REASONS TO FALL 62 IN LOVE WITH THE FFE 2018 Our 100 experts advise members for free S. 4–7 Our network of entrepreneurs Best, newest spar with you to training keeps boost business competence growth up-to-date S. 11–16 S. 19–23 We help aspiring entrepreneurs to start a business S. 19–23 2 THE FEDERATION OF FINNISH ENTERPRISES We lobby on behalf of entrepreneurs in the jungle of upcoming legislation The membership S. 27–29 fee quickly pays for itself thanks to valuable membership benefits S. 32–38 We are near and close S. 42–43 We are the Federation of Finnish Enterprises – a service organisation that works on behalf of small and medium-sized enterprises. We already represent 105 000 enterprises. We compiled 62 reasons in this brochure as to why you should be an FFE member and how we care about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Welcome to use our diverse range of services, grow your business and also have fun with us! Printed by: UPC Print, Vaasa, 2017 62 REASONS TO FALL IN LOVE WITH THE FFE 3 1 WE ARE MANY THERE ARE ABOUT 283 000 ENTERPRISES IN FINLAND. ALL IN ALL, ENTERPRISES IN FINLAND EMPLOY OUT OF ALL ENTERPRISES 1 370 000 93.4% ARE MICRO-ENTERPRISES THAT EMPLOY LESS THAN ROUGHLY 1.4 MILLION PEOPLE CONVERTED 10 PEOPLE. TO FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES. 116 000 BETWEEN 2001–2015, 116 000 NEW JOBS WERE CREATED IN SMES. Sources: Statistics Finland, the Federation of Finnish Enterprises of Finland, the Federation Statistics Sources: 4 THE FEDERATION OF FINNISH ENTERPRISES 2 ONE HUNDRED EXPERTS TO BACK YOU UP More than one hundred experts are waiting for your call, ready to listen and advise. Our phone service is free for members and we respond to roughly 50 000 inquiries each year. Whether you need a tax guru or a data security expert, we will redirect your question to the right person. Read more about our free phone advice line on the next spread. 3 WE HELP YOU TO COMPETE OVER THE BIG EUROS The procurements of the public sector in Finland amount to roughly 35 billion euros per year. That is how much trade is available for businesses each year. Municipalities and other public bodies are valuable references, particularly for new enterprises. So they are worth competing over. If a municipality invites enterprises to tender for e.g. catering or maintenance services, we provide advice on how to enter the bidding competition. Our local public procurement advisers know their region and can help to set up a meeting with the representatives of the municipal procurement department. They also provide help if you are not familiar with the European Single Procurement Document – the ESPD form – which is required in larger projects. If you need help with public procurement, contact your regional organisation. The contact information is on page 42 of this guide. 62 REASONS TO FALL IN LOVE WITH THE FFE 5 09 229 222 4 FREE LEGAL ADVICE SOLVES YOUR PROBLEMS We have a large crew of in-house legal experts and we also work in cooperation with dozens of law firms. Our experts answer your calls at 09 229 222 on weekdays from 8 am to 8 pm. Remember to state your membership number, because we only provide advice to our members. Please note that the advice line cannot handle legal commissions nor prepare or verify agreements or other documents. If we cannot solve your problem during the call, we will provide you with a lawyer for a separate fee. 6 WE RESIST SWINDLERS A busy day, tons of e-mails, one message seems important: your domain name is expiring and the invoice is 199 5 euros. That has to be paid immediately. GIVE THE But your suspicions arise too late: TAXMAN A BEAR that was a pretty big sum, who was it actually from? Did it even have a HUG, DO NOT business ID? WRESTLE Even the best of us encounter fake invoices, phishing, shady telemarketing, When can you deduct the VAT on a blackmailing malware and money new company car? Are the kilometre transfer requests from “the CEO” from allowances of business trips deduct- time to time. We tell you how to avoid ible? Good guides and clear instruc- problems. We advise you on what to do tions save time and nerves in the tax if damage has already been done. If in jungle. It is nicer to give the taxman doubt, call us before you pay. a bear hug than wrestle with him. 6 THE FEDERATION OF FINNISH ENTERPRISES 7 WE MAKE 8 ADVICE AND HIRING STRAIGHT- TIPS IN THE JUNGLE FORWARD OF CONTRACTS What are the minimum requirements We tell you how to hone the service for an employment contract? What contract with a client or the property about the probationary period of an contract offered to your company employee? How is the salary deter- so that you do not experience mined? Fixed-term, agency work, out- any unpleasant surprises later. sourcing? We help you to prepare em- Our document database provides ployment contracts that are right from agreement templates for the most the start, avoid common pitfalls and common situations. If you need minimise the employer’s risks. someone to check your drafts, we will put you in touch with reliable contractual lawyers. 