Bolati Dilixiati: A fast-pace entrepreneur of Rovaniemi

Elves Events, a tourism operator, and Silta Corporation Oy, a marketing agency, are the names of two Rovaniemi-based business establishments that have become quite a success in an amazingly short span of time of just one year.

Bolati Dilixiati, a Chinese national, who has been living in Finland for seven years and in Rovaniemi for four years now, has led the development of the enterprises with the help of his team members – Henri Posio and Liisa Salonen.

The main products of the firms that include website designing and branding, marketing photography and video production have already become popular in the local market.

“I started my business in 2019 April officially, before that I did my business through light entrepreneurship for six months. I was quite lucky, as after a couple of months, at the end of August 2018, I received a call from a friend who needed a website. At that time I was not even sure, if I could design that website. But that opportunity opened a door. It might not be the best website I have ever made, but it was the start of a whole new journey,” Bolati told the Daily Finland describing the background of his entrepreneurship.

He sensed that business companies in Lapland needed marketing assistance in order to go global, which provided him with the angle of starting a business.

Elves Events held a creative workshop on candle crafting, i.e., making unique hand-poured candles. That event definitely offered something new to the customary variety of tours and entertainment that Rovaniemi-based companies usually offer.

“Business was good in the first year that saw completion of a number of big projects. In the second year, I was more focused on tourism. It was perfect during the tourism season. Now I am looking for more opportunities and challenges in the next season,” said Bolati, who came to Finland for higher study and have earned a degree from the Lappeenranta University of Applied Science.

At the initial stage, I found it somewhat challenging to set up the firms as there were not many references. So it was a little difficult to gain the trust of my clientele.

He said, “I took a job at the University of Lapland as a business coordinator and, at the same time, was running my businesses on a part-time basis. I tried to focus on developing our tourism business for the summer and again back on winter tourism.”

While talking about the business atmosphere of Rovaniemi, he said that the city is very entrepreneurship-friendly. It values and promotes values entrepreneurship.

“I have met some great people since my short period of entrepreneurship. They offered help and gave me guidance without asking anything in return,” said Bolati, adding that such supports made him grateful to the people of Rovaniemi.

He said Rovaniemi is a city where one can feel business opportunities in various sectors like tourism, restaurant, raw materials, hospitality, and so on.

“The only question is how to start and how to get it work sustainably,” he added.

Before starting business, he already earned considerable practical experience by working at different other companies.

At one point, he realised that fluency in the local language was imperative and a key to integrating into the mainstream society, which made him try hard to learn Finnish, in addition to the English language skill he already had. Now he rightfully boasts of being fluent in both the languages.