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

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 owner of Laaru Consulting. With her team of professionals, local partners, and financial
advisors, they work closely with companies interested in investing and doing business in Africa.
She specializes in market entry strategies, stakeholder management, strategic business
development, and sales consultancy services. She has over ten years of professional
experience working closely with startups, SMEs, and organizations in both public and private
sectors in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Sarah believes in taking a human-centric and
creative approach to do business in Africa; think outside the box!

During the 2021 Finland’s Africa Strategy launch, she gave remarks and a keynote speech after
the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pekka Haavisto and Minister for Development and Foreign
Trade, Ville Skinnari. She shared with the audience some focal areas, key sectors and
comments on how best Finland can work together with African partners for a mutually beneficial
partnership. She also stressed the critical role of the African diaspora in Finland in facilitating
Finnish-African trade and development partnerships.

She is an active member and current Chairperson of the Finnish-African Society ry, the first-ever
African Association established in 1964. From 2014-to 2015, she served as the vice-chair and
was one of the founding members of the non-profit association called Think Africa ry. She
played a pivotal role in establishing and managing the Finland-Ghana Chamber of Commerce
with her colleagues as a co-founder and business consultant. She serves as a board member
for the Ghana -France Business Club in Paris. In 2016, She represented Monaliiku, a Finnish
NGO focused on immigrant women’s sports and health advocacy, at the 2nd International
Women & Justice Summit in Istanbul, Turkey.

She has given speeches and presentations on African business-related topics ranging from
energy sustainability, the African diaspora and sustainable market entry strategies into Africa.
She has also spoken at the Helsinki African Film Festival, the Finnish-African Society Business
seminars, Think Africa Week events, the Connect Seminar, the TEKES Groove event, to
mention a few. She occasionally serves as a moderator and facilitator for seminars and events.
She has also worked as a mentor.

She has also made guest appearances on Finnish television and radio on immigration and
unemployment issues, African business, feminism, and the importance of creating more safe
work programs targeting immigrant women. She also served as a resource guest lecturer for the
Hämeenlinna University of Applied Sciences for a Development Cooperation program. She
lectured annually on development cooperation topics, ethical practices in designing, planning,
and implementing social impact projects toward Africa in partnership with local initiatives.
She holds a degree from the Vaasa University of Applied Sciences in International Business
Administration, specializing in Foreign Trade Relations. Sarah speaks English, Finnish, Akan,
and Dagaare and is polishing her French and learning Swedish. She loves to try new dishes &
cuisines in her spare time, read books, travel, do sports, and volunteer.

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

🤝 Networking, good company and delicious food

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