A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

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Vlad_Lapshov
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Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2017 3:20 am

A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by Vlad_Lapshov » Fri Sep 22, 2017 3:54 am

Hello.
Me and my family (me and my wife, my wife's dad and my wife's mother) decided to move to Finland, Helsinki for business immigration. We have a small sewing production in Russia, St. Petersburg. We make baby headdresses.
We want to try to enter the children's clothing market in Finland, although we understand that Reima's main brand and competition are not impossible. But still, tell me please, is there any demand for other firms besides Reima?

The second kind of activity is planned to be done - graphic design studio.
My wife is a professional designer, with the formation of a graphic designer (8 years of university education), with good experience.
We want to try to have the main income exactly by the graphic design studio.
Tell me please, can anyone tried to open such a studio and with what problems faced? Is the market crowded?
We plan to become a citizen of Finland and live and work here.

Thank you all for your time.
With best regards, Vlad



A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

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Upphew
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Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:55 pm
Location: Lappeenranta

Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by Upphew » Fri Sep 22, 2017 9:51 am

Vlad_Lapshov wrote:Hello.
Me and my family (me and my wife, my wife's dad and my wife's mother) decided to move to Finland, Helsinki for business immigration. We have a small sewing production in Russia, St. Petersburg. We make baby headdresses.
We want to try to enter the children's clothing market in Finland, although we understand that Reima's main brand and competition are not impossible. But still, tell me please, is there any demand for other firms besides Reima?

The second kind of activity is planned to be done - graphic design studio.
My wife is a professional designer, with the formation of a graphic designer (8 years of university education), with good experience.
We want to try to have the main income exactly by the graphic design studio.
Tell me please, can anyone tried to open such a studio and with what problems faced? Is the market crowded?
We plan to become a citizen of Finland and live and work here.

Thank you all for your time.
With best regards, Vlad
Just a heads up: your definition of family differs from migri.fi's.

Competition is not impossible, but you are talking about market the size of... St. Petersburg. You'll need some A grade marketing and have you thought about distribution? Reima might be the big name, but you'll be competing against friends and family and second hand stuff.

Graphics design. Marketing and contacts, networking. Tough start I would imagine.

Check migri.fi and citizenship.
http://google.com http://translate.google.com http://urbandictionary.com
Visa is for visiting, Residence Permit for residing.

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rinso
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Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by rinso » Fri Sep 22, 2017 12:04 pm

In theory your plans are possible. But when you start from scratch it will be difficult.
First problem is to convince migri that your businesses will earn enough to support 4 people.
An other problem is the language. As Upphew said you have to compete with arrived brands and second hand stores. Not being able do negotiate in Finnish will be a handicap.
And finally there are few mom and dad stores so you mostly have to deal with national wide chains. It can be a challenge to fulfill their requirements (delivery time, amount, credit)

Vlad_Lapshov
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Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2017 3:20 am

Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by Vlad_Lapshov » Fri Sep 22, 2017 3:21 pm

rinso wrote:In theory your plans are possible. But when you start from scratch it will be difficult.
First problem is to convince migri that your businesses will earn enough to support 4 people.
An other problem is the language. As Upphew said you have to compete with arrived brands and second hand stores. Not being able do negotiate in Finnish will be a handicap.
And finally there are few mom and dad stores so you mostly have to deal with national wide chains. It can be a challenge to fulfill their requirements (delivery time, amount, credit)
Thanks for your feedback.
The company through which we will immigrate guarantees that they will give a residence permit for a year, and then they guarantee an extension of four years.

And language is a problem that can be solved. The main thing is to do everything that's planned.

What do you mean "national wide chains" ? I do not quite understand the meaning of this expression.

Thank you!

Rosamunda
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Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by Rosamunda » Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:16 am

You will also be competing with all the shopping malls and their chains: H&M, Zara etc and the sports stores (XXL, Budget Sport, Intersport, Stadium etc), not to mention S-Group (Sokos etc) and Kesko and all the online stores. The retail sector is over-heating.

JuhlaMokka
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Joined: Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:29 am

Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by JuhlaMokka » Sat Sep 23, 2017 12:21 pm

Vlad_Lapshov wrote: The company through which we will immigrate guarantees that they will give a residence permit for a year, and then they guarantee an extension of four years.
1. They cannot guarantee you anything, because they do not make the decision.
2. Language is a problem that SHOULD be solved BEFORE moving. Otherwise you'll not get any customers at all.
3. Your wife's parents cannot move with you as a family.

