PBI gets non-stop flights from Montreal, Canada

The Palm Beach International Airport welcomed the inaugural Air Canada nonstop flight from Montreal, Canada this week. Air Canada is flying an Airbus 319, with 120 passengers on its weekly Sunday service to and from Montreal and Palm Beach International Airport. This is the first non-stop flight from Montreal to The Palm Beaches. The flight will depart Montreal on Sundays at 4:30 pm and touchdown in West Palm Beach at 7:50 pm. The return flight will leave Palm Beach International Airport at 8:45 pm and arrive the next day in Montreal at 12:10 am.
Read more here.

New Census Data 2010

The United States has released its new Census data for 2010. The population change for the whole country went up +9.7% and was as per Apri 1, 2010 a whopping 308,745,538 people.
Florida's population growth was even higher and it increased by +17.6% putting Florida on the 10th place on population density by state with its 18,801,310 people.
You may read more about this date here.

ATM that dispenses gold

Boca Raton mall unveiled ATM that dispenses gold. Is the purpose to start exchanging gold in stead of dollars or is it just a great gift idea instead of those gift cards that can get lost you would give a ton of gold!

The gold ATM is made by a German company called Gold on the Go, which had its first machine operational in Abu Dhabi this year, and has had its gold vending machines operating in Germany, Italy and Spain. The one in Boca Raton will be the company's first in America.

You may read more about it here.

Member of the Year 2010 announced

Mr. Timo Vainionpaa with USAsuomeksi.com was given a Member of the Year 2010, plague. Timo has been a vital asset to our organization with his willingness to help in so many different ways and always with great attitude. Not only does he give help when asked but he also takes the initiative and brings suggestions to the table. This is the only way an organization such as our can move forward and create value to our members.
Thank you Timo for your contribution and we look forward of working with you in 2011!!

Palm Beach counties mixed picture in commercial real estate

Investors are snapping up shopping centers and apartment complexes but shunning offices. That’s according to LoopNet’s analysis of investment in commercial real estate in Palm Beach County for the 12 months ended Sept. 30.

LoopNet tracks institutional-grade deals of $2.5 million or more. Its findings:

Sales of retail properties soared to $295 million in the past year from $47 million a year ago. Capitalization rates rose to 7.8 percent from 7.4 percent last year. (The “cap rate” is a common valuation measure for commercial real estate. The higher the rate, the less optimistic investors are.)
Apartment sales rose to $425 million from $134 million. Price per unit soared to $138,234 from $76,856 a year ago, while cap rates fell to 5.6 percent from 6.5 percent.
Office sales fell to $90 million this year from $186 million a year ago. Prices per square foot plunged to $108 from $185, while office cap rates jumped to 9.6 percent from 8 percent.

By Jeff Ostrowski
Source: Palm Beach Post

Finns visit Lake Worth in an effort to strengthen Sister City ties

Finns visit Lake Worth in an effort to strengthen Sister City ties

Finns to the left, Finns to the right as Lake Worth fetes visitors from its Finnish sister city

Finns to the left, Finns to the right as Lake Worth fetes visitors from its Finnish sister city

Finnair to Codeshare on American Airlines' New Chicago-Helsinki Route

American will begin operating its new Chicago- Helsinki route in April, 2011, the flight will depart Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) at 3:30p.m. and arrive at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (HEL) at 8:30a.m. the next day. The flight from HEL back to ORD will depart at 2:p.m., arriving at ORD at 3:20p.m.. This flight will give more flight options not only to the West coast but also to the MidWest and East coast.

http://www.airlinesanddestinations.com/airlines/finnair-to-codeshare-on-american-airlines-new-chicago-helsinki-route/

Shipbuilder STX Finland to Slash Hundreds of Jobs

Shipbuilder STX Finland to Slash Hundreds of Jobs

Finland did it again: The Best Education

Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA) has released the second edition of its Global Higher Education Rankings of Affordability and Accessibility. Using the same approach as its groundbreaking 2005 international comparative study, which used a composite of six different measures of affordability and four of accessibility, the results show unambiguously that Finland has both the most affordable and accessible system of higher education in the world.
"Finland's results are very good across the board," said HESA President Alex Usher, who was also the report's lead author. "They have reasonable education costs, a strong and generous system of both loans and grants, high participation rates and an egalitarian student intake. From a student perspective, there is a lot to like there."

Source: http://www.ireg-observatory.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=103&Itemid=1

The full report can be accessed at http://higheredstrategy.com/publications/GHER2010_FINAL.pdf

Suggested design for Lake Worth casino rehab

Lake Worth is moving forward with its $6 million dollar, 25,419 square feet, eco-friendly casino plan in hopes of luring more business activities to the beach area.
Read more about this project below.

Suggested design for Lake Worth casino rehab blends traditional architecture, Earth-friendly features

HELP WANTED: Membership secretary

We are currently looking for a enthusiastic membership secretary to join the board. This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to get involved of making FACC-FL grow and find new ways to help our business community.

Duties include:
- keeping track of our member files
- sending out renewal reminders
- participating in board meetings
- other tasks as need be

We are looking for a fun loving, energetic person, who can share our vision of FACC-FL being a major contributor for the well being of our business community.

Please contact us if you are interested or if you know of someone who might be a good candidate.
info@facc-fl.com
or call 561 460 2735/Lena

Finland, the Best Country to Live

A Newsweek study of health, education, economy and politics ranks the world’s best countries to live. Despite it’s long, dark and cold winter, FINLAND was ranked the highest overall, the best small country, the best high-income country, and the best country for education.

