Finland’s Jarkko Leinonen is a multi-sport instructor and has been an EFR® Instructor since 2014. In that time, he has certified 2,158 EFR students, an average of 179 per year. Last year Leinonen was the highest certifying instructor in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, with over 320 certifications. We met with him to learn the secrets of his success.
From the Beginning
Leinonen was teaching in a school in Lapland; it was difficult finding a first-aid instructor, so Leinonen became an EFR Instructor and started training his fellow teachers. After three years of teaching first aid at the school, he set up his own company and took on his own first-aid clients. Leinonen has now taught at over 350 companies for the past 12 years, with 20 to 25 companies making repeated annual bookings with him.
Running a Business
Leinonen goes to his clients and takes all the first-aid equipment with him. Most of his clients work with tourists, delivering adventure sports or offering some form of safari travel. He also teaches kindergarten teachers. Leinonen could be working with people who will be delivering reindeer safaris, husky sled rides, rafting trips or working as mountain bike guides, or with participants who look after young children. Some participants in his courses are refreshing from the previous years, and some are new.
Leinonen offers outside elements for his courses. Working in the Arctic Circle, there is a high chance of tourists suffering from hypothermia, and so he’s built this training into his courses. He does a lot of work with instructors and guides in different sports, tailoring each course to the clients’ needs. For example, ice fishing has the potential for big wounds, so he teaches tourniquet technique and how to apply a homeostatic bandage safely.
Leinonen wants to make the training as realistic as possible, so he uses different mannequins and AEDs. He also uses other accessories, such as fake blood to add realism. He has a contact within a Finnish company (CVN-medical) that supplies the Finnish military with their bandaging supplies and gets his materials from there too. He has chosen not to sign any contracts with equipment suppliers, though, so that he can remain impartial and choose the best kit each time a product requires replacing.
Marketing His Business
First-aid courses are only 10 percent of Leinonen’s annual work, though, as he teaches for only 2.5 months per year. While he fills out courses easily through word-of-mouth and doesn’t need to market, he uses Facebook and Instagram to share short videos and updates on his courses. He also shares posts from clients as testimonials.
Leinonen starts to teach first-aid courses in early Autumn, ready for November and the start of the tourist season. His most popular course in 2025 was EFR Primary Care and AED. EFR Primary and Secondary Care, with Care for Children and AED was the secondmost popular.
When making a booking, he allocates two days for each course so that he can teach outside if requested. When teaching the Primary Care with AED course, the participants will complete the EFR course in the morning and then practice sport or location-specific skills outside in the afternoon. When teaching the EFR Primary and Secondary Care, with Care for Children and AED, the second day can be utilized for outside practice. Any days not used for training are spent with his family and doing his hobbies – dogs, hunting/fishing – to maintain a strong work-life balance.
Take-Home Advice
Leinonen’s advice is straightforward: Keep it simple to begin with and build as you learn more. Keep the courses practical and stick to the manual. After this, you can tailor the course to a client’s needs.
“Finally, a short lesson that we use here in Finnish Lapland: If you find a person drowned in the summer and they are wearing skates, it’s not worth starting CPR!”
