PM sees Finland as best Nordic land for entrepreneurs

Prime Minister Antti Rinne on Tuesday said the Entrepreneurship Strategy will help this government to formulate a consistent entrepreneurship policy, said an official press release.

“A strategy always needs a goal. For us, a good and realistic goal is to make Finland the best place in the Nordic countries for entrepreneurs,” said the prime minister in his opening speech at the National Entrepreneurship Forum in Helsinki.

More than 120 representatives of business organisations, companies, other interest groups and ministries met at the event organised by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, said an official press release.

The forum discussed the significance of entrepreneurship and measures to promote it for sustainable growth and employment. The event launched the preparation of the Entrepreneurship Strategy included in the present Government Programme.

“One of the most important objectives of this government is to have a much larger proportion of the working age population with full or partial work capacity to engage either in gainful employment or self-employment, and thereby pursue their dreams and help to build a better Finland. To promote self-employment, all entrepreneurial matters were incorporated into one entrepreneurship strategy in the Government Programme,” said the prime minister.

In her speech, Minister of Economic Affairs Katri Kulmuni, who is responsible for preparing the Entrepreneurship Strategy, pointed out that we need a comprehensive industrial and innovation policy that will diversify our economic structure and encourage companies to grow, renew and employ.

“The entrepreneurship strategy we are preparing will take into account companies of different sizes and young growth companies. It will include measures to improve the position of sole entrepreneurs, to facilitate employment by micro-enterprises, to develop value creation and business models in the creative industries, to drive growth and internationalisation in SMEs and mid-cap companies, as well as measures to promote exports together with industry leaders,” Kulmuni said.