and Event Organization for the next 4 months.

For the last two years, I have been studying at MBO Rijnland in the Netherlands, where I will return back this year for my exams.

I was born and raised in The Hague and I live there with my whole family. I have always enjoyed traveling and I have been on a lot of vacations with my family. So you might be wondering why I wanted to do my internship here in Berlin, for four months by myself and not in The Netherlands.

On one point in my life I was wondering how it would be to travel alone because I always have done it with my family. And finally an opportunity came along from my University, to take an internship in a different country.

I was really excited about it. Just the thought of living in a different country by myself, learning a different language and meeting new people got me hyped up.

Also, it didn’t take me a long time to figure out that I wanted to go to Germany. It is a great place for students to live. There are a lot of different people from  other cultures, recent and relevant History, enough Monuments, alternative lifestyles, busy nightlife and many Art and Architecture. And in The Netherlands it’s nice as well, but I just needed a change.

In my first week as a new member, I learned a lot about Club GLOBALS and AiRelo, who they are and what they do. The fact that their mission is to connect expats in Berlin and that they want to help make internationals’ life easier is awesome. I’m an expat myself and to know that there are people around who are willing to help us is great. It gives me an extra feeling of not being alone.

I’m looking forward to being a part of this community, help people like me and to welcome you to the community at our upcoming events!