Outokumpu was once again chosen as the Entrepreneurship Municipality of the Year 2026 in the province. North Karelia Entrepreneurs presented Outokumpu with the Entrepreneurship Municipality of the Year 2026 award on Thursday, October 1.10st at the provincial municipal leadership seminar held in Juua. The award was presented for the 23rd time. With the award, entrepreneurs want to encourage the municipalities in the province to adopt an active and proactive business and entrepreneurship policy. Outokumpu received the Entrepreneurship Municipality award for the fifth time.
With this award, North Karelia Entrepreneurs wants to recognize a municipality that has made a significant contribution to its business and entrepreneurship policy during 2026. The criteria for the award focus on the municipality's business resources, concrete entrepreneurship and economic work measures and events, and the municipality's cooperation with the business organization and other actors.
Members of the city management team have regularly made company visits and local companies have been highlighted in the city's communications. New entrepreneurs are welcome. The municipal employment supplement facilitates recruitment in companies. Procurements have been broken down into smaller parts, which has also enabled the participation of local SMEs. The city instructs its employees to make small purchases from local companies.
The Outokumpu Region Industrial Village has an energy strategy in place. The city has a climate plan that is being completed and will be discussed by the council in the autumn.
Outokumpu has been selected as the best entrepreneurial municipality in North Karelia in the 2026 entrepreneurship barometer of the Finnish Federation of Enterprises and in the national comparison, sixth in its size class, an increase of 49 places. The results of the municipal barometer can be considered a good indicator, as the responses have come directly from entrepreneurs. Success in the barometer has further developed cooperation between the municipality and entrepreneurs. In addition to the concrete actions mentioned above, Outokumpu operates an open interaction between entrepreneurs and various actors. An example is a situation where an entrepreneur called the mayor directly about the need for premises. The mayor immediately contacted the CEO of the industrial village and a meeting was quickly held about the hall project. This allowed the entrepreneur to be offered a premises solution within 24 hours.
The trophy, prepared by the Tulikiila art studio, was received by representatives of the City of Outokumpu Mayor Päivi Lintumäki and Outokumpu Entrepreneurs Chairman Anne-Mari Karttunen.
The article has been published on the website of North Karelia Entrepreneurs
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