Business Date for entrepreneurs focused on Nordic – African collaboration

This event brings together a select group of entrepreneurs, professionals, and partners who are actively contributing to cross-cultural business development and partnerships between the two regions.

Program

✨ Welcome speeches ✨

Espoon Yrittäjät – Esa Kinnunen

Esa Kinnunen is the founder of Esa Investment. With a long background in international corporate business, Esa became an IT cloud integration entrepreneur in 2011 by founding Nordcloud, which was later sold to IBM in 2020. This transition led him to a new career as a business angel and a board professional in small and medium-sized companies.
Currently Esa leads Espoon Yrittäjät -association, which has 2250 local entrepreneur members.

Afri-Nordic Connect – Alimou Diallo

Alimou Diallo is a Finnish-Guinean entrepreneur and founder of Afri-Nordic Connect, working to build bridges in business, education, and culture between Africa and the Nordics. He is also the CEO of HygiSafe and a candidate for Honorary Consul of Guinea in Finland.

✨ Three entrepreneur talks ✨

Elvis Fuamba

Elvis Fuamba is a seasoned entrepreneur, consultant, and community leader with over 20
years of experience. After running his own landscaping business for 18 years, he shifted to
consulting, focusing on supporting Black entrepreneurs in Finland and Africa. He has
worked as a business coach at Kalliola Ry and contributed to national crisis
communication through the Finnish Red Cross and the Finnish Institute for Health and
Welfare. Elvis is the founder of Afrofinns Ry, promoting the visibility and empowerment of
the Black community in Finland. He also supports struggling business owners through
YritystenSaattohoito.fi and connects diaspora investors with African opportunities via the
Diaspora Investment Hub. His work continues to center on economic empowerment and
cross-border collaboration. Read more @ www.fuamba.com

Sarah Laaru

Sarah Laaru Mwaawaaru is an international business development consultant, keynote
speaker, and founder of Laaru Consulting. With over a decade of experience across
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, she supports companies entering African markets
through strategic business development, stakeholder engagement, and sales consultancy.
She has spoken at major events, including Finland’s Africa Strategy launch, and
champions the role of the African diaspora in fostering trade and development. Sarah
chairs the Finnish-African Society and co-founded Think Africa ry and the Finland-Ghana
Chamber of Commerce. She also serves on the board of the Ghana-France Business Club.
A multilingual professional with a degree in International Business Administration, Sarah is
also active as a mentor, guest lecturer, and media contributor on topics such as African
business, development cooperation, and immigrant women’s empowerment.

Mehdi Yarmohammadi

Mehdi began his entrepreneurial journey in 2006 in the Middle East, Iran, representing several Finnish companies and later becoming a shareholder in some of them. In 2016, he continued his path by founding Intelligent Globular Trading Oy (https://ingt.fi , https://intelligentglo.fi ) in Espoo, Finland. His vision has been to build a strong business bridge between the Middle East and the EU.

Today, Mehdi is actively involved in the Finnish business community and serves as a board member at Espoon Yrittäjät (Espoo Entrepreneurs).

✨ Greetings from Suomen Yrittäjät ✨

Maria Nyroos

Maria Nyroos is a digital and innovation policy specialist at Suomen Yrittäjät. In her work, she promotes the digitalization of SMEs, the enhancement of skills, and the targeting of innovation policy and funding towards new, innovative companies. She also has over 10 years of experience in international and EU politics as well as working in NGOs.

🤝 Networking, good company and delicious food

We truly hope you can join us for this meaningful and memorable evening!