Business in Raplama

Lots of small enterprises

Raplamaa is rich for small and medium-sized enterprises: forest and wood companies (Raplamaa is the most forested county in continental Estonia), small furniture producers, metal and car workshops, sewing, handicraft, tourism, furbishing, property mediation etc.

Although there are some bigger companies that have stayed for a long time, for example,  the producer of paint and varnishes Akzo Nobel (former ES Sadolin) in the city of Rapla which was established as the first international enterprise in the Soviet Union. Pinotex and Sadolin are its most famous brands. Salutaguse yeast factory Salutaguse Pärmitehas (Lallemand) in Kohila rural municipality, glass bottles producer O-I Production in Järvakandi and since 2010 ready-to-eat food factory Saarioinen Eest OÜ near Rapla town.

During Soviet times Raplamaa was an agricultural area. After Estonia regained independence, the big agricultural farms have, in some places less easily than others, been reshaped or disappeared. The biggest agricultural enterprises in today’s Raplamaa are OÜ Raikküla Farmer, Kehtna Mõisa OÜ and OÜ Kaiu LT. After Estonia joined the European Union that brought along agricultural refunds, some of the producers have again grown, but a large part of the production is in the hands of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The abundance and variety of small enterprises is the strength of the economic life in contemporary Raplamaa, as the experts claim. Small enterprises are more flexible and less vulnerable than some big production that determines the welfare of the whole settlement.