Petri Hankiola and Henna Viikilä National Single-person Businesses of the Year, Henri Neuvonen receives Young Entrepreneur Award

Petri Hankiola, a tyre laboratory owner, and Henna Viikilä, an entrepreneur in the equine business, have won the National Single-person Business of the Year Awards. Property investor Henri Neuvonen was presented with the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

The awards were presented in Tampere on Saturday as part of the evening gala of the National Entrepreneur Days.

The National Single-person Business of the Year Award is worth €5,000 per recipient. This is funded by the Yksityisyrittäjäin Säätiö sole entrepreneurs’ foundation. The recipients were chosen by a national awards committee, based on preparations by the Suomen Yrittäjät single-person enterprise network management team. 

Unique tyre laboratory

Petri Hankiola’s Nastola-based company, Wheel Energy Oy, is the only independent, impartial and private bicycle and motor tyre research laboratory in the world.

Wheel Energy offers tyre testing services globally. Hankiola tests tyres’ technical properties such as rolling resistance, puncture resistance, friction properties and shock resistance, and conducts abrasion tests.

The company designs and builds all its measurement equipment itself. Its testing procedures simulate real-life situations, but in a controlled laboratory environment.

Petri Hankiola has successfully expanded the company’s operations in a narrow but profitable sector. The company’s clients include well-known international tyre brands such as Michelin. The secret to Hankiola’s success is in high quality, strict adherence to schedules and broad-based competence.

Wheel Energy Oy

Turnover 2021: €155,000

Operating profit: €13,000

Established: 2003

Domicile: Nastola

Horse ranch succeeds through development

Henna Viikilä’s Viikilä Horse Ranch, established in 2008, primarily offers tailored riding in small groups in a rural setting. The horse farm in Merikarvia also rents stables, trains horses, rears foals and runs riding camps.

Throughout her entrepreneurial career, Henna Viikilä has also considered the growth and development of the horse ranch and her self-education her key goals. For example, Viikilä earned a qualification in socio-pedagogical equine operations in 2018 and now offers training in this area to private customers and special needs groups. Through her business operations, she wants to help those at risk of marginalization.

In addition, Viikilä has made brave investments, such as the Peipun Areena covered riding school, completed in 2019. Upon completion, the school allowed year-round riding teaching whatever the weather, brought new customers and provided new business opportunities.

The Viikilä Horse Ranch has also grown its turnover. In addition, Viikilä has completed a quality development programme for tourism entrepreneurs and participated in the Green Care Merikarvia project, which aims to revitalize rural tourism businesses’ operations.

Viikilä Horse Ranch

Turnover 2021: €91,000

Operating profit: €32,000

Established: 2008

Domicile: Merikarvia

One block of flats at a time

Around 200 names were entered in the Young Entrepreneur of the Year contest from all over Finland. The Yksityisyrittäjäin Säätiö sole entrepreneur foundation supported this national competition with a €30,000 prize fund for the top three finalists. The winner receives €20,000, the runner-up €7,000 and the person ranking third €3,000.

The Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award was presented to Henri Neuvonen, whose Sijoitusasunnot.com Group Oyj buys entire blocks of flats. In general, the company later sells the blocks on, either in their original condition or completely renovated.

The clients of the company, founded in Jyväskylä in 2011, are primarily property investors. The company buys investment properties all over Finland.

It stands out with its converted sites: blocks which are completely renovated, income-generating packages. There are hardly any other actors selling sites like these. The digitalized, smooth online sales process streamlines and speeds up deals.

The company has grown fast, is self-sufficient and has shown strong turnover growth. In spite of its impressive growth and financial results, the company is a responsible, well-liked employer with good future prospects.

The committee was impressed by the entrepreneur’s innovativeness, appetite for risks and courage. His exceptional drive has given the sector a completely new and highly functional business concept.

Sijoitusasunnot.com Group Oyj
Established: 2011 
Founder and CEO: Henri Neuvonen 
Domicile: Jyväskylä 
Headcount: 14 (+subsidiaries: Kauppa käy Lkv Oy 3 & Rajape Oy 15) 
Turnover 2021: €44 million 

Charismatic personality

Second place in the Young Entrepreneur competition went to Helena Riihitupa. The future of the Helena Riihitupa Oy company, which specializes in event staff placement and client acquisition, looked grim at the start of the pandemic. However, brisk recruitment and development of the service offering over the past couple of years have almost doubled the company’s turnover.

The committee was impressed by the entrepreneur’s charismatic personality and the company’s outstanding profits during the pandemic in such a challenging sector. She exudes a capacity for renewal and a unique attitude, and the broad network, which the company provides work for, must also be mentioned. 

Helena Riihitupa Oy 
Established: 2017 (registered as a sole trader in 2011) 
Founder and CEO: Helena Riihitupa 
Domicile: Tampere 
Headcount: 6 (+ approximately 300 gig workers) 
Turnover 2021: €1 million 

Diverse forestry services

Third place in the contest went to Mikko-Joonas and Jesse Kuuminainen, who realized how the market was developing in the forest management sector.

KUMEKO Group Oy offers a broad range of forestry services: timber trade and forestry management, recycling and the circular economy, as well as waste management, harbour, operator and forwarding services. The company invests in development, particularly in bioenergy, and offers a broad palette of industrial facility fuels.

The committee was impressed by how topical the company’s sector is, its ability to foresee market development and to create a service business around that. The entrepreneur brothers have an eye for business development via networks and a skilled workforce. 

KUMEKO Group Oy 
Established: 2012 
Founders: Mikko-Joonas Kuuminainen (CEO) and Jesse Kuuminainen 
Domicile: Pori 
Headcount: 8 
Turnover 2021: €14.3 million