Three Decades as Hungary's Gateway for Business

Founded in Budapest in 1995, ITL Group Ltd. has been providing business consulting services for over three decades now. Over this period, the company has helped more than 500 companies with their daily requirements, supporting the development of their activities and advising them about their local market.

Alessandro Farina recalls to Diplomacy&Trade that he arrived in Budapest in 1992 as a young and enthusiastic fresh graduate, just as Hungary was redefining itself. There's a phrase he has always carried with himself: ‘If you want to foresee the future, you must understand the present’. “What I saw in that present was a country with extraordinary human capital, a strategic position at the heart of Europe and a genuine hunger for integration with the West, but with very little infrastructure to help foreign companies navigate that transition. The gap between opportunity and accessibility was enormous. ITL Group was born three years later, in 1995, precisely to bridge that gap. Thirty years on, I'd say the vision has been realized beyond my most optimistic projections. Hungary has become a fully integrated EU economy, a regional hub for manufacturing, services and innovation. What I anticipated in rough outline – reality delivered in full color.”

Rigor and international standards
ITL Group’s slogan is ‘Your Gateway to Hungary’. As to what that means in practice, the Managing Director explains that “we are the first call a foreign company makes when considering Hungary, and we stay with them long after they have arrived. We handle company formation, legal and fiscal compliance, accounting, HR, payroll – the full administrative backbone that lets our clients focus on their business rather than the bureaucracy.” ITL Group understands both sides of the equation: the expectations and working culture that a foreign investor brings, and the regulatory and business landscape they are entering. “That dual fluency is our core value. Over time, Hungarian companies have also turned to us, recognizing that our rigor and international standards are an asset regardless of where you come from. Today we serve both communities, which is the best proof that the gateway works both ways,” he adds.

A meaningful living community
The Budapest Business Party (BBP), launched by ITL Group in 2012, was born in difficult economic times. Looking back at that era, Alessandro Farina agrees that confidence was low then and businesses needed a reason to stay connected and optimistic. “The BBP was our answer: a regular, high-quality networking event that brought together entrepreneurs, executives and institutional representatives in a constructive, informal atmosphere. What surprised us was how resilient the format proved. Through further economic turbulence, through the pandemic, through geopolitical uncertainty, people kept coming back. The purpose today is the same but richer: it is a living community. Participants tell us the BBP is where real relationships are built, where partnerships are born over conversation rather than contracts. The feedback is consistently that it is one of the most genuinely useful business events in Budapest – not the largest, but among the most meaningful.”

Cultural affinity in business
Given his position and expertise, Alessandro Farina has an insight into what makes Hungary attractive specifically for Italian companies. He highlights that several things converge in this matter. “Geographically, Hungary sits at the crossroads of Central Europe with excellent logistics connectivity. Economically, the cost structure remains competitive while the skill level, particularly in engineering, IT and manufacturing, is high.”
He adds that for Italian companies, there is also a cultural affinity: both Hungary and Italy have a strong tradition of family business, craftsmanship and relationship-driven commerce. In sectors like automotive supply chain, food processing, fashion manufacturing and professional services, Italian firms have found in Hungary a reliable and profitable operational base. In addition, the EU framework provides legal certainty, while Hungary's own incentive programs for investment remain among the most generous in the region.

Serving clients more efficiently
Over the three decades, the portfolio of services and projects offered by ITL Group has seen substantial expansion. “Beyond our core business services (tax advisory, accounting, payroll, audit, legal and HR management) we have deepened our offer in areas like M&A support, Transfer Pricing, due diligence and market entry consulting. We assist clients through the full investment lifecycle. On the project side, we are particularly proud of our role in facilitating Italian-Hungarian institutional dialogue, supporting several initiatives and contributing to bilateral trade missions. The BBP itself has evolved into a platform that amplifies these connections at the community level. We are also investing in digitalizing our service delivery to serve clients more efficiently,” the Managing Director explains.

Fundamentally encouraging role
Speaking from data rather than impressions, Alessandro Farina emphasizes that since 2010, ITL Group has maintained a proprietary database tracking every Italian company operating in Hungary. “It is one of the most complete tools of its kind, available online and completely free to use. What it tells us about Italian-Hungarian business relations and ITL Group's role in it in 2026 is nuanced but fundamentally encouraging.”
From a few dozen annual foundations in the early 1990s, Italian business activity in Hungary has grown to over 200 new companies per year, peaking at 310 in 2019 and reaching today a total of approximately 3,700 active companies, employing about 18.000 people. The new coronavirus pandemic interrupted that momentum, and natural business mortality will moderate the peak figures, but the net balance remains positive. The 31 new companies registered in Hungary between January and April 2026, spanning sectors from IT and consulting to food, automotive and design, confirm that foundation holds: Budapest anchors 72% of activity, while growing registrations in secondary cities signal maturity rather than saturation, he points out.
“ITL Group's role in this landscape is to remain what we have always been: the most informed, most connected partner for anyone moving between Italy and Hungary. Our database (accessible at aziende.itlgroup.hu) is a public expression of that commitment. We don't just serve the market; we document it, analyze it and share it. After thirty years, that combination of service and knowledge is what sets us apart. The gateway is open, and we intend to keep it that way,” the General Manager concludes.