In the late 1990s, Cecilia Marques, a Portuguese dentist, was offered a job in a new dental school in Mozambique \u2013 one of Africa\u2019s least developed nations that was slowly rebuilding after years of civil war.<\/p>\n
At the time she dismissed the idea as \u201ccrazy\u201d. But more than a decade on it is anything but that, with Mozambique\u2019s economy forecast to grow at 7.5 per cent this year, while unemployment rises in Portugal as the economy contracts under the weight of the eurozone crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ms Marques, 43, moved to Maputo, the Mozambique capital, just over a year ago, joining her husband who set up shop in the former Portuguese colony after his software business back home hit tough times.<\/p>\n The couple are among growing numbers of Portuguese who have fled the economic woes in their home country and headed to one of the world\u2019s poorest but fastest growing nations in search of new opportunities. The phenomenon is in many ways a reverse brain drain \u2013 instead of qualified Africans leaving for developed nations, many of those beginning new lives in Mozambique are professionals, including dentists, lawyers, architects and engineers.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time you see the news or talk to someone, they paint such a grim picture (of Portugal)\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009That\u2019s what I have heard, one of the worries is all the trained people are leaving so who is going to be left to work?\u201d Ms Marques says. \u201cMy husband says there\u2019s so much to do here, whereas in Europe it\u2019s the opposite \u2013 everything is done.\u201d<\/p>\n It is estimated that there are about 20,000 Portuguese people in Maputo. Graca Goncalves Pereira, the Portuguese consul-general, says the number of people registering at the consulate increased by about 10 per cent in the past couple of years, with more than 1,000 people registering in 2011. As there is no obligation to register at the consulate, the figures are not an accurate reflection of the total number of Portuguese moving to Mozambique but are an indication of the trend.<\/p>\n Ms Goncalves Pereira adds that many are looking beyond Maputo, where property rental prices have soared, to areas such as the port city of Beira and coal-rich Tete in the north-west.<\/p>\n Portugal\u2019s economic crisis has coincided with a spike in investor interest in Mozambique, one of several Portuguese-speaking nations in Africa. The southern African nation has been one of Africa\u2019s top growth performers in recent years, and significant coal and gas discoveries have brought unprecedented attention to the nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a crisis in Europe and our companies bet on foreign markets, especially those countries that speak Portuguese,\u201d says Patricia Gaspar, an official at the Portuguese embassy. \u201cAngola [another former Portuguese colony] is a more mature market so it\u2019s exploited for us\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009so Mozambique is now the target.\u201d<\/p>\n Another important factor in the improvement in relations between the two countries is the agreement by Portugal in the mid-2000s to sell an 85 per cent stake in the Cahora Bassa Dam, a critical generator of electricity, to Mozambique. Portugal had retained control of the dam after independence in 1975, creating a long-standing point of contention between the young nation and its former colonial master.<\/p>\n Portuguese banks already have interests in Mozambican counterparts, while Portucel, a paper and pulp company, has land use rights for approximately 360,000 hectares in Mozambique as it looks to develop plantations and commercial farming.<\/p>\n