Entrepreneur Jari Ignatius studied the ins and outs of international business on the Launch Pad training programme. The Launch Pad coaching concept is targeted at growth companies which have global markets for their competence and products.
Jari Ignatius is completing a marketing and technology research project to evaluate the commercial potential for a wireless data communications technology developed around the year 2000. He has great confidence in iBurst, which challenges technologies such as 3G and WiMAX.
The major strengths of iBurst are its transfer speed and mobility, which help to make everyday data communications over the Internet easier. Wherever you happen to be, your laptop or other terminal device will connect at the same speed as your workstation at home. iBurst is also efficient. Transfer rates with 3G vary considerably but with iBurst the speed remains the same, resulting in a better user experience.
The technology is stable and the security is effective, so iBurst is also ideal for use in monitoring and control work by the defence forces and marine and other authorities.
Jari Ignatius has many years of experience in building corporate IT infrastructures. When IT-Maja established contacts with the iBurst community it was turning its attention to new business opportunities. To reinforce his business skills Jari Ignatius joined the Launch Pad training programme, which is organized by the University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä Polytechnic and Jyväskylä Innovation Oy. The coaching is targeted at high-tech start-up companies, and at research groups with a research-based business idea, in the Jyväskylä Region.
The programme gave me valuable information about marketing and other aspects of international operations. The course was demanding and well integrated. In many cases I was able to put the theoretical knowledge into practice the following week. As an added benefit the programme was in English, which helped me to deal with correspondence with foreign companies, Ignatius states.
The Launch Pad programme includes seven separate modules consisting of lectures by experts and company-specific coaching sessions. At the end of the training programme the entrepreneurs give a presentation on their own business and products to representatives of finance providers.
Finnish companies have to turn their attention to foreign markets at a very early stage because the domestic markets are so small. Going international not only costs money but also requires that the company embraces different cultures, languages and business practices, explains Arto Ojala, Project Manager at the University of Jyväskylä, who coordinated the Launch Pad programmes.
He goes on to say that the training has helped many entrepreneurs to find new groups of customers and realise how to present their products added value to the customer. After participating in the programme entrepreneurs are more prepared to tell different target groups such as technical people, customers, and business people about their products.
Jyväskylä Polytechnic will be responsible for organizing the Launch Pad training programme in the future. It also organizes Supercoaching courses intended for people involved in corporate coaching. An intensive course held last spring also attracted participants from Russia and Singapore.
Matti Hirsilä, Training Manager for the International Business programme, says that Jyväskylä Polytechnic aims to establish a national corporate coaching model. Coaching for entrepreneurs is an issue of national importance and so we are seeking to establish this model throughout Finland. This is a good, effective concept. An added bonus here in Central Finland has been that students were also integrated into the training, so entrepreneurs and students could develop together.
Photo: Jari Ignatius is studying the commercial potential for iBurst wireless data communications technology in Finland and abroad. He enhanced his international business skills on the Launch Pad training programme.
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A coaching programme intended for high-tech entrepreneurs developed by Sharon Ballard of the United States; she has extensive experience of several high-tech companies including Motorola, Reticular Systems and LINKABIT. She has many years experience as a business consultant and also provides expert input to the Jyväskylä courses.
The other trainers also have considerable experience of international high-tech business operations, business consulting and entrepreneurship.
The programme covers the most important competence areas needed in business operations. The Jyväskylä training programme was launched on the initiative of development company Jyväskylä Innovation Oy. This company has also provided finance and organized five Supercoaching courses.
In Jyväskylä more than 30 companies or research groups and 4050 students have taken part in the Launch Pad courses.
7080 representatives of finance providers, development companies and corporate incubators as well as business consultants have taken part in the Supercoaching courses.
By Pia Tervoja Photo by Petteri Kivimäki