In from the outside

Photo: Mihkel Maripuu / Postimees

Minister-to-be Anne Sulling advises all to learn from long-term Japanese business logic.

Anne Sulling, you’re not coming from the traditional «insides» of the Reform Party. Surprised by portfolio offered?

Sure, as I’ve never thought about entering politics. The first thought was «no»; but then I got to thinking that essentially I’ll be able to continue what I have been doing anyway. Just in another key, and much broader.

These past five years I have been selling CO₂ quota; essentially, this means creating international contacts, marketing our country, and luring investors into Estonia. To the current job, another aspect is added – to support Estonian entrepreneurs on their way to foreign markets.

As minister, you can continue the current work as expert.

Exactly. As I have graduated from all my schools abroad, I feel very much at home in international environments; in a sense, the international dimension is what I have missed in my work up to now.

In 2011, you and Hannu Lamp were proclaimed Postimees’ persons of the year; in our opinion, bringing €360m of pollution quota sales money into Estonia, in times of crisis, was a big deal. What might be the next success story, after selling air?  

(Laughs.) Time will tell. First, I need to get acquainted with the good ideas germinating in Estonia, to be supported on foreign markets, to be grown into something bigger.

At the moment, it’s all so new for me. The first thing, I’m meeting representatives of exporters, we’ll fix the plans on how the state might help.

You think it right to split economy ministry into two – the domestic and the foreign things?

For a long time it had been complained about, that the domain is too broad, the portfolio too big. We’ll have to focus on foreign market more, as Estonia is a small open economy and if it’s vital for us to have it grow, it can’t come from inner expansion – the engine can only be exports.

Also, importantly, foreign investments need to be brought into Estonia, serious investors who create jobs on the spot. The current contacts, no matter where, may help our companies export their goods to their domestic markets; meanwhile, however, they may be interested in investing into us.

We’re a small country, we have small enterprises. We may stick crème into bottles, manually, but that’s not the way to break thru in Paris. How do we make it, in large markets?

Manually, it might be challenging scale-wise. The issue is, with a perspective to enter various markets, how do we achieve larger volumes, how do we organise production. Seeing that a product created for a small market, initially, has larger dimensions, we need to think how to grow volumes, involve investors, bring extra investments, plan production.

Take Apple, for instance: it is «designed in California» but «made in China» i.e. production mustn’t happen in Estonia; rather, the idea is born here, the production happens elsewhere; the profit however drips into Estonia i.e. into the business that created the thing.

What do you support – idea here and production elsewhere, or larger plants locally and the added jobs?

Depends. Depends on what’s sensible, at a definite instance. True: very large volumes cannot be achieved here. We must search out the markets and think if Estonia has sufficient qualified labour force, or to take production elsewhere. That may happen both ways as well – here and elsewhere.

What does your experience tell you – are we attractive in the world?

Yea, absolutely! We have the most wonderful relations in the world with one of the largest, the Mitsubishi corporation, who was our partner with the electric vehicle deal; and they are seeking continually for cooperation, here. They told me that what they like here is everybody doing something. And they feel that even if nothing works out today, then tomorrow something will click, and they come back to that.

What’s also interesting – comparing the Japanese with the Americans; an American comes to negotiations with a definite idea, and sells his product with a whole list of arguments. Japanese will first get clarity about the whole situation, all options. That will take very many visits, lots of time and patience. But it ensures they will never miss opportunities that pop up later. That’s a very interesting approach.

Entrepreneurs are complaining that, over these past years, the government has grown distant. Where to start, to create trust and dialogue?

I’ve got excellent experience from AAU CO₂ quota sales. That was one tremendous exercise in domestic organisation. The ideas never were generated by us as the sales team; it was all ministries involved, and a dozen of state agencies.

With the job I’m faced with now, it’s good I had lots of contacts with economy ministry’s domain, so I know lots of people. We’ll just have to involve more entrepreneurs in the talks, listen to them; it’s all up to communication with people. That’s what I like!

When, in 2005 you started to coordinate the switch to euro, in finance ministry, you said you knew the topic through and through. Could you imagine the Estonia of today without the euro?

No. The euro has become so close to me, I wrote my Master’s thesis on that. That was so thought through for me, so analysed, so familiar.

In 2007, when the euro was first due but failed to come, I said we’d get it with the first recession. Then it came and the issue arouse if we were able to fill the budget deficit, as the revenue was going down. But the government really tried hard, managed the cuts. Later, it would all have been much harder again.

Anne Sulling (37)

•    Since 2009, involved in CO₂ quota sales at Environmental Investment Centre (KIK); from the same year employed as adviser to prime minister. Earlier, in charge of the switch-to-euro project at finance ministry, having also worked at Swedbank and Nelja Energia OÜ.

•    Graduate of economic and French studies at Smith College (USA), in 1997, obtaining her Master’s in international economy and finance at Université Paris-Dauphine, France.

•    Postimees’ Person of the Year, 2011.