I started in the group as a project researcher. My first task was to develop business skills for entrepreneurs in the social and healthcare sector as part of a regional development project, which was quite fitting given my background in health sciences. The following years were marked by intense efforts to establish the group's activities, and my own tasks in numerous projects spanned various sectors from social and healthcare companies to the technology sector. It’s almost unbelievable how a research group, initiated in 2011 through a single regional development project, has managed to continuously reinvent itself and secure supportive funding regionally, nationally, and internationally. Looking back, the early years of MicroENTRE evoke memories of innovation, boldness, and increasing recognition.
In the fall of 2018, there was a change in the group's composition when Matti Muhos became the director of the institute, and I started as the research director of the group after him. This transition was a significant change for me personally as well: more direct leadership responsibilities, expanded financial duties, and participation in the strategic planning work within the KSI management team. During this period, the group also began to grow and expand its activities from a local to a national level. At its peak, the group had up to 18 employees, and there were more than 20 ongoing projects simultaneously.
The group produces a wide range of research knowledge and expertise on micro-enterprises, including the challenges of business growth and growth management. I recognize similar growing pains in this essentially publicly funded but very entrepreneurially functioning work community. The primary challenge was no longer just being recognized and scraping together any funding to start operations, but strategic focusing, developing operational processes, and clarifying staff roles became crucial parts of the discussion. Like any growing company, broader operations require new kinds of organization and planning. Rapid changes inevitably affect the work community, and during this transitional phase, some experts voluntarily moved to other roles as the originally regionally driven operations began to focus more on producing researched knowledge and expanding geographically. This updated strategic direction was also considered in new recruitments.
The year 2020 was the so-called "covid year", a globally dramatic and long-lasting epoch that brought significant changes. Even at the MicroENTRE level, there were major changes, although more positively through renewals rather than because of the pandemic. The rectorate of the University of Oulu assigned the newly named University of Oulu Kerttu Saalasti Institute the task of conceptualizing and piloting a new kind of online micro-entrepreneurship education, independent of time and place. MicroENTRE experts have been crucial in developing and implementing this new education from the start. I, myself, have had the opportunity to be a responsible teacher on several courses offered through the Open University.
Another significant change in 2020 was the Ministry of Education and Culture assigning the national responsibility for micro-entrepreneurship research and education to KSI. This has brought new leaps in development in terms of societal impact, communication, and, most recently, the tenure track professorship in micro-entrepreneurship funded by donations.
At MicroENTRE, the expansion of operations has been seen as an opportunity to produce more impactful research and expertise through development projects. However, this growth also places pressures on management. How do we ensure the foundation of our operations — working closely with entrepreneurs and business service providers in local contexts, securing continuous funding, and providing meaningful career paths for experts? As the group leader, I have had numerous discussions with the team about our shared purpose, the experience of meaningful work, and the realization of individual goals as part of this unique work community. Over the past six months, we have gained excellent new expertise with diverse professional backgrounds, and I sense that our operations are once again transitioning to the next phase of development.
Now it is time to pass the baton of group leadership to my successor, Martti Saarela, who has been involved in conceptualizing the group from the beginning and has served as the development manager in recent years. This personnel change is both a renewal and a continuity that does not overly disrupt the ongoing operations. Growth management is Martti's research topic, so I wish him the greatest wisdom, courage, and vision to lead the group forward in the coming years!
Author: Anna-Mari Simunaniemi, Research Director of Micro-Entrepreneurship, University of Oulu Kerttu Saalasti Institute (until 31.7.2024)
You can reach me starting 1.8. at the Business Administration Unit of Vaasa University of Applied Sciences as the Manager of Education and Research.
Photo: Minna Kilpeläinen
In Kerttu Saalasti Institute's blog we write about the topics of the Institute's research groups, micro entrepreneurship education and the Institute's general topics. The authors are researchers, experts and members of networks.
Our topics are: micro entrenepreneurship, future manufacturing technologies, regional excellence, micro entrepreneurship education