From Gha­na to Fin­land: Luku­ma­nu’s path to Pro­ject Mana­ge­ment

In a world full of oppor­tu­ni­ties, Luku­ma­nu Iddrisu’s remar­kable jour­ney took him from the vibrant streets of Gha­na to the unique city of Vaa­sa, Fin­land.

With moti­va­tion and a thirst for know­led­ge, Luku­ma­nu Iddri­su star­ted his adven­tu­re to pur­sue his dreams. In this sto­ry, we dive into Luku­ma­nu’s ins­pi­ring jour­ney, from his stu­dies in inter­na­tio­nal busi­ness to his role as a Pro­ject Mana­ger for the Vaa­sa Spouse Pro­gram at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Vaa­sa.

Clim­bing the Career Lad­der

Luku­ma­nu’s path to Fin­land began in 2014 when he made the bold deci­sion to stu­dy his bachelor’s degree in Inter­na­tio­nal Busi­ness at Vaa­sa Uni­ver­si­ty of Applied Science. He also con­ti­nued his stu­dies comple­ting his master’s degree in Stra­te­gic Busi­ness Deve­lop­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Vaa­sa. Lea­ving behind his home­land and embracing a new cul­tu­re, he was rea­dy to embrace the chal­len­ges and seize the oppor­tu­ni­ties that awai­ted him.

After comple­ting his stu­dies, Luku­ma­nu’s dedica­tion and hard work led him to secu­re a posi­tion as a Pro­ject Mana­ger at Uni­ver­si­ty of Vaa­sa. Luku­ma­nu thri­ves in mana­ging complex pro­jects, lea­ding teams, and ensu­ring success­ful outco­mes.

In your opi­nion, what are some of the key cha­rac­te­ris­tics of Fin­nish wor­king cul­tu­re?

– Fin­nish wor­king cul­tu­re has proac­ti­ve inde­pen­dence, flexi­bi­li­ty, and low hie­rarc­hy. Based on my pre­vious expe­rience at Wärt­si­lä, it doesn’t mat­ter whet­her you are a trai­nee or a boss, if you have an idea, they give you a chance to sha­re. So, the­re is room for lear­ning, and they lis­ten to you whet­her you are a boss or not. Giving a lis­te­ning ear to people to sha­re their ideas.

Luku­ma­nu will also be one of the pre­sen­ters in the Mega­Match­ma­king Event!

The Mega­Match­ma­king event is the big­gest rec­ruit­ment event in Oulu in which brings local job see­kers and emplo­yers toget­her. The event will take place on 14th of Sep­tem­ber at 9:00–15:00 in Tul­li­sa­li, Oulu.

– I struggled to get a job in Fin­land, it took me 5 to 6 years to get a job in my field. Wor­king at the cham­ber of com­merce and col­la­bo­ra­ting with HR and other com­pa­nies, I came to rea­lize how the job mar­ket works. Since then, I have been on a mis­sion to let stu­dents and job see­kers unders­tand the proces­ses in the job mar­ket and how they can stand out. I have the wil­ling­ness to help get the job of their dreams, that’s why I am taking part of the Mega­Match­ma­king Event.

Main topic: Networ­king and buil­ding rela­tions­hip job mar­ket

How to appropria­te­ly network with Fin­nish industry players and how you can turn the networ­king into buil­ding a rela­tions­hip

Pre­sen­ta­tion Time: 9.30–10.15 AM, Inter­na­tio­nal Sta­ge

– People should join the Mega­Match­ma­king Event to get the chance to get to know and network with the com­pa­nies, also to pre­sent them­sel­ves to inc­rea­se their network to open more doors. Second­ly, people should come and lis­ten to my pre­sen­ta­tion to unders­tand tran­si­tio­ning a network into a rela­tions­hip.

Vaa­sa’s Vibrant Com­mu­ni­ty

Living in Vaa­sa for the past 9 years, Luku­ma­nu has ful­ly embraced the oppor­tu­ni­ties that the city offers. He che­ris­hes the friends­hips he has made and the diver­se pers­pec­ti­ves he encoun­ters eve­ry day. Besi­des the wor­king life Luku­ma­nu enjo­ys his foot­ball trai­ning as well as rea­ding.

“Manc­hes­ter Uni­ted is my favo­ri­te foot­ball team”

Is the­re anyt­hing surpri­sing about living/working in Fin­land?

– If you look at the cul­tu­ral dyna­mic pers­pec­ti­ve, Fin­land is from the cold region, so they are not that out­going and tal­king to them was a chal­len­ge in the begin­ning. But not until I star­ted to learn the Fin­nish lan­gua­ge and star­ted enga­ging with them it beca­me easier and they were more open to me. So, of cour­se in the begin­ning it was surpri­sing because reac­hing out to them was dif­ficult and in Gha­na eve­ry­one is very out­going.

Through Luku­ma­nu’s sto­ry, we learn the impor­tance of pur­suing our pas­sions, embracing diver­se cul­tu­res, and seizing the chances that come our way. Luku­ma­nu’s jour­ney is a remin­der that no dream is too big and no dis­tance too far when deter­mi­na­tion and per­se­ve­rance gui­de us on our path to success.

Advice from Luku­ma­nu for tho­se who has been plan­ning on moving and wor­king in Fin­land:

• Be proac­ti­ve
• Learn the cul­tu­re and how people beha­ve so you are not surpri­sed when moving
• Wil­ling­ness to network with people and build rela­tions­hips. Know the people bet­ter
• In the wor­king pers­pec­ti­ve, try to invol­ve your­self in stra­te­gic ini­tia­ti­ves if pos­sible or volun­ta­ry acti­vi­ties to get know a lot of people, the more you expand your network in the workplace or bey­ond the workplace the bet­ter

“If you speak Fin­nish, con­ver­sa­tions with people beco­mes easier, that has been my expe­rience”

Plea­se note

The­re is a free non-stop bus ser­vice to Mega­Match­ma­king from Oulu city cen­ter. The bus will run between Torin­ran­ta – Tul­li­sa­li on 14 Sep­tem­ber from 8.45 to 15.15. The depar­tu­re point in Torin­ran­ta is Kaar­len­väy­lä.

Text: Nada Abass