C L I P. Ethnic entrepreneurship. Case study: Turku, Finland. Network. Cities for Local Integration Policy. Click for contents

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1 Ethic etrepreeurship Case study: Turku, Filad Click for cotets Network C L I P Cities for Local Itegratio Policy Wyattville Road, Loughlistow, Dubli 18, Irelad. - Tel: (+353 1) Fax: / postmaster@eurofoud.europa.eu - website:

2 Cotets About CLIP 1. Itroductio 2. Profile of Turku 3. Turku s urba ecoomy 4. Profiles of ethic etrepreeurship 5. Policies, rules ad regulatios 6. Key challeges ad lessos for CLIP Bibliography Iterview parters

3 About CLIP I 2006, the Cogress of Local ad Regioal Authorities of the Coucil of Europe, the city of Stuttgart ad the Europea Foudatio for the Improvemet of Livig ad Workig Coditios (Eurofoud) formed the Europea etwork of cities for local itegratio policies, heceforth kow as CLIP. 1 This etwork comprises a steerig committee, a group of expert Europea research cetres ad a umber of Europea cities. I the followig two years, the cities of Viea ad Amsterdam joied the CLIP Steerig Committee. The etwork is also supported by the Committee of the Regios (CoR) ad the Coucil of Europea Muicipalities ad Regios (CEMR) ad has formed a partership with the Europea Network Agaist Racism (ENAR). Through the medium of separate city reports (case studies) ad workshops, the etwork eables local authorities to lear from each other ad to deliver a more effective itegratio policy. The uique character of the CLIP etwork is that it orgaises a shared learig process betwee the participatig cities ad betwee the cities ad a group of expert Europea research cetres as well as betwee policymakers at local ad Europea level. The CLIP etwork curretly brigs together more tha 30 large ad medium-sized cities from all regios of Europe: Amsterdam (NL), Atwerp (BE), Arsberg (DE), Athes (EL), Barceloa (ES), Bologa (IT), Breda (NL), Budapest (HU), Copehage (DK), Dubli (IE), Frakfurt (DE), Helsiki (FI), Istabul (TR), İzmir (TR), Kirklees (UK), Liège (BE), Lisbo (PT), Luxembourg (LU), L Hospitalet (ES), Malmö (SE), Mataró (ES), Newport (UK), Prague (CZ), Strasbourg (FR), Stuttgart (DE), Sudsvall (SE), Talli (EE), Terrassa (ES), Turi (IT), Turku (FI), Valecia (ES), Viea (AT), Wolverhampto (UK), Wrocław (PL), Zagreb (HR), Zeytiburu (TR) ad Zürich (CH). The cities i the etwork are supported i their shared learig by a group of expert Europea research cetres i: Bamberg, Germay (Europea Forum for Migratio Studies, EFMS); Viea (Istitute for Urba ad Regioal Research, ISR); Amsterdam (Istitute for Migratio ad Ethic Studies, IMES); Turi (Iteratioal ad Europea Forum o Migratio Research, FIERI); Wrocław (Istitute of Iteratioal Studies); Swasea, Wales (Cetre for Migratio Policy Research, CMPR). There are four research modules i total. The first module was o housig segregatio, access to, quality ad affordability for migrats which has bee idetified as a major issue impactig o migrats itegratio ito their host society. The secod module examied equality ad diversity policies i relatio to employmet withi city admiistratios ad i the provisio of services. The focus of the third module was itercultural policies ad itergroup relatios. This fial module looks at ethic etrepreeurship. 1 See also 1

4 Ethic etrepreeurship Ackowledgemets The Istitute for Migratio ad Ethic Studies (IMES) of the Uiversity of Amsterdam is resposible for this report o Turku. Together with the cotact persos of the city of Turku, Mikko Lohikoski, Maarit Totti ad Regia Ruohoe, the author has collected the data for this report. Durig his field visit he iterviewed may city officials, represetatives of orgaisatios that work i the field of small ad medium-sized eterprises (SMEs) ad stakeholders of civil society i Turku (see the list at the ed of this report). Several of them also commeted o earlier drafts: Elli Heikkilä, Jei Heioe, Josef Kohlbacher, Haele Martikaie, Tuomas Martikaie, Joui Marttie, Patricija Matusz, Timo Metsä-Tokila, Regia Ruohoe, Heli Sjöblom-Immala ad Maarit Totti. The author wishes to thak all of them for their time ad efforts. 2

5 Itroductio 1 This fourth report o Turku s itegratio policies focuses o immigrat etrepreeurs i the city ad policies of the city towards them. The module was prepared from a cocept paper by Ja Rath that brigs together the existig kowledge o the topic. O the basis of that paper, a questioaire was prepared for the cities coverig three clusters of questios. The first cluster focused o the characteristics of the urba ecoomy i geeral sice 1980, the secod cluster asked questios about the specific profile of immigrat etrepreeurs ad the third cluster was related to rules, regulatios ad policies of atioal authorities ad cities. We have followed the methodology as much as possible i the collectio of data ad durig the field visit, but i the cotext of Turku some improvisatio was ecessary. Immigrat etrepreeurship has ot bee part of atioal or local itegratio policies i Turku or Filad i ay sigificat way, resultig i a lack of data o the pheomeo ad a remarkable absece of studies o the topic i Filad i geeral. To a great extet this is due to the relatively recet ature of immigratio i Filad ad Turku. I a few orgaisatios that work i the field of service provisio for small ad medium-sized eterprises (SMEs) ad i the field of urba ad regioal ecoomic developmet i geeral there are the first sigs of specific attetio beig paid to immigrat etrepreeurs as part of the clietele/target group. The city itself is idirectly ivolved i these iitiatives, but is ot the driver for them. I the absece of statistics ad systematic studies, the geeral kowledge of the field amog those who are ot directly ivolved teds to be stereotypical, characterised by the obvious refereces to the observable pizza-kebab, Chiese-Thai restaurats ad Thai massage parlours ad the associatios that go with them. That is why we have chose the strategy of iterviewig those who are somehow directly ivolved; the etrepreeurs themselves, the experts that provide services ad support ad the brokers that coect them with official istitutios. 3

