Sauli Niinistö, the President of the
The Internationalization Award of the President of the
“In addition to international success, the evaluation this year emphasized sustainable development and the ethical nature of operations as well as impacts on Finnish competence, innovation, the development of employment and foreign investments. The award-winning companies have been able to continue healthy business despite the coronavirus crisis and the war in Ukraine,” says Ilona Lundström, Chairman of the
The final award recipients were proposed to the president by the actors of the Team Finland network, Business Finland, ELY centers (
“There is a growing demand in the world for sustainable solutions. The award-winning companies have boldly developed their competence skills to solve difficult problems. It is great to see that we in
“Kempower’s goal is to boost the EV evolution by offering the world’s most desired EV charging solutions to everyone, everywhere. E-mobility is already a reality for us today – our solution has been developed for a world where there are far more electric cars, buses and trucks on the roads than there are today. Our international growth has been rapid. We have succeeded in scaling our production in Lahti and our supply chain, located in the nearby area, along with the growth. The award is based on countless hours of work and challenges solved, which our team has overcome together with customers and other stakeholders. We will continue this work and, to support growth, we will also continue to recruit employees throughout the organization in and outside of Finland,” says Tomi Ristimäki, CEO of
K. Hartwall’s international business grows strongly
K. Hartwall, which received the Growth Company Award and celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, is a family-owned company founded in Sipoo that focuses on logistics equipment. The largest customer industries are retail, postal & parcel, automotive and industrial manufacturing. The company has succeed to combine returnable load carriers with automated solutions for material handling. The solutions allow for example more efficiency intralogistics and lower transport costs. Customers include
“The award is an acknowledgement of a long-term strategy to establish ourselves as an innovative and international player in more than 65 countries. A key factor in the internationalization of K. Hartwall has been the ability to understand the specificities of each country and its industries and to be able to share best practices from different markets. We advise other Finnish companies that want to grow globally to believe in themselves, dream big, and, most importantly, cultivate a local presence on their most important international markets. It is also crucial for Finnish international companies to continue to be supported by dedicated governmental organizations who can facilitate their activities through local expertise, contacts and funding so that they are able to take the next step towards internationalization,” explains Jerker Hartwall, CEO of Hartwall.
ANDRITZ makes long-term investments in sustainable development
In the Long-term International Investor category, the award was granted to Andritz, which delivers systems, equipment and services to the pulp and papermaking industry. In
“We are proud of our innovative products, services and, above all, our passionate experts. However, success always comes from cooperation with the customer, so we thank the Finnish forest industry companies for their close cooperation in developing new innovations. We encourage growing export companies to believe in their own work and invest in skilled personnel. A humane approach, humility and respect for other people and cultures are keys to internationalization,” shares
Kasvuryhmä brings medium-sized companies together into a growth community
Kasvuryhmä, which received the Community Award, was founded in 2015 to create growth ambition and capabilities as well as a new culture of learning together for medium-sized companies to enable companies and
“Over the last four years, internationalization has been the single biggest theme on which the members of our community have focused - it has been the main topic of more than 200 encounters. At Kasvuryhmä, the discussions between people from different companies are radically open, and there’s a culture of learning and finding solutions together. Peer discussions feed the courage to seek future-proof growth and build capabilities for renewal and internationalization. This boosts the competitive advantage of the entire country,” explains
© STT Info Finland, source