By the time Sami Karhu was named Managing Director of the Pellervo Society in 2012, he was already intimately familiar with the position through several roles spanning almost 20 years.

His journey with the Pellervo Society began in 1995 through a research project.

“Professor Markku Kuisma called me and suggested that join a project researching the history of the Society and its cooperative activities.”

In the mid-90s Finland was still recovering from an economic depression, and the thirty-year-old Karhu had spent a long time doing various kinds of temporary work for the government. After finishing his studies he had been an administrative intern at the Ministry of Finance, organised archives and worked in information services. He had also been a research assistant on a project led by Markku Kuiska and Karl-Erik Michelsen which had studied the history of economics and technology.

“I was glad to join the cooperatives project. If you get the chance to join a research team led by Markku Kuisma, it is such a privilege that you cannot let the opportunity pass you by.”

The project was carried out under the auspices of the Pellervo Society.

“It was then that I truly grasped the cooperative business model. I made a point of joining cooperatives, and I started to use their services as an interested member. Values started to play an increasing role in determining my consumption.”

After the research project, Karhu was recruited as the Public Relations and Organisation Manager by the Pellervo Society.

“They told me that I was no economist, but I was otherwise a plucky lad who had a driver’s license. I then spent a few years visiting businesses all around Finland who were members of the Pellervo Society.”

Karhu was then made the Director of Cooperative Services.

“When you get a job and do not make a complete mess out of it, then it seems there will always be another one waiting for you.”

The Pellervo Society’s seven-story building, located on Simonkatu, has become familiar to Karhu over the past 20 years.

“I have kept moving down. I began on the seventh floor, the next job was on the sixth, and now I am on the fifth floor. At this rate I will probably soon find myself out on the street,” Karhu says with a laugh.