What’s it like at the Digital Nomad Village in Madeira
A Slack message pops up in my notifications, it reads “Good morning beautiful people! Here are today’s activities:…”
Reading through it with excitement and a slight nervousness I dismiss the afternoon ones with a slight bit of FOMO — I work in EST and need to be available to clients in the latter part of the day. The morning consists of yoga with a teacher who’s been coming here specifically for us twice a week, followed by a coffee and lunch at the usual place in Ponta do Sol. I might do those… Or should I work on my projects, catch up on me time, or explore the island on my own?
The digital nomad life is surprisingly social. The closest analogy would be a summer camp for grown ups.
The meteoric rise of popularity of this lifestyle over the past few years, has made the experience of exploring the far corners of the world while working remotely increasingly more connected, the community more tight knit, with social media facilitating the exchange of tips and destinations, helping keep those fleeting connections made on the road alive.
Despite the somewhat beaten to death stereotype of 20-somethings instagramming themselves as they sip on coconut water in Bali with the laptop as a prop, the actual demographic makeup of digital nomads is quite diverse and has become more so once the pandemic made this lifestyle available to millions more nearly overnight.
I have met people of all walks of life — many in their mid to late 30s who had turned away from the mind-body-soul destroying corporate grind and reimagined living a life on their own terms. Many have built successful businesses either leveraging their existing skill set or learning completely new industries or technologies —
You’d be surprised how fired up people get when they have an opportunity to build a lifestyle that makes them happy rather then following the old and failed model through a mundane stress filled existence.
It is the best of cults — one built on each individual’s pressing need to be free and realize their full potential — and supported by a community of like minded people who make the transition and down times easier.
Digital nomad communities are spread all over the globe — Bali, Lisbon, Bansko, Barcelona, Valencia … just to name a few. The desire to explore the world wrangles with the need for connection resulting in the birth of a truly unique way of life.
Historically, digital nomad hubs have spring up organically around a mix of interests, like surfing, and location affinity — lifestyle, history, climate, etc. However, we are now witnessing the birth of the very first intentional nomad community — the Nomad Village on Madeira island — so I was curious to see if it would have the same magic as those which were born and developed from the ground up.
As a side note — and completely not an #ad — huge kudos to the government of Madeira for being so open minded and recognizing the opportunity. Many countries and territories would restrict the flow of people during the pandemic, their bureaucratic lizard brain running away from this unclassifiable cohort of vagabonds with laptops, but Madeira saw this as a chance to bring income to the hard hit island economy while keeping everyone safe (government offers free COVID tests on arrival and case count has been incredibly low since the start of the pandemic).
The Mastermind behind the scheme is Gonçalo Hall — a charming and incredibly industrious Portuguese who has been living this lifestyle for a number of years. At the start of the pandemic, Gonçalo and his team at Remote Portugal and Remote Europe created a host of resources for the Portuguese workers affected by the pandemic to help those struggling upskill, find remote jobs, and provided invaluable resources to support the transition to remote work. This initiative was followed by an intriguing Facebook post back in December with a poll asking the community to vote for Madeira or Azores as their preferred location to potentially spend some time working and living there. Thus wheels had been set in motion and in January the initiative between Startup Madeira and the Madeira Government was announced with Gonçalo as the leader.
The work completed over the next two months or so, was like a movie montage where the protagonist starts a company and 30 seconds later is on the cover of Forbes. Well, folks, I’ve witnessed this happen in a real life equivalent of 30 seconds of screen time: a coworking space was built in less than two months, a website with accommodation options was built, and a Slack community was created to help keep people informed. (And yeah, this was covered by everyone from CNN to Washington Post).
And then that magic of spontaneous entrepreneurship which is so natural to this community kicked in: people not only organized themselves but created activities, negotiated deals, and found answers for others — from health and wellness, excursions, hiking, surfing, SUP, swim sessions, organic food resources, to questions around visas and COVID restrictions and the life on the island. Car rental deals and boat charters were negotiated, and baby sitters and day care for those coming with children were sourced, vetted, and organized. To simplify and streamline accommodation, NomadX came in as a partner offering their vast portfolio of midterm rentals geared to the nomads’ needs with an attractive offer. As I write this, new people are joining Slack and offering creative, culinary, and other experiences for the community.
It’s like the best of dinner parties — you bring your best dish to shine and share.
So it seems that the magic is there and the recipe is simple, as all things are in retrospect: ignite by example, not slogans, build a container for others to create and connect, step back, get a copo of Vinho Verde and enjoy.
I’ll be back with more excited “reportage” in the coming weeks and months — as clearly, I’m not going anywhere!