6 Profile of Turku 2 Structure of the city Turku is a old city, goig back as far as the 13th cetury. Situated i the south-west of Filad, o the shore of the Baltic Sea where the River Aura (Aurajoki) goes ilad, it developed as a trade tow (Nordstat, 1999). It was the capital of the provice of Filad, the residece of the goveror, uder Swedish rule util 1809 ad had the Swedish ame of Åbo. After Russia aexed Filad i 1809, Tsar Alexader moved the capital of the ew grad duchy of Filad to Helsiki i Traces of the Swedish ad Russia reigs are still to be foud i the city. Idustrialisatio i Turku bega i the 18th cetury durig Swedish rule, particularly the shipbuildig idustry, ad durig the 19th cetury may ew idustries sprug up i the city, such as the brewig idustry. The rapid idustrialisatio resulted i the first sigificat relocatios from rural areas to Turku. Aroud 1900, Turku had about 42,000 ihabitats. The city s profile has chaged sigificatly i recet decades. Its populatio had grow to 176,087 ihabitats as of 1 Jauary Spatially, the city has expaded by buildig residetial areas aroud the old city, particularly i the 1970s ad 1980s. Ecoomically there was also a profile shift; although the harbour ad shipbuildig are still importat ecoomic activities, there has bee a major shift from maufacturig (a decrease from more tha 25,000 work places i 1987 to fewer tha 15,000 i 2004) to services (a icrease from 26,000 i 1987 to 34,000 i 2004). Turku has specifically aspired to become a iteratioally reowed cetre for bio-techical research ad busiess. May biotechology compaies i Filad are located i the Turku regio. Turku is also the cetre of a Fiish maritime cluster, at the heart of which are the former Aker shipyards i Turku (recetly take over ad reamed STX Europe) where the biggest luxury cruise ships i the world are built. STX Europe ad its subcotractors i ad aroud Turku presetly employ thousads of foreigers. Their exact umber is ot kow; may come from ew EU Member States o work cotracts for shorter periods with foreig subcotractors. I these cases they are ot registered officially i Turku. Furthermore, Turku is a importat uiversity city. Its uiversities (Uiversity of Turku, the Turku Uiversity of Applied Scieces, Åbo Akademi Uiversity ad the Turku School of Ecoomics) 2 together have some 35,000 studets ad also attract sigificat umbers of foreig studets. I 2007, the aual average uemploymet figure for Turku dropped to 9.4% 3 ad the ecoomic labour market prospects were deemed positive at the begiig of 2008 (City of Turku, 2007, p. 6). However, the global fiacial crisis of 2008 ad its aftermath have brought a ew ecoomic recessio; at the begiig of 2010, uemploymet for the Fiish had icreased to 10% ad had goe up to 33% for immigrats. The preset physical structure of the ier city is strogly determied by the great city fire of 1827 that almost completely destroyed the predomiatly woode buildigs of the old city. The city was rebuilt o a grid patter of rectagular blocks with relatively broad streets to prevet the spread of fires. The rebuilt woode houses have bee replaced withi the grid by buildigs of stoe ad cocrete. 2 3 The Uiversity of Turku ad the School of Ecoomics merged o 1 Jauary The percetage for ative Turku residets was 8%, while that for immigrats amouted to 26% (City of Turku, 2008). 5

7 Ethic etrepreeurship This old tow is the commercial cetre of Turku ad houses a mixed populatio of all classes, icludig may studets. The wealthiest residets are to be foud i the city cetre ad o the islads to the south, where may ew high-quality residetial areas are located. The less well-off populatio lives i the areas east ad west of the city grid. The poorest areas are located close to the muicipal borders, some five to seve kilometres from the cetre. The wester side of the city has a large shipyard. The Turku harbour (cargo ad passeger ferry traffic) is located adjacet to the cetre (south-west). To the orth of the old tow cetre, there are vast areas of fields ad forest. Turku Airport is located orth of the city. The city of Turku is part of several larger uits i Filad. First of all, the city is the cetre of the Turku Regio, a strip of urba areas ruig parallel to the coastlie. The city of Turku is located vertically i the middle of this strip. The legth of the city area from orth to south is approximately 40 kilometres, while the widest part of the city (east to west) measures oly 10 kilometres. The seve eighbourig muicipalities of the Turku Regio are small (2,000 to 24,000 residets). They are highly depedet o the jobs ad services available i the city of Turku. The percetage of immigrats i eighbourig muicipalities is much lower tha i Turku, although these eighbourig muicipalities have grow more i recet decades tha Turku itself. The ext level is that of the couty, i which 28 muicipalities of the south-west regio of Filad are brought together. The Regioal Coucil of the couty is curretly relevat because it makes developmet plas, icludig immigratio plaig for the regio. The city is a promiet parter i the latter respect, sice it houses 68% of all immigrats i the regio. Figure 1: Foreig laguage-speakig populatio i Turku, by eighbourhood, 2005 (%) (6) (14) (15) (70) Pasio Lät Halie 19.5 Kohmo 16.3 Varissuo 26.8 Vaala 14.2 Lauste 22.0 Source: Statistics Filad 6

