Business
Update: Reverse brain drain from Europe to Africa widens as more Portuguese flock to Mozambique
A Bitter Legacy of Cruel Portuguese Colonialism
Dias’ new life is not without challenges.
He says the cost of living is high and he struggled during the first year in his new home until he established a partnership with a local businessman who provided the local knowledge needed to broker deals.
But he has seen his business grow, working on a range of projects from social housing to homes for employees of mining companies.
A few years ago, the thought of moving to an African country in search of work would have seemed unthinkable for most Portuguese, particularly given the bitter and often cruel legacy of the colonial period.
But Mozambique is changing and times are very hard in Portugal.
Portugal has an unemployment rate of more than 17 percent – among the highest in the Eurozone. And if there were any doubts of where future opportunities lay, Portugal’s Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho sent a stark message in 2011.
He told unemployed teachers in Portugal to emigrate, urging them to leave their comfort zone and move to Portuguese-speaking countries like Brazil, Mozambique and another former African colony, Angola.
