Time to Move Business to Florida? Enterprise Florida’s UK & Ireland Director Tells Us Why
It may surprise you that the UK is the largest foreign investor in Florida, responsible for over 64,500 jobs in the state. UK owned companies with offices/branches operating in Florida span across a range of industries, including aviation and aerospace, financial and professional services, life sciences, ICT equipment, and much more. Florida is fast becoming the ‘new wall street’ due to the influx of established financial companies and talent choosing to relocate to the state. This has helped to firmly establish the sunshine state as one of the top locations of choice for business relocating to the U.S. from overseas.
To find out more about why Florida is cementing itself as one of the best U.S. states for business, we spoke to Yassin Nahi, Director of UK and Ireland at Enterprise Florida.
Thanks for speaking with us Yassin. Can you tell us about your role and how you help businesses move to Florida?
I am the director for the UK and Ireland office of Enterprise Florida, which is part of the Florida Economic Development Organisation. Our role is to help companies from the UK and Ireland do business in Florida. I also have colleagues across Europe that can assist companies from other countries set up operations in the state of Florida.
At the moment, Florida is one of the best U.S. states for business expansion. Why is Florida an attractive market for businesses to set up in?
Florida is a very hot state to talk about right now, one of the key elements being that it is the third-largest state in America, just after California and Texas. So the size of the population in terms of market access in the U.S., makes it a great place for business. Florida is also ideally placed for access to the east coast of the U.S. and is the gateway to Latin America.
It also attracts over 120 million tourists every year, making it a huge consumer market. In particular, after COVID-19 lockdowns swept across various U.S. states we witnessed a lot of companies relocating to Florida along with talent partly due to the more liberal approach to the issue. Many people have willingly relocated to Florida when working from home for the foreseeable to have more space and because it is cheaper than the likes of California and the northeast of the U.S.
Additionally, Florida’s tropical weather is a huge incentive for relocating, boasting a year-long summer and a more relaxed lifestyle. This was a deal-maker for remote workers seeking to relocate across the U.S. from traditionally expensive and cramped cities such as NYC.
People tend to forget about the state of Florida beyond the tourism industry. It is important to note that it is the third largest state in the U.S. making it an economic powerhouse as such, if it was a country, it would be the 17th largest economy in the world.
The tech scene in Florida has also been growing over the past couple of years. The state is starting to create Florida dedicated funds to invest in technology companies, not only the young startup but also the scaleups.
What are there some well-known companies relocating to Florida? that have recently moved to the state?
Lots of well know businesses have recently moved to Florida to take advantage of the favorable incentives. I would say it is famous California and New York-based tech giants that have considered either the CEO moving to Florida or moving some of the operations, in particular, technology centers, back-office operations, or just their offices to the state.
Tax is always an element of businesses making decisions when it comes to moving their headquarters. What's the tax climate like in Florida? Is it attractive for businesses?
The tax climate in Florida is attractive for both businesses and individuals because you have 0% personal income tax, making it a lifelong advantage for individuals located in the state. The corporate income tax in Florida is 5.5%. So if you look at the overall tax system in the state, it is ranked number four in the U.S.
I think the top 3 are Alaska, Wyoming, and South Dakota. So if you look at the largest states in the U.S. and the most populous, Florida is definitely ranked number one for that particular purpose. Tax incentives in Florida are the main contributors to making it one of the best states for U.S. expansion, which attracts executives. People want to have a better quality of life and have more disposable income by paying fewer taxes.
Is Florida providing more investment opportunities and funds for businesses that are investing in the tech scene?
I would say the investment opportunities in Florida have grown even in just the past couple of months. It is interesting as I know colleagues in Miami who have been pushing to bring funds into Florida and usually the businesses that were coming to Miami were focused on investing in Latin America. But this time, they are not only looking at America but also the state of Florida itself. It’s not only financial organizations that are creating a location for their investment practices in the state. BlackRock, for example, has set up a Technology Centre in Miami, because they were looking for bright and multilingual talent. They reviewed the multiple locations that were offered to them and Miami made sense to them.
I’m getting a lot of feedback from the technology companies I speak to in the UK and Ireland, where they would usually look into the usual U.S. locations of New York, Boston, Chicago, or California. Now they're telling me, we researched the U.S. states for business and currently think Florida is the place to be.
Quality of life is something that people talk about when it comes to Florida. What can people expect from Florida in terms of lifestyle?
It depends where you want to live in the states, I think people mainly are aware of South Florida locations such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach. You also have the Orlando and Tampa area and the Jacksonville region. Each area in Florida offers a different lifestyle, depending on the type of activity the business wants to run, but also in terms of the type of life people want to live. For example, in Orlando, everyone knows about the theme parks and entertainment but there is a lot behind the scenes of the tourist spots.
An area like Jacksonville is very good for fishing, boating, and outdoor activities. So the lifestyle in Florida really depends on what people are looking for. Additionally, the year long, sunny weather in Florida means you adapt to the seasons, but in a different way because it's not a question of whether it is hot or not.
What steps would you recommend to move a business to Florida?
Many people go where their first clients are when expanding into the U.S., and it's not necessarily where their customer base will be when they are fully established in the U.S. I would say some of the businesses I work with, have a very diverse customer base, scattered across the U.S., and sometimes across the American continent, including the Caribbean, and South America. The first thing I always ask, where do you want your talent base you are considering recruiting to be, and what type of talent?
Internal talent is the people that will be driving the U.S. business wherever they will be in the states. If they decide to move a business to Florida, I think it's our duty to make sure that they will get access to the people they need for developing their business, not only in Florida and North America but also in the Caribbean and in South America. The reason for this is that many of the businesses Enterprise Florida works with are not only looking at the U.S. market.
The second thing I always question businesses expanding to the U.S. is what type of connections do they need in terms of transportation. Transportation routes are critical because if a company has physical goods to ship from Europe to North America, or if they are considering manufacturing in North America, to ship their products across the American continent, they need to be well connected either by air or by sea. Businesses entering the U.S. market, need to look at the logistics advantage of the location where they will be and other transportation costs that can make a very big difference. Travel and transportation connections along with taxes are also important for accessing talent.
Operation costs should also be taken into consideration when expanding to the U.S., you have to have access to the right talent at the right cost. I think one of the good things is that Florida can offer a little bit of everything that can match companies’ needs, that’s why we are starting to work with more and more companies who are considering expanding into Florida,
Move Business to Florida With Help
If you are based in the UK or Ireland and are considering Florida as your destination of choice when expanding into the U.S. market, Enterprise Florida can help! They’ve helped lots of UK companies set up in Florida by providing information on finding suitable premises, recruitment, training, permitting, and tailored incentives. For more information, get in touch with Yassin Nahi, Director of Enterprise Florida UK and Ireland, via LinkedIn or email yassin.nahi@gmail.com.
If you are considering joining the many businesses that have relocated to Florida from another state or established an office there and need help employing workers, without setting up a local entity, get in touch with PGC to see how using an employer of record can help you stay compliant.
Disclaimer: PGC does not endorse any personal views or opinions of the interviewee. All information here is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional and/or legal services.