KIRAHub and Herizon are working for the same goals in their own way. On day one of our collaboration, we want to tell you our story and how we plan to increase diversity, develop innovation capabilities and enable international growth.
BUT first, some important information so you know what is happening in the Finnish society.
1. Discrimination, deliberate or unintentional, has a significant impact on mental and physical health worldwide. It can limit people’s access to healthcare, increase rates of ill health, and lower life expectancy.
2. Immigrants face disadvantages: Lack of recognition of education or work experience acquired abroad. Lack of contacts and opportunities to gain work experience in Finland. Lack of knowledge of the Finnish labour market and employee’s right.
3. There is no data about non-binary people in the tech and construction industry.
- The employment rate (June 2021) of immigrant women (56%) was much lower than Finnish women (73%).
- 27.5 per cent of immigrants living permanently in Finland were unemployed, compared to a total unemployment rate of just 7.1 per cent in July.
- In Finland, only about one-fifth of employees in the technology sector are women and less than 15% of employees in the construction sector are women (Tilastokeskus 2020).
Kira Hub and Herizon are ganging up to change this narrative and transform the tech and the construction industry.
Society means the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. A community is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. Construction is a vital industry, creating buildings and spaces that connect communities, provide jobs, and improve society.
HERIZON.io
We are a non-profit organization focused on empowering immigrant women and non-binary people in the tech industry through our growth hacking internship program. Growth hacking is a highly valued skill in the most successful start-ups.
94% hire rate after Herizon internship program, 101 trained individuals, +50 tech start-ups
We take no placement fee. We take no success fee. We are happy knowing another woman is successful in tech.
Our goal is simple, train 100,000 women and non-binary people.
”Women don’t belong in tech said my elementary school teacher when I wanted to stay in the class, playing on the computer while others went to have a break.” By Mari Lukkainen, Herizon founder
We don’t believe that. Women do belong in tech. AND WOMEN DO BELONG IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY.
Mari Luukkainen is Herizon’s founder and creator of our growth hacking method. Her biggest passion is to help others succeed in life. She started this journey at Freska as Head of Growth during which the company grew from 700k€ annual recurring revenue to over 13M€. More important: they were able to offer work for over 800 cleaners from 60+ different countries in Finland, Norway and Sweden. In 2018, she joined VC Icebreaker as head of growth, nowadays Principal, to make an even more significant impact: make 20 Freskas instead of 1 and provide 20 x 800 jobs for people who need them. This is how Herizon started.
Mari created a program to help start-up founders focus on testing things systematically to find out what works for them and what doesn’t. Her solution: train people and enable them to become growth hackers, make a career in tech and impact start-ups. Our focus is immigrant women. Immigrant women are the answer to early-stage startup’s go-to-market dilemma. Immigrant women have hidden superpowers every tech startup needs.
A win-win situation for everyone involved. This is what we call strategic growth hacking.
Watch KIRAHub “Urbaanit visionäärit” interview with Mari (in Finnish)
The KIRAHub and Herizon partnership
The construction industry is valued at approximately €68 billion (annual turnover) , and Kira Hub has 1425 companies in the ecosystem. The potential to multiply new job opportunities is the sky. We want to make sure that the development of the industry goes in hand with diversity, inclusion and equity for women and minorities.
In Finland, only about one-fifth of employees in the technology sector are women and less than 15% of employees in the construction sector are women (Tilastokeskus 2020)
Our first intern starts on 1.9.2022, she will be the game changer. There is a lot of responsibility on her shoulders, BUT our dear Maryam can handle it. And of course, she has the full support of the Herizon community and the leaders of KIRAHub. Together we will make a true impact on upcoming interns, start-ups and Finland.
Interns acquire valuable and competitive tech skills; they get that jump-start opportunity and the support network they are missing. And more important, a sense of purpose and belonging.
Start-ups embed the growth mindset into their operations, they enrich the company culture and diversity, as well as their problem-solving and innovation capabilities. All these sumps up into a higher turnover and investment potential.
Greater diversity in society and working life will make Finland more attractive to international talent and investors; which enables the growth and internationalisation of companies and other organisations. All of these increases the perception of safety and security in Finland.
We will keep you posted on how our collaboration is evolving and upcoming events.
For growth,
The Herizon team
Ask us more about collaboration opportunities!
