Mix & Mingle Networking event

Finnish American Chamber organized their first joint networking event together with The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce Fort Lauderdale & Palm Beach.

Event was held at the Wine Dive at West Palm Beach which was perfect place for our event of 50 people. Presidents of The FACC and SACC gave a little speech and then it was time for mingling.

This event was great opportunity to reach out a larger Scandinavian population in south Florida and create new business contacts.

SACC's president Peter Hult & FACC's president Lena Hartikainen

LINKEDIN Your Secret Weapon for Business

Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce attended a Tech Forum: LinkedIn, Your Secret Weapon for Business -Learn how to harness the most powerful social media for business success! organized by The Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce.
Four different panelist shared advises, how to use social media and especially LinkedIn in the most efficient way.
One of the speakers Debbie Wemyss, Independent LinkedIn Specialist DW Consulting Solutions encouraged all to join the LinkedIn and complete the profile to the All Star level to get most out of LinkedIn. Debbie Wemyss highlighted the importance of endorsements which is an excellent way to show your know-how. Debbie advised to give endorsements to your contacts, that way you will receive those too!
LinkedIn is a great tool to get contacted with people in different businesses, you are not only contacted with your first contacts but the second and third level as well. Your network can be over a million people!

Finnish Game Industry would also be an opportunity for US publishers

The Finnish game industry is a true success story and keeps growing rapidly. Titles like Angry Birds, Clash of Clans, Alan Wake and Trials have sold phenomenally and are constantly followed by new game companies and great products.

Finland has become an interesting opportunity for many international gaming companies and game know-how has also started attract International publishers to Finland. Good news from Finland published recently an article telling about the European-Japanese Playground Publishing seeking growth by expanding to Finland.

— Finland is currently one of the most interesting places in the international game scene, says Maarten Noyons, CEO of Playground.

According to Wilhelm Taht, Chief Operating Officer of Playground the reason for successful Finnish game developers are:  

1) Great technical knowledge

The educational infrastructure around engineering is amazing and Finns love computers and mobile phones. 

2) Public funding

Public funding has traditionally been geared towards building things as opposed to promoting things. This makes a great set-up for a strong developer scene. 

3) Strong demo scene

There is an abundance of talent that arises from this buzzing scene combining audio and moving images.

4) Nokia’s demise and its great Bridge programme

A great deal of strong technical knowledge is available in the market. This affects not only game development but also the tech entrepreneur scene in general. 

5) Change in mentality towards entrepreneurship

It’s now OK and ‘cool’ to have your own company and be in charge of your own destiny.

6) Inflow of venture capital

Because of the games talent bred in Finland and the strong community element, Finland is one of the most interesting places to look at from a venture capital investment perspective. 

7) Inspiration – success breeds success

Rovio and Supercell have been amazing global phenomena. That doesn't mean that everyone can be as successful as them, but they are an amazing source of inspiration for entrepreneurs in this industry.

Hopefully US publishers would also find out these opportunities that Finnish gaming industry has to offer. We are just waiting for the news telling that American gaming industry companies are coming to Finland! 

Read the article about Playground Publishing here.

Brainstorming 5/30/2013

Board of Finnish American Chamber of Commerce, Florida gathered together for the annual Brainstorming meeting where events for the next twelve months were planned. The board has worked very hard in providing its member base relevant events networking opportunities and bringing in interesting speakers. 

The members are encourage to join us in organizing, sponsoring and executing these events to maximize your exposure to the business community.

Here is the preliminary plan:

• June                                 Networking event, possibly Bowling

• September                       Lecture about Obama Care         

• October                            Networking Event

• November                        Lecture with a Business theme – Technology/Life Science

• December                        Christmas party

• January 2014                   Welcome to Florida, Tervetuloa Floridaan

• February                          Lecture about Finnish Education (CIMO)

• March                              Lecture about Taxation/Immigration

• April                                 Palm Beach Strategic Forum

• May                                 ABICC Inauguration of the year 

Inauguration of the 13th ABICC World Business Month 2013

Finnish American Chamber of Commerce Florida attended Inauguration of the 13th ABICC World Business Month 2013 on Monday April 29th in Miami.
The event started with Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and followed by a Networking Reception.

Chamber of Commences around the world had prepared dishes from their countries and we got to taste specialties among the others from Ecuador, China, Nicaragua, Sweden, and India!

Swedish specialties, salmon tartar, blueberry cream and lingonberry drinks!

