Finland needs rethinking
and bigger risk-bearing capacity With almost a lifelong experience of economy issues - as head of department at Bank of Finland, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance, Secretary-General of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London as well as CEO at Nordic Investment Bank – it is no exaggeration to say that Johnny Åkerholm knows what he is talking about when he analyses the Finnish economy and predicts the development after one year in the throes of a pandemic. Text: Anna Sand • Picture: Anna Sand
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he pandemic has, like for everyone else, affected also Johnny Åkerholm’s life the past year. Since he retired in 2012, he usually splits his time between his home in the capital city, the apartment in Vaasa and the commissions of trust he has here as well as the summer cottage in the Petsmo archipelago in Mustasaari. Furthermore – during normal circumstances – he also likes to travel regularly. – We have spent most part of the past year in Ostrobothnia, due to understandable reasons, Åkerholm tells us. He describes the pandemic as ”an unexpected disturbance”. – It has affected industries normally quite unresponsive to disturbances, which has been unique in itself. The most important lesson is that we never can control and plan everything and that we need to be prepared also for improbabilities, both businesswise and economically, Åkerholm says. But. The problems we have in Finland and that are the reason behind the financial numbers we now see, were there already before, and for them the pandemic cannot be blamed. Johnny Åkerholm, born in Mustasaari, splits his time between Helsinki, Vaasa and the summer cottage in Petsmo. For the future and solving the structural problems Finland has today he suggests education and research, innovators and entrepreneurs with bigger private risk-bearing capacity.
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