Liisa Koivisto
Innovator
Farm Escape Tornio
Finland
Economic
Rural Areas
Rural area close to city
The innovation journey
Liisa Koivisto is the founder of the Farm Escape Tornio, an escape room experience on a farm with real farm animals. Having always dreamed of living in the countryside and owning animals, she turned her dream into a reality by buying a farm and moving to rural Tornio with her husband.
After the number of animals on the farm started to increase, Liisa began thinking of ways for the animals to earn some of their upkeep. Interested in entrepreneurship and being an enthusiastic escape room player herself, Liisa got the idea to combine the escape room experience with real animals. Within the same year after the initial idea, she opened her escape room for customers in 2017. The escape game is inside a stable with real farm animals from which the players will have to free themselves by solving puzzles.
Today, in addition to the escape room experience, her farm offers various other programs, accommodation, animal visits, and organizes events. Alongside running her business and still working in her day job, Liisa hosts a podcast “Maalaiselämää” (Country life), to which she also invites other rural women as guests.
Moreover, Liisa has established the international Farm Escape Academy, which offers training and support for other farms interested in hosting escape room games.
The innovation impact
Through her endeavours, Liisa is boosting local tourism and helping to increase the recognition of Tornio. Her business collaborates with many other local businesses, and she currently subcontracts one local entrepreneur to run her games. She has inspired her neighbour to have farmyard tourism. Liisa is passionate about helping others and in addition to her Farm Escape Academy, she readily advices others with entrepreneurship and utilizes her professional background by offering social media and digital marketing training.