Enterprise Estonia

Enterprise Estonia (Estonian: Ettevõtluse Arendamise Sihtasutus, abbreviated EAS) is Estonian national foundation (Estonian: sihtasutus) which goal is to develop economy of Estonia. For developing it aims to three principal areas of activity:

to develop Estonian enterprises and to increase export capacity;

to enchance tourism;

to bring high value-added foreign investments to Estonia.

Organization

Enterprise Estonia was established in 2000. It was created by joining up all government controlled export, foreign investment, technology, regional development and tourism agencies.

• Total number of employees is approx. 266.
• The budget for 2019 is 81.3 million euros.
• A network in each county of Estonia: a regional representation office in Tartu and Pärnu, along with nearby cooperation partners, regional development centres and tourist information centres.
• Foreign representative offices in Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Kiev, Astana, Dubai, New Delhi, Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore and Silicon Valley in US.

Activities

In 2001, Evelin Int-Lambot, a spouse of Toomas Hendrik Ilves at the time, was hired as project lead in EAS but after working there 4 months, she did not have an idea what was her job in EAS.

In 2002, EAS launched brand "Welcome to Estonia!". The idea behind this was carried forward by the notion that Estonia has changed a lot since the reestablishing independence and the change and success should be advertised more in the world. The brand was ordered from Interbrand Newell and Sorrell Ltd and the coordinator and project manager on the Estonian side was Evelin Int-Lambot. Development took 2 years, from 2000 to 2002, and did cost 13,3 EEK. Brand was mainly used on info-materials meant for tourists. Part of the brand "Positively transforming" posters were used in Tallinn but this was later cancelled due to the fact that Estonia became one of the top 5 countries in Europe with HIV spread and the positive transformation gained another meaning. Project manager Evelin Int-Lambot did quit her job in December 2002 The project was deemed failure afterwards by a scientific study in 2005 and 13 years later launching it, in 2015, EAS acknowledged that the brand may belong to the dustbin and new one should be developed for the Estonian 100th Anniversary

Estonian president Kersti Kaljulaid has been critical about the need for EAS and called for ending the use of public finances to support entrepreneurs.

External links

• Official website