8 Case study: Turku, Filad History of muicipal migratio The umber of immigrats i Turku was isigificat util the early 1990s, but icreased steadily from that date (see Figure 2). Table 1 idicates the umbers of immigrats for which the city immigrats office had direct resposibility that is, refugees ad Igria returees. Withi the refugee populatio of Turku, Iraqis ad Kosovar Albaias are somewhat over-represeted (compared to the atioal picture), while there are fewer Africa refugees. Figure 2: Number of immigrats i south-west Filad, ,000 18,000 16,000 Foreig citizes Foreig laguages 14,000 Number of immigrats 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2, Year Notes: Foreig laguages covers laguages other tha Fiish or Swedish; Natioality covers those with o-fiish passport. Source: Marttie (2010) Not all of the 6,394 refugees ad returees i Table 1 have stayed i Turku. Noetheless, there are other categories of ewcomers i Turku, such as foreig workers (i the shipyards ad recetly also i the boomig costructio idustry), highly skilled workers (i the bio-techical idustry, for example) ad foreig studets. No exact figures for these categories are available, but several iterviewees reported that their umbers have bee growig recetly. A figure of some 1,800 foreig workers employed i some major idustrial eterprises was metioed, but such a figure excludes the seasoal costructio workers, mostly from Estoia. Nevertheless, immigrats with a refugee/returee backgroud form a domiat segmet of the immigrat populatio i Turku. It is also the part of the immigrat populatio that clearly domiates the policy field of itegratio ad its facilities i Turku. As stipulated by the atioal Itegratio Act, the muicipality has special resposibilities for admitted refugees ad Igrias. Such migrats arrive by decisio of the Directorate of Immigratio. 4 The city immigrats office makes persoal itegratio plas i cooperatio with the local labour office (the Regioal Employmet ad Ecoomic 4 The departmet was recetly reamed the Fiish Immigratio Service (Maahamuuttovirasto). 7

9 Ethic etrepreeurship Developmet Cetre). The Miistry of Labour pays the city a lump sum for the receptio services. The work for immigrats (their work, educatio, housig, ad health, for istace) withi Turku is coordiated by the immigratio coordiator. Sice 2008 the coordiator has bee relocated from the social welfare sectio s immigrats office, which implemets the receptio services for the immigrats, to the cetral departmet of strategy ad commuicatio (which is oe of the four cetral departmets that report directly to the mayor). Table 1: Refugees ad Igria returees received by the Turku immigrats office, Year Refugees (direct) Family Reuio Others (idirect) Igrias Total * Total 1, ,272 1,352 6,394 Note: * As of 1998, the total also icludes births to immigrats i these categories. Source: Data provided by the city of Turku As i the case of Filad as a whole, the immigrat populatio ca statistically be described i several ways. If we take the criterio of atioality, 4.7% of the Turku populatio was alie as of 1 Jauary 2010 (8,237 foreig citizes residig i Turku). Whe usig immigrat backgroud (based o coutry of birth outside Filad), the percetage rises to 6.7% (i 2007). This meas that the city of Turku has about twice as may immigrats as the atioal average. (Turku has the secod largest proportio of immigrats i Fiish cities after the Helsiki metropolita area.) 8

10 Case study: Turku, Filad Table 2: Populatio of Turku by atioality, as at December 2009 Populatio i Turku Total 176,087 Fiish 167,850 Russia 1,109 Estoia 897 Iraia 535 Iraqi 486 Serbia-Moteegro 420 Total o-fiish 8,237 (%) 4.7% Source: Data provided by the city of Turku Table 3: Populatio of Turku by mother togue, as at December 2009 Populatio i Turku 31 December 2009 Total 176,087 Fiish 154,350 Swedish 9,249 Russia 2,562 Arabic 1,312 Kurdish 1,121 Albaia 1,042 Estoia 800 Somali 663 Vietamese 488 Eglish 503 Total o-fiish/o-swedish 12,485 % 7.1% Source: Data provided by the city of Turku If the criterio of first or home laguage is used, 7.1% of all ihabitats of Turku have a laguage other tha Fiish or Swedish as their mother togue. Swedish home laguage speakers comprise 5.3% of the populatio i Turku. Itegratio history ad policy developmet Although Turku received refugees from 1987 owards ad has received Igrias sice 1994 (see Table 1), the first policy documet, the city of Turku immigrat itegratio programme, was oly approved by the City Coucil o 19 November Sice this programme (required by the 1999 (there are two Itegratio Acts, 1999 ad 2010) Itegratio Act) did ot iclude cocrete measures, the coucil omiated four workig groups o: immigrat childre ad youth; traiig 9

11 Ethic etrepreeurship ad employmet; collectig iformatio; ad housig. The reports, delivered i 2003, icluded measures that had to be implemeted by the various departmets of the city that had resposibility for that particular topic. 5 The various departmets of the city have reported aually to the City Coucil o the developmet of the measures proposed by the four workig groups i The immigrat itegratio programme of the city was evaluated by the City Coucil o 12 Jauary 2007 as part of a evaluative exercise that is plaed every five years. The evaluatio has led to a ew policy documet for the comig period; the City of Turku Immigrat Itegratio Programme , dated 15 August 2008 (City of Turku, 2008). The programme icludes the itegratio services for various immigrat groups ad sectios of them (childre, youg people, workig-age immigrats, wome ad elderly immigrats) ad the cooperatio with the various authorities ad immigrat associatios. More specifically, four key themes or aspects are formulated for itegratio policy i the period up to 2011: key ad critical age groups i terms of itegratio, particularly childre ad youg people; critical compoets of services ad solvig the problems ecoutered i them; developmet of iitial immigrat itegratio procedures; ifluecig the residetial cocetratios of immigrats. The itegratio programme outlied the followig (metioig which departmet was resposible for its implemetatio) as key activities: developmet of Fiish laguage istructio ad other istructios by the School Service Cetre; supportig the itegratio of disefrachised youths through vocatioal istructio; iitial itegratio by the Social Services Departmet; supportig the itegratio of small childre by the Muicipal Health Departmet ad cousellig cliics; cooperatio with immigrat orgaisatios by the Turku City Office (where the coordiatio of itegratio policies was relocated); ifluecig the residetial cocetratios of immigrats by the deputy mayor of evirometal affairs. Util ow, immigrat etrepreeurship has ot bee o the policymakig ageda related to the itegratio of immigrats it is ot metioed i ay of the documets referred to above. (This does ot mea that othig happeed i this field; a umber of activities are carried out as part of the facility structure for SMEs i the city ad regio, as we shall see later.) Itegratio is see as part of ormal admiistrative committee service operatios. It requires cooperatio betwee admiistrative committees ad other actors, clearly defied appoitmets of resposible parties ad, above all, muicipal-level coordiatio. 5 Up util ow, three aspects of Turku itegratio policies have bee studied i CLIP reports: the first o Turku housig policy (Peix, 2007), the secod o diversity policy i employmet ad service provisio (ibid, 2009) ad the third o policies to ifluece itergroup relatios i the city (ibid, 2010). 10

