The fast lane to success is digital

Redland - The Land of Growth helps companies grow by supporting their international business with marketing solutions.

We are an advertising agency, a communications agency, and a digital marketing agency in one package.  On average, our clients grow and evolve faster than their competitors. We have a holistic approach to serving customers’ business goals in marketing, communications, digital services as well as digital marketing. This is a proven recipe for results.

We, at Redland, understand your challenges

We have people who have been in your shoes; working as export directors or business ownersseeking for international growth and successful market entries.

- Our COO, Anne Laitinen, have been working years at Finpro, internationalizing tens of Finnish sme's. Also, she had a strong role at Isku Interior's export team; she was working at Kazakhstan World Expo for Isku. That brings us and our client companies valuable information how to utilize Expo's potential effectively, says Mari Masalin, the CEO of Redland.

Redland’s strength is in our versatility, and the fact that we genuinely have the ability to be a comprehensive growth and development partner for our customers.

Redland is a partner of Finnish Business Council.

Contact details:

www.redland.fi

Anne Laitinen, COO+358 504367050

anne@redland.fi

Cyber threats can be regional

The Internet has connected peoples and countries around the world. At the same time the Internet has created new global threats that ignore geographical and state borders. However, cyber attacks in the last few years have shown that regional cyber threats still exists.

During the past few years there have been multiple reports about cyber attacks against Western companies operating in the Middle East (MENA) area. Attacks have particularly targeted companies working in the energy sector but other industries have not been left untouched. Reported cyber attacks have disrupted or even stopped the business of the target companies. The roots of the events are linked to the political disagreements in the region. Cyber attacks have been used as one of the means of influence in this context.

National Cyber Security Centre Finland (NCSC-FI) recommends that Finnish companies operating in the MENA area should take the elevated cyber threat into account in the risk assessment. NCSC-FI also recommends to consider how to separate the information systems used in the MENA area from the core systems used in Finland, to prevent damage in the event of a cyber attack. Companies should also review and refine guidelines how to store and carry smart phones and laptops for example in hotel rooms.

NCSC-FI publishes information security articles, alerts and vulnerability reports in their public website For questions or observations you can directly contact the NCSC-FI by email at cert@traficom.fi.

Networking with FBC, SAKY and Finncham

Members and guests of the FBC gathered at the end of October at the beautiful Address Montogomerie terrace to mingle and network. Participants from Finnish companies visiting UAE from the sectors of bioeconomy, cleantech and water took part in the event.

Maria Sillanpaa, Founding Director of Sustainability Advisory, provided an overview of the ground-breaking Conscious Consumer UAE consumer insight study, the results of which were published late last year. The aim of our study was to understand the extent to which sustainability is important to UAE consumers and how it is affecting their consumer behaviours and attitudes. The study also sought to understand consumer expectations for businesses and the government in promoting responsible consumerism.

The event was organised together with Finncham and the Finnish Arab Business Association.

Pictured on the left Maria Sillanpää, presenter of the survey results, together with hosts Chairman of Saky Tytti Sirola, Jenni Isola Senior Adviser International Affairs at Finland Chamber of Commerce and Jaana Räsänen-Pentti, Honorary Chairman of the Finnish Business Council.

Pictured on the right Jukka Hämäläinen, Head of Region (MENA) Business Finland and Seppo Keränen, Senior Advisor Business Finland Dubai

Nordic Sundowner September

Members and guests from all four Nordic business councils gathered at the the funky Zabeel House hotel for the first Nordic Sundowner of the season. The evening took a great start with a talk by Dr Sami Mahroum - Director Research&Strategy , Dubai Future Foundation, and was followed by drinks and mingle at the Lah Lah bar. Thank you to everyone who came and to our sponsor of the evening - Clever Travel Consulting!

Finncham Workshop in Helsinki

On August the 23rd representatives from eleven different Business Councils/Finnish Chambers of Commerce met in Helsinki to share experiences and learn from each other. One big topic discussed was how the Finncham network could be promoted to companies in Finland looking to internationalize. The Finnish Business Council representatives from UAE informed others about Dubai Expo202 and business opportunities in the UAE. It was suggested that the Finncham network would have regional meetings annually and Skype meetings quarterly.

