The main owners of N Health Technology Ltd., Olli Sirkiä, Matti Penttinen, and Katja Koski, were awarded as the Start-up Entrepreneurs of the Year at the Entrepreneur Of The Year gala organized by EY on Friday, November 4th 2022 in Helsinki. In three years, Sirkiä, Penttinen, Koski, and their teams have built a therapy industry company employing over 400 people, with employee experience being one of the most important values.
In 2019, Olli Sirkiä, Matti Penttinen, and Katja Koski noticed that therapists’ workdays are easily determined by individuals who do not understand the content of therapy work. Administrative tasks are easily incorporated into the therapist’s responsibilities, fragmenting their workday and preventing them from focusing on client work. Administration is typically hierarchical, and the voice of individual employees is not heard within the organization.
Sirkiä, Penttinen, and Koski, together with the therapists, set out to define the kind of workplace they would value and what would help them perform high-quality work. Thus, the company started to build and innovate facilities, appointment and billing systems, specifically serving the therapists. Additionally, a support team was established to assist the therapists in their daily operations.
“We set out to build systems that would allow us to have hundreds of therapists working with us, and yet the therapist could easily receive support from the support team,” state Sirkiä and Penttinen.
“Our therapists can focus on conducting therapy and developing as professionals. When they don’t have to spend their time on other tedious tasks, the client inevitably benefits: the therapist can concentrate on how to best help their clients,” adds Koski.
The judging panel of the Entrepreneur Of The Year competition emphasized strong values, exemplary leadership, and a distinctive strategy that sets the company apart from others, as well as the company’s growth and success in its market, and the value it creates for stakeholders.
“We wanted to create a workplace with a low hierarchy for both therapists and the support team, where individuals can grow in their roles. This is both a value and a strategic choice, which is now reflected in stable growth. We are truly proud of our therapist and support teams, who have believed in us and come together to create a different work environment in the healthcare sector. This Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year award is a victory for all of us,” rejoice Sirkiä, Penttinen, and Koski.
“We want to help individuals and society thrive better.” Terapiatalo Noste, which provides mental well-being services, and Äännekoulu, which offers speech therapy services, belong to the same therapy family and are part of the N Health.
“We want to help individuals and society thrive better. I hope that in the field of psychotherapy, we can reach a point where mental well-being is a normal part of everyone’s daily life. When one’s mind is well and can be managed, life is good. More and more therapists are joining us and appreciate our company culture, which is based on teamwork and principles of collective organization,” says Lauri Hasanen, the CEO of N Health Technology Ltd.
What is the Entrepreneur Of The Year competition?
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world’s most widely recognized entrepreneurship competition. In Finland, the competition has been held since 2003. The competition winner represents Finland in the annual EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year competition. The winners are selected by an independent jury, which evaluates the candidates according to the international criteria of the competition. The winning entrepreneur must have a solid set of values and must lead their company exemplarily.
