Ombrelo Kokkola 10 years!

This year marks a round 10 years since Ombrelo Kokkola was opened. Read some memories from a few ombrelolaiset about how they ended up working together under the shared umbrella.

Being an ombrelolainen is a privilege

When Ombrelo Kokkola started operating in 2013, speech therapist Heini Uusimäki was the office’s first ombrelolainen.

- In 2011 I was on parental leave and wondering how I could work a little, but still keep my youngest child at home. I started considering becoming self-employed, so I contacted Nina (von Schantz), with whom I had previously worked. Nina encouraged me, and I received great support for setting up my business and getting started.

Heini’s career as an entrepreneur began at Ombrelo in Vaasa, but after a couple of years her client work started to concentrate in the Kokkola area. It became clear that Ombrelo was needed in Kokkola as well, and office and consultation rooms were set up on Torikatu. In all Ombrelo locations from Raahe to Rauma, the aim has been to create the same cozy interior style. The colors are calm and pleasing to the eye. This was the case in Kokkola from the very beginning as well.

- I remember how wonderful it felt that the interior was beautiful and comfortable, and how it was considered an important part of preparing the premises. An Ombrelo umbrella was crafted on the wall from green felt carpet, and I thought it was just amazing! Back then and still today I’ve felt incredibly at home in Ombrelo’s premises, Heini says. 

- Even now, 10 years later, I often pause to gratefully enjoy the sound of the teapot bubbling and the workspaces where opening my computer for written work feels like a real privilege.

From incubator to entrepreneur

Heini did not have to wait long for colleagues. Minna Ala-Kopsala (Mimala Kuntoutus) and Elina Jokinen (Atlas Kuntoutus) found their way to Ombrelo. 

In 2013, Minna took part in a recruitment day at the University of Oulu, where companies in the speech therapy field presented their activities. The meeting with ombrelolaiset left a positive impression, and she returned to the idea later on.

- I visited Ombrelo in Kokkola to talk with Nina, and we quickly found a common wavelength. We agreed that I would start working right after my final internship in the summer of 2014. 

Elina’s story under the shared umbrella began with an Ombrelo promotional pen she had received from Heini Uusimäki.

- In the spring of 2014 I was thinking about what direction to take my career next. I had worked for several years in the public sector, but the idea of starting my own business was appealing. Along with my thoughts, I was twirling an Ombrelo pen in my hands and decided to Google what this Ombrelo actually is.

Elina became interested in the opportunity Ombrelo offered to work as an employee while at the same time preparing to start her own business in the company incubator. She started as an employee in the summer of 2014, and since 2018 she has been working under Ombrelo’s umbrella as an independent entrepreneur, just like Minna Ala-Kopsala.

- Without the business incubator and Ombrelo as a whole, it would probably have taken me longer to dare to become an entrepreneur, Elina reflects.

Ombrelo’s business incubator provides information and guidance on establishing a rehabilitation-sector company and starting business operations. It includes general information about entrepreneurship, but also sector-specific issues such as healthcare licensing practices and cooperation with Kela and the wellbeing services counties. The support continues alongside the everyday life of an entrepreneur. Practical advice is available whenever new issues and situations arise.

Valuable work and support in two languages

Ombrelo’s work community is bilingual, and everyone chooses their own working language. Within the team, each person speaks their own language – so if you ask a question in Finnish, you might get an answer in Swedish, or vice versa. For someone not used to this, it may sound a bit odd at first, but for the people at Ombrelo it’s a real asset. 

Ombrelo Kokkola’s first Swedish-speaking speech therapist was John Smedberg, who joined the team in 2016. His path to Ombrelo went through Turku.

“Nina gave a lecture at Åbo Akademi in Turku, and we heard what it’s like to work as an entrepreneur in Ostrobothnia. I became interested right away when I heard about the office in Kokkola. It’s the perfect location for me, since you can work both in the Kokkola and Jakobstad areas.” 

