Challenges and opportunities : being a foreign entrepreneur in Finland
Jandali Rifai, Eyad (2012)
Turun ammattikorkeakoulu
2012
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2012121319367
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2012121319367
Tiivistelmä
In the near future Finland will be having more retirements and also many entrepreneurs are disappearing. At the same time, due to globalization, more foreigners are coming to Finland through studies, work, family and other reasons. Many of them are considering opening a business here.
This is a qualitative research about the challenges and opportunities that foreign entrepreneurs face in Finland; and how these entrepreneurs describe entrepreneurship.
Study was conducted by interviewing four different entrepreneurs, using semi-structured interview with five different themes. Three of the entrepreneurs were foreigners and one of them was Finnish, so that comparison could be made.
Qualitative research approach was used since there is no register about foreign entrepreneurs in Finland that could’ve been used. Also this approach could give deeper and more diverse understanding of the data since the data analysis concentrated on finding the subjective views, expressions and meanings of the interviewees.
The main findings and results of the study were, that the biggest challenges that foreign entrepreneurs face I Finland are finding funding, having a language barrier and establishing a network. Most of the foreign entrepreneurs don’t have a support group consisting of family and friends in Finland, so acquiring new contacts is crucial for the business, but trust is hard to build with Finnish people. Biggest opportunities that Finland offers for foreign entrepreneurs are the support services and help for starting entrepreneurs and the supportive environment for IT-related products and services.
According to the analyzed data being creative and able to see opportunities where others can’t, being courageous, proactive, having a solid plan and working hard belong to entrepreneurship. Foreign entrepreneurs in Finland think that the Southern and Southwestern regions are best for foreign entrepreneurs since most of the international activities take place here and the population is bigger.
One interesting finding was that even though Finland is promoting itself being very supportive towards entrepreneurship and it has a lot of assisting and guiding services available for aspiring entrepreneurs, still the amount of entrepreneurs, especially young ones, is low.
This is a qualitative research about the challenges and opportunities that foreign entrepreneurs face in Finland; and how these entrepreneurs describe entrepreneurship.
Study was conducted by interviewing four different entrepreneurs, using semi-structured interview with five different themes. Three of the entrepreneurs were foreigners and one of them was Finnish, so that comparison could be made.
Qualitative research approach was used since there is no register about foreign entrepreneurs in Finland that could’ve been used. Also this approach could give deeper and more diverse understanding of the data since the data analysis concentrated on finding the subjective views, expressions and meanings of the interviewees.
The main findings and results of the study were, that the biggest challenges that foreign entrepreneurs face I Finland are finding funding, having a language barrier and establishing a network. Most of the foreign entrepreneurs don’t have a support group consisting of family and friends in Finland, so acquiring new contacts is crucial for the business, but trust is hard to build with Finnish people. Biggest opportunities that Finland offers for foreign entrepreneurs are the support services and help for starting entrepreneurs and the supportive environment for IT-related products and services.
According to the analyzed data being creative and able to see opportunities where others can’t, being courageous, proactive, having a solid plan and working hard belong to entrepreneurship. Foreign entrepreneurs in Finland think that the Southern and Southwestern regions are best for foreign entrepreneurs since most of the international activities take place here and the population is bigger.
One interesting finding was that even though Finland is promoting itself being very supportive towards entrepreneurship and it has a lot of assisting and guiding services available for aspiring entrepreneurs, still the amount of entrepreneurs, especially young ones, is low.