12 Case study: Turku, Filad The relocatio of the coordiatio fuctio i the departmet of strategy ad commuicatio withi the City Office directly uder the mayor should reiforce cooperatio ad coordiatio. Furthermore, the City Board decided to istitute cetralised muicipal itegratio fudig ( 160,000 i 2007) withi the cetral admiistratio. A budget for its allocatio is made every year ad approved by the City Board. Itegratio fudig is allocated to iitial itegratio procedures (Fiish istructio ad guidace) for immigrats i the itegratio phase. The City Coucil also decided to use a itegratio idex i order to moitor the effects of the itegratio measures. This idex icludes three mai stadards of measuremet; the secodary educatio level of the immigrat yougsters, the (u)employmet of immigrats ad their level of icome. At the regioal level, the regioal immigratio pla of South-west Filad, Moikulttuurie Varsiais-Suomi, was approved i autum The Employmet ad Ecoomic Developmet Cetre for South-west Filad, the Regioal Coucil of South-west Filad, the South-west Filad Cetre of Expertise o Social Welfare, the Filad Future Research Cetre of Turku School of Ecoomics, the cities of Turku ad Salo ad other stakeholders have participated i the preparatio of the pla. The objectives were to promote work-related immigratio, to stregthe the participatio of the immigrats ad to develop services eeded by the immigrats. Six specific tasks were idetified: promotig workrelated immigratio; employmet of the immigrats ad utilisatio of their skills; promotig itegratio of the immigrats to be members i Fiish society; developig humaitaria immigratio (for groups such as refugees); icreasig the attractiveess of south-west Filad as a place to move to, to live ad to work; ad stregtheig structures that promote active immigratio policy. Because of the ecoomic recessio, these immigratio themes have ot bee a priority durig the two-ad-a-half years sice the report was published. Elected represetatives ad officials Withi the city of Turku, the istitutioal settig of the admiistratio has bee reformed over the past 15 years. The old admiistratio was based o strog public power, whereas the ew admiistratio is built o the idea of a cosolidated muicipality accordig to the market ecoomy ideal. The ew system is quite complicated ad the basic structure is as follows. The political authority rests with the City Coucil, cosistig of 67 members who are elected every four years. 6 I the most recet electios, oe member of (Somali) immigrat backgroud was chose as coucillor (for the Gree Party). 7 The coucil meets every three weeks. After local electios, the City Coucil i tur elects the City Executive Board from its members, cosistig of 13 members ad represetig all major parties. This board meets every week. Oly the chairperso works full time o this job; other members work part time. The City Executive Board has 11 specific boards that steer the work of certai fields, icludig the Board of Health, Muicipal Social Welfare Board, ad the Educatioal Board. The most importat perso i the executive part of the orgaisatio is the mayor; he or she is omiated by the City Coucil, ot from its members, for a period of time that is loger tha four years. 8 The mayor is supposed to be ad I the preset coucil, ie political parties are represeted. The Coalitio Party is the largest (20 seats), followed by the Social Democrats (15), the Gree Party (11) ad the left Uio (10). The True Fi Party wo two seats i the last electios, but oe of the elected coucillors left the party. The Blue ad Whites of Fiish People has oe seat i the coucil (see Several other parties had cadidates with immigrat backgrouds o their lists, but oly oe actually made it. Some others, however, do participate i committees for city policies. The preset Mayor of Turku, Mikko Pukkie, i office sice 1 Jauary 2006, was omiated for a period of seve years. He is ot from Turku but has substatial political experiece i the Coalitio Party. 11

13 Ethic etrepreeurship act above parties. He heads the City Office i which some 300 officials work uder the geeric headigs of admiistratio, fiaces, huma resources, ad strategy ad commuicatio. The mayor prepares all plas ad presets them to the Executive Board. I the ext layer dow from the mayor are three major sectors, each headed by a deputy mayor (who are full-time, professioal executives), also omiated by the City Coucil, ot from the City Coucil itself. Each is resposible for a sector that comprises several departmets: the sector for services (icludig health, social welfare, cultural affairs, sports ad youth affairs); the sector for competeces ad busiess developmet (icludig educatio, vocatioal educatio ad the Turku Uiversity of Applied Scieces); the sector for evirometal affairs (icludig real estate, techical services, evirometal protectio ad city plaig, harbour ad waterworks). Each of the deputy mayors has a umber of boards for specific fields. The admiistrative uits operate to a great extet idepedetly. This has itesified a iward orietatio, which has had cosequeces for itegratio policies. Util recetly, these policies were coordiated by the immigrats office, located withi the departmet for services withi the social welfare sectio. As we have see i the earlier CLIP reports o housig ad o diversity, that implied a log admiistrative route towards other relevat departmets ad their relevat sectios. I 2008, i coectio with the ew Itegratio Programme, the City Executive Board decided that immigrat affairs ad policy coordiatio would be placed uder the City Office, led by the mayor, uder strategy ad commuicatio. However, this decisio has ot bee implemeted. I May 2010, the same City Executive Board decided, as part of a geeral orgaisatioal reform, that the resposibility for immigratio affairs ad policy coordiatio should be trasferred from the mayor to the deputy mayor for services. However, the resposibility for practical implemetatio is ot clearly defied withi the City Office staff, which cotiues to hamper the developmet of coordiated efforts i the field of immigratio. 12