“Since 2016, when I started working at Ombrelo, Ombrelo Kokkola has grown a lot. We are now about 20 speech therapists, and we have moved to larger premises at Mannerheim Square.”

Sofia Lyttbacka, for her part, started as a speech therapist at Ombrelo in Vaasa, but after a couple of years wanted to move to Kokkola in the fall of 2019. For Sofia, the company’s values are important, including the principle that quality comes before quantity.

“The company’s values are important to me. At Ombrelo, we are encouraged to do thorough work, and there is an upper limit on the number of visits, which means the quality of therapy is emphasized.”

Sofia had heard a lot of good things about Ombrelo from her fellow students, and the impression she got of the employer has matched reality very well.

“As an employee at Ombrelo, I feel that my work is valued. There are opportunities to develop, for example through further training. In my work I experience a great deal of freedom, but at the same time I have access to a network and receive support from colleagues.” 

John also emphasizes the importance of the network, both within Ombrelo and with other colleagues working in the region. There is always someone you can turn to for advice.

“What has been very positive is that there has always been access to a network of colleagues. The sense of togetherness among us therapists is strong. It has always felt reassuring to know that answers or advice on most things you wonder about could be found with a phone call or a message to colleagues.”

Flexibility for different life situations

Word of Ombrelo’s individually adaptable work model had also reached speech therapist Päivi Harmaala. When Päivi was on parental leave in 2017 and thinking about how to combine work and family life, she contacted Ombrelo to inquire about job opportunities.

“The phone call ended with my being welcome to start work whenever it felt right and with the workload I myself wanted. This sounded almost too good to be true, but that’s exactly how it has turned out.”

Päivi appreciates the culture of flexibility that prevails at Ombrelo. As a mother of four, it has been easy for her to fit her work schedule around the rest of the family’s routines. She has been able to increase her workload at her own pace as the children have grown.

“In addition to flexibility, what fascinates me about Ombrelo is that people here genuinely care about the employee, and the atmosphere is exceptionally open and easygoing. The organization is small enough that we can discuss things together. Working under a shared ‘umbrella’ has felt like exactly the right choice!”

A positive, encouraging, and flexible reputation as an employer is one of the key factors for which Ombrelo is known. This had already been noted by Iina Karhukorpi as well, who received an unexpected contact while she was still living in Oulu.

“I was a student in the final stages of my studies and about to move to Kokkola to complete my final clinical internship in logopedics. I remember Nina phrased it something like, ‘We heard you’re a speech therapist and moving to Kokkola — would you be interested in work?’”

Iina says she wondered for a long time how Nina knew to contact her at just the right moment. Later, the story was revealed.

“Elina (Jokinen) had spotted my post in a local moms’ Facebook group, where I was asking about hobby opportunities for children in Kokkola, and somehow it had apparently also become clear that I was a future speech therapist.”

After the social media post, the family settled in Kokkola. Iina graduated as a speech therapist and started working at Ombrelo in the summer of 2018, on a schedule that suited herself and her family.

Minna, Heini, Elina and Nina in 2014

Together remotely

You can become an entrepreneur at Ombrelo through a business incubator, but those who are already entrepreneurs are also warmly welcome to join. Different solutions suit different entrepreneurs, so there are many options. You can of course use Ombrelo’s administrative services on site at Ombrelo, but many things also work remotely.

Emma Kallvik, entrepreneur at Altea Logopedics, joined the Ombrelo Kokkola work community in 2020, remotely, in the spirit of the times. Emma provides speech therapy in Swedish in the Jakobstad region. The opportunity to decide on her own job description and workdays made entrepreneurship feel like the right choice. What drew her under Ombrelo’s shared umbrella was the ease.

“It was easy to come under Ombrelo’s umbrella because so many things had already been thought through: for example, there was a good records system and people within Ombrelo I could ask for advice whenever I was unsure about something. At Ombrelo I can choose for myself how independent I want to be and how much support I want from colleagues. All the possibilities are there.”

There’s always room under the shared umbrella

The story of Ombrelo Kokkola continues. What might your story of the journey under the shared umbrella be like?