As a part of our Business Events Management unit, one of our tasks was to independently organise a business event in small groups. After a quick brainstorming session, our group decided to invite a guest speaker to our school – specifically a business person with insight into the world of entrepreneurship. We regard this a relevant topic when considering the supportive atmosphere HELBUS provides for its students interested in pursuing this career path. We contacted Hjallis Harkimo, whom we felt would be an intriguing choice for a speaker – and who to our joy accepted our proposal.

Even though the busy schedule posed some challenges in organising the event, our team managed to get everything successfully in order and before we knew it, the event day was at hand. Our fellow students filled the largest classroom available at the Marketing Institute, and welcomed Mr. Harkimo with their applause. After his speech, which ranged from his solo around-the-world sailing race to various business ventures, the audience eagerly posed additional questions to Mr. Harkimo, who took his time to answer each question before heading back to work as a current member of the Finnish Parliament.

All in all, the event was a resounding success. We fulfilled our team’s mission to provide our fellow students with the opportunity to hear from a prominent business leader, as was proven by the feedback we collected after the event. Mr. Harkimo was described, among other things, ‘an interesting story-teller’, and his speech ‘nourishing’ and ‘inspiring’. In addition, we learned many useful skills from all aspects of event management and look forward to applying them in our future careers.

Rita Väisänen
Eve Leppänen
Alexandra von Hertzen
Class of 2015