World Economic Forum: The NESA among global pioneers in building a crisis-resistant shop network

The National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA), with its ‘Toimintavarma myymäläverkosto’ (TOIMIVA) project on securing a reliable shop network, has been recognised as one of the global pioneers improving crisis resistance. In its ‘Building a Resilient Tomorrow: Concrete Actions for Global Leaders’ report, which was released on 12 January 2024, the World Economic Forum (WEF) presents nine projects from across the world that it finds will have substantial long-term impacts.

TOIMIVA has been a joint project of the NESA and grocery shops. After the pilot phase, it has been expanded to also apply to fuel distribution. A network spanning some 300 shops throughout the country is being planned. In an emergency situation, the maximum distance to the nearest operating shop and fuelling station would be 50 km in cities and 150 km in the countryside.

During an expansive and lengthy power outage the power supply of shops belonging to the network would be secured with backup generators. In addition to power supply, payment and data communications must be secured, and the operational reliability of central storages/logistics centres must be considered further, along with the logistics chains for the shops. It is also essential to determine how the availability of fuel for the backup generators is ensured.

The WEF report states that the process of building sustainable delivery chains is not a sprint but rather a marathon. As a few of the TOIMIVA project’s many merits, the report specifies the pilot project, which was carried out in an exemplary manner with the three largest chains of shops, and the efforts to construct a grocery shop network that will cover 95% of the population and function even in emergencies by 2029.

An important criterion in the assessment was the partnership between the public and private sectors, which is a basic tenet of Finnish security of supply.

“The best way to achieve social preparedness is through wide-ranging cooperation and close relationships between private and public operations. Trust is absolutely essential in this regard. Inclusion in the report is also an acknowledgement of the Finnish security of supply system and the NESA’s development efforts in recent years,” says the NESA’s CEO Janne Känkänen.

Susceptibility to disruptions has increased on a global scale

For the report, the WEF’s Resilience Consortium examined more than a thousand organisations in various sectors throughout the world and invited a hundred to take part. The report was divided into three areas: Climate, energy and food; supply chains; and organisational readiness.

The TOIMIVA project put together by the NESA and grocery shops was recognised in the category for developing the resilience of supply chains, which is demanding and covers vast population groups. The other two projects in the category are the UNICEF tool for assessing and developing the delivery chains of public procurements (Supply Chain Maturity Model) and the Ghana-based Farmerline company’s tool for boosting smallholder suppliers’ resilience through data.

The WEF states that crisis resilience has become a necessity in a world in which the number of various disturbances is increasing constantly.

“The leaders of today are increasingly aware of the value of investments in resilience – not only in terms of survival but also success,” says President of the WEF Børge Brende in the foreword for the report.

Read the WEF report here