Cleaning company employee has to travel over 300 kilometers to get his driver's license - "Not driving for the benefit of the remote area"

Equestrian entrepreneur from Parikkala Ulla Kujanpää, 45, sits on a chair on the terrace during a busy day at work. A family of chickens is waddling in the yard out front.

Kujanpää has fulfilled several of her dreams, one of which was her own equestrian farm. She bought one in 2009 together with her sister. Now her sister's family lives on the same farm in their own house and Kujanpää's family in another. The sisters' mother has a holiday home on the shore.

Kujanpää, originally from Ostrobothnia, is a former journalist who moved to South Karelia to follow her husband's work. He is still employed.

– I started studying to become a riding instructor alongside my work as a journalist, but I never thought it would become my profession.

Later, the woman continued her studies to become a riding instructor, but even then she did not consider entrepreneurship a viable option.

– I had dreamed of being able to keep animals in my own home.

At the same time, Kujanpää's sister had been dreaming of moving away from the capital area. Soon, entrepreneurship began to feel like a good fit.

A flying start for a cleaning company

Peltola Horse Riding Farm organizes riding lessons and various camps. At the time of the interview, an optional animal care course for high school students was underway. For eight summers, the farm has organized a riding camp. According to Kujanpää, adult camps have grown in popularity in recent years. The farm currently has 17 horses, most of which have been purchased.

When the second child of Kujanpää's now six-person family was born in 2013, she decided to stay home to take care of the children and run the riding school full-time. Last March, she felt she could do something else. The solution was to start her own cleaning business.

– My mother has always been a cleaner. I thought there might be a demand for such a service in this country.

The entrepreneur investigated the demand and found that several sole proprietors in the area support themselves by cleaning. However, there were no larger employer companies.

That's what Kujanpää wants to grow with his company. Currently, the partners are his friend, his sister's husband and his sister's son. The sister herself works in the company.

Very soon after founding the company, Kujanpää noticed that there was a need for the service.

– Spring was really busy. Activities started even faster than we could have predicted.

There have been cleaning gigs at a nearby bakery and an auto parts store, among other places. Recently, Kujanpää applied for the company to be registered with the Social Security Administration (Soteri), after which it can offer VAT-free cleaning services as a support service for social services. The register also makes it possible to visit customers with impaired functional capacity.

– Access to the register enables us to gradually expand into a service voucher producer in the welfare area.

The authority's surprising decision

The cleaning company currently employs one employee four days a week. In addition, it uses two temporary workers.

In the case of an employee who moved from Thailand, the company encountered a changed practice by the authorities, which has caused a headache. An employee who has lived in Finland for a long time needs a driver's license for his work.

Kujanpää was completely surprised to learn that Traficom would no longer provide a remote interpreter for a foreign employee's driving school theory test.

– We found out that Traficom changed its practice last spring so that it is no longer possible to use a remote interpreter in the theory test.

According to the new rules, the interpreter in question must have a university or polytechnic-level degree. Previously, other interpreters could also be used in the theory test. This made it easier to find an interpreting service even in remote areas.

– Now all interpreters are practically in the capital area and don't want to travel all the way here to interpret, says the entrepreneur from Parikkala.

This has meant that the Kujanpää employee has to travel all the way to Helsinki for the theory test.

– You may have to take the test several times if you don't pass it. It can be quite expensive for the entrepreneur. I don't think this is in the best interest of developing a remote area. Here, a driver's license is mandatory in order to be able to work at all. There is no public transport, the entrepreneur points out. 

"The last few years have been difficult for the industry because all critical raw materials are tied to agriculture. It's getting harder and harder to get euros under the line."

Ulla Kujanpää, entrepreneur

The bank didn't believe in the idea

Kujanpää's goal is to expand his cleaning business to the surrounding area. For him, the cleaning business is a kind of "plan B".

– I would have been able to make ends meet financially with just a riding farm, but I want to plan ahead. If running a riding school becomes too difficult or unprofitable, I have something else ready.

Running a horse farm has become more difficult in recent years.

– The investments in this sector are really big. The cost structure is completely different than, for example, in the cleaning sector.

At one time, Kujanpää applied for a loan for the initial investments in his riding farm, but the bank did not believe in the idea in a remote area. Since then, the growth has been entirely financed by revenue. No loans have been taken out since then.

– The last few years have been difficult for the industry, because all critical raw materials are linked to agriculture. It is becoming more and more difficult to get euros under the line. Almost 10 percent of schools under the Finnish Equestrian Federation closed last year, Kujanpää says.

He is concerned about the future of the equestrian center in Parikkala.

– The location is challenging, because the population here is not growing at all. For example, half of the camping customers already come from elsewhere. The number of potential customers is decreasing, especially in the winter season. I was afraid that the war in Ukraine would take away customers, but that didn't happen. However, now I feel that the general uncertainty is showing. Those customers who used to ride several times a week have reduced their purchases and are considering carefully where they put their money.

The new Animal Welfare Act has brought more requirements to farms and thus new money holes. Whereas it used to be enough to take melt water out to the animals frequently enough in the winter, now it must be available all the time. For this reason, Kujanpää has also invested in heated water containers on his farm. The space requirements have become stricter, so that the pens must be dry in all weathers.

Kujanpää has not lost faith in rural entrepreneurship.

– I see the future as positive in the sense that we have a lot of good things. We should know how to productize it even better and export it to the world. The heat and fires in Europe make people miss what we have here, namely space, coolness, clean water and nature.

– As an Ostrobothnian, I have the attitude that you shouldn't give up and that you can succeed by trying. Maybe I also want to set an example to others in some way, that you should dare to think positively and boldly and not be afraid to expand your company. My goal is to employ ten people in five years, the entrepreneur continues.