Press Release September 5, 2006: 16.00 EET
Finland’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Mauri Pekkarinen, today unveiled an Entrepreneur Monument in Narinkka Square in Helsinki outside the city’s new Kamppi Shopping Centre.
The monument is the outcome of a 10-year project, and the unveiling was the centrepiece of Finland’s tenth Finnish Entrepreneurship Day, broadcast live to nearly 200 entrepreneur events around the country.
The monument has been designed by Eva Löfdahl, a renowned Swedish sculptor, who won an international competition organised by the Entrepreneur Monument Foundation.
The approximately six-metre-high and four-metre-wide design takes the form of a transparent aluminium meshwork frame comprising 1,100 individual components housing a black stone at its core, created by sculptor Pertti Kukkonen. The crystal-like structure of its geometry is based on what is known as Penrose tiling.
The stone at the heart of the monument symbolises the determination that underpins entrepreneurship and the solid foundation needed for any business to succeed. The meshwork frame surrounding it highlights the importance of transparency, the links businesses have with their customers and surrounding society, and the role networking plays at home and abroad.
The monument was officially handed over to the City of Helsinki and the Mayor, Jussi Pajunen, by the Chairman of the Entrepreneur Monument Foundation, Jaakko Numminen – and will be added to the collections of the Helsinki Art Museum.
The keynote speakers at this year’s Finnish Entrepreneurship Day were the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, Christoffer Taxell, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, Eero Lehti, and Riitta Antinmäki, on behalf of the Entrepreneur Monument Foundation.
The monument has been sponsored by the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, and the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners, together with others including the Kesko Group and K-retailers, Nokia, the Tapiola Group, Helsingin Kamppi Center Oy, the Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, the Fennia Group, the Private Entrepreneurs Foundation, and the Centennial Fund of Technology Industries of Finland.
For further information, please contact Riitta Antinmäki of the Entrepreneur Monument Foundation on +358 500 311 711 or the Vice Chairman of the Entrepreneur Monument Foundation, Erkki Heikkinen, on +358 500 615 548.