More about the study at
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/15/interactive-infographic-of-the-worlds-best-countries.html

Join us in our November event to discover what we can learn from each other (see previous post).

Multinational Trade & Cultural Fair

FACC-Florida is organizing a grand Multinational Trade & Cultural Fair together with Lake Worth Sister City committee, British-American Business Council, The Centre for International Mobility, CIMO (student exchange program).

City Mayors from Lake Worth Sister Cities in Finland and Great Britain will be joining us, sharing past experiences and discussing future opportunities, especially in the Green Energy field.

Lecture/Discussion about utilizing international student exchange programs such as The Centre for International Mobility, CIMO and learning how local business can benefit from these `free to employers` programs.

November 12, a fabulous concert at L.W. Playhouse featuring two worldclass tenors Reijo Ikonen and Lasse Riutamaa, `Tenorissimo` from Finland. You may find a sample preview at YouTube by searching `Tenorissimo`.

Sponsorships available for all of these events!!
If you want to get involved in organizing these events, let us know.

More member benefits by joining forces with ABiCC

FACC- Florida recently joined Association of Bi-National Chamber of Commerce in Florida (ABiCC) to join our common effort of building stronger international relationships and creating business opportunities for our members. 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. This creates a new opportunity for our members to participate events organized by ABiCC, advertising in their Newsletter/ Publication,which comes out 2 times a year. 2.000 copies are printed in full color, and is distributed among the chambers to their members as well during ABICC annual Gala Dinner, that will take place in the beginning of October 2010.
Visit their website and see how else you can benefit from this http://www.abicc.org/index.htm

Job opportunity at ALMACO Inc.in Boca Raton, FL

Position
Purchaser /Spares Admin (TBD)

Reporting to
General Manager, Service Division

Key result responsibilities / objectives
Service Division “order to delivery” in the US

Specific responsibilities

Contact person for Spare Part Customers/Vendors for
Source spare parts, equipment
Customer PO handling & order confirmation
Supplier POs
Vendor delivery dates control
Customer Deliveries follow-up
Co-ordinating Logistics/Invoicing within Service Division
Internal invoicing
Other responsibilities
Participating in Service Division products development, sourcing and logistics

Competencies required
Basic purchasing and logistic skills
Communication and cooperation skills
Ability to organize and prioritize ongoing multiple tasks
Knowledge of company quality system and processes
Fluent spoken and written English (Finnish/French a +)

Participates in following regular company meetings
Service Division team meeting
Staff meeting

Contact:
Ines Rantanen
Manager, Human Resources
ALMACO Group, Inc.
7900 Glades Road, Suite 630
Boca Raton, FL 33434
Phone +1 561 558 1618
Fax : + 1-877-831-6156
Mobile USA +1 561 310 8143
Mobile EUR +358 400 582 949
www.almaco.cc

Business Opportunities

FACC, Florida was approach by two Finnish companies wanting to establish their presence in the USA.

1. Construction/Green Tech corporation with successful and innovative product line looking for partner with extensive network and industry experience in Florida.

2. Textile corporation looking for representatives/partners to represent their bedding product line designed by Finnish artist Soile Yli-Mäyry and fashion editor Rauni Palonen

Please contact the chapter for further information at info@facc-fl.com

Lake Worth moving towards solar power

Lake Worth´s power supply agreement will expire in 2014. The city has already set its eyes on more energy efficient alternatives such as solar power. The city is estimating $11 million annual savings and reduce power bills by at least 15 percent for its 25,000 customers.

FACC National Annual Meeting in DC

This was our first time participating in the National meeting and we found it very beneficial to meet with other chapter members and share ideas, best practice and future challenges together.
We received well prepared remarks from the economic situation in FInland by Heikki Malinen, Chairman of the Board for AmCham via video conference in Embassy library. Unfortunately due the resent flight chaos in Europe (due the volcano ash) he was not able to participate in person as planned. Mr Malinen also updated us on the opportunities the new merger will give us, followed by lively discussion around the subject.
However, Kristiina Helenius Managing Director and Amexandra Pasternak, Program Manager both from AmCham were able to join us for dinner.

We welcome the opportunity to broaden our network across the Atlantic. We are committed to build much stronger FACC that can create alliance between many new business partners and create prosperity for all participants.
Please join us in this effort. We look forward of hearing from you how we can best serve our members in this ever changing economy.

FACC-Florida to DC

FACC- Florida will meet with all other Finnish American Chamber of Commerce, the Finnish American Business Guild and the Canadian Finnish Chamber of Commerce presidents and boar members in joined discussion on the status of the economic and trade relations between the U.S. and Finland. Also the recent merger between FACC and AmCham Finland will be discussed. The Chairman of the Board for AmCham Finland, Heikki Malinen will join the conversation.
Continuing with dinner at the Ambassadors residence.

FACC merges with AmCham

The historic 62 year-old Finnish American Chamber of Commerce (FACC) merges with five year-old The American Chamber of Commerce in Finland (AmCham.)

We are very excited to combine our shared passion in enhancing business opportunities between Finland and the United States. With the merger we can leverage our networking tools across the Atlantic.

We are all very excited and eagerly looking into our shared future.

Welcome aboard AmCham!