14 Turku s urba ecoomy 3 Historical developmet of the urba ecoomy The city of Turku is a typical ecoomic-admiistrative cetre with a diverse ecoomic structure. The city is a versatile cetre of culture ad educatio, it has a strog ecoomic basis of productio for export ad Fiish markets, it is logistically a (harbour) gate for iteratioal trade ad trasport ad it is a regioal trade ad services cetre. I terms of employmet, maufacturig ad services grew had i had i Filad util a period of deidustrialisatio started i the 1970s. Aother break i the ecoomic ad structural developmet i Filad occurred i the early 1990s, whe a fudametal ecoomic crisis hit the coutry, whe some 20% to 25% of jobs were lost i a couple of years. That crisis triggered more structural chage i almost all regios of Filad that cotiued durig the years of ecoomic recovery (1994 to 2008). First there was a early period of reidustrialisatio (1994 to 2001) that was followed by aother phase of deidustrialisatio, but this time without a total decrease of job opportuities. At the atioal level this ecoomic recovery was also expressed i a cotiuous decrease of geeral uemploymet from 17% i 1994 (53% for foreigers) to 15% i 1996 (48% for foreigers), 11% i 1998 (39% for foreigers), 9% i 2001 (31% for foreigers) ad 8% i 2006 (24% for foreigers). 9 The couty of South-west Filad (ad its capital, Turku) is oe of three couties where the umber of employed has exceeded the pre-crisis level of employmet. The geeral developmet sketched above for Filad is also the case for Turku. A importat specific characteristic of Turku, however, is that shipbuildig has bee the egie of idustrial growth, accompaied by metal egieerig, electrical apparatus, textile ad garmets ad food ad driks maufacturig. I additio, chemical ad medical idustries made a breakthrough durig the 1960s ad 1970s. The mid-1970s were the culmiatig poit of employmet i maufacturig i Turku. Employmet started to decrease thereafter i all braches of maufacture, except the chemical ad medical idustry. Durig the years of recovery, metal egieerig ad shipbuildig stregtheed substatially i the Turku regio ad i the city as well. Geeral uemploymet i Turku decreased, parallel to the atioal developmet outlied above, to its lowest level of 9.4% i It is oly sice the fiacial crisis of 2008 that uemploymet i Turku has rise agai to 10% i geeral ad 33% for foreigers. (The umber of registered uemployed i South-west Filad icreased from a low level of some 15,500 at the ed of 2007 to early 25,000 at the ed of 2009; see Varsiais-Suome ELY-keskus, 2010, p. 1). Mai idustries ad services Services accout for two-thirds of all employmet i the Turku regio as well as i the city itself. The share of idustry is about oe-quarter, ad about oe-teth of the employed work i the costructio sector. Health ad social services, trade ad educatio are the largest braches i terms of employmet, followed by logistic services. Busiess-to-busiess services have show extesive growth durig the years of recovery. The icrease of these services has bee liked to the growth of shipbuildig ad the metal egieerig idustries, which are the mai maufacturig idustries i Turku today. 9 Data based o Statistics Filad, Miistry of Labour, preseted by Elli Heikkilä i a presetatio, Itegratio of immigrats i the recessio time ad comparisos to better ecoomic times, Nordisk Ämbetsmaamöte, Miistry of the Iterior, 29 September

15 Ethic etrepreeurship Size of the workforce The size of workforce is about 150,000 i the Turku regio. Some 89,000 of these live i the city of Turku itself. Figure 3 shows that immigrat employmet rates are low, particularly whe it comes to immigrat groups that have come to Filad as refugees or asylum seekers. Figure 3: Rate of employmet by laguage i Turku regio, % 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Swede Filad All Estoia Eglish Chiese Vietamese Russia Persia/Farsi Albaia Arabic Kurdish Somali Source: Marttie (2010) Characteristics of the workforce The umber of immigrats started to icrease very rapidly i the early 1990s ad Turku has bee oe of the most popular destiatios for immigrats i Filad. As we have see, the umber of foreig citizes grew to 8,237 i 2010, ad measured by laguage the total umber of people speakig a laguage other tha Fiish or Swedish as their mother togue amouts to 12,488. This has meat a icrease i the immigrat workforce as well. Today, the umber foreigers i the total workforce is estimated at about 4,000 i Turku. Measured i terms of those who speak either Fiish or Swedish as their first laguage, they umber aroud 5,000. The most importat immigrat groups are Russias, Estoias ad immigrats from Islamic coutries like Iraq, Ira, Albaia ad differet regios i the former Yugoslavia. Immigrats are maily employed i services. Two-thirds of them work i services, 20% i maufacturig ad 10% i costructio. The most typical occupatios are restaurat worker (pizza/kebab), cleaer ad salesperso (i a ethic shop). These same occupatios are also the occupatios through which they eter the Fiish labour market. Employmet withi the immigrat populatio icreased rapidly betwee 2004 ad The situatio worseed from the ed of 2007, whe uemploymet started to grow oe year earlier tha for the Fiish populatio. The uemploymet rate of immigrats has icreased sice the by 10%. The geeral uemploymet rate withi the Fiish populatio is ow about 10% but stads at 33% amog immigrats. Withi immigrat groups, uemploymet is strogly correlated with age; for youg immigrats it is 25% ad for older people (above 55 years) it is more tha 60%. 14

