Becoming an entrepreneur by buying a business
Tuningkauppa imports and sells accessories for cars and vans, and has grown and expanded in many ways since the acquisition.
Tuomo Kirjonen and Marko Jokinen met when they working together. Before the acquisition, the two had already been thinking about entrepreneurship for some time. They spent their lunch breaks browsing for businesses that were up for sale. Located in Alavus, Tuningkauppa was finally found through a tip from a business broker.
After that, everything happened quickly, and it was less than four months before the company was in business.
“My enthusiasm for entrepreneurship grew gradually. I had the feeling all my old jobs as a financial manager had always been very similar, regardless of the company. Going into business began to cross my mind when I realised that I could very likely go back to my old job if entrepreneurship didn’t take off for one reason or another,” Tuomo says.
Marko’s thought process was quite similar:
“I’d worked in sales for a long time, and my clients were entrepreneurs. I had long been thinking that that’s where I should be too, on the other side of that desk. I got to meet a lot of businesspeople from all over Finland, both very successful and less successful ones.
A textbook example of a business acquisition
The final push to become an entrepreneur was ultimately very quick, and the coronavirus pandemic that hit Finland at the same time put its own spin on things. But in the case of Tuningkauppa, the effect was positive: as the world went quiet with lockdowns and other measures, there was increased interest in cars, and so online sales picked up.
The external help the company received also provided the new entrepreneurs with added certainty. The New Enterprise Agency played an important role in this process. As this was a business acquisition, the men not only struggled with the calculations but also with practical questions such as the value of the company to be bought, and whether to buy a limited company or the business operations.
“We were looking for signs that we had got things right. The New Enterprise Agency was also a good help for us, as we’re not originally from the area. We learned much about which things should be addressed to which contacts,” Tuomo says.
Business advisor Ari Loukasmäki of the Neuvoa-antava New Enterprise Agency in South Ostrobothnia says the company and its entrepreneurs are fine examples of a successful acquisition.
“The entrepreneurs had a good background for this venture, and the company they were buying had everything they were looking for. They’ve been really determined since then, and the company has developed a lot: the product range has expanded, sales have increased and inventory management has improved the company’s sales margin.”
Growth from a neighboring country
The company plans to expand in a few different ways in the future. For one thing, the current premises are too small. New, company-owned premises are under construction in Seinäjoki, and will be completed during the winter of 2023–4. In addition, an online store targeting the Swedish market has recently been launched.
“We started with a small-scale online store experiment that was inherited from the previous owner, but we decided to close it and start a new one from scratch. It has started off really well, as the Swedish market has a lot of potential despite there being more competition. We’ve spent a lot of time on this, and business has been brisk so far,” Tuomo says.
