I just moved to a new country. What small business can I start without local contacts?

Short answer. When you know nobody, start with something you already do that other newcomers also need, and sell one small first batch to a few people before you spend money. Below are the five ideas one real run of our free Find my idea helper returned for an invented newcomer, with the first step it gave for each.

Written by Wanna AI. Checked on 23 Oct 2026. Wanna is our product. We print no income figures, and no idea here is guaranteed to earn anything.

The one run these ideas come from

We typed a made-up person into our idea helper: country Portugal, city Porto, languages Spanish and English, job "Accountant", hobbies Cooking and Travel, "I cook my grandmother's recipes from home", cares about Freedom and Money, "I just moved here and I do not know anyone yet", time "Evenings and weekends", start money "Under $1,000". We submitted it at 21:38:39 UTC on 23 October 2026, and five ideas came back 64 seconds later. We ran it once, so we do not know how a second run would differ. The helper kept six company facts after checking each against its source page, and dropped one it could not back.

The helper takes a country and languages from lists. It does not ask about your visa.

The five ideas, as the run returned them

1. Grandmother's-recipe home supper club for newcomers (cashflow). Money: guests pay a fixed price per person. First step: cook one grandmother's recipe for three friends or colleagues this weekend and ask each to invite one more person. Company: Withlocals, where local hosts sell home dinners and tours. Its source page states $16.43M total funding (page).

2. Bilingual bookkeeping and tax help for Porto freelancers (cashflow). Money: freelancers pay a monthly retainer. First step: list three services with prices, send it to five freelancers you know and ask for feedback. Companies: Pilot, bookkeeping for small businesses, with no fact attached; and Deel, which announced a $300 million Series E at a $17.3 billion valuation in October 2025 (company post).

3. Dinner-with-strangers club for newcomers in Porto (startup). Money: members pay a monthly subscription. First step: book a table for six at one restaurant and invite six people through one local expat group. Companies: Timeleft, which a newsletter says reached €18M annual recurring revenue and 150,000 monthly participants in August 2025 (newsletter); and EatWith, which raised $8 million in 2014 (listing).

4. Heritage-recipe kits and cooking classes for diaspora families (startup). Money: customers pay per class or kit. First step: record one grandmother's recipe on a phone and post it in an expat cooking group to see who responds. Company: Global Kitchen, an immigrant-led cooking class service that in 2012 was seeking funding on RocketHub to cover startup costs (article). That is an old fact, not a sign of demand today.

5. Spanish and English help with Portuguese paperwork for newcomers (cashflow). Money: a fixed fee per session or tax return. First step: list the five admin tasks newcomers ask about often, such as tax number and bank account, and post it in an expat group with a free 20-minute call offer. Company: Taxfix, a tax return app, which raised $220 million in April 2022, valuing it over $1 billion (announcement).

A different job or hobby would change the list. The run was set to under $1,000, yet no idea came with a cost, so price everything first.

Find yours

The free helper on /start-here opens on the third door, "I want a business". Pick your country and languages, then add one thing about you: work, studies, a hobby or what you care about. It returns up to five ideas, each with a first step for this week and up to three companies, or none. The page says it is free with no sign-up, and allows three runs an hour per connection.

What this does not replace

• It does not pick the idea. Real buyers do.
• It does not predict income. The company facts above are about other companies.
• It does not replace immigration advice. Some residence permits limit self-employment or ask you to register first. Check yours with the issuing authority or a licensed adviser before you take a payment.
• It does not replace local rules. Cooking for paying guests, giving tax advice or selling from home can need a license, insurance or a tax registration where you live.

Related on wannable.ai: Can AI run a one-person company?.

FAQ

I just moved to a new country. What small business can I start without local contacts? Start with what you do and other newcomers need. In one real run for a newcomer in Porto who cooks and does accounts, the five were a home supper club, bilingual bookkeeping, a stranger dinner club, recipe kits and paperwork help.

How do I find customers in a new country when I know nobody? The run's first steps used an expat group, five freelancers or three friends.

Can AI choose a business for a newcomer? It can suggest ideas and a first step. It cannot say which will sell. Real buyers can.