16 Case study: Turku, Filad Developmet of SMEs SMEs have icreased i Filad sice the 1980s. Accordig to 2007 figures from Statistics Filad (based o the Eterprise Register), Filad has a total of 253,000 eterprises (excludig agriculture). Of these, 99.7% are SMEs employig fewer tha 250 employees ad 93% had fewer tha 10 employees. I all, 154,000 etrepreeurs work as selfemployed sole traders, meaig that they do ot employ others. (Nearly oe-third of the etrepreeurs are wome, which is comparatively high i Europe.) The role of SMEs i Fiish employmet ad the ecoomy is rated as sigificat, which is idicated by the fact that 62% of all employees i the private sector work for SMEs employig fewer tha 250 people, their compaies geerate 49% of the total turover of all busiesses ad they accout for 13% of all Filad s export reveues. 10 These figures may look impressive i themselves, but i a comparative perspective it turs out that the percetage of employers ad self-employed is relatively low, which is all the more surprisig sice, accordig to the Federatio of Fiish Eterprises, etrepreeurship is held i high esteem i Filad. The umber of SMEs icreased aually by some 2% to 4% i the 2000s. The tred cotiued i Turku i Startig a ew firm is ofte a reactio to worseig employmet chaces i the regular labour market, but if the crisis persists it is expected that ew start-ups will decrease. Figure 4: Eterprises i Filad by size, employmet ad turover, 2007 Eterprises by size 94.2% 7.0% Micro eterprises (1 9 people) 0.2% 0.8% Small eterprises (10 49 people) Medium-sized eterprises ( people) Large eterprises (more tha 250 people) Employmet by eterprise Turover of eterprises by size 16% 20% 37% 27% 17% 51% 16% 16% Source: Statistics Filad, Eterprise register Take from the website of the Federatio of Fiish Eterprises. Sector ad spatial distributio of SMEs The picture of SMEs i Turku does ot differ greatly from the atioal picture. It is a very typical city i Filad i this sese. Traditioally SMEs have had a importat role i the idustrial structure of the Turku regio. The 1980s ad part of the 1990s were decades of revitalisatio of the SME sector. I the 2000s the umber of SMEs ad the umber of workers employed by them icreased further, but their share of the total turover ad output did ot grow. I the case of 10 Source: Website of the Federatio of Fiish Eterprises, available at 15

17 Ethic etrepreeurship Turku, employmet i SMEs icreased oly i importat idustries such as metal egieerig, shipbuildig, costructio, logistics, restaurats ad trade as well as maufacturig as a whole. However, the role of SMEs i ewer services is stregtheig. I may cases the reaso for this growth is expadig outsourcig by private ad public actors. Today, urba service activities are maily SME based ad they are active for maufacturig as well as for the social ad cultural sector. I terms of spatial distributio there has bee a thiig of services i the city cetre ad a extesive growth of urba services i mega-markets o the outskirts of the city. SME policies i South-west Filad, the Turku regio ad Turku To uderstad Turku policies related to SMEs, we eed to take several levels ito accout. I the first place, there is a specific atioal policy to stimulate busiess. Natioal policies towards SMEs are presetly withi the Miistry of Employmet ad the Ecoomy. 11 This miistry has bee developig policies to stimulate SMEs, particularly ew startups, for some 20 years. Durig this time it has created some regulatios that are importat for SMEs i geeral ad for immigrat etrepreeurs. A first importat measure has bee a regulatio stipulatig that uemployed people watig to establish themselves as etrepreeurs ca get fiacial beefits (owadays about 700 a moth) durig the start-up phase of their busiess. This is commoly called a start-up-grat ad to get such beefits a busiess pla for the ew eterprise has to be made ad accepted. The beefits ca be exteded twice by six moths up to a maximum of 18 moths (for each extesio, a positive opiio o progress is eeded). Some five years ago, the regulatios were broadeed i the sese that start-ups who are ot uemployed may also receive the beefits. It seems that the regulatio is used extesively. A cosultat from Turku s Regioal Busiess Service Cetre Potkuri stated that his busiess advice cetre produced 414 statemets (the documets ecessary to get the beefits). 12 A secod importat measure of the miistry is fiacig busiesses. The Miistry of Employmet ad the Ecoomy has a special fiacig fud, called Fivera. Its website 13 describes its status as follows: The state-owed specialised fiacig compay Fivera plc improves ad diversifies the fiacig possibilities of the compaies through loas, guaratees ad export fiacig services... Fivera complemets the fiacial market ad its operatios promote the developmet of busiess activities, regios ad exports. Immigrat etrepreeurs are ot specifically metioed o the website, but it has become clear from iterviews with cosultats from Turku s Regioal Busiess Service Cetre Potkuri ad from immigrat etrepreeurs themselves that the fud ca be used ad is used by immigrat etrepreeurs too. It is ot clear how frequetly immigrats are able to receive Fivera loas or guaratees for fiacig their busiess, but our impressio from differet iterviews is that it is ot used/received frequetly. 11 The former miistries of Trade ad Idustry ad of Employmet ad the Ecoomy merged at the begiig of 2009 uder the ew ame of the miistry. The combiatio of labour market ad ecoomy i oe miistry is rather exceptioal i Europea terms. The advatage of havig the combiatio withi oe miistry is that possible cotradictory motivatios for policies o immigrat etrepreeurship (the ecoomic growth argumet vs. the social argumet of creatig employmet) are more easily recociled. 12 Oe of the researchers o immigrat etrepreeurship remarked that the start-up-grats are ot automatically grated. They are harder to get for etrepreeurs who start a busiess i braches with high competitio, such as the restaurat busiess. May immigrats operate i that sector. Furthermore, to receive the grat oe has to have experiece i busiess or oe has to participate i a etrepreeurship course (maily orgaised i the Fiish laguage oly). Some immigrat etrepreeurs have profited from a ESF-fuded project i the easter Turku regio to start a busiess. 13 See accessed o 2 February

