Petri Salminen re-elected Suomen Yrittäjät chairperson

Petri Salminen has been re-elected as chairperson of Suomen Yrittäjät for another two years.

The Suomen Yrittäjät general assembly voted on the next chairperson in Tampere on Saturday. The chairperson election was decided in the second round, when incumbent Petri Salminen received 962 votes and challenger Anne Niemi received 855.

Three candidates stood for election in the first round. Anne Niemi received 835 votes in the first round, Petri Salminen 806 and Petri Roininen 171. When no candidate received an outright majority in the first round, a second round of voting was held.

Salminen, 41, from Jyväskylä, who has chaired the association for the past two years, is an entrepreneur providing sales and leadership development services at the Salminen & Tikka Oy company as well as a shareholder of the AJ-Tools Oy engineering family company.

Salminen is also the president of the European SME umbrella organization SMEunited.

“This was a tight and dramatic show. Suomen Yrittäjät created some real drama. The candidates were equal opponents in terms of their skills,” Salminen said when the results were announced.

“We’ve identified the areas we need to improve in. Now we know how to improve our activities. And dammit, we’re going to do it together.”

Petri Salminen

In his victory speech to the Suomen Yrittäjät general assembly, Salminen promised to start building the future of Finnish enterprise.

“We’ve identified the areas we need to improve in. Now we know how to improve our activities. And dammit, we’re going to do it together,” Salminen joyfully declared.

The re-elected chairperson praised the vote as both exciting and unpredictable. He said that regardless, he had trusted in his own chances throughout his campaign.

“You should never presume what decisions this organization is going to make. The vote was close, which I can’t say was a surprise. I had faith in my own chances, in the fact that I’d done my job with the personality I’ve always had. I haven’t changed that, nor do I intend to change it in the future. I chose my approach two years ago and trust that it is right and will serve me will in the future as well.”

From the celebrations straight to Brussels

Salminen says that the coming winter will be busy for Suomen Yrittäjät, as it will entail advocacy work related to the parliamentary elections in the spring.

“We’ll communicate to candidates and the parties about what the reality is for SMEs in Finland today. Our advocacy work related to the start-up of the new well-being services counties is also important. We have to be able to communicate the prime importance of the additional value that the service vouchers enable. The energy crisis, on the other hand, particularly requires us to advocate if businesses’ payment capacity or operating conditions change because of the crisis. “There really is a lot to do!”

Following the celebrations at the National Entrepreneur Days, Salminen intends to spend time with his family.

“The best way to celebrate with my family is to just spend time with my nearest and dearest when my schedule allows.”

Salminen returns to everyday work on Monday, after the national Entrepreneur Days in Tampere have been wrapped up.

“I’m flying to Brussels tomorrow [on Sunday]. I’m going to meet stakeholders of the Suomen Yrittäjät office there. Before that, I’m going to enjoy the celebrations at the entrepreneur gala.”