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wolf80
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Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:43 pm
Location: Helsinki

Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by wolf80 » Sat Sep 23, 2017 4:24 pm

Vlad_Lapshov wrote:Hello.
Me and my family (me and my wife, my wife's dad and my wife's mother) decided to move to Finland, Helsinki for business immigration.
In Finland your family consists of you, your wife, and your kids if you have any. So the core family. Your parents and parents-in-law do not belong to your family, they can only get a residence permit on their own based on their own separate grounds and application.
Vlad_Lapshov wrote:We have a small sewing production in Russia, St. Petersburg. We make baby headdresses.
We want to try to enter the children's clothing market in Finland, although we understand that Reima's main brand and competition are not impossible. But still, tell me please, is there any demand for other firms besides Reima?
Not sure if you are aware, but Russians and Russian goods do not have the best reputation in Finland. Selling something Russian-made will be hard, especially when it comes to baby-clothes. Nobody will trust you, shop-keepers as well as customers. You would only have a chance in the cheapest segment, where you compete with goods from India and China, and will not be able to match their prices and flexibility.
Vlad_Lapshov wrote:The second kind of activity is planned to be done - graphic design studio.
My wife is a professional designer, with the formation of a graphic designer (8 years of university education), with good experience.
We want to try to have the main income exactly by the graphic design studio.
Tell me please, can anyone tried to open such a studio and with what problems faced? Is the market crowded?
I cannot count how many graphic designers I met personally in Finland, but it's an army. Most of them are trying to get by with other jobs, and take any graphic design job they can get heir hands on, even for little money. And this includes Finns as well as foreigners, who have it even harder. The market is not only crowded, it's 5pm-rush-hour-in-the-metro-crowded. And again, Finns won't hire Russians.

Vlad_Lapshov wrote: We plan to become a citizen of Finland and live and work here.
It goes the other way round. Be happy if you get a residence permit for a start. Many try. Many fail.
Last edited by wolf80 on Sat Sep 23, 2017 4:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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wolf80
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Location: Helsinki

Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by wolf80 » Sat Sep 23, 2017 4:33 pm

Vlad_Lapshov wrote:
Thanks for your feedback.
The company through which we will immigrate guarantees that they will give a residence permit for a year, and then they guarantee an extension of four years.
As it was pointed out, this cannot be guaranteed by a company. At best they can aid you and give you your money back if they fail to deliver.

And also with a company helping you, you need good grounds to get a residence permit - what will yours be based on?

Vlad_Lapshov wrote: And language is a problem that can be solved. The main thing is to do everything that's planned.
The Finnish language is hard to learn, and it takes many years. And still many fail to reach a level that would allow them to find a job and/or apply for citizenship. If you underestimate this point you will fail.

Vlad_Lapshov
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Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2017 3:20 am

Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by Vlad_Lapshov » Sat Sep 23, 2017 8:26 pm

wolf80 wrote:And also with a company helping you, you need good grounds to get a residence permit - what will yours be based on?
Business immigration. Our foundation is the opening of the firm - Oy ( if that, we have a resident of Finland )
We want to produce hats themselves in Finland. The design is made in Finland, all manufactured in Finland.
No mention of the Russians, except that the business owners are Russian.

Vlad_Lapshov
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Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by Vlad_Lapshov » Sat Sep 23, 2017 8:38 pm

JuhlaMokka wrote:
Vlad_Lapshov wrote: The company through which we will immigrate guarantees that they will give a residence permit for a year, and then they guarantee an extension of four years.
1. They cannot guarantee you anything, because they do not make the decision.
2. Language is a problem that SHOULD be solved BEFORE moving. Otherwise you'll not get any customers at all.
3. Your wife's parents cannot move with you as a family.

Thanks for the answer.
1)That's for sure, but if you comply with all the requirements migri.fi for taxes, on payroll, on life - what could be the problem?
2) Yes, we go to courses, we learn Finnish.
3) Why not? if I and the father of my wife, we both are the owners of the company(Oy)?

I'm just wondering what kind of problems we can face besides the Finnish language...

Vlad_Lapshov
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Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2017 3:20 am

Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by Vlad_Lapshov » Sat Sep 23, 2017 8:45 pm

Rosamunda wrote:You will also be competing with all the shopping malls and their chains: H&M, Zara etc and the sports stores (XXL, Budget Sport, Intersport, Stadium etc), not to mention S-Group (Sokos etc) and Kesko and all the online stores. The retail sector is over-heating.
No, you did not understand correctly. We do not want to open stores.
We are producers of our goods ourselves (children's hats).
We are suppliers. We sell our products to retailers and they already sell it.
Do you think this product is in demand?

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rinso
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Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by rinso » Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:40 am

Your last 3 replies show a large amount of wishful thinking. It is not that easy as you seem to think.
Assume for each item on your todo list that it will turn out to be the worst case scenario. Then you can comprehend what obstacles you're facing.