18 Case study: Turku, Filad Thirdly, the miistry is reported to be active i fiacig educatioal activities ad courses both for startig ad for established etrepreeurs, icludig special courses for immigrat etrepreeurs. Nowadays this is mostly doe through regioal cetres for ecoomic developmet, trasport ad the eviromet (ELY-Cetres; see below). Although o explicit policy documets have bee produced at the atioal level relatig to immigrat etrepreeurship specifically, the topic has bee o the ageda of a Taskforce for Promotig Immigrat Etrepreeurship istalled by the former Miistry of Trade ad Idustry that produced a report o the curret situatio ad proposals for measures (Miistry for Trade ad Idustry, 2007). The summary of the report states: Sice most immigrat busiesses are sole traders or micro busiesses, promotig the opportuities for this busiess category as a whole costitutes the mai method of ecouragig immigrat etrepreeurship. O the other had, more focused measures are called for to icrease immigrat busiess activity, stregthe busiess skills ad capacity ad ehace the competitiveess ad growth aspiratios of existig busiesses. The summary cotiues by statig: The task force proposes 13 measures, some of which ca be implemeted directly ad some are subject to further preparatio ad ivestigatio. Measures were reviewed i terms of geeral operatioal prerequisites for immigrat etrepreeurship, ad i terms of advice, traiig, fudig, research ad provisio of iformatio. Developmet of the curret busiess support system, rather tha creatio of ew services, should form the corerstoe of ay promotioal measures. Service cocepts should be employed more effectively ad tailored to meet the eeds of immigrat busiesses. Prove operatioal models, such as the NYP Busiess Services i the Helsiki metropolita regio ad the busiess service models i the Kotka Hamia regio are to be employed more widely. The taskforce cocludes that the govermet should cotiue its efforts to promote immigrat etrepreeurship i the log term ad proposes that a immigrat etrepreeurship coucil be set up to cotiue the taskforce s work (Miistry for Trade ad Idustry, 2007, p. 77). However, the report does ot seem to have bee followed up by ew policies; the author did ot fid ay referece to a Coucil for Immigrat Etrepreeurship or ay other follow-up measures (also ot by ay of the iterviewees for this study). This brigs us to the regioal level ad its policies. A very recet regioal admiistratio reform (Miistry of Fiace) created 15 ELY-Cetres (regioal cetres for ecoomic developmet, trasport ad the eviromet) i Filad that brig together differet former regioal istitutios i the followig fields: busiess ad idustry, labour force, competece ad cultural activities; trasport ad ifrastructure; ad the eviromet ad atural resources. The cetres brig together the regioal activities of six differet atioal miistries. Oe ew ELY-Cetre is located i Turku to serve the souther part of the Couty of South-west Filad. Each of the ELY-Cetres has three major departmets that cover the fields metioed above. The Turku ELY-Cetre employs some 400 people to fulfil its comprehesive tasks of regioal plaig (icludig EU fuds for the regio) ad chaellig the measures ad facilities of the atioal level described above to local orgaisatios ad istitutios. For our study, the departmet of busiess ad idustry, labour force, competece ad cultural activities of the ELY-Cetre i Turku is the most importat. With regard to immigratio ad immigrats, the ELY-Cetre has a coordiatig task i steerig immigratio ad immigrat policies for the regio, it steers the employmet offices ad it is active i the orgaisatio ad fiacig of educatioal facilities (icludig for immigrats). It buys traiig courses that are implemeted by several local orgaisatios, such as the adult educatioal cetres ad vocatioal traiig istitutes. It has a aual budget of 22 millio for traiig, of which some 3 millio is spet o traiig for immigrats. The ELY-Cetre fiaces geeral civic itegratio courses for immigrats (whose participats are set by the employmet office or Turku s Regioal Busiess Service Cetre Potkuri). It also plas to fiace courses o the basics of etrepreeurship i the ear future. Whe it comes to the local level of Turku ad surroudig muicipalities, other istitutioal parters come (potetially) ito play. Firstly, there is the Turku Regio Developmet Cetre, which is a orgaisatio that promotes regioal 17

19 Ethic etrepreeurship developmet for 11 cities/muicipalities ear Turku. Its tasks, amog others, are the promotio of etrepreeurship ad marketig for etrepreeurs of the 11 cities ad attractig foreig compaies to the regio. Iteratioal projects of cooperatio (with St Petersburg, Polad ad Chia, amog others) ad the promotio of friedship relatios abroad are a importat part of their task. I such activities, the creative idustry (desig idustry) is oe of the spearheads i terms of cotet. Immigrat etrepreeurship as such does ot play a extesive role i its work ad activities. This is quite differet whe it comes to Turku s Regioal Busiess Service Cetre Potkuri. This orgaisatio was established i 2005 as a close partership of eight differet orgaisatios i Turku ad its direct viciity that were all active i assistig ad advisig etrepreeurs, but i differet segmets or differet localities. The idea was to establish a oe-stop shop for services to etrepreeurs, free of charge. The 16 employees of Potkuri come from the eight orgaisatios (ad are still paid by them). Potkuri s tasks are to give service ad advice both to established compaies ad to startig etrepreeurs (five people are workig o start-ups oly); to advise o iovatio ad (help to) register patets; to give advice o the traiig of etrepreeurs ad work together with traiig cetres o this; to help etrepreeurs go to iteratioal markets; to assist with the registratio of ew compaies, to advise them o tax matters (by someoe from the tax office that is preset i Potkuri). I 2009, Potkuri registered some 1,500 customers ad 782 ew start-ups (of which a estimated 15% were immigrats). Potkuri may also make statemets (o the quality of plas of immigrat etrepreeurs ad their progress i implemetatio) for the Alies Police (which is ecessary if they do ot yet have a guarateed residece status) ad to Fivera (whe a applicatio is made for a loa) or for applicatios to receive start-up beefits (see above). Fially, two educatioal istitutios should be metioed here because they are relevat for immigrat etrepreeurs at the local level of Turku ad the immediate surroudigs. Firstly, there is the Turku Adult Educatio Cetre, fouded by the city of Turku but ow idepedet. The educatioal work of its 200 employees is fuded by govermetal ad private agecies for specific educatioal tasks such as traiig the uemployed, moitorig appreticeships ad retraiig as well as basic laguage courses. These laguage courses are particularly but ot exclusively for refugees ad uemployed immigrats, for whom a basic course rus for three to four moths agaist a stadard paymet of 3,000/ 3,500 each. Courses are give o four differet levels, icludig a academic oe, ad 25 teachers are ivolved i this work o a permaet basis. Apart from a log traditio ad experiece i teachig Fiish laguage courses, the cetre has also developed specific courses for startig etrepreeurs (paid by the govermet of South-west Filad). These itroductio courses, which last 15 eveigs, have attracted may participats, helped by the fact that they were free of charge for the studets, but also by the fact that the certificate it yielded was geerally accepted ad ofte eve required. There are three to four courses aually with 90 studets each ad immigrats have started to participate. For 2010, the pla, depedig o fiacig, was that there would be five courses, havig some 450 studets, of which a estimated 50 would be immigrats. The cetre also has specific traiig courses for starters i specific braches; recetly there was a course for aspirig taxi drivers who plaed to get a licece for a taxi compay. This course costs 1,400 for the idividual participats ad it actually prepares them for the test that has to be doe with the relevat authorities for such liceces i Helsiki. Some six or seve immigrats also participated i the course (ofte bus drivers who wat to establish themselves i the taxi busiess). The adult educatio cetre i Raisio, a eighbourig city i the Turku regio, has a rich traditio of givig laguage ad civic itegratio courses comparable with its Turku couterpart, but it is smaller (50 employees, 13 or 14 of whom work specifically for immigrats). It has orgaised its laguage courses i four cosecutive modules (that take a year i total). Passig Module Three is supposed to be sufficiet to pass the atioal Fiish citizeship test. Module Four is o-thejob traiig. 18

