Travelling by way of Europe for work, Jephte Ioudom Foubi typically finds himself evaluating the locations he visits with residence. He notices how information flows otherwise throughout industries, how cloud infrastructure evolves, and the way enterprise selections typically hinge on delicate particulars which might be straightforward to miss.
On one afternoon flight between Brussels and Lisbon, he caught himself smiling on the thought. This was not the life he imagined as a enterprise pupil in Cameroon. But one way or the other, he had constructed a life that allowed him to work with corporations throughout Europe, journey throughout Africa, and dwell quietly in Portugal, working his personal tech consulting enterprise.
The journey stretched additional again than the second he registered his firm. It started with curiosity—it all the time does.
“I simply grew to become fascinated with every part that needed to do with tech,” Ioudom Foubi mentioned. “From that second, I’d say I touched every part from 3G to how the world was going to be interconnected.”
That fascination would finally lead him away from the company observe in Cameroon, throughout continents, and right into a profession he had not even deliberate for.
Beginnings: from enterprise pupil to unintended technologist
Ioudom Foubi grew up in Cameroon, studied in Cameroon, and imagined he would construct a profession in administration. He studied enterprise administration and went on to make his mark within the company world, working in administration and business-facing roles. In 2014, he joined Ericsson, the worldwide know-how infrastructure agency, as a wide-eyed intern supporting MTN’s 3G rollout in Cameroon on the time.
For the primary time, he noticed the fragile, invisible equipment that powered the fashionable world. He supported logistics for one of many nation’s most consequential telecom infrastructure initiatives. He spent days onboarding gear in warehouses, getting ready deployments, and dealing with work orders for area groups. He remembers the stress. A single broken element might’ve delayed all the rollout.
However what stayed with him from that internship was a modest project that exposed how tiny inefficiencies can choke a whole operation. Subject technicians typically returned from distant websites with out the small expense receipts they wanted for gas, meals, and transport reimbursements. With out these receipts, reimbursements stalled, which created stress between groups and slowed area operations. Administration requested him to look into why the prevailing reporting instruments weren’t serving to employees seize this fundamental data correctly.
Throughout that course of, one other intern confirmed him an automation device that might gather responses immediately and organise the info routinely. It was a small discovery, nevertheless it modified all the workflow. As an alternative of printing pages, handing them out manually, and spending days compiling outcomes, he might now watch submissions are available dwell as technicians crammed a type.
“I might see the outcomes instantly as folks had been responding,” he mentioned. “It took me possibly a day to compile every part, and I did a presentation for the entire firm.”
It stayed with him as a result of it was the primary time he noticed how a easy digital enchancment might unclog a system of individuals, processes, and instruments. It taught him that know-how was not summary.
After Ericsson, Ioudom Foubi carried that rising curiosity in know-how into his subsequent function at Kia Motors in Cameroon. He joined as a advertising and gross sales assistant.
Each month, he went into the sphere accumulating quantitative and qualitative information from dealerships and rivals. The marketplace for vehicles was aggressive, so understanding pricing shifts, inventory ranges, and buyer preferences mattered. His information experiences knowledgeable decision-making at Kia Motors greater than he anticipated.
“I’d gather the info, make suggestions to administration, after which it might affect our technique, even with the seemingly little issues,” mentioned Ioudom Foubi. “That was after I realised I used to be already drifting away from pure enterprise and into analytics.”
These months pushed him to begin asking greater questions.
“What wouldn’t it appear to be to work totally in know-how as a substitute of circling it from the enterprise aspect? Might I swap fields completely?” he requested, recalling existential profession questions he had thought-about.
In quest of solutions, Ioudom Foubi started researching faculties that might let him pivot from administration to a technical area, a transfer that was tough to execute inside Cameroon, he mentioned. That search opened the door that finally led him to Portugal. In 2018, he moved to Portugal on a examine visa to construct an organization the place he now consults on information and enterprise intelligence for big enterprises.
The leap into tech consulting
If you happen to ask Ioudom Foubi why he selected Portugal over all over the place else, he solutions like somebody who has executed the lengthy, exhausting homework, laying out his causes the way in which somebody may tick by way of a well-prepared grocery buying record: High quality of schooling, test. Language—English is broadly spoken, test. Migration feasibility, test. Tech business development, test. And importantly, a wierd however actual affect from a tv present. Verify.
He in contrast programmes throughout Europe and the US. Portugal stood out as a result of the perfect enterprise intelligence programme on the time was at NOVA Data Administration Faculty in Lisbon, in keeping with Ioudom Foubi.
It additionally helped that the programme was totally in English, in contrast to Germany’s mixed-language choices, and that Portugal had simply secured a ten-year internet hosting proper for the Net Summit, a essential annual tech convention that brings in enterprise leaders from all around the world to speak about know-how and alternatives for Portugal to develop into a significant hub in Europe. To Ioudom Foubi, it signalled an upcoming inflow of worldwide tech corporations.
However there was additionally a hotter, extra private nudge to his alternative.
