Finnish company brings elderly care expertise to Indonesia

Hovi Care, which operates on a franchising model, is bringing Finnish care expertise to Indonesia. Support from Finnpartnership helped tailor the business model to fit the local culture.

In Finland, elderly care utilises rehabilitative models that promote the functional capacity and well-being of the elderly. Based on these principles, Hovi Care Oy has developed a franchising business model for the international market, in which a local partner adopts the Finnish company’s operational concept.

On the island of Bali in Indonesia, Hovi Care’s local partner is a healthcare company that began offering day care services for the elderly and expanded its offerings to include assisted living services.

Hovi Care has received a financial grant from Finnpartnership for business development carried out with its Indonesian partner. “We used Finnpartnership’s financing primarily for the localisation of our services. Among other things, we developed training materials tailored for local staff in Indonesian. We also researched local regulations and markets,” says Jussi Peltonen, entrepreneur at Hovi Care.

Localising the service required a lot of work

Peltonen explains that the localisation work ultimately took more effort than anticipated. The biggest challenge has been how to transfer and adapt the Finnish approach to care to the Indonesian culture and operating environment. “This has required a lot of work from both sides to find the practices that best suit local conditions.”

Hovi Care’s franchising partner in Bali is the Kasih Ibu Hospital Group. The family-owned business operates four hospitals on the island. “Our partner saw an opportunity to integrate hospital services, rehabilitation, and day activities for the elderly into a single service chain. For example, elderly clients often need rehabilitation after surgery. Through day activities, they can also be offered other health services.”

Initially, the clients were largely Western retirees. Gradually, local clients have also joined. The core clientele consists of middle-class families who face challenges caring for a loved one at home or who want meaningful daytime activities for their parents.

Jussi Peltonen emphasizes the importance of local expertise in the success of the program, even though the operational concept originates from Finland. “Local management and staff bring local insight, although we do provide support from Finland for management and training. Especially when it comes to caring for people with dementia, Finland is far ahead of Indonesia.”

To Indonesia via Singapore

Hovi Care has its roots in a family business founded by Jussi Peltonen’s parents, which began operations in 1989 in Noormarkku. It was the first private nursing home in Western Finland.

Jussi Peltonen’s idea was to increase the number of locally managed care service companies in Finland. Since then, Jussi and Riitta Peltonen have set out to refine the business model so that it can be taken to international markets.

In Asia, Hovi Care began in Singapore, where the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment asked the company to help export expertise in the care sector. No suitable partner was found in Singapore, so the Finnish company decided to start offering services for the elderly and people with dementia there through its own subsidiary. “We ended up in Indonesia when our current partner in Bali heard about our business concept and reached out to us from Singapore,” says Jussi Peltonen.

Seeking new partners

Hovi Care is currently planning to expand its operations in Indonesia. The company is seeking franchise partners in locations such as the capital city of Jakarta, home to 42 million people.

According to Jussi Peltonen, the need for services is growing as families’ life situations change. If children have to be away from home a lot, for example due to work, new solutions are needed to care for elderly parents.

“In Indonesia, there is still a strong stigma attached to elderly care services. It is often believed that families should take care of their elderly relatives themselves. Such services have been virtually non-existent in Indonesia, so we are paving the way for a new industry.”

According to Peltonen, Asia is waking up to the reality of an aging population, which increases the need for care for the elderly and those with memory disorders. Hovi Care is collaborating with Indonesian authorities to define, for example, the requirements for assisted living in terms of staff expertise and facilities.

“We can contribute to the discussion by sharing Finnish practices and experiences. The goal is for Indonesia to have a clearly regulated, high-quality, and responsible care services sector in the future.”

Images: Hovi Care