Internationalization awards of the President of the Republic to Kempower, K. Hartwall, Andritz and Kasvuryhm Finland
Chairman Sauli Niinistö
President’s Internationalization Award
“In addition to international success, this year’s evaluation emphasized sustainable development and the ethics of operations, as well as the effects on Finnish know-how, innovations, employment development and foreign investments. The awarded companies have been able to continue healthy business despite the coronavirus crisis and the war in Ukraine,” says Ilona Lundström, chairman
The final award recipients were proposed to the president by the members of the Team Finland network, Business Finland, ELY centers (
“The world has a growing demand for sustainable solutions. Award-winning companies have courageously developed their know-how to solve difficult problems. It’s great to see that we’re involved
“Kempower’s goal is to accelerate the development of electric cars by offering the world’s most desired electric car charging solutions to everyone, everywhere. Electric mobility is already a reality for us today – our solution is developed for a world where you have many more electric cars, buses and trucks than today. Our international growth has been fast. With growth, we have managed to scale our production in Lahti and our supply chain located in the surrounding area. The award is based on countless hours of work and solved challenges that our team has overcome together with customers and other stakeholders. We will continue this work, and to support growth, we will also continue recruiting personnel for the entire organization in Finland and beyond,” says Tomi Ristimäkimanaging director
K. Hartwall’s international business is growing strongly
K. Hartwall, who got Growth company award and turns 90 this year, is a family business founded in Sipoo that focuses on logistics equipment. The largest customer industries are retail trade, postal and parcel industry, automotive and industrial industry. The company has succeeded in combining returnable load racks with automated material handling solutions. The solutions enable, among other things, more efficient internal logistics and lower transport costs. Customers include e.g
“The award is a recognition of the long-term strategy of establishing ourselves as an innovative and international operator in more than 65 countries. Central to K. Hartwall’s internationalization has been the ability to understand the special characteristics of each country and its industries, as well as the ability to share the best practices of different markets. We advise other Finnish companies that want to grow globally, to believe in themselves, to dream big and most importantly, to cultivate a local presence in their most important international markets. Finnish international companies must also continue to receive support from dedicated government organizations that can facilitate their operations with local expertise, contacts and funding, so that they can take the next step towards internationalization”, says. Jerker HartwallCEO of Hartwall.
ANDRITZ makes long-term investments in sustainable development
In the year A class of long-term international investors, the award went to Andritz, which supplies systems, equipment and services to the pulp and paper industry. In
“We are proud of our innovative products, services and, above all, our passionate experts. However, success always comes from cooperation with the customer, so we thank Finnish forest industry companies for their close cooperation in the development of new innovations. We encourage growing export companies to believe in their own work and invest in competent personnel. A humane approach, humility and respect for other people and cultures are the keys to internationalization,” says
The growth group gathers medium-sized companies together into a growth community
The growth group that got community awardwas founded in 2015 to create growth goals and capabilities and a new culture of learning together for medium-sized companies to enable companies and
“Over the last four years, internationalization has been the biggest single theme that members of our community have focused on – it has been the main topic of more than 200 meetings. In the growth group, the discussion between people from different companies is radically open, and there is a culture of learning together and looking for solutions. Peer discussions fuel the courage to seek sustainable future growth and build capabilities for renewal and internationalization. This increases the competitive advantage of the entire country, he says
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