Delicious dishes from Chile

Night was filled with good food, nice talk and the India US Chamber of Commerce had organized Indian Folk Dance to perform for us!

What is ABICC? 
It is the cooperative association, or "umbrella" organization, for the bi-national chambers of commerce in Florida. ABiCC has approximately 40 member organizations, with a total membership of approximately 8,000 international business members located in Florida, constituting a major part of the international business community.

What is their mission? 
to promote foster, articulate, and advance the common interests of all bi-national chambers of commerce in Florida, to assist members of said bi-national chambers of commerce to develop business contacts in the overseas countries represented by such bi-national associations of commerce, to foster, promote and develop commercial relations and exchanges between the United States and such overseas countries.

As a member of FACC you are also a member of ABICC, hope you will attend this event next year with us!  

Find out more about ABICC.

FACC at Palm Beach Strategic Forum 2013

The third edition of the Palm Beach Strategic Forum was held on 8^th and 9^th April at Convention Center, West Palm Beach. A two-day event that brought together leading policy makers, business executives, entrepreneurs, government officials, and civic leaders to discuss strategies to accelerate growth in the economy and develop business opportunities. Participants from across Florida, the United States and the international community gathered to share their views about critical financial, economic, energy and global trade issues.

Finnish American Chamber of Commerce, Florida attended the forum together with Consul General, Ambassador Jukka Pietikainen from New York,. During the two days we were privileged to listen honorable speakers such as Diane Ablonczy, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs, Canada, E. Gerald Corrigan, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Chairman, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a delightful conversation between Governors Rick Perry, Texas and Rick Scott, Florida. The Chamber representatives, together with Jukka Pietikainen had also a possibility to meet privately with Prime Minster of Namibia, Hage Geingob and Governor Rick Scott. You may see a full list of distinguished speakers here.

Following the Forum, Finnish American Chamber of Commerce organized a reception in honor of Consul General, Jukka Pietikainen.  The event was focused on finding collaborative partners between Finland and Florida with special emphases in Life Science. We had a pleasure of hosting Dr. Matthias Haury, the new COO of Max Plank Florida Institute for Neuroscience, Dr. Bernadette Russell, Provost from Palm Beach State Collage, Michael Gregson, President and Founder of Life Science Technology HUB, Melody I,. Sanger, CEO of Drug Study Institute and many other FACC members and friends.

The event was sponsored by Optimus Consulting Group Inc, providing soft landing services to Finnish Companies in the United States and Polatsek, Counsellors-at-Law, providing Immigration and Naturalization services.

                 

G-Star School of the Arts for Film located at West Palm Beach, Florida, was named number one High School for Film in the World

Each year the Washington Post ranks the best high schools out of 37,000 high schools in the country.  In the just-released report G-Star, the largest Film, Acting and Television Production high school in the nation, had one of the highest advances in the rankings by jumping past 315 other top ranked schools.

Four years ago when Mrs. Kim Collins became Principal she implemented a new educational plan working with each department in the school and the school's administration.  In that four year period G-Star achieved full national accreditation from AdvancED, began a new International Baccalaureate World School Program, and installed a new Digital Media Career Path in 3-D animation and film.  Today G-Star is an "A" rated school that graduates 99% of its students with 97% going on to college.  This past semester 41% of G-Star students have a 3.5 Grade Point Average or above; and 21% have a 4.0 GPA or above.  In addition, the Raindance Film Festival, Europe's largest independent film festival, held in London, UK, named G-Star "The Number One High School for Film in the World".  Also during this time, G-Star built the largest motion picture sound stage in Florida where major film stars, celebrities, and corporate productions (NIKE, Rolex, Abercrombie & Fitch, etc.) work with their students as interns on their sets. 

  

The school is committed to helping young people improve their grades, promote a drug-free lifestyle, open doors to new skills, give them pride in their workmanship, keep them in school and focused on attaining a college education, and to encourage them to explore new career opportunities through the "hands-on" training and expertise they ultimately develop in writing, directing, producing and starring in TV programs and film making - and to help create a film and TV industry here in Palm Beach County for their future employment. Those G-Star students who have good grades and good behavior will receive real-world, hands-on experience working on the sets of multi-million dollar feature films, commercials, music videos and more.

The mission of G-Star is “to prepare and educate students to demonstrate mastery in the arts and academics, to achieve physical, social, emotional, and intellectual wellness and to implement career goals and strategies.”

More about G-Star School visit:

http://www.gstarschool.org/newsite/index.html