It’s wonderful to see all the people from Baltics in one place at Riga Venture Summit. Mari Vavulski head of Startup Estonia

By @SimonCocking. Startup insights from Estonia with Mari Vavulski Head of @startupestonia – we work to make Estonia the most startup friendly place on EARTH! #estonianmafia

What is your background?

I’m the head of Startup Estonia – government initiative to foster positive developments in Estonian startup ecosystem with the aim of having more successful startups being born and developed in Estonia. I’ve been involved in developing Startup Estonia for some years now, previously worked in a bank and in Enterprise Estonia, which is the biggest EU funding organizations in Estonia.

Is it a logical progression to what you do now?

I surely think so! I have a passion to change the environment around us and startup ecosystem development is one of the coolest job you can have – it’s really nice to see, if the big plan comes together, even if it takes time to really put together a solution which really works.

What are you working on now? 

Startup Estonia team has helped to launch Startup Visa program and in 2017 we are concentrating to promote this opportunity to those who will be part of our #estonianmafia family in the future. Many of the projects we’re working on, will be covered in startupestonia.ee web or our social media channels, besides successful Startup Visa launch we’re aiming at funding 2 accelerators; testing new training formats and finding partners with whom we’ll implement these, also supporting two big events – Latitude59 but also Startup Nations Summit.

What will you be talking about at RVS? / Why are you attending?

It’s a wonderful possibility to see all people from Baltics in one place, the event has good content and crowd. I’ll be praising Estonia and all the good thing happening here 🙂

How was 2016, what worked well, what didn’t move as quickly as you would have liked? It was great – Estonian startups have raised more money than ever, there was an exit and also the parliament amended Startup Visa – a lot of good things happened.

Which influencers and websites do you follow to keep up to date with the latest developments?

?I try to look throught both tech.eu, but also nordic weekly newsletter, Venture

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.net or on Twitter: @SimonCocking