FBC Chairman Katja Boutou and Honorary Chairman Jaana Räsänen-Pentti attended the workshop from FBC.

FBC Iftar 28th of May

Once again FBC board and members gathered for Iftar to celebrate the spirit of Ramadan during the holy month. The Bacchanal restaurant at Ceasers Palace made the perfect venue, as it gave most of us the chance to finally visit the new hotel in Bluewaters Dubai. This year we made the Iftar into a family event and were happy to see so many members participating with their children.

Annual General Meeting 24th of April

On the 24th of April the Finnish Business Council held it's Annual General Meeting at My Office in Dubai Marina Plaza. 17 people attended the meeting.

FBC Chairman Katja Boutou presented the annual activity report for 2018 and concluded that FBC currently has 20 corporate members, 6 non-resident corporate members and 24 individual members. This is an increase in both corporate and individual members since 2017.

She then presented the Annual Financial Report for 2018, Program of activities for 2019 as well as the budget and membership fees.

The meeting selected following persons to FBC Administrative Committee for 2019 activity year: Petra Turkama, Juha Kaljunen, Tommi Henriksson, Markku Jarvinen, Tomi Saikkonen, Katia Al-Kaisi, Tiina-Maija Bergman, Katja Boutou, Seppo Keranen (Business Finland representative), Minna Herranen, Kimmo Kytösaari, Maria Sillanpää, Riikka Kytösaari. Jaana Tapanainen was elected as FBC Ambassador in Finland and Jaana Räsänen-Pentti (Honorary Chairman, Honorary Member Category representative).

As per the Articles of Association Ambassador of Finland to UAE is Honorary Chairman. The position was hold by Riitta Swan until end of May when the new Ambassador, Marjaana Nissila took over.

Ms. Boutou thanked 2018 Administrative Committee for the cooperation and project coordinator Erika Daintry for her contribution.

Business Breakfast 21st March - Digitalization

Digital technologies have fundamentally changed the way we live, work and play. And this is merely the beginning. We cannot imagine what's coming at us in the next few decades. Exciting right? But all of these evolutions have a huge impact on our lives. And ultimately on the way we do business. Read more

In Country Value (ICV) Seminar 27th of May

ICV “In Country Value Seminar on 27th May in Dubai Taj Hotel hosted by Mayur Batra Group for Business Councils.

ADNOC has introduced an In-Country Value (ICV) program for its suppliers. This procurement-let initiative aims to boost ADNOC’s ICV contribution by focusing on local supplier selection, development of UAE Nationals, and the localization of critical functionalities in the oil & gas industry.

Announcement of this program was made late 2017, implementation was started early 2018 and later that year it has been revised. Now it is fully implemented in ADNOC and all of its 14 subsidiary companies. Note that each country in the region will have their own similar program, which are all currently in Oil&Gas sector, but later looking to expand nation wide.

How can you get your company ICV certified?
ADNOC has appointed Mayur Batra Group as an independent certification body to support suppliers with certification of their ICV scores. Their team can evaluate your organization/s ICV score and provide innovative solutions to help improve your score. This scoring is based on goods manufactured within UAE, third party spend, revenue, local investments, Emiratization, expatriate contribution.
The certification process will take approximately 10 months and is valid 18 months, exception of improvement plan.

Document can be seen here to understand more closely of calculation method of ICV score etc. To asses your companies ICV value it is recommended to contact an independent certification body, like Mayur Batra Group .

Greetings from the Finnish Ambassador in Riyadh!

I was happy to meet so many Finnish Business Council members in Dubai on 15th of April. Saudi-Arabia is by far the largest economy and market in the Middle East. The country is going through profound transition in developing the economy to become less dependent on oil and petrochemical production. All this creates a lot of promising business opportunities also for Finnish companies. At the same time, the economy of the country – and in fact, much of the whole region - is still very much tied to the oil price. At least in the short run the oil market price looks rather good. In addition to Saudi Arabia the Embassy in Riyadh also covers Oman and Kuwait. The Embassy, in cooperation with the Business Finland office in Riyadh, is ready to support also Dubai based Finnish companies in their efforts to do business in these countries.  

Antti Rytövuori, Ambassador of Finland in Saudi-Arabia, Oman and Kuwait