May­or Sep­po Määt­tä: “With Inter­na­tio­nal House, Oulu will beco­me a bet­ter city”

The ope­ning cere­mo­nies of Inter­na­tio­nal House Oulu (IH Oulu) at Busi­ness­A­se­ma were held over two days, and approxi­ma­te­ly 300 atten­dees par­tici­pa­ted.

On Tues­day, April 25, IH Oulu’s official ope­ning cere­mo­ny was atten­ded by almost 200 guests. One hundred par­tici­pants came to the networ­king event on Wed­nes­day eve­ning.

The ope­ning cere­mo­ny began with a speech from Sep­po Määt­tä, the may­or of Oulu. In Määt­tä’s opi­nion, IH Oulu is an excel­lent example of the city’s mul­ti­discipli­na­ry col­la­bo­ra­tion, and its loca­tion at Busi­ness­A­se­ma is very con­ve­nient.

– Gat­he­ring ser­vices under one roof makes it easier to pro­vi­de ser­vices, fos­ters a sen­se of com­mu­ni­ty, and inc­rea­ses our exper­ti­se in inter­na­tio­nal affairs. Encoun­ters in an inte­res­ting envi­ron­ment also enhance our unders­tan­ding of each other and dif­fe­rent cul­tu­res and ori­gins. It is not an exag­ge­ra­tion to say that with Inter­na­tio­nal House, Oulu will beco­me a bet­ter city by one or two degrees, Määt­tä said.

– Busi­ness­A­se­ma’s other ser­vices add sig­ni­ficant value to the ope­ra­tions of Inter­na­tio­nal House Oulu. It is a won­der­ful orga­niza­tion that is cons­tant­ly evol­ving and has tru­ly taken its place as a hub for ideas, inno­va­tions, jobs and know-how.

”Towards an inter­na­tio­nal city”

At the ope­ning cere­mo­ny, in addi­tion to the may­or’s speech, seve­ral other speec­hes were given, and the Oulu Tem­po Advanced orc­he­stra also per­for­med. The orc­he­stra is com­po­sed of 4th to 8th-gra­de stu­dents, and their reper­toi­re con­sists of a wide varie­ty of music.

The Inter­na­tio­nal House Oulu concept was deve­lo­ped by Business­Oulu and the educa­tio­nal and cul­tu­ral ser­vices of the city of Oulu.

Mika Pent­ti­lä, the Direc­tor of Educa­tion and Cul­tu­re for the City of Oulu, and Juha Ala-Mur­su­la, the Direc­tor of Business­Oulu, discus­sed in their speech how the Inter­na­tio­nal House was pro­po­sed as a joint pro­ject a few years ago.

– Juha and I have always had a clear vision and a strong will for Inter­na­tio­nal House Oulu to ser­ve as a uni­fied plat­form, brin­ging toget­her various ser­vices for immi­grants and tho­se who plan to move here, men­tio­ned Pent­ti­lä.

– We are not ful­ly rea­dy yet, but this is a sig­ni­ficant step towards beco­ming an inter­na­tio­nal city, which is preci­se­ly what Oulu aims to be, rejoiced Ala-Mur­su­la.

”Oulu welco­mes with its who­le heart”

Mous­ta­fa Khai­ri, an inter­na­tio­nal talent, sha­red his job search and stu­dies expe­riences in Oulu.

Sal­la Hir­vo­nen, an expert from Business­Oulu, pre­sen­ted the ser­vices aimed at com­pa­nies, inclu­ding IH Oulu’s goal to offer tar­ge­ted ser­vices for indi­vi­dual cus­to­mers, as well as to con­nect local com­pa­nies with inter­na­tio­nal job see­kers.

The ser­vice mana­ger, Priy­an­ka Sood, from the educa­tio­nal and cul­tu­ral ser­vices of the City of Oulu, emp­ha­sized that their pri­ma­ry goal is to make visi­tors feel warm­ly welco­med by the city and to help them feel a sen­se of belon­ging, ulti­ma­te­ly making Oulu their home.

Inter­na­tio­nal House Oulu, loca­ted at Busi­ness Sta­tion on Hal­li­tus­ka­tu 36 B, is an inclusi­ve space for all. The two-day ope­ning cere­mo­ny was atten­ded by over 300 guests.

At the networ­king event, the new Inter­na­tio­nal House Oulu ambas­sa­dors were int­ro­duced, inclu­ding Sara from Iran, Pava­ni from Sri Lan­ka, Jun from Japan, and Eduar­do from Colom­bia. They will par­tici­pa­te in futu­re acti­vi­ties and sha­re posi­ti­ve news about Oulu wit­hin their networks.

– The events during the ope­ning week were high­ly success­ful, and it is evi­dent that Inter­na­tio­nal House has piqued the inte­rest of both cus­to­mers and part­ners in Oulu. It is essen­tial to main­tain this momen­tum, sta­tes coor­di­na­tor Riku­pek­ka Lei­no­nen.