While young Madeirans leave in search of opportunity, one community is asking a different question: what would make them want to stay?
“A juventude em fuga.” (Youth on the run) — Notícias Madeira, June 2025
That was the headline in Notícias Madeira earlier in June 2025, and for many on the island, it didn’t come as a surprise.
For years, young Madeirans have been leaving. Not in search of adventure, but in search of stability, dignity, and opportunity. Because wages often don’t match the cost of living. Because education doesn’t always translate into local career paths. Because too often, the future feels like it exists somewhere else.
Some who leave say they won’t return. That should concern all of us.
But youth emigration is not only a political or economic issue. It’s also a **community issue, **one that raises an important question:
What would make Madeira a place where young people can imagine a future worth staying for?
A different kind of resource
We often talk about incentives, funding programmes, or policy reform. These matter. But Madeira also has something less discussed, and equally powerful:
- People who care
- People who share knowledge
- People who are willing to show up and contribute
In recent years, the island has welcomed a growing international community of remote workers, professionals, and creatives. The challenge, and opportunity, is not simply their presence, but how that presence is integrated.
This is where Madeira Friends comes in.
What Madeira Friends is (and isn’t)
Madeira Friends began as a small, informal community during the pandemic, a time when connection was scarce and isolation was widespread. Over time, it evolved into a formal non-profit organisation with a simple but ambitious goal:
To build bridges between locals and internationals, and ensure that international mobility strengthens, rather than fragments, the island’s social fabric.
Madeira Friends is not a solution to youth emigration on its own. But it is part of a broader response, one rooted in integration, skill-sharing, and community-led action.
From emigration to opportunity: Bridging the knowledge gap
One of the clearest gaps linked to youth emigration is access, access to skills, networks, and exposure to alternative career paths.
Many of the international professionals arriving in Madeira bring experience in technology, remote work, entrepreneurship, and digital industries. At Madeira Friends, the question became:
How can this knowledge be shared locally, in a way that benefits Madeiran youth?
In response, the community has supported:
- School talks introducing students to remote work and digital careers
- Workshops on AI, no-code tools, content creation, and digital skills
- Open tech and business meetups accessible to locals
- Early-stage initiatives focused on mentoring and skill transfer
These are not abstract conversations. They are practical, hands-on experiences designed to reduce the distance between education and opportunity.
The Tech Lab: Investing in local talent
In 2025, Madeira Friends launched the MF Tech Lab**. A **programme designed specifically for local youth.
The Tech Lab focuses on:
- Practical, project-based learning
- Exposure to real tools and real mentors
- Building confidence alongside technical skills
- Showing that global careers don’t always require leaving the island
It is not about pushing everyone into tech. It’s about expanding what feels possible, especially for young people who may not see themselves reflected in traditional career paths.
A physical space for belonging
At the heart of this work is the Madeira Friends Hub, a physical community space in Funchal where learning, wellbeing, and connection intersect.
The Hub hosts:
- Educational workshops and talks
- Networking meetups
- Language exchange and integration activities
- Giving-back initiatives
It exists not as a commercial venue, but as a community-first space, open to locals and internationals alike.
“But isn’t Madeira Friends for foreigners?”
This question comes up often and it matters.
Madeira Friends:
- Runs programmes open to everyone
- Delivers initiatives specifically for local youth
- Supports local social and environmental causes weekly
- Is built and run by a mixed team of locals and internationals
- Focuses on integration, not separation
The goal is not to replace local structures, but to **complement them, **by activating resources that already exist within the community.
So… is this the answer?
There is no single answer to youth emigration.
But communities matter. Access matters. Belonging matters.
If young people leave because they see no future, then creating conditions for possibility becomes everyone’s responsibility.
Madeira Friends is not reacting to the problem. It is quietly building alternatives, through people, knowledge, and shared effort.
And maybe that’s how change starts.