#4 Innovative Business Case: Lapland Vuollerim (SE)
- Exemplary social entrepreneurship and community spirit
- Revived and inspired the town and a unique ecotourism destination
- 100% profits reinvested into local economy
Lapland Vuollerim Ltd is an award-winning community-based company, with a myriad of activities and interests touching the Arctic Circle in the exotic remoteness of Swedish Lapland. The purpose of this eco-tourism company is to strengthen the local economy by packetizing and marketing genuine arctic everyday lifestyle and experiences in the district of Vuollerim. In this way the business is contributing to activities for other local commerce and crafts, arctic artisan food, hotels and lodging as well as local industrial and cultural production.
Lapland Vuollerim is welcoming you to this true "hotspot" for innovative rural entrepreneurship in the northern hemisphere. Here you are welcomed, not only by the nature, hotels or crafts, but by the entire village! The company is a socially responsible business owned by villagers, reinvesting 100 % of the profits into further growth and into the local economy. The not-for profit shareholding company is one of the 8 broadly owned “village companies”. These mostly shareholding companies work independently in different areas. At the same time, they have in common – a shared purpose of strengthening the local economy, creating new jobs and contribute to a more attractive village.
Lapland Vuollerim Welcomes You is being an example on how it is possible with small resources to start where you are, create activity, more jobs co-operating with local guides and “village companies”. The business organise activities for all ages and types of interests including: house jumping dinner, horse riding in the midnight sun, storytelling in a Sami tent, forest safaris, learn to make ice lanterns, snow knowledge and winter ecology, ice fishing, skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, dog sleigh tours and much more.
Their brilliant business model operates all year round and is not afraid to embrace technology and innovation. For several years the business has been hosting international conferences focusing on the sharing and crowd economy. In May 2019, Lapland Vuollerim hosted an ‘Artic Village Lab” a hackathon of students and professors from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Luleå University of Technology (LTU) as well as other guests. More and more visitors are actually requesting activities about how to do business for the common good based on the experiences in the different village companies in Vuollerim and their social innovative business models.
Read more: https://laplandvuollerim.se/