10:00-11:30 Entrepreneur's stories

 (Mostly in Finnish, the rest of the event is in English) Stories about starting up and learning from those who have done it. Mikko Veijola / Taitonet and Johanna Riihijärvi / Liikku share their experiences of starting a business. At the beginning of the event, you will also hear about Oamk’s and the University of Oulu's forms of support for those interested in entrepreneurship, e.g. PoC funding to testing a business idea.

Mikko Veijola - Promoting the circular economy at the helm of Taitonet for over 17 years

Taitonetti Oy is Finland's largest retailer of used computers. Taitonetti Oy currently employs more than 30 employees and operates in Finland, Germany and Sweden.

Johanna Riihijärvi is the founder and CEO of Kuntokeskus Liiku. Liikku, which has grown from one fitness center in Oulu to a chain of almost 50 centers, strives for the most seamless and smooth customer experience and the best price-quality ratio on the market.

11:30-13:00 Pizza & Pitch

Welcome to a relaxed lunch to get to know others interested in entrepreneurship. If you want, you can pitch your ideas and know-how to others and find a team for new exciting projects. Please make sure that you have registered so that we have enough pizza for you too.

13:00-15:00 Experimenting towards rapid growth!

The most important tool for building a startup - validation. Fast and agile testing of ideas and implementations is the most important skill of a successful entrepreneur, which minimizes risks, optimizes resources and significantly increases the probability of success and growth. Antti Hyytinen from OP Lab shares his lessons on the development work of startups and corporations at Business Corner.

Antti Hyytinen is a Startup Weekend alumnus who currently works as a Discovery Partner at OP Financial Group's innovation unit, OP Lab. During his studies, Antti was an active member of the university's entrepreneurship ecosystem. Events like Startup Weekend and Demola played a decisive role in shaping his professional career. Antti has founded two companies, one of which started at Startup Weekend, and mentored other entrepreneurs to start entrepreneurship.

15:00-17:00 Starting business in Finland: meet international entrepreneurs of Oulu

Dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur? Expand your peer network, discover new ideas, hear it all from the already established international entrepreneurs in Oulu and network! All happening on Monday 04.09.23 at BusinessAsema ( Hallituskatu 36 B, 90100 Oulu) from 15-00-17-00. The event is organized by Business Oulu, OSKE, IH and Startup Refugees as part of the entrepreneurship week.