On November 12th Talent boost held its summit at Lappeenranta City theatre, where LABeko2 ‒ network, develop, internationalise, succeed (LAB 2024) were also in attendance. The focus was hiring international talent, sharing interesting experiences from companies and international talents, with the opportunity to network between all at the summit (Wirma 2024). The goal of LABeko2 was to network with international talent and encourage entrepreneurship as a viable avenue to a career in Finland.
![[Alt text: a person is having a presentation in a big hall.]](https://blogit.lab.fi/labfocus/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/12/1023_2024_Talent-Boost-provides-etc-1024x615.jpg)
While the focus was on hiring, there was also interesting insight to be gained for the entrepreneurial minded, on the necessity of understanding the working culture of Finland and the power of networking.
The story of Rabius Sunny, a talent speaker at the event was one such case that highlighted these qualities. He arrived in Finland in 2019 and has now established his life here in with his wife, a career, and their own home. The valuable lesson he learned, searching for a career is “not a lottery“ (Sunny 2024).
With this idea in mind, he set targets on what kind of career he wanted, the skills he needed to work on, and actively networked with people to find his way to his first career. He achieved this without the benefit of being a student or graduate here in a Finnish university. Some of his practical work towards this included, working on his own website and learning how to design apps for a specific job interview. In 2022 he was rewarded for his efforts and attitude with a career at Soltair Power.
The entrepreneurial mindset
The story of Rabius highlights just how valuable the entrepreneurial mindset can be, regardless of whether one wishes to start their own company or be hired to the right job for them. The ability to identify a need, to gear one’s skills practically towards that need, and to focus one’s attitude on a proactive networking mindset. This shows that one does not have to be an entrepreneur, to learn and utilise the value of the mindset of an entrepreneur.
Which raises the question, what if Rabius truly wanted to start his own company and go fully down the entrepreneurship route?
Encouraging the entrepreneurial route
The Talent Boost event was focused on hiring international talent, however inspired LABeko 2 to consider a similar approach to giving an international entrepreneur a similar platform. Currently in the plan for LABeko 2 in January 25, is a workshop on Finnish work culture and careers for international talent.
The goal is to inspire international students and talent that wish to stay in South Karelia, by providing insightful success stories from international peers and encourage networking. LABeko2 see an opportunity to give the international entrepreneur a chance to share their story on starting a business in South Karelia, to provide an insightful perspective on what it takes to succeed, and the kind of challenges that were overcome. While also advertising the Entrepreneurship ecosystem and resources available at the university to make this a real possibility.
Author
Karl Osborne is a part-time project worker in the LABeko2 project at LAB University of Applied Sciences.
References
LAB. 2024. LABeko2 – network, develop, internationalise, succeed. Project. LAB University of Applied Sciences. Cited 25 Nov 2024. Available at https://lab.fi/fi/projekti/labeko2-verkostoidu-kehita-kansainvalisty-menesty
Sunny, R. 2024. Walk with me. Presentation. Talent Boost event. Lappeenranta. 12 Nov 2024.
Wirma. 2024. Talent Boost Summit 2024. Cited 18 Nov 2024. Available at https://www.wirma.fi/en/tapahtumat/talent-boost-summit-2024
