Foreign Entrepreneurship in Finland

This research topic is a part of a project named Go Strong conducted by HAMK University of Applied Sciences. The research focuses on finding the underlying factors which influence the decision of foreigners to become an entrepreneur in Finland. The second focal point is to find out the chosen fields of establishment as well as the reasons why immigrants choose those fields. The research method for this thesis is a qualitative method which uses semi-structured interviews. There are two interview groups: foreigner entrepreneurs and business or entrepreneurial experts, and they were asked different sets of questions. The responses were collated to provide a better acknowledgement of the topic. To start off with, the result answered one of the most important questions: that push factors are the main reasons for foreigners to decide to establish a business in Finland. Pull factors work as supporting determinants to construct the whole phenomenon. In addition, the outcomes show how personal it is in every case. Secondly, small to medium businesses, especially restaurants or personal services are usually chosen by foreigners in Finland. There are different reasons to explain why they choose these businesses; however, it is assumed that there is no universal restriction to reveal why. It is also recommended that foreign entrepreneurs should take step by step action from having the business idea to the full establishment of a business in a foreign country. This total research has given more understanding on a topic which needed more attention. In the end, the decision to become an entrepreneur in a foreign country as Finland is really critical to see how foreigners feel and act when they want to start their own business in an outside country