A national day of failure was celebrated in Finland last week in the hope of encouraging entrepreneurs to start up businesses, even though they fear going bust.
The unusual festival was observed on Thursday 13th October for the second time, with organisers of the event stressing that tens of thousands of business will need to start up in the coming years in order to boost the job market in Finland by 200,000. They claim, however, that the concept of risk aversion and the fear of failure are preventing potential CEOs from taking the plunge.
Supporters of the event include Peter Vesterbacka of Rovio Mobile, which created Angry Birds, the mobile game sensation, and Jorma Ollila from Nokia’s board of directors. Speaking at seminars at universities across the country, they reminded audiences that even they made numerous mistakes along the road to success.
Finland’s national hockey coach, Jukka Jalonen, also stressed that winning and losing often go hand in hand.