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wolf80
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Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:43 pm
Location: Helsinki

Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by wolf80 » Sun Sep 24, 2017 10:57 pm

Vlad_Lapshov wrote:
wolf80 wrote:And also with a company helping you, you need good grounds to get a residence permit - what will yours be based on?
Business immigration. Our foundation is the opening of the firm - Oy ( if that, we have a resident of Finland )
We want to produce hats themselves in Finland. The design is made in Finland, all manufactured in Finland.
No mention of the Russians, except that the business owners are Russian.
As far as I'm aware there is no such thing as 'business immigration'. You can only start a company in Finland if you have a residence permit in Finland, the EU or an EEA-country. If you want to found a subusidiary of your company, it again needs to be located within the EEA. So are you using a Finnish business partner?

Vlad_Lapshov wrote: 3) Why not? if I and the father of my wife, we both are the owners of the company(Oy)?
Being the owner or co-owner of a company does NOT entitle you to a residence permit in Finland. You need to be employed by your own company and get a salary to support yourself and your family in order to maybe qualify. In your case the company would need to employ both you and your father-in-law, as you are separate parties and not members of the same core-family by Finnish law.

You keep asking if people think this product is in demand. The short answer is NO. Finns have their brands that they know and trust. ESPECIALLY with children clothing. Even if nobody gets to know they are Russian-made, you can only establish them as a no-name brand, and as I pointed out you will be competing with much cheaper producers from Asia in this segment. Unless your hats have some major advantage over existing ones, which I doubt.

Your problem is that you are trying to penetrate a market that you have absolutely no knowledge of. You are trying to sell to customers that you do not know and whose mentality you do not understand. Do you yourself think that this is an intelligent approach in the business world?

Also the language - I heard it literally dozens of time - "it will not be hard, I'm a quick learner, I'll be fluent within a year you'll see". But it almost never happens. The language is much harder than you expect. It will take so incredibly much more time and resources to learn it. While at the same time you already want to run a business. It simply does not work that way.

I'm sorry, you set yourself up for failure. I'm curious how your story continues, but I also know on which outcome I personally would bet.

Vlad_Lapshov
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Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2017 3:20 am

Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by Vlad_Lapshov » Mon Sep 25, 2017 12:50 am

wolf80 wrote: So are you using a Finnish business partner?
Yes, we use a Finnish partner.

Thanks for your answers, you gave me a little idea of what to look for.
I would like to clarify that I know the market excellently, but in Russia. Naturally, if I knew the market in Finland, then I would not ask here. Is it logical?
You say very basic things - language. Yes, this is a problem, I realize it, I do everything possible to solve it. Or do you think I should be scared? Do I have to cancel my plans? I already know that this is a big problem for me, but that does not mean that I will back down.

If you try to dissuade me, then do not.

I did not ask you about what you wrote 98% of your words. But the other 2% were useful to me, thank you! Really thanks.
If you like to talk off topic, help me please with my question?
For two families (I and my wife, my wife's dad and my wife's mother.), We will generate 4,400 euros. 1000 euros taxes.
Tell me, it can be money transferred to an account at a time. Each month 4400 euros one transfer to the account of the company.
Or the state does not regulate how exactly should money enter the account? And will the tax authorities have questions?

Thank you in advance for your reply!

JuhlaMokka
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:29 am

Re: A small business in Helsinki. I ask for help.

Post by JuhlaMokka » Mon Sep 25, 2017 7:30 am

Vlad_Lapshov wrote:
wolf80 wrote: So are you using a Finnish business partner?
Yes, we use a Finnish partner.

Thanks for your answers, you gave me a little idea of what to look for.
I would like to clarify that I know the market excellently, but in Russia. Naturally, if I knew the market in Finland, then I would not ask here. Is it logical?
You say very basic things - language. Yes, this is a problem, I realize it, I do everything possible to solve it. Or do you think I should be scared? Do I have to cancel my plans? I already know that this is a big problem for me, but that does not mean that I will back down.

If you try to dissuade me, then do not.

I did not ask you about what you wrote 98% of your words. But the other 2% were useful to me, thank you! Really thanks.
If you like to talk off topic, help me please with my question?
For two families (I and my wife, my wife's dad and my wife's mother.), We will generate 4,400 euros. 1000 euros taxes.
Tell me, it can be money transferred to an account at a time. Each month 4400 euros one transfer to the account of the company.
Or the state does not regulate how exactly should money enter the account? And will the tax authorities have questions?

Thank you in advance for your reply!
You definitely do not understand how it works. And actually the 98% of previous message, that you call useless, is very important.
Nobody cares how much you generate and how much taxes you pay. The only important thing is your salary netto. After you payed taxes from your company income, you pay salary to yourself, pay taxes again and then it should be enough for you and for your wife.
If you do not understand even the basics how are you going to run the business?

Do I have to cancel my plans?
Yes it would be better to cancel the plans until you get familiar with finnish market, lows, language. Otherwise it's just wasting of your money.


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