65 Degrees North - News and views from Oulu

Giving Birth To Business

By Sandra Grötsch

Friday, 21 October 2005

Quite a few foreigners in Oulu come up with the idea of starting their own company. This idea may have its beginnings in various sources: the person has been working as an employee for a long time and would like to be her own boss; she thinks she will develop a business that will grow and flourish; or she is simply unemployed and is searching for a possibility to employ herself and even some other people.

Having an idea for one's own business is one thing but knowing to whom to turn to with it quite another. Here would be one address to keep in mind in case the business has to do with technology.

The company Oulutech Ltd., founded in 1994, offers expertise for the licensing and commercialisation of technology-based ideas and research results, development of business operations, incubator operations and corporate financing. Oulutech helps small and medium sized companies from the very beginning, when the company is just an idea, through an incubation phase all the way to building a stable and growing firm.

Mr. Martti Elsilä, managing director of Oulutech, explains that especially small companies are searching help and services from an expert, and that they will find both at his company. Whether a person is thinking of production or a research-based business making use of an innovation; as long as it is technology-based Oulutech will help right from the start. The concept of the business idea is checked until it is proven to be worth giving it chance.

The first, most crucial planning stage of clarifying the concept of the business idea and getting down to the actual things that make the business may take up to nine months. It is the stage where the person with the idea has to define it very clearly. Quite often people think they have a clear idea, but when talking to an expert they may find out that it is hard to identify precisely what it is.

This pre-incubation phase is followed by an early and a late incubation phase for development, where the still very young company is supported by Oulutech’s training and expertise program, as well as possibly by its facilities located in the Technology Village. The early stages include the implementation of the business plan, the registration of the company and further support for the administration of it, which it often a problematic part for a new entrepreneur.

After the incubation phases the company should be able to cope by itself, but it will not lose the network that Oulutech provides for all its customers. Mr. Elsilä points out that networking between the companies that co-operate with Oulutech is very important and that he and his colleagues try to connect businesses that may have a fruitful co-operation and learn from each other. This connecting of people and ideas can lead to further business development and growth for all involved partners.

<>The experts working at Oulutech will take care of finding all possible financing possibilities and sources throughout every stage of building up a company. Financing may come from several sources, but also foreign investors and the European Union are possible financiers.

Mr. Elsilä and his colleagues at Oulutech also provide their knowledge for people interested in getting a license or patent for an invention they made whether it is a service, a method or a product. The process of licensing or patenting can be financed and supported by Oulutech.

What is it then that a future entrepreneur has to think about when presented her idea? Mr. Elsilä advises that one should have customers in mind that will buy the entrepreneur’s service or product immediately. It does not matter whether the customers are situated in Finland or abroad. Oulutech has a well-working domestic and international network that helps to find the right customer, and adds to business clusters of contacts for using expertise of various kinds. The service or product of a new company will have to be different from the big and established businesses in order to attract customers and make them deal with a small newcomer. A business model should be created where market and competition analysis is done. For a beginner, who was never involved in building and running a business, it is a good strategy to team up with other new entrepreneurs in order to profit from each other’s ideas and have a network behind them from the very beginning. Of course, not even the best planned business will have a guarantee for success, but with the help from experts like those from Oulutech it is much more likely to succeed and develop a good idea that may otherwise be lost.

The company Oulutech offers entrepreneur training, which is partly financed by the entrepreneur herself. The training is tailored for individual needs and high profile lecturers are visiting to share their knowledge.

Oulutech is looking for foreigners with technology-based business ideas and Mr. Elsilä hopes that these people will find the way to him or one of his colleagues to discuss the possibility of an entrepreneurship.

For more information please visit: http://www.oulutech.fi/

All information is available also in English.