The Entrepreneurs of Uusimaa have awarded the City of Järvenpää the Golden Entrepreneur's Flag. With the Entrepreneur Flag, which is now being awarded for the first time, the municipality is showing that it is a good place to try. The Entrepreneur Flag measures the municipality's business-friendliness in business policy, contacts, procurement and entrepreneurial friendliness.

Fifteen municipalities received the Entrepreneur's Ticket, awarded for the first time by the Entrepreneurs of Uusimaa. Of these, seven are gold Entrepreneur Flags, five silver and three bronze. Hyvinkää, Kerava, Järvenpää, Mäntsälä, Myrskylä, Sipoo and Siuntio received gold Entrepreneur Flags.

Mikko Ahtiainen, Chairman of Uusimaa Entrepreneurs, considers the number of tickets received to be good.

- The economic situation in Uusimaa is strong from a national perspective. The vitality of our region is at a good level as most municipalities are actively working to promote it. Businesses are taken into account in decision-making to a fairly large extent, which enables successful business activities. This in turn creates a good platform for a vibrant region and strongly supports the wider well-being of the region," says Ahtiainen.

The Entrepreneur Flag is both a recognition and a development tool

The Entrepreneur Flag was applied for through a self-assessment. The entrepreneurial association and the municipality applied for the flag together.

- In Uusimaa, municipalities want to profile themselves as entrepreneur-friendly places, which is a great thing. They are competing for both investment and employees. The Entrepreneur Flag is a competitiveness indicator created for municipalities to demonstrate their entrepreneurial friendliness as assessed through an objective review," says Ahtiainen.

The criteria were published about a year ago. Municipalities actively seized the opportunity to develop their business and entrepreneur-friendly activities in a targeted way.

The Entrepreneur Flag guides the debate and actors to focus on the right strategic measures to create an entrepreneur-friendly environment.

Uusimaa has now set the baseline - what about the rest of Finland?

- Launched a year ago, the Entrepreneur Flag could become a national indicator and symbol of business friendliness in the future. It will be interesting to see how business friendliness develops in our industry over the next two years. The starting point has now been set," says Petri Ovaska, Regional Director of Uusimaa Entrepreneurs.

The tickets were confirmed by the Uusimaa Entrepreneurs' Board.

The aim of the Entrepreneurs' Association is to create the best conditions for entrepreneurship in Finland. One of the most important tasks of the local associations is to encourage municipalities to develop the conditions for entrepreneurship.

Golden Entrepreneur Flags

Hyvinkää
Kerava
Järvenpää
Mäntsälä
Myrskylä
Sipoo
Siuntio

Silver Entrepreneur Flags

Kirkkonummi
Nurmijärvi
Porvoo
Pukkila
Tuusula

Bronze Entrepreneur Flags

Inkoo
Lapinjärvi
Loviisa

Criteria for the Entrepreneurial Ticket

Industrial policy

  1. The municipality has an up-to-date economic policy programme.
  2. The municipality has well-described and smooth planning and permitting processes.
  3. The municipality supports the community spirit of entrepreneurs through the spaces it manages.
  4. The municipality invests in business and economic development. In-house companies do not affect private business activities.

Contact

  1. The municipality has an active business group or section in which the business organisation is represented
  2. There are regular and regular contacts and meetings between the municipality and the business association.
  3. Senior municipal officials and trustees participate in a seminar on municipal management organised by the Finnish Enterprise Association.
  4. The municipality actively communicates issues affecting businesses, for example through information events.

Procurement

  1. The municipality will carry out a market survey before awarding contracts and will divide the contracts into a number of lots that will allow micro-enterprises and SMEs to participate in the tendering process.
  2. The municipality has an up-to-date and effective procurement policy in place
  3. The municipality has an up-to-date electronic procurement calendar
  4. Municipal purchase invoices are public.

Corporate Citizenship

  1. Municipal decision-making takes into account the impact on business conditions.
  2. Entrepreneurship education is carried out in the municipality together with local entrepreneurs.
  3. The municipality, together with the Entrepreneurs' Association, is committed to promoting an entrepreneurial climate.
  4. The municipality's overall Municipal Barometer score is better than the national average.

Read the Uusimaa Entrepreneurs' press release.

Business Järvenpää Entrepreneurs of Järvenpää Golden entrepreneur flag Entrepreneurs of Uusimaa