Petri Salminen seeks third term at helm of SY

Petri Salminen, chair of Suomen Yrittäjät, is seeking a third term leading the SME association.

Petri Salminen is standing for a third two-year term as chair of Suomen Yrittäjät, the SME association. The board of SY’s regional association in Central Finland chose Salminen as its candidate for chair on 2 May.

“At the start of the year I said that I would decide whether to stand during the spring. For me the most important question was whether we as an association had succeeded in achieving results which genuinely benefit business owners during my term in office, as the chairmanship itself cannot have any intrinsic value. The results will decide, and we have achieved them, too,” Salminen said in a press release from the Central Finland regional association of SY.

Salminen is particularly pleased by the changes related to the overhaul of the association.

“I’ve been told that SY is now more approachable, and I consider that an important achievement.”

The chair and vice chairs of Suomen Yrittäjät will be elected for the next two-year term by the association’s general assembly in Seinäjoki in October.

Salminen has been chair of Suomen Yrittäjät since autumn 2020. He was re-elected for another two years in October 2022.

In his election campaign in 2020, Salminen wanted to place an even greater focus in the conversation about employment on the understanding of the necessity for more flexible labour market structures. Now, issues like the pursuit of company-specific bargaining are strongly visible in the Government Programme, and Suomen Yrittäjät plays a central role in the labour market discussion.

“We’re more satisfied with Petri than ever. As chair, he takes a strong stance on issues, and under his leadership the board of Suomen Yrittäjät has achieved good results. Petri is at his best in his role right now,” Jari-Pekka Koponen, chair of the SY regional association in Central Finland, says in the press release.

Salminen has been an entrepreneur for two decades. His company, Salminen & Tikka Oy, provides sales and leadership development and recruitment services.

Salminen has also served as president of the European SME umbrella organization SMEunited since December 2021. The member associations of SMEunited encompass around 12 million European SMEs, and it works to advocate on behalf of all 22 million European SMEs. The member associations of SMEunited represent SMEs in EU member states.

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