As your company grows, you’ll rightfully feel proud -- but expansion also brings added complexity. One of the biggest challenges for small and medium companies is the hiring of new employees. Not only is the recruitment process a hassle, there is also plenty of bureaucracy to go around when you have an employee. Especially when you pay salaries: you need to calculate salary and deductions for payroll, file reports to the tax authorities, make insurance payments and all that. Now Holvi has new ways to help out: introducing our new payroll tool! (disclaimer, the functionality is only available in Finland for now)

The Lapinlahti hospital is the oldest psychiatric hospital in Finland and also one of the first of its kind in whole Europe. Famous ex-residents include the father of Finnish prose Aleksis Kivi and the sister of composer Jean Sibelius. The hospital is currently being renovated with funds of 6,8 million euros. Upon completion the hospital area will become the home of all sorts of makers and doers.

"The object of yoga is to add vitality to your life, not to consume it."

Kaisa Kärkkäinen radiates warmth in front of her yoga retreat students in Scopello, Sicily. The blue sea glistens in front of the yogis and the hot breeze caresses the skin. The atmosphere is both liberating and empowering – for those used to living an exhausting life jam-packed with stress and obligations the experience can be revolutionary.

In our Makers and Doers stories, we introduce entrepreneurs, startups, SME’s and other Holvi customers. This time we met with Fruitkit, a Helsinki based company which delivers the best fresh fruits direct to their customers’ doorsteps. Wait...what? Fresh fruit in Helsinki?

Karri Liikkanen is a founding member of the production company Nowhere Boy and the chairman of Helsinki Think Company, the entrepreneurship society of the University of Helsinki. He graduated as a Master of Social Sciences in 2015. In this article he’ll tell us about his encounters with the prime minister of Finland, about his company and why a current account offered by a traditional bank may be a bad solution for an entrepreneur.

After seeing the assembly lines of China, Eva Spoof returned to Finland and started making ceramics from Finnish wild clay. Now Eva is a part-time entrepreneur in Kallio, Helsinki, where her company Udumbara sells pottery for everyday use.

Here’s to all the Makers and Doers out there. Our team is growing and we need a new person to join us and be our internal headhunter. We know that the world of HR is in constant change - that’s ok, so is the financial industry. Managing change and creating something new and unseen is what we do on a daily bases. Our journey goes back to 2011 when Holvi was started by a group of entrepreneurs.

Here at Holvi we are very excited about our newly released product video that explains in a simple and fun way what problems we solve for small businesses. The Maker and Doer behind the video is the Helsinki-based designer, director and animator Lucas Zanotto. Even if you don't know him by name, you've probably seen his work, as he has created beautiful advertising videos for the likes of Google and Amazon. Playful animation style is what Lucas is known for. He takes simple objects — like ping pong balls, notebooks or colourful pencils — and plays around with them in a very fun and unexpected way.

With all the hype around tech startups, a lot of people want to jump on board with a hot startup to kick off their careers. But the real question is whether working in a startup is as fun and rewarding as many assume.

Every day we communicate who we are through our clothing. Consciously or not, we all are involved in one of the world’s biggest industries worth over $3 trillion annually — fashion. A Finnish design startup Kuosit has a mission that is as bold as their distinctive patterns. This young company wants to challenge the fashion industry and society’s conventions by celebrating diversity and freedom of self-expression in their colourful designs. We sat down with Kuosit’s co-founder Ksenia Voy Kheninen to talk about creativity, entrepreneurship and ethical apparel.