Intero Integration
- Service: Relocation and integration services
- Year of establishment: 2023
- Mission: Provide individual integration support for employees relocating to Finland and promote their active participation and integration into Finnish society.
Marii’s inspiration for entrepreneurship came from her own experiences in moving abroad. When Marii was living in New Zealand and California, she enjoyed the relocation process so much that she started helping other international families settle in the new country. She realised that this was a great help to the people, and her passion for helping others began to take on a new form. Could this be turned into a business?
After her years in New Zealand, Marii moved to Estonia and then to Finland, where her business idea started to take form. Planning entrepreneurship was, however, like a huge puzzle: she had a great deal of inspiration, but clarifying the business idea, doing the profitability calculations and creating networks in a new country was challenging. Marii sought out the services of Business Helsinki, and the puzzle pieces began to fall into place.
The business advisory, trainings and material bank by Business Helsinki helped Marii find more clarity for her business operations. She also utilised the services of the Spouse Program of International House Helsinki and took part in the Kiuas Accelerator and The Shortcut program.
“Help from Business Helsinki’s business advisors was crucial in starting my entrepreneurship. They helped me clarify my business idea and expand my network quickly. Launching my entrepreneurship would have taken much longer without their support. It was important to have someone to ask questions from and get the right information at the right time.”
Based on Marii's own experiences and passion, she created Intero Integration, a company which helps employees moving to Finland to settle and integrate in Finland through individual, holistic support.
Marii states that companies can be built alone to a certain point, but growth requires a team. She looked for a second founding member for a long time, and finally found a great business partner through LinkedIn last autumn. Now, her team has grown to four people, the company’s customer base is growing quickly, and she has established several strategic partnerships with HR agencies. As for the future, she is planning the launch of a new service and a potential expansion of her business to the international market – a natural direction for an entrepreneur whose adventurous spirit, experience and networks already expand beyond geographical borders.