Who will be rewarded with the National Entrepreneur of the Year award?

Suggest companies to compete for the most important entrepreneur awards of the year!

 – Now if ever there is a reason to highlight entrepreneurs. This year, the National Entrepreneur of the Year Awards are now particularly significant, says Mari Kokko, Secretary of the Award Committee for Suomen Yrittäjät.

– Anyone can suggest good companies that should be rewarded, Kokko says.

There are more than 290,000 companies in Finland. Two-thirds of them are one-person companies.

The Sole Trader of the Year award emphasizes the importance of one-person companies in society and raises the profile of one-person businesses. 56 per cent of the members of Yrittäjät are one-person companies.

Last year, Heidi Hannus from Northern Ostrobothnia and Marika Konga from Southern Savonia were chosen as the sole traders of the year.

Suomen Yrittäjät has been awarding the National Entrepreneurship Awards together with Fennia since 1968. The award emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurs who dare to take financial risks to boost the Finnish economy and to raises the awareness of the value of entrepreneurship in our country. In 2020, By Pia’s from Uusimaa, Kuljetusliike Ville Silvasti from Central Finland, Picosun from the Helsinki metropolitan area and Sinituote from Häme received the National Entrepreneur Award.

The National Entrepreneurship Awards will be presented at Yrittäjäpäivät (National Entrepreneurship Days) in Jyväskylä in September.

Who can be suggested as the award winners?

Criteria for the National Sole Trader Award:

• the entrepreneur has been a full-time sole trader for at least five (5) years
• the company’s operations are well established and profitable
• the entrepreneur has acted exemplarily and others can learn from his/her example
• the one-person company’s course of operation or business idea is original and innovative in its field
• the company is a member of the entrepreneurial association

Criteria for the National Entrepreneur Award:

• the company has an original business idea or product idea
• the company’s operations, service or products are constantly evolving
• the company is on a growth trajectory
• the company is operationally and financially renewable also in international competition
• the company is significant in its own area of ​​operation and market
• the company’s production and personnel management correspond to the spirit of the times and the goals set by society
• the company’s operations are well established

This is how the selection progresses

Entries for the National Entrepreneur Awards can be made from March 2nd to 27th, 2021 here. (the link is in Finnish)

Suomen Yrittäjät submits the proposals to its 20 regional organizations. They select candidates from their respective regions as winners. The final winners are selected by the Entrepreneurship Award Committee, which has a representative from Suomen Yrittäjät, Fennia, the Association for Finnish Work and Yksityisyrittäjäin säätiöstä.

More information:

Field Director Mari Kokko, Suomen Yrittäjät, mari.kokko @ yrittäjät.fi