My Cyprus start-up

The allure of Cyprus was there many years before I thought about moving there to set up a business,” says Sacha. “I lived with Cypriots when I was at university, we became extremely good friends and I visited them every year. The island’s laid back character was always such a welcome break from the pressures of home. The Cypriot people have this tremendous Mediterranean zest for life.”

Travelling to work was one of the pressures that Sacha felt she couldn’t take any more. “The tubes and trains from Hertfordshire into London and back were an absolute nightmare,” she says. “There were endless delays – with my working day being long enough in itself, I was living only for work and also working to live a very limited lifestyle.”

Her decision to set up as a freelance public relations consultant and work from home in Hertfordshire was a logical move, but with her work going well, she began to think seriously about making an even greater change – moving lock, stock and business to Paphos.

Sacha decided to test the water in Cyprus. “I tried working here for three weeks at a time to assess feedback and to see if the distance would pose any problems from my UK clients. Everyone seemed happy, so the ball was well and truly rolling.”

She sold her house and left Britain permanently in August 2003. Although the property boom had already begun in Cyprus, she was able to buy – with only a small mortgage – a two-bedroom maisonette in the elevated suburbs of Paphos. Just half a mile from the beach, close to the town centre and with priceless views, Sacha’s home and office is in a prime location for a more integrated work-life balance.

“There’s always so much going on in and around the town,” she says. “I can mix my time between deserted beaches, wineries and tavernas in quiet mountain villages with the great nightlife around here.”

As Cyprus was not a member of the European Union in 2003, Sacha needed a work permit, and since freelancers weren’t allowed to have them she had to set up her business as a company.

“The initial set up costs for the business were quite expensive at CY£1,000 (£1,200). I had to hire a local chartered accountant and lawyer to help me negotiate the roundabout channels of the archaic system. Naming the company was an amusing task. My first choice had been ‘PR7”, but this was refused on the grounds that it sounded like a car! As a public relations business, the name needed to convey lateral thinking with a quirky and creative edge. ‘SquareMango’ was conceived. It conveys the nature of my business, and it was accepted straight away, so it was obviously meant to be!”

To register and establish the business, Sacha applied to the Central Bank of Cyprus, and when the paperwork came back, everything had been signed and sealed by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism. But when she went to the Immigration department, officials at first refused to accept the documents as valid! There was another bureaucratic hitch at the bank. Having opened a company account, she discovered that she was unable to withdraw money from it until the Immigration office approved her alien card. Despite the red tape tangles, Sacha pressed on, with the dream of an enviable lifestyle in sight.