Things will be getting easier in the Joensuu region for entrepreneurs with immigrant backgrounds; in the future, entrepreneurs with an immigrant background in the Joensuu region will be able to receive practical support and coaching in all matters related to entrepreneurship from Business Joensuu. The new service involves individual and company-specific coaching that takes into account the different backgrounds, capabilities, needs and objectives of the entrepreneurs. It also creates a service path where the entrepreneurs will know how to utilise business services in the public sector.

The Joensuu region needs new companies, and the region needs to permanently integrate experts who immigrate to Joensuu for reasons such as work or higher education studies. One element of permanent residence could be establishing a business.

A new Business Joensuu service is aimed at persons with an immigrant background interested in entrepreneurship, foreigners already engaged in business activities and immigrants with a residence permit.

– People are constantly arriving in Finland looking for work – hopefully even more so in the future. But Finnish legislation on integration does not support the integration of people as such. They are left without subsidies and information on how to live and do business in Finland. Our goal is to find and help these kinds of entrepreneurs and to develop immigrant entrepreneurship in our region, says Business Coach Ali Giray from Business Joensuu.

Ali Giray is an entrepreneur himself, so he has personal experience of what he is talking about. He has already worked to ensure that as many immigrants as possible become a permanent part of Finnish society.

Now, his new role as a Business Joensuu Business Coach gives him the opportunity to pass on his experiences and expertise to other immigrants. At the same time, Ali is developing cooperation between other public sector actors in the region. The aim is to facilitate encounters between different people and help people integrate into Finnish society as quickly as possible.

The new service lowers the threshold for persons with an immigrant background to request and receive assistance from public sector organisations related to the establishment of business activities or the development of an existing company. Translation and interpretation services are available as necessary for communicating with the customers using the service and for providing them the necessary materials. In addition to coaching, the service also includes thematic training events on business activities in Finland.

– I hope that in a year’s time we will have an operating model that will also be able to help immigrants who have arrived in Finland to look for work or wanting to become entrepreneurs. Local stakeholders know how to work well together to promote their Finnish entrepreneurial competence, says Ali Giray.

Further information:

Business Joensuu
Business Coach
Ali Giray
Tel. +358 50 331 6759
ali.giray@businessjoensuu.fi