Susanna Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2026 – what journey lies behind this recognition?

“Excuse me, but who is calling and how is this possible?” asked Susanna from More Joy when she heard that other female entrepreneurs had suggested that the title of Entrepreneur of the Year 2026 should belong to her.

It seemed unreal, isn’t this some kind of hidden camera for entrepreneurs? It’s not even April Fool’s Day. It wasn’t until the next day that an email about the subject arrived that Susanna believed it and understood how, in fact, she had succeeded in many ways as an entrepreneur during her long career.

The association as a network and support for women entrepreneurs

The Tampere Region Women Entrepreneurs Association is an association that promotes and supports the entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs in its own region through active association activities, such as networking and training events. It annually selects a Woman Entrepreneur of the Year from among its members, who has distinguished herself as an entrepreneur and developed her own work.

Susanna knew at the age of 4 that she wanted to be an entrepreneur

The entrepreneurial mentality was instilled in the Entrepreneur of the Year at a young age. At just four years old, she told her grandfather that she wanted to become an entrepreneur. When her grandfather asked her why, the answer was clear: “So that I can be around beautiful things and nice people every day.”

And this vision didn’t just remain a pipe dream. Summer after summer, Grandma’s flower bed suffered as little Susanna picked flowers and set up a sales point next to the mailbox. In that moment, offering flowers to passersby, the famous entrepreneurial persona was born.

Since the age of 12, Susanna has been making various art and craft products and selling them in the summer through the Järvenpää Craftsmen Association. During her studies in industrial design, she did not do her final project focusing on form, but insisted on doing her final project from a business and profitability perspective. She understood even then that art needs a sustainable foundation to support it.

What have entrepreneurship and customers taught you?

With finnish SISU you can go far! Susanna believes in her grandmother’s teaching: “Nothing is impossible.” For her, entrepreneurship is freedom, responsibility and encounters. She not only builds her own success, but also helps her partners, artists and museums to succeed alongside her.

The Entrepreneur of the Year has learned a lot from customers, especially from international customers and their cultures. It’s a completely different thing to be in Rovaniemi, Tokyo or New York on a sales trip. Entrepreneurship is a lifelong school with all its digital skills, the use of future artificial intelligence and much more.

“My own idea is metaphorically that we, along with retailers, are gardeners of business, who together plant the seeds of growth and joy, which customers then pick up after they have been well cared for. This way, joy is created in everyone’s everyday life,” says Susanna Myllymäki, industrial designer and CEO of More Joy Oy.

Difficult stages of entrepreneurship – are there any?

The Entrepreneur of the Year believes that there are no difficult stages in entrepreneurship: There are challenges of different sizes and there are ways to overcome them. Of course, when you start a business and work for a long time with an income below the poverty line, putting everything you have into the business, it sometimes makes you think. But success and paying a monthly salary are rewarding after the initial phase.

Susanna fully subscribes to her grandparents’ saying, “You can’t achieve anything if you don’t try.” Growth always requires investments, loans, and the ability to take risks, but it can be achieved if it is well-managed and in appropriately sized steps.

At one point, exhaustion knocked on the door, when the family had two businesses and their strength was running out. That’s when a brave decision was made: we retreated to the seaside for a weekend to calculate which business should stay and which should be closed. The choice fell on the textile industry instead of the wood and metal industries, and we haven’t regretted it. That was the beginning of a journey that took More Joy around the world, from the prestigious department stores of Paris to New York.

Dishcloth – More Joy’s most important product and its most important goal

As an entrepreneur, Susanna has done something that many people wouldn’t think of: she has taken one of the most everyday household items – a dishcloth – and elevated it to an international design product. And all while respecting ecology and nature. More Joy’s fully biodegradable cloth can replace up to 17 rolls of kitchen paper, and the production has been refined to be completely waterless and carbon neutral.

The Entrepreneur of the Year emphasizes sustainable consumption and only making necessary purchases: “The goal of a beautiful dishcloth is to keep it in use for as many months as possible, meaning you don’t have to buy a new one every week, and at least not a disposable one.”

Sustainability can and should be fun and colorful. The company’s name, More Joy, is also a promise that the Entrepreneur of the Year fulfills every day. More joy!

Highlights from 30 years of entrepreneurship by the Entrepreneur of the Year

• At the interior design and gift fair in Helsinki, Susanna not only found new customers, but also a life partner, Mikko, who eventually attracted her to Pirkanmaa and Parkano.

• A sample piece was sent to Avotakka magazine, and the resulting article sparked interest all over Finland and launched a wholesale business.

• Susanna will forever remember the Mother’s Day eve at Tampere’s Koskikeskus, when a huge line snaked in front of the store: young fathers, rockers and toddlers with weekly allowances in their hands, all waiting for gifts she had designed. Hundreds of products were sold in an instant – only six remained on the shelves.

• The international and prestigious Home & Trend Award was awarded to More Joy with full points in all categories.

• Entrepreneur of the Year 2026

What does success mean to More Joy and Susanna?

“Success is that we get to do this work with great designers and customers and bring joy. Of course, success also means that business is going well and revenue is generated, which allows us to employ people and produce products that work sustainably.”

In addition, I hope that I can prove to aspiring entrepreneurs through my own success that when you have the courage to build your dreams step by step, they will lead to success. Everything depends on us. You can take a spiral staircase as a model, for example, where there is always one landing for the goal you have achieved. That is a good moment to rest and then climb the next steps again. Maybe that pension or the sale of the company will be on the roof,” Susanna muses.

What sets More Joy apart from other players in the industry?

“Speed ​​and putting the customer’s interests as the primary driving force of our operations. That’s when success is multiplied for us too. We also do business on a more multi-level basis than our competitors: We have licensing partnerships that support a steady income stream for museums and artists, we produce business gifts as subcontractors, we sell our products wholesale through importers and retailers, and of course, we sell our products directly to consumers in consumer online stores,” Susanna says.

What is the 2026 Entrepreneur of the Year up to next?

At More Joy, we enjoy new designs and customers, with whom we build the future together. In addition, we are preparing the 30th anniversary and the related exhibition for 2027/2028. Susanna wants to present the entire long journey to friends, customers and anyone interested. Entrepreneurship has been 30 x 365 different days – that’s quite a journey!

Susanna also wants to be involved in encouraging new entrepreneurs to embark on an international career path, helping them move forward. That is why she is already working on various projects with start-up companies. “Mentoring is the best way to share – it is not something we can take away. It increases success for others and ultimately it also grows the Finnish economy in the desired way. Every euro in exports takes care of our society and each of us. So let’s be brave together and encourage each other,” urges Susanna.

Exit – this may come as a surprise, but Susanna hopes to find a good successor for More Joy within the next ten years. Until then, she will happily take and develop the company forward.