“There was a telenovela my mother was watching,” he mentioned. “The entire present occurred in Portugal, and it confirmed lots of the each day lifetime of Lisbon and Porto. Once I was watching it together with her, I realised later that it influenced me as a result of I might image myself dwelling there.”
He utilized, obtained accepted, travelled to Nigeria to course of his visa, and moved to Lisbon.
When he lastly moved to Portugal on a examine visa, he anticipated a strategy-heavy enterprise programme at NOVA. As an alternative, on the final minute, the curriculum shifted to addressing applied sciences that had been rising on the time, like information engineering and AI, changing into extra technical. Ioudom Foubi didn’t again down.
“It was like 90% tech-focused and 10% administration,” he mentioned. “In case you are a foreigner in a rustic and also you come for a programme, you simply must preserve doing it.”
The programme grew to become his crash course into information, AI, and the startup world. He labored part-time in a startup centered on AI, then joined a graduate programme with Accenture in the course of the peak of the pandemic, proper when corporations throughout Europe had been racing emigrate to the cloud.
Cloud migration grew to become his opening.
By the point he accomplished his grasp’s in 2021, a pandemic was altering the world of labor. Firms all over the place had been determined, mentioned Ioudom Foubi. As an alternative of ready for job functions to pan out after ending his research, he determined to wager on himself.
“I used to be like, what, let me go and create my very own consulting firm,” he mentioned. “Even when I’m a foreigner. I most likely had only one 12 months of expertise [in tech]. However I used to be going to wager on myself.”
He registered his consulting firm in January 2021.
Portugal makes it straightforward for folks to open a sole-trader exercise. Anybody with a tax quantity and an accountant might supply providers and bill purchasers. Ioudom Foubi’s first purchasers got here by way of LinkedIn. He utilized for distant contractor roles throughout Europe. Generally he labored by way of HR outsourcing corporations. Different occasions, by way of small IT consultancies that wanted further arms.
As he delivered initiatives, referrals began to circulation in. HR companies he had labored with really useful him to others. Recruiters reached out. Individuals he met at conferences or night talks handed his identify alongside.
His work advanced with every new contract. He started with cloud migration, then expanded into information engineering, constructing information warehouses and analytics platforms, and integrating Microsoft Azure applied sciences. His shopper base grew to incorporate corporations in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. To his personal shock, he by no means ended up working for a Portuguese firm, regardless that Portugal remained his base.
Portugal provided sensible benefits he had not totally understood till he lived there. Time zones aligned neatly with Europe and had been workable with each the US and elements of Asia.
The price of dwelling—particularly outdoors the capital, Lisbon—was manageable. The schooling system produced extremely expert tech graduates at aggressive charges, a truth that draws world corporations and makes it fertile floor for contractors like him.
“Lots of the grasp’s levels round tech in Portugal are very hands-on,” he mentioned. “Whilst a pupil, you have already got an thought of sure expertise,” mentioned Ioudom Foubi. “For the pay that you simply get, which is perhaps 20% lower than in France or Germany, you’ll be able to have a really comfy life.”
It additionally provided him a transparent authorized path. His consulting enterprise, which he maintains by paying taxes and social safety, renews each three years, changing into his anchor for residence.
Migration, belonging, and the surprising door that opened in Portugal
Ioudom Foubi’s migration path to Portugal adopted the examine route—not as a result of it was glamorous, however as a result of it was the one dependable path obtainable for somebody switching from enterprise to tech, he mentioned.
“I might have taken the work allow route, however that might have been extra difficult,” he mentioned. He had no tech work expertise on the time and would’ve struggled to draw employers.
Portugal has lengthy been often known as a welcoming vacation spot, particularly for tech staff and crypto fanatics. The nation’s beneficial tax surroundings, the rising focus of blockchain corporations, and its remote-work friendliness have drawn 1000’s of execs.
“Lots of blockchain corporations open places of work each month in Portugal,” he mentioned. “They usually recruit from all over the place on the earth.”
However immigration is shifting. Insurance policies like the previous Declaration of Curiosity, which as soon as made it simpler for foreigners to transition into residency, have develop into unstable because of political modifications. But Portugal stays one of the vital accessible nations in Europe, notably for individuals who are already inside its borders—college students, freelancers, and residents. The tougher half, Ioudom Foubi notes, is for Africans attempting to maneuver instantly from the continent.
Even then, alternatives stay. Firms nonetheless sponsor work visas, particularly in tech, however competitors is world. The bar is excessive, mentioned Ioudom Foubi. For him, the journey has been price it. Residing in Portugal opened doorways not solely to European work but additionally to deeper skilled curiosity. Travelling between Europe and Africa, he builds relationships that gas his consulting work.
He has labored with Euroclear, a Belgium-based monetary infrastructure firm, in Europe and now collaborates with related corporations in Ghana and Nigeria. Generally the African implementations are higher. Generally Europe gives classes Africa hasn’t adopted but. However seeing each side, he argues, is what provides a guide an edge.
“The extra you journey, the extra you attempt to perceive the know-how maturity of industries,” mentioned Ioudom Foubi. “It may possibly enable you to create extra alternatives for your self.”
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