Finland Times

 

Juha Seppälä, the CEO of the Rovaniemen Kehitys Oy. .FTimes Photo.

According to the Rovaniemi Development Authority, businesses, especially industrial and tourism outfits are doing fine in the capital city of Finnish Lapland, despite the ongoing global recession. 

 

“The business situation as such is pretty good. Many of our business areas are still growing even in the deep recession worldwide,” said Juha Seppälä, the CEO of the Rovaniemen  Kehitys Oy. 

 

Rovaniemi has around 3,000 companies with a yearly net growth of about 100-150 firms, with most entrepreneurs being self-employed.

 

Seppälä said, “What is surprising and interesting is that industry in Rovaniemi is doing well. We are well known as a tourism city, but in fact we are an industrial city. We have the only snow scooter manufacturer in Europe which at the moment has dependence on the Russian market but nevertheless is doing well. Furthermore, Savaterra, Kalottikone, Marttiini, ADC, firms like these are doing really good,” added Seppälä.

 

And what is more important, according to the development leader, there is still room for expansion in the Rovaniemi business. According to Seppälä, the main determining factor for a decline or increase in businesses is location. “We are in the middle of the Arctic circle or the Barents region, depending on which side of the globe you are looking at. The Northern Sea is close to us. The same types of business exist in Sweden, Norway and Russia: mining and tourism. That is why we are in the middle of businesses and the location is important.”

 

Another factor for business success, according to Seppälä, is long-standing marketing that local companies have been doing. “Companies have done quite heavy marketing on the city side. They have put a lot of efforts into marketing and thanks to that Rovaniemi is very well known. Santa Claus as such is well known and is used in marketing in businesses other than tourism too.”

 

Seppälä also gave suggestions to improve business conditions locally. “The main factor here is how to reach Rovaniemi. We are easily reachable by trains, cars and airplanes. Our airport is big enough for airplanes. We have railways that come up to north and we are well located when it comes to roads. But still, at the same time, we are very far from everything. The reachability by air is not easy, as there are not many straight flights from Europe or from Asia. People are using more and more airplanes and thus, more planes, especially straight connection flights from both Europe and Asia would make it possible for more people to reach Rovaniemi.”

 

When asked about business opportunities, Seppälä said, “There are opportunities still available for different kinds of mining services. Tourism still has room for new hotels and services. As for the forestry, there are a lot of forests in Lapland and there will be potentials for the newcomers in the future.”

 

As for the weaknesses and strengths, he said, “A weakness, which is also strength at the same time, is the long distance from the markets. Absolutely, the greatest strength is the clear, blue sky and non-polluted surroundings that many places don’t have. The fresh new life and surrounding wildlife are what make Rovaniemi interesting, especially for the Asian people.”