Rosa Salmivuori has been working at Helsinki Think Company since the early days – for 5 years already. She has proved her astonishing skills in communication, leadership, producing and management. Previously, Rosa worked as the COO taking care of our team and community as well as helping team members in every program & event production. We couldn’t be happier to start 2020 with our new CEO!

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Congratulations on your new position Rosa! How does it feel to start the year as the CEO of Helsinki Think Company?

“Feels really good, thank you for asking. It’s been great to start the new year, and a whole new decade, with new challenges and responsibilities in familiar surroundings. I’m stepping out of my comfort zone in a good way, really, because I can’t predict exactly what this new position will bring.”

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There’s no new year without making predictions, am I right? What do you predict will be the biggest topic of the year in the Finnish startup ecosystem?

“I think that empathy, humanity,  and taking a break are becoming more popular topics. We’re in the process of transitioning from the “work is passion” -culture towards clearer boundaries with work and pastime. People need to recover, sleep vacations are a real thing nowadays. I think it’s a good thing to set boundaries, we don’t want to encourage people to work hard until they burn out. We want entrepreneurs with particular passions to have holidays and enjoy pastime as well.”

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Can you reveal to us, which upcoming Helsinki Think Company  programs, events or happenings you’re most excited about?

“I’m very happy about the upcoming Empathy Hackathon because the theme of the hackathon is very important to me and aligns with my personal values. If I was still involved in production, I would definitely be producing this program. I’m also excited about the upcoming flagship program 4UNI in fall 2020 for its upgrades and reforms!“

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What is your biggest inspiration for 2020?

“I’m inspired by this new chapter in my life. The new position comes with new responsibilities and challenges, and those get me going. The turn of the decade is really symbolic. 2010 was a decade of growth: I graduated and gained my working experience, and now I’ll be focusing on my new responsibilities and strategic work. In my spare time, my biggest inspiration is dance, maintaining my health and staying in shape.“

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What are you focusing on this year?

“Our main values in the community are warmth and people-to-people attitude. We are constantly improving our communication skills and learning how to be more empathetic towards  the community and our team. Also, our mission is to make a positive impact in everything we do. We are already taking climate actions in our daily life, but we are setting even more goals for this upcoming year. “

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Name a few climate actions that are visible in Helsinki Think Company’s everyday life?

“We only serve vegetarian or vegan food at our events, we support local breweries and our community’s Finnish food-tech companies such as Mö & Härtelö. We try to avoid business trips that require flying and we are committed to compensating our emissions if flying is necessary. We don’t use single-use plastic in our spaces or events and every coworking space has its own sorting station. Our team is committed to commuting on public transport as well, to name a few.“

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What are you most looking forward to this year?

“I want us to focus on helping people who are enthusiastic about entrepreneurship execute their ideas. We provide the right tools for entrepreneurs, or people interested in entrepreneurship, to be able to develop their ideas further. Also, I want people to be able to identify, recognize and communicate their learning curve after attending our programs and events.”

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Helsinki Think Company’s year 2020 will be filled with new encounters, learning curves, accelerating, creating meanings and, most of all, enjoying the journey with our amazing community full of entrepreneurs, creatives, researchers and students! Welcome on board!

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