You’ve Got a (work)Friend in Me

Work and friendship — do they really mix? Absolutely! Many success stories have been born from shared dreams between friends, and plenty of lifelong friendships have started in the workplace. These entrepreneurs from Oulu prove that work friends can help you reach goals you’d never achieve alone! They share how their friendship and business ventures began, and how they continue to strengthen each other.

“A friend is always there to support you.”

Whatevergroup's Antti Kairakari (left), Naida Valencia, Aleksi Puranen, Antti Kaarlela, and Pia Ervasti at the premiere of Korvessa Kulkevi in Oulu.

Antti Kaarlela and Antti Kairakari founded the production company Whatevergroup in 2011. Since then, they’ve created content for BBC, Yle, Elisa Viihde, and MTV, among others.

For the founders of Whatevergroup, art has always been close to their hearts. Kaarlela is currently completing his master’s degree in cultural anthropology at the University of Oulu, while Kairakari graduated as a dance teacher from Oulu University of Applied Sciences. The two first met in 2002 while performing in a summer theater production at Toppilan Möljä. Over the years, they worked on more plays together, grew close, and gradually became intrigued by TV production.

"We realized that TV reaches a much larger audience than theater. Plus, when we heard how much people were getting paid for making videos, I bought an editing program and started learning how to use it through YouTube", Kairakari laughs. "That’s how we started shifting toward TV."

As new video projects rolled in, the duo soon needed to register their own business.

"Working as a freelancer is already quite entrepreneurial by nature, so starting a company felt like an easy step. It made sense — being entrepreneurs meant we could spend half our time on commercial projects and the other half freely creating art!" Kaarlela adds.

In 13 years, Whatevergroup has grown into the largest production company in the Arctic region specializing in fictional TV content. Right now, Kaarlela and Kairakari have multiple productions in the works, with plots ranging from an ice skater stranded on an ice floe to a shepherd trying to save the world from the sinister plans of the Swedes. A key reason for their success? A passionate team that loves what they do.

"The best thing about this job is the variety and the freedom to follow your passion", Kaarlela says. "It’s great to know that a friend is always there to support you. When things get tough, there’s someone to call. I wouldn’t have lasted 13 years as an entrepreneur otherwise."

"Others also give you perspective — it’s easier to see the big picture when celebrating wins and facing losses together", Kairakari adds. "The best part of all this are the people and the joy of creating something together!"

"It's always a pleasure to go to work!"

Iina Kuvaja (left) and Molla Jelkänen are the entrepreneurs behind Arkivé Atelier, a company specializing in garment care. Iina is also an entrepreneur at the fashion boutique Muoti Privaatti.

"I don’t have employees — I have work friends.”

These are the words of Iina Kuvaja, an entrepreneur at Muoti Privaatti, a fashion boutique in the heart of Oulu. The store has been offering high-quality designer fashion for women of all ages since 1993, both in its brick-and-mortar location and online. For the past five years, Iina has been steering the company, which currently consists of a team of five experts.

“We have an absolutely wonderful team. It’s always a pleasure to go to work! I never would have believed that was even possible”, Iina shares.

Last spring, her team expanded further when she stepped into a new role as co-owner and CEO of Arkivé Atelier, a company specializing in garment care.

Through a previous project, Iina crossed paths with Molla Jelkänen. The two decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship together, officially joining forces at Arkivé Atelier.

“I felt that Arkivé Atelier had such a great story and so much potential — especially as garment care is becoming increasingly important. Since we had already collaborated successfully, stepping into Arkivé together was a natural next step. Molla and I are in touch daily”, Iina says. “Mutual trust and bouncing ideas off each other are incredibly important.”

Arkivé Atelier operates an online store along with physical locations in Oulu and in Kamppi Helsinki. Besides the two entrepreneurs, the company now has a six-person team. Iina is particularly excited about the new Helsinki location.

“We were originally just looking for a small storage space in Helsinki, but suddenly we were offered an amazing shop-in-shop opportunity inside the Japanese MUJI store that is taking up an entire floor in Kamppi’s fourth level!” she says. “Sometimes we don’t even realize how much we’ve accomplished.”

Iina firmly believes the best days for her businesses are still ahead. Her biggest goals now are international expansion and forging new partnerships.

“To put it lightly, we’re setting out to take Arkivé to the world. With this team, anything is possible!”

“The job gets done!”

Olli Saukko (left) and Konsta Lohilahti run the KoolSiivous company together.

Oulu is also home to many student entrepreneurs, like Konsta Lohilahti and Olli Saukko. Konsta, an architecture student at the University of Oulu, and Olli, who studies information and communication technology at a University of Applied Sciences, founded their cleaning service company, KoolSiivous, in 2023. The company provides cleaning services for households, businesses, and housing associations in Oulu and the surrounding areas.

They first met at a mutual friend’s bachelor party. Just a few weeks later, they had a business up and running.

"At the party we started talking about what we could do alongside our studies, and the idea of entrepreneurship instantly caught our interest. We wanted to get hands-on experience and grow as entrepreneurs", Konsta explains. "And right away, Olli seemed like the kind of guy who’d make sure the job gets done!"

"A cleaning business was easy to start since there were minimal upfront costs, and we could improve our skills on the go without formal industry training", Olli adds.

Neither of them had prior experience running a company, but working together made those early days much easier.

"There was a lot of research and paperwork in the beginning. Konsta is the more book-smart one, so he was a huge help there. We naturally found roles that played to our strengths," Olli shares.

They also found support beyond their own efforts. Oulu hosts plenty of startup events, where Konsta and Olli connected with like-minded entrepreneurs and gained valuable insights. On top of that, both had entrepreneurs in their personal networks who were happy to give advice when needed. All of this helped the pair develop their business skills and now, their company practically runs itself.

"We work three evenings a week, plus occasional moving-related cleanings. We’ve also hired a third student, and our goal is to create more part-time job opportunities for students!" Konsta says.