Hoivatilat opens professional doors for Viivi Tuukkanen with Finland retirement infrastructure and pre-schools backed by the European Investment Bank, the EU bank
Sain töitä: Suomessa ”kaikki on mahdollista”
The job market in Viivi Tuukkanen’s hometown of Oulu was dismal when she graduated from Oulu University of Applied Sciences in 2014. With a degree in economics, Viivi could only land a job as a financial services advisor in a local bank. “That wasn’t my cup of tea,” says Viivi, 29. “The situation in Oulu was very bad.”
After becoming a mother, Viivi enrolled in an EU-funded training programme for digital marketing and sales at her old university. Then she read a newspaper article about a €50 million loan to Hoivatilat from the European Investment Bank. Hoivatilat, which develops and maintains schools, day-care centres and nursing homes for municipalities, advertised for a sales assistant soon afterwards, and though it wasn’t the digital marketing job Viivi was looking for, she decided to apply. “I knew that this was a growing company and that I could make the position much larger than the job title.”
She started the job in June 2018. By the beginning of 2019 she had already managed to mold the position into a role as administrative and marketing coordinator.
Viivi’s job is one of millions created with European Investment Bank support. By 2021, investments signed by the European Investment Bank Group in 2017 alone are expected to raise EU gross domestic product by 1.1% and to create 1.2 million jobs. Even in 2036, EU GDP will be 0.7% higher as a result of the EIB's 2017 investments, and 650 000 extra jobs will have been added.
Everybody wants to grow this company”
Finland has one of the fastest-aging populations in the world and demand for nursing homes is booming. The existing municipal infrastructure is aging, for nursing homes as well as day-care centres and preschools. “The preschools and nursing homes are in very bad shape,” Viivi says. “In some cities, they don’t have money to invest in the new buildings.”
Hoivatilat has made a business out of developing the infrastructure municipalities need and then leasing it back to them. The company has about 180 projects in more than 60 locations in Finland and Sweden – about 70 of which are day-care centres.
The company’s rapid expansion has created a can-do attitude among the company’s 20 employees, Viivi said. “Everybody wants to grow this company,” she says. “That’s the spirit.” Professionally, she says, the job opens endless possibilities for training and learning.
“Everything is possible here.”
