Tue, 05 Jul, 2016 01:10:46 AM In case of Brexit FTimes- STT Report, Jul 5  Anna Ojutkangas of Arctic Power Berries. Photo Lehtikuva. Anna Ojutkangas an entrepreneur who sells dried and powdered Finnish berries in the United Kingdom is worried about the Brexit’s impact on the relations between the two countries.
In London, Ojutkangas has worked hard in her company Arctic Power Berries together with her partner and best friend Eveliina Suoyrjö.
The company exports dried powdered berries to Britain after which consignment is delivered to local retail chains, health boutiques and restaurants.
Ojutkangas revealed that she has been pondering what would happen if Britain formally exits the European Union.
She expressed hope that customs duty should not be introduced in case of an exit since the cur-rent chain of supply works well.
The company’s berries travel through Eastern European producers trucks up to the North of England where the berry powders are packed in sale packages.
“We are also affected by the exchange rate between pound and euro since we pay in pounds and buy in euros. Last August was a good situation when the euro was so low,” Ojutkangas said.
Ojutkangas revealed that she managed to pay all the euro-charged invoices before the referendum because she had guessed that the pound would collapse.
Ojutkangas and Suoyrjö had been studying in London. Originally from London, the duo during their student years realised that the big city selection lacked tasty berries.
They solved the problem by packing their bags full of dried and powdered berries after returning from their holidays.
One evening, just after Suoyrjö had returned from Finland, they figured out that importing berries could be a fundamental idea for a company.
At first they imported berries in small amount and packed their products from home.
“At first we bought berries from 90-year-old Hilkka who is the world most sympathetic grand-mother. We started with sea-buckthorn and cranberries because we got them from Hilkka,” Ojut-kangas said.
Ojutkangas and Suoyrjö have tried to buy and produce as much as possible the services required by the company here in Finland.
The company wants to stick to the Finnish roots even though the company has been growing between two countries.
“We are Finnish citizens and we live here. Our products come from Finland and we have a British company. We sell here and on the other hand we receive inquiries from other parts of Europe,” Ojutkangas explained.
The company sold berries to London health boutiques but now the distribution network has been slowly growing. The growth of young company has been spurred by start-up programmes in which Ojutkangas and Suoyrjö were involved in.
A year ago, they were involved in Grocery Accelerator programme where they received funds for brand development and expansion of the distribution network.
Through the trade fares in the industry, their products have been displayed on world-renowned shelves.
“We now have, Harrods, Selfridges, Ocado and Whole Foods, among others,” Ojutkangas said.
Harrods and Selfridges are well-known British departmental stores, Ocado is an online super-market while Whole Foods is retail chain specialising in healthy food.
Ojutkangas reveals how they learned through resilience to get hold of the British bureaucracy and became successful in building contacts with the appropriate buyers. She hopes that there would be no need to begin all over again in case Brexit is realised.
The duo is not considering moving back to Finland.
“We intend to stay here because Britain is such a huge market,” Ojutkangas said.
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Finland Times
| Tuesday, 30 April, 2024 |
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