World-class business conferences & experiences to remember
What started in 2010 as a small event in central Finland is now a Nordic-wide series of business events committed to building leaders who change the world. We cater to CEOs, business executives, and entrepreneurs alike, and host world-class business conferences in Finland, Sweden, and Norway with our partner Oslo Business Forum. Our events attract about 10,000 attendees and tens of thousands of live stream viewers from all over the world.
Our events gather together business leaders, renowned experts, and preeminent thinkers to share ideas and build connections. Our flagship event in Helsinki has quickly risen to among Europe’s top business events and we aim to develop it into one of the world’s most noteworthy conferences by 2021.
Our attendees benefit from educational lectures by some of the world’s foremost business experts and have the opportunity to network with a diverse, high-level international crowd. We take pride in putting together an impressive speaker lineup and a top-notch customer experience to serve our bright-minded event attendees. At our events, you can focus on yourself and the inspiration, ideas, and networks – we will take care of the rest and make sure it will be an experience to remember.
Company info
Nordic Business Group was founded in December 2008 by Hans-Peter Siefen and Jyri Lindén. The company operated until November 2011 under the name Finnish Community of Entrepreneurship. Since 2012, Nordic Business Forum Oy has been a subsidiary company of Nordic Business Group. The other subsidiary of Nordic Business Group is Nordic Business Investments Oy, which concentrates on real estate development. In May 2019, Nordic Business Forum acquired part of Oslo Business Forum, one of the largest and most prominent business conferences in Norway.
The first Nordic Business Forum was organized in 2010 and over the years the annual main event has grown to be one of the most significant business seminars in the world. We have offices in Jyväskylä and Helsinki in Finland, in Tallinn, Estonia, Helsingborg, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway.
Company mission & goal
We believe that inspiring and equipping business leaders who want to make the world a better place is the single most effective way in which we can make an effect on the whole society at large.
Back in 2011, Nordic Business Forum set a 10-year goal of developing the annual main event into the most noteworthy business seminar in the world. Step by step we are pursuing to reach that goal by 2021.
Our values
Delivering value
It is very important to us to keep in mind why we do what we do every day. That is why we pursue to deliver value in everything we do. With every blog post or email we write, or an event or a meeting we hold, we aspire to identify what is the value we’re giving to our clients and other stakeholders.
Entrepreneurial mindset
We aim to encourage entrepreneurial mindset among organizations and people. We believe that entrepreneurship keeps the societies going and entrepreneurial mindset keeps the companies going. People with an entrepreneurial mindset are life-long learners who have the eagerness for personal development.
Fair deals
Our goal is to offer unique training experiences at reasonable prices.
Creating enriching interaction
We support open collaboration and positive relationships and pursue to create a healthy and enriching environment for networking in our events.
Cross-generational thinking
According to cross-generational thinking, we didn’t inherit this world from our parents, we merely lease it from our children. This also applies to our way of doing responsible business.
Behind the Scenes of Nordic Business Forum
Leaders Who Change the World – Documentary
In 2019, we got together with 7,655 leaders for our tenth annual Nordic Business Forum. To celebrate that milestone, we decided to film a documentary to capture our story – and the behind the scenes of our story.
The documentary reveals who are the people behind one of the most significant business conferences in Europe and how they organized such a massive event. The film studies different issues one faces when trying to build such a company – working under pressure, dealing with stress, fear of public speaking, and teamwork.
CEO
Founders
Hans-Peter Siefen
Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board
Board of Directors
Alf Rehn
Member of the Board
Alf Rehn is a Professor of Innovation, Design, and Management at the University of Southern Denmark. In 2009 and 2011, Rehn was listed on the international Thinkers 50 Guru Radar becoming the only Finn ever to be included on the list. Rehn is one of the most requested Finnish lecturers.
Ari-Pekka Salovaara
Member of the Board
Ari-Pekka Salovaara is an angel investor and responsible of Lower SMB segment at Visma. This includes companies in 5 different countries that generate quarter billion euro revenues. Salovaara has done 10+ direct/indirect angel investments including Paytrail, MariaDB, DealDash and MOI mobile operator, and he is a board member at Miradore Oy, Surveypal Oy, and Movenium Oy.
Kirsi Piha
Member of the Board
Kirsi Piha is the founder, co-owner, and chairwoman of the board of Ellun Kanat. She has over 20 years of experience in the communications industry and is a recognized, award-winning author. She is also a former politician, having served on the Helsinki City Council, parliament, and the European Parliament (1996-1999).
Kim Väisänen
Member of the Board
Kim Väisänen is a Finnish startup investor and entrepreneur, and one of the five angel investors in Finland’s edition of Shark Tank. Väisänen has received two Internationalisation Awards from the President of the Republic: in 2012 as the CEO of Blancco, and in 2017 as the chairman of the board of directors of Framery.
Risto Lähdesmäki
Risto Lähdesmäki is the CEO and co-founder of Idean Ltd. He has over 15 years of experience in designing digital services, user interfaces, and user experiences, helping to shape the future of UX/UI branding across startups and Fortune 500 corporations. In 2012, he internationalized Idean in Silicon Valley. Since then, Idean has also expanded to multiple other areas in the US and in Europe.
Tree donations
Nordic Business Forum also donates tree plants in order to compensate the computational carbon footprint of the main event.
Inspiration for Two
During the years 2012 to 2016, Nordic Business Forum provided inspirational days for 25,000 students in junior high schools and high schools around Finland and Estonia. All of the Inspiration for Two work was done on a 100% voluntary basis by Nordic Business Forum without any subsidies from the government.
Nordic Business Forum Oy has been recognized with the following awards:
- Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year Award 2016
- Business Event of the Year 2015
- ICT Product of the Year 2014
- An Honorary Award for the Most Satisfied Customers 2014
- Alvari Award 2012
- Central Finland Marketing Deed Award 2011
7,600+
attendees
40+
nationalities
96%
recommend
40%
C-level or Chairman
For the Media
Resources for anyone interested in learning and writing about Nordic Business Forum