The boss helping firms tackle the 'insane' cost of skilled-worker visas

Karoli Hindriks has gone from teenage inventor to a global role helping businesses take on overseas employees, writes Barney Macintyre

- Barney Macintyre

Karoli Hindriks has always been a fan of the fluorescent. In 1999, aged 16, she started a student company that sold reflectors for pedestrians - fashionable accessories by day and lifesavers by night. Soon after, she created a patent, securing her the title of Estonia's youngest-ever inventor.

These days Hindriks is in the booming business of immigration paperwork. As founder and chief executive of Jobbatical, a platform that automates the visa application process for businesses seeking overseas employees, she has a particular perspective on how talent is flowing around the globe.

Sitting on the roof terrace of The Observer, she admits it's not a "sexy topic". But, at a time when fears of a brain drain loom over the US under Donald Trump and UK politicians are transfixed with raising barriers to entry, our conversation is timely.

"It's insane. What do you think the difference is between skilled worker visa fees in Germany and the UK?" she asks, her neon suit flapping in the breeze like a Post-it note.