Digital Leader Talks

Finland's in a tricky position. For long the precious darling of the global media the country is now facing acute challenges with aging population how to maintain the welfare state in the medium term. One of the solutions is to attract much more foreign direct investment into the country.  Amcham's CEO Alexandra and Director of Investment Programs Rosa share the important work they've done to create a white paper for a 2030 vision for foreign direct investments into Finland. Through the vision and the roadmap the country could better prepare for the future challenges, and overcome them.  Have a listen at the podcast, check out the vision paper, and figure out youself, does Finland need a vision for investments into the country? https://amcham.fi/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Finland-FDI-Vision-Report-210920.pdf 

What types of challenges do companies face when applying Agile? How to overcome them?  I discussed these and many other topics with Ferrix Hovi who's worked as the Agile and DevOps coach with many organisations and enterprises.  Enjoy!

I discussed with Egbert Schram what's his experience to run a company and a global business in Finland, what are his views to support individuals (+ companies to hire) to land relevant jobs, how he sees Case Future Finland needing the 25.000-30.000 newcomers per year to the country AND to employ them, and what role do HR and Unions have in the middle of this all.  It's a complex topic but Egbert is clear in his perspective. The summary of our discussion? The role of HR and Unions needs to evolve. 

How to kickstart your career in IT?  The Software Wizard Simo Taleb shares his insight on making it in Finland. In this episode Simo encourages to forget your shyness and jump into the consultancy and making it. 

The super-insightful Nishan Chelvechandran shares his perspective of setting up a company in Finland as an international and newcomer. In essence, he's come across with Finland - a land of paradoxes: Easy to set up a company, hard to establish yourself as a person. Folks from abroad welcome to set up a company, no information in English. Etc.  Here's a few highlights and shortcuts to the discussion we had: 8.20 Positives and negatives of running a company in Finland? 15.00 Attract customers in Finland vs. internationally 17.00 What is the key to make viable business in Finland? 22.00 Finns are getting old, internationals are desperately needed, yet ecosystems of Finland are mostly closed, how to solve this contradiction? 28.00 Local language requirements for internationals who have done their studies in Finland and struggle to land relevant work 33.57 Many internationals are already in Finland that are highly educated, and motivated to commit and learn, where is the issue with lack of employees stemming from? 35.48 Finland wants to have the cake and eat it 1.05.30 Many internationals remain in Finland out of status quo, not necessarily out of exact choice or decision 1.09.15 The most positive surprises of case Finland? Hope you enjoy this discussion! 

In this episode Saku discusses with Pia Pakarinen about engagement in the roles of Deputy Mayor and CEO. As a Deputy Mayor Pia created a  group for citizens of Helsinki on social media platform and took actively part in the discussions: what guidance does Pia have for fellow leaders contemplating on increasing interaction with people? And what preliminary thoughts Pia has for engagement at Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce? 

Saku had the honour to discuss with Milja Köpsi from Mimmit Koodaa ("Women Code") why it's super important to get women on board with software. On top of the discussion on the topic, Milja explains in the episode, "mimmi" is a Finnish word, quite similar to gals and chicks, although the connotations are not that positive with the said words - rather, Mimmit Koodaa stands for relaxed women code. Hope you enjoy the episode! 

Saku had the privilege to talk candidly with the founder of Funzi, Aape Pohjavirta. Aape has founded a mobile learning service with colleagues and the intent was to radically change the way the world learns and how the world works. In this episode Aape shares the perspective on where Funzi is today, why it's important to save the world AND make it into a business and what's his word of advice to the young talent of today.  Welcome onboard the Digital Leader Talks podcast! Saku

Saku Tihveräinen discusses with CTO Faisal Amin how the Finnish work life looks like in comparison to the US, what does joining a company (Upseller) as the first non-Finnish speaker entail, and what does Faisal aspire to do in the long run? Glad to have you listen to the first episode of Digital Leader Talks!