‘I think the strangest thing about Finland has been getting all this publicity!’ smiled Simpson Lee, who has been interviewed about his growing mobile car washing business ‘Wash and Go’ not only in Oulu’s newspapers but also on YLE’s (the Finnish national broadcaster’s) breakfast programme ‘Aamu-TV’.
‘I never thought I’d be on TV!’ he laughed. ‘Maybe it’s because of being foreign and the business is a bit unique in Finland, let alone Oulu!’
The Scottish entrepreneur, of Hong Kong-Chinese heritage, came to Oulu from Edinburgh in 2006, having married an Oulu woman whom he met at an Edinburgh night club.
‘She was studying at Edinburgh University,’ he recalled, ‘and we kind of had a long term plan to get married and come over. When I came to Oulu in the holidays I just fell in love with the place!’
Mr. Lee liked many different things about the city, ‘It’s the pace and the quality of life,’ he mused. ‘We just wanted a fresh start. Now when I go back to Edinburgh . . . it feels strange . . . like it’s not quite home.’

‘A niche in the market’

When Mr. Lee arrived in Oulu he was determined that, ‘I wasn’t going to say to the government, “Give me unemployment benefit!” As an ‘outsider’ who didn’t speak Finnish he decided that, ‘I had to make my own business!’
Mobile Car Washing was a ‘niche in the market,’ though, Mr. Lee admitted, ‘a very small niche.’ It has taken time to build up his business through a word of mouth and networking, but now he’s beginning to expand, ‘We’re opening a permanent site in Technopolis (a centre in Oulu that houses various technology companies), so we can wash underground during the winter,’ he explained. ‘We wash the car interior as well if you want,’ he added. Soon, Mr. Lee will be taking out a large advertisement in The Kaleva newspaper.
Setting up the business was difficult at first, he recalled, because people ‘don’t always like change’ but, he added, ‘Oulu people do like entrepreneurs that invest in the city . . . and it’s a good place to live.’

‘The Finnish Way of doing things’

Moving to Oulu has certainly been a change from the thirty-six year-old, who originally studied ‘Hospitality Management’ at a former Polytechnic in Edinburgh.
‘The weather was such shock!’ laughed Mr. Lee. ‘And the language!’ However, ‘if Finns says “I will do it” then they will do it. They mean what they say.’
So gradually the businessman – who is soon to be a father - has warmed to Oulu life and he emphasised that, in many ways, ‘It’s a good place to do business.’ Not only did he feel that the quality of life is ‘very good’ and the people refreshingly frank but, ‘It’s so easy to network here . . . and you know where you stand with people.’
So far Mr. Lee has built up a wide portfolio of clients including people working for Nokia and a major Oulu bank.
He also praised the efficiency of Oulu. ‘It’s not like when you go home to Scotland you think “Why doesn’t anything work?!” Everything works so well here!’

Language

When Mr. Simpson was asked what he’d found most difficult about coming to Oulu he laughed, ‘What! Apart from the language?!’ Finnish is certainly very different from his native English . . . but he praised the standard of English spoken in Oulu.
‘I speak little or no Finnish and many Oulu people know how to speak English . . . Often they don’t want to. It’s a matter of confidence. They can actually speak English very well here . . . but some are nervous about how good they are.’
He summed up, ‘When Oulu business people go abroad they do business in English . . . they don’t use interpreters . . . Oulu people do actually speak very good English!’

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties

But despite the language differences, Mr. Lee is ultimately glad to have started his business in Oulu and is looking to expand, ‘Maybe I’ll take on one person full time or two people part time,’ he remarked. ‘I think I’ve settled down in Oulu,’ he said. ‘It’s got something about it. And you know where you are with the seasons!’
However, there are still some things he misses about Scotland. ‘The food and drink!’ he laughed. ‘I miss Haggis and neeps and tatties!’ (For the uninitiated, this is the Scottish ‘National Dish’ of a sheep’s stomach stuffed with ground up lamb’s kidney, heart and liver and porridge oats . . . served with mashed turnips and mashed potatoes.)
Mr. Lee missed ‘family and friends of course but what with technology like SKYPE it’s like they’re in the next room . . . Oh! And ‘Irn Bru!’
The Scottish-made soft drink’s name means ‘Iron Brew’ in the Scots language, an English dialect influenced by Norwegian. ‘Irn Bru’ is actually even more popular in Scotland than Coca Cola. ‘A friend of mine promised he’d bring me over a can when he comes here!’ Mr. Lee laughed. ‘I can’t wait!’
But his business in Oulu is certainly doing well. In the warmer months it’s mobile and in the winter, ‘It’s the underground car-park on Sepänkatu’ he emphasised.
‘Now people can come to Oulu, do their shopping, get their hair cut and have their car washed as well . . . And the quality will speak for itself!’