-1.90DS Smith helps to promote the forest industry in Finland
In Finland, the entire forest industry have gathered together and created a campaign for youth. The name of the campaign is “Metsä puhuu” (Forest is talking) and the target group is 9th grade students (15-16 year old) in the comprehensive school.
During the autumn, ambassadors from different companies are visiting schools all over Finland and telling them about the forest industry and the opportunities it can offer. The aim is to provide inspiration to young people to think about their future and to tell them what kinds of jobs exist in forest industry in Finland.
The forest is a significant part of Finnish life. 75% of the area is covered by forests and 20% of our exports are forest products but we also plant 159 million trees each year. The forest industry is a significant employer in Finland accounting for 44,000 direct employees and about 150,000 indirectly employees however 28% of this workforce will retire in the next 10 years. This means there is a strong need for new employees to the industry.
DS Smith has sent ambassadors to visit local schools and Nina Kukkasniemi, paper engineer and Account Manager, was one of these ambassadors. She commented that “it was great to have a chance to speak to these students about the possibilities in the forest industry. You don’t often get the opportunity to grab the attention of 130 youngsters who are contemplating future employment ideas. The forest industry has far more job opportunities than the successful and well known game industry has in Finland.”
Designer Jyrki Valkama visited the school along with Nina and each school was given a suitcase made of corrugated board. This gift was produced at DS Smith Nummela plant in Finland and included lots of information along with products which are made from the forest like xylitol chewing gum, tissues, plywood, paper, cardboard boxes etc.
