Port Orange couple Piros Pazaurek and her husband Gabor Nagy created nonprofit HungarianHub five years ago to strengthen the Hungarian immigrant community in Florida and foster ties between the U.S. and Hungary. In May, the organization held its fourth annual summit for Hungarian companies interested in locating operations in the United States and vice versa. The event alternates between Budapest and Central Florida.
The couple emigrated from Hungary with their toddler son 13 years ago, first to Ohio and a couple years later to Florida. Nagy, a finance MBA, was sent by his employer to help the company enter the U.S. market. That’s still his day job, but on the side, he handles HungarianHub’s business outreach and its USA Accelerator.
Pazaurek, meanwhile, is Hungary’s honorary consul to Central Florida, a recognition of her work for the Hungarian community. HungarianHub provides programs for the elderly and runs a Hungarian school on Saturdays so that children can retain their language and culture. It’s also partnering with the University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program to support Hungarian entrepreneurs who want to set up shop in Florida. UCF’s incubator led a bootcamp for companies. It also offers an eight-week course, online and in person, in Hungary.
Florida is home to 9,122 Hungarian immigrants, according to the U.S. Census, about 5% of Florida’s Eastern European immigrant total, though just a fraction of 1% of the state’s total foreign-born population. A total of 93,920 Floridians told the Census they are of Hungarian descent.
Nagy says Silicon Valley and Texas are top-of-mind for Hungary tech startups and companies. But business owners vacationing here discover what the state offers, including Hungarians who can guide them, he says. “Florida itself is a $1.3-trillion-dollar market — 22 million people — is growing, it has favorable taxation. So once they realize that part, then it’s easy to make a decision that ‘Hey, Florida is going to be a good entry point,’” Nagy says. “The quality of life here, you know, it’s just amazing. Not just the weather, but overall.”