About us As a company

Messukeskus as a company

This is us.

The Finnish Fair Corporation, the company that owns Messukeskus, is a public corporation with 200 shareholders. These include the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), The Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce, the City of Helsinki, the Finnish Fair Foundation and various enterprises.

The Board of Directors is chaired by Mr. Timo Lappalainen.

Annual report 2023

Messukeskus Helsinki in numbers

Annually

60 trade fairs
500 meetings and congresses
8 000 clients
1 million visitors
4 000 media representatives

Key figures

Turnover 2023: € 51.3 MEur
Operating profit 2023: € 1.3 MEur
Employees 160
Economic impact 2023: € 187 MEur

One hundred years of history

The Finnish Fair Corporation was founded on 19 October 1919, with the mission to promote Finnish business through fruitful encounters.

Our first fair was held in the summer of 1920 outside St John’s Church in Helsinki, amidst a bustling startup spirit. The fair grew to become a massive public festival and the largest media event of its day. Over 120,000 visitors from around the country flocked to the fair, nearly doubling the population of Helsinki at the time.

Our journey has since taken us to the former exhibition hall in Töölö and most recently to Pasila in 1975. Since then, the premises have been continuously expanded and renovated.

The Finnish Fair Foundation

The Finnish Fair Foundation is a non-profit foundation that supports Finnish know-how and business life by annually distributing some 500,000 € worth of grants, scholarships, and recognition awards. The foundation’s grants aim to address the most significant challenges of our time in the areas of environment, population change, technology and digitalization, as well as in the fields of economy and urbanization.