20 Case study: Turku, Filad Iterestigly, the cetre has recruited (maily from its Module Three participats, but ot exclusively) some 21 immigrats for whom it is ow orgaisig a specific busiess icubator course. The basic idea is that all have the same commo goal of establishig (ad i some cases chagig to) a well-prepared ad well-fouded busiess. The course etails some basic commo elemets like learig to make a solid busiess pla, but also specific elemets that pertai to the specific busiess they have i mid. The cetre has acquired a year s fudig for this course directly from the Miistry of Busiess ad the Ecoomy. The teachers expect that this kid of advaced, itesive ad tailor-made course will help immigrats to establish solid ad profitable eterprises, although they realise that after the course the aspirat etrepreeurs will still have to go through may procedures (possibly helped by Turku s Regioal Busiess Service Cetre Potkuri) ad, most importatly, will have to tackle the difficult problem of gettig fiace for their busiess. 19

21 Profiles of ethic etrepreeurship 4 Statistical sources ad studies As elsewhere, ew busiesses have to register themselves i the Trade Register. The Trade Register has differet categories uder which busiesses may be registered. For small ad medium busiesses the followig categories are the most importat; limited liability compay, private trader, limited partership compay ad geeral partership compay. I priciple, the registratio procedure is easy ( 10 miutes work through the iteret, accordig to Turku s Regioal Busiess Service Cetre Potkuri cosultats) ad cheap ( 75 for private traders, more for the other categories). The registratio forms for start-up otificatios ask for iformatio o the atioality of the private trader/parters/board members, but coutry of birth ad coutry of birth of parets (to iclude aturalised immigrats ad childre of immigrats) are ot icluded. These data ca oly be added by combiig the Trade Register data with populatio registratio data. Sice this is a complicated ad costly procedure, this is doe oly i exceptioal cases i Filad. Thus, all statistics related to immigrat etrepreeurs are based o atioality, except for a few o laguage. I practice, statistical data about immigrat etrepreeurs both at the atioal level ad i Turku are ot readily available. Oe of the scarce sources is a short overview i Fiish writte by Pekka Lith (2005) about compaies owed by foreigers ad foreig-bor idividuals i Filad. The article refers maily to the hotel ad caterig establishmets, which is the secod most importat sector for immigrats after fiace ad isurace services. Accordig to that article, there were 1,830 immigrat compaies i 2004 i this sector, that is 17% of the total i that sector i Filad. This figure is based o the Trade Register ad Tax Register. Lith suggests that immigrat etrepreeurship, although it ecouters all kids of problems, has rise sigificatly ad has a high potetial for the future. The report of the Taskforce of the Miistry for Trade ad Idustry also gives some statistics, agai pertaiig to the whole of Filad (partly based o Lith s work; see Miistry for Trade ad Idustry, 2007, sectio 4.2). Sometimes data from the Labour Force Survey are used to idicate the umbers ad percetages of self-employed amog Fis ad immigrats. Not oly is statistical data meagre, but scietific research ad publicatios are also scarce. A iterestig exceptio is the qualitative study that Wahlbeck (2007, 2008) did amog 27 Turkish etrepreeurs i the kebab ecoomy i Southwest Filad ad Turku. He shows how this special brach of ew fast food was started by Turkish etrepreeurs who had lived for some time i Filad, ad were usually married to a Fi ad fluet i Fiish. The idea to establish fastfood outlets came from Germay ad Swede, where umerous kebab shops were fouded i the 1980s. The first etrepreeurs utilized their trasatioal coectios, as well as the assistace from their Fiish spouses to establish the first kebab shops i Filad I more recet years, the example set by immigrats who had arrived i Filad earlier has bee crucial for those arrivig later o. Usually, a Turkish kebab ower has previously worked as a employee i a kebab shop owed by aother immigrat, usually a immigrat from Turkey. After some time, the employee establishes his ow shop, or, i some cases, he buys the shop where he has bee employed (Wahlbeck, 2004, 2007, p. 550). Kebab food became a accepted product i Filad, ad through the iteral mechaisms withi the group, the umber of outlets grew. Aother qualitative study of 20 immigrat etrepreeurs i Turku is that of Sjöblom-Immala (2006) i Half of the iterviewees had Asia backgrouds. The 20 etrepreeurs are active i sectors as diverse as the commercial sector (oethird), educatio, costructio, idustry, health work, persoal services, busiess services ad the restaurat busiess. Iterestigly, the success i differet sectors varied: Three-fourths of the etrepreeurs are satisfied with the success of their busiess. Etrepreeurs i the areas of costructio, idustry, hired labour, detal services ad laguage traiig view their busiess as successful. The etrepreeurs i hairdressig, those i restaurat busiess ad especially those i retail cosider their situatio less successful (Sjöblom-Immala, 2006, p. vii). 21