By Daniel Muñoz and Nima Haghighatpour
Entering a hotel in Tehran nowadays it’s like being in a hotel in Milan during the Salone del Mobile; A bustle of impeccable business men and women in suits, running from meeting to meeting.
The Persian culture, which is more than 2,000 years old, has always lived immersed between the reaffirmation of its own culture and the influence of other civilizations. Iran’s geographical location has allowed it to become the ideal place to trade between East and West, but also a place from which to experience and disseminate different cultures. Equidistant to Moscow, Paris and Mumbai, it is a difficult country to decipher. There is a huge difference between the concept people have of Iran in Europe and the United States, and what can be perceived once you land there, you walk through its streets and you eat its delicious dishes.
Tehran, with its 16 million population, is a vibrant city with a hellish traffic and pollution that takes away several years of your health in a single day. Its population is very young and has a pretty good average education, although there are great social and economic differences between rural and urban areas.
There is a dissociation between society and politics. In civil society, religion is not prevalent in daily life, in contrast to the governing theocracy and the influence that the government still has in the country’s economy.
In recent years, we have met many Iranian firms and many customers from different fields. Thanks to their high qualification level and professionalism we have found many ways of communication and is relatively easy to establish procedures with international labor standards. However, we have realised that this is quite a protectionist country in which starting businesses is often very difficult for a foreigner.
Like in many other countries in the region, having strong and solvent partners to support the company’s implementation strategy is key.
In the architecture and construction area, it is difficult to determine common aesthetic and technical standards, although it feels that, in this opening period ahead, this will become easier. We can not forget that Iran, likewise England, France or Spain, has been an empire, and thus, it has its own ways to define their culture, art and beauty.
At present, there are projects getting up and running, but the financing remains an open question because it is still too early to have actual data about the end of the blockade.
Learn more about Iran and the projects and events that we are developing in this country, on the following links:
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