It seems that the world around China is opening up, but China isn’t. The Economist estimated that China will retain tight border controls until Q4 2022, after most of the population has received their booster shots and after the National People’s Congress has been held. This is the situation we will just have to bear.

Yet, it seems that European companies, including those from Finland, are doing well overall in China. The business atmosphere is very positive and Finland enjoys a good reputation. One of the great success stories is Lappset Group. You can read their story in this newsletter. We are often asked to talk about Finnish innovations, technology, digital solutions, and so on. These fields have many underutilized opportunities for Finnish companies. Chinese organizations are frequently looking for green/new energy solution, biomedicine, and health technology companies to cooperate with, just to name for a few. China is also experiencing a rapid shift to an aged society, which provides plenty of opportunities related to elderly care: management, nutrition, follow-up solutions, training, etc. Two weeks ago we had the Team Finland China biannual meeting to provide us with a framework for upcoming action planning. The guest speaker Alfredo Montufar-Helu, Director of The Economist Intelligence Corporate Network, listed similar opportunities for Finnish companies. Take a look at the photo below.

FBCB has been growing well. In October we had another opportunity to make a small donation to support the Finnish School in Beijing. The school operates on voluntary basis to support Finnish expat children in matters of culture and language – to deepen the roots of Finnish children living abroad.

In China autumn is a hectic season and we will have plenty of events. CIIE (China International Import Expo) will be held in the first week of November in Shanghai, where FBCB will join with Lifa Air. Junction China hackathon was supposed to take place at the end of the second week in Chengdu, but is now postponed to Dec 3-5. See the event invitation below. On the following week the Women in Business -event will be held with Mari-Anna Suurmunne (Education and Science Cousellor). And just when we turn to December, A Reception in Celebration of Finland will unite efforts of the whole Team Finland Beijing. The tickets for this special event on December 1st are available from today, you can reserve your spot from below. We plan and do business as usual, but as we've already learned here, Covid cases may force us to rely on plan Bs at any time.

Finally, we want to thank Vice Chair Seppo Selkala for his years of excellent work for FBCB, and wish him a great future as the Administrative Director of Salla in Finland.

On the behalf of FBCB,

Ulla Nurmenniemi

Executive Director

Lappset Group Ltd provides play and sport equipment, both indoors and outdoors, including a variety of interactive solutions, for people of all ages. Our mission is to improve the wellbeing of the world by creating inspiring playces that stretch the imagination, foster learning, respect the environment and encourage activity for everyone. Our fun, inspiring and positively surprising facilities help people to stay active today and feel better tomorrow.

Lappset was founded in the hometown of Santa Claus Rovaniemi, Finland in 1970. Now the Group is made up of the parent company in Finland and 11 subsidiaries in eight countries including China. Lappset’s network of channel partners aka distributors covers approximately 60 different countries all around the world.

China is one of Lappset’s focal markets. Since the first market entry in 1999, Lappset’s business in China has developed rapidly along with the dynamic growth of China. What has been proven workable in Europe is now being further developed in China, combining physical structures with technology and artificial intelligence. Nowadays China is one of the biggest export markets for Lappset.

Fei Lu, the Key Account Manager for Asia and Balkans at Lappset Group, credits the leap in business to all the partners in China. The Embassy and the General Consulate of Finland, Business Finland and other experts in the Team Finland network are always available to offer concrete help in both business promoting and problem solving. Finnish Business Council provides an excellent platform to connect the members with right people and resource for sharing, networking and collaboration. More importantly, all of our skilled distributors are dedicated to growth hand in hand with Lappset, with their best local know-how and competences in different market segments.

As one of the role models, thanks to the local knowledge and market vision of Chengdu DAO Pureland Intelligent Sports Co., Ltd, Pureland and Lappset have together created and initiated Happy Sports China Plan that proactively responds to China’s National Fitness Plan. Happy Sports China Plan is a sport-themed innovative urbanization plan aiming at all-age groups, combining culture, sport and tourism, integrating Finnish design and wisdom with Chinese characteristics. It is committed to introducing world leading innovative leisure and sports park into cities through comprehensive cooperation in technology, brand, platform and resources. And it was recognized as the "Best Practices of Sino-Finnish Cooperation" by Team Finland in 2017. Since 2014, more than 120 innovative sports parks under Happy Sports China Plan have been realized in more than 40 Chinese administrative areas.

Finnish Business Council Beijing is part of Team Finland in China, and an outstanding platform for all Finnish businesses in China. For those companies which need more visibility, we have launched a Premium Membership. It's an upgrade from normal membership, as you can see from the table below.

For those companies in Finland, who are planning to expand their businesses to China, or are in the early stage and don't have an office in China yet, we have a distant membership. It's called Proxy Membership. A very cost-effective way to make your company known to a large audience, and get essential contacts for your future.

See all membership options HERE