Member company Blic has been instrumental in beefing up Amcham’s advocacy arm. It’s no wonder, the community elected the newcomer Rookie of the Year 2016.

The network works on a give and take basis – Amcham gathers key issues from its members and gives them a voice, while members use Amcham’s platform as a foundation to stand on and push their ideas forward.

The Rookie of the Year award is given out annually to an Amcham member that only just joined but has managed to hit the ground running. Since joining, public affairs firm Blic has done just that.

Blic was founded on the idea of combing legal, political, and communications expertise in the public affairs sector. Until their establishment in 2014, most companies in Finland had a stronger affinity for public relations.

“As soon as we joined Amcham we decided that we were going to be active in the network in as many ways as possible,” says Managing Partner Niilo Mustonen.

Only a short while after becoming a member, Blic helped host a Women’s Network event with Laura Schwartz, and just a month later a Defence Industry Dialogue dinner with Former Permanent Secretary of Defence Arto Räty, Admiral (ret) Juhani Kaskeala, and Vice-Chair of the Foreign Committee Pertti Salolainen.

“We really started off with a bang,” Mustonen added.

Almost half of the Blic team is regularly active in Amcham activities, taking part in several different platforms.

One of the ways Blic has given back to the community is holding a Crash Course in Finnish Politics with fellow members. They Crash Course takes an in-depth look at the Finnish political and economic system and what it means for companies entering Finland or operating in Finland.

Mustonen also sees the membership as an opportunity for his employees’ own career growth.

“It gives use the opportunity to network and develop our skills, and meet with other companies who have competencies we can learn from.”

In the future, Amcham can be sure to see Blic getting involved in more ways than they already have. “We want to bring more to Finland,” Mustonen concluded “and we’re able to do so with Amcham.”

The Amchampion Awards are an annual event in which the Amcham community recognizes those members that have really gone above and beyond – those Amchampions who have taken it upon themselves to go the extra mile in improving the business environment and facilitating Amcham’s mission.