9 ENTREPRE- NEUR’S SOCIAL 10 ON GOOD DAYS SECURITY ON AND BAD TRACK TODAY We may not be able to save marriages, Do not wait until tomorrow to take but we can tell you what kinds of care of your social security. We agreements spouses should make so advise you on what insurances you that problems that a company may need and how to guarantee that have will not fall on the spouse and a you receive a sufficient pension. divorce will not destroy the company. We also tell you what to do so that you are not in trouble if you need to take time off for the birth of a new family member, an illness or unemployment. 62 REASONS TO FALL IN LOVE WITH THE FFE 7 COMPANY STORY “FFE Advice Service Saved My Company” Diversified entrepreneur Jesse Kuronen from North Karelia has used the advice service offered by the Federation of Finnish Enterprises numerous times. esse Kuronen started out as an “When I established the compa- entrepreneur with a commercial ny, I had to fill in a bunch of forms Jname in 2007. Entrepreneurship and papers related to various con- had been imprinted on his mind tracts. I did not know anything from early on. about it. I was totally lost at first.” “My mother had been an entre- “I called the advice line provid- preneur for about thirty years. Af- ed by the FFE to its members about ter seeing it first-hand, I thought I a number of things. Without it, I would like to pursue entrepreneur- would have had to take a chance and ship in my life as well. After all, you fill in forms without knowing wheth- get to decide on the pace of work er I actually had to fill them in and yourself,” Kuronen recalls. whether I had even done it right,” Kuronen’s resolution was fur- says Kuronen. ther strengthened by the decision of One day, the phone of the air his then-employer, the component source heart pump company JK manufacturer Perlos, to shut down Lämpö rang. its factory in North Karelia. “The caller was from the direc- “I had to come up with some- tory service Directa and offered my thing.” company visibility. As a new entre- “Air source heart pumps had preneur, I could not afford it and been talked about for a long time I was also under the impression that and the trend was just arriving to the services were unnecessary for Finland. I thought that I could make someone who could do things by a living installing them,” says Ku- himself.” ronen. “I thanked the caller and said The new entrepreneur soon that I did not have money for the faced his first challenges. service and no need for it either.” 8 THE FEDERATION OF FINNISH ENTERPRISES Photo: Mikko Makkonen MOST COMMON TOPICS OF THE ADVICE SERVICE 1. Labour law, labour legislation and questions related to employment: hiring an employee, preparing an employment contract, dismissal, lay-offs, family leaves, sick leaves and other questions related to the entire lifecycle of an employment relationship 2. Advice and tips on contract law: preparing and interpreting contracts, contract conflicts 3. Misleading marketing: fake invoices, telemarketing scams etc. 4. Taxation 5. Entrepreneur’s social security 62 REASONS TO FALL IN LOVE WITH THE FFE 9 COMPANY STORY Photo: Mikko Makkonen Mikko Photo: Despite this, Kuronen started receiv- ing invoices, reminders and debt collec- tion letters. The phone calls continued as well. “I decided to contact the FFE advice line again. I heard that I was not the only entrepreneur who had received such calls.” “The advice service put me in touch with a lawyer who helped me to prepare a complaint. I would not have been able to do that on my own.” In 2011, the case was brought before the court and Kuronen was one of the claimants. “It was a long and heavy road; I have never spent as many sleepless nights as back then. But I received a lot of help and important advice. The threshold to march into a law firm would have been Entrepreneur Jesse Kuronen utilises fairly high to cross alone. A big case like the FFE advice service in diverse ways.