How to Establish a Business in Finland as an Immigrant

This thesis aims to study the Finnish business culture, especially from the perspective of an immigrant who would like to start a business or invest in Finland. This research covers the most common legal aspects when setting up a business, the most challenges faced by a foreign entrepreneur and what strategies need to be considered when overcoming these challenges with regards to business experts with a foreign background and the experts from Business Service Enterprises. The researcher used a qualitative-exploratory research method for this thesis. The research design of this thesis is multiple case studies. The data that has been taken is from two different professional groups through semi-structured interviews. The first group belongs to foreign entrepreneurs and the other one is from the experts in Business Service Enterprises. The author recognized that the biggest challenges for immigrant entrepreneurship in Finland are the Finnish language and culture and insufficient working and investment capital. With a decrease in the working population of Finland, the population and economic growth is dependent on immigration. The Finnish government has been taking initiatives to attract international talent to help Finland to compete with the rest of the world for the best talent. The thesis concludes that in Finland, various business services provide training services, monitoring, business counselling and guidance for entrepreneurs. These business services also grant financial support to the entrepreneurs during the start-up and development phase of business through grants and subsidies. Everyone can apply for funding and does not need to repay. To be eligible for funding, entrepreneurs must have a solid business plan and a competitive and profitable business. To get into Finnish culture, experts of Business Services encourage foreign people to build a network by attending events. Through networking they will be able to build trust among others and open financial possibilities through making connections with investors, suppliers, and partners that enhance opportunities to grow a business. In addition, the legislation to be followed is quite strict and important in Finland and it is therefore advisable to hire a professional service for dealing with the documentation process to avoid delays and legal issues, especially for a foreigner. A person with professional skills can be a successful entrepreneur with the right mindset and a good execution strategy to implement a business idea. Keywords: Immigrant entrepreneurship, Start-up entrepreneur, foreign background, enterprises, working and investment capital. Pages/Appendices: 31/