One Sum­mer Changed Every­thing: Fiza­’s Jour­ney from Soft­ware Engi­neer­ing Stu­dent to Café Own­er in Oulu

If you ever come across a small café in Oulu Kaup­pa­hal­li called Fiz in Fin, know that behind it is a stu­dent who believes in the pow­er of trans­fer­able skills.

Fiza, a Pak­istani stu­dent pur­su­ing a master’s degree in soft­ware engi­neer­ing at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu, nev­er imag­ined that a sum­mer job would lead her to entre­pre­neur­ship. Like many stu­dents, she worked part-time dur­ing the sum­mer of 2025 in a restau­rant in Oulu. The expe­ri­ence gave her valu­able insight into the indus­try and sparked an inter­est in start­ing a busi­ness of her own.

Draw­ing on skills gained from her engi­neer­ing back­ground, such as plan­ning, prob­lem-solv­ing, and project man­age­ment, she began explor­ing ways to turn her ideas into real­i­ty.

Study­ing in Fin­land had long been one of Fiza’s dreams. In 2024, she arrived in Oulu to begin her master’s stud­ies. Like many inter­na­tion­al stu­dents, she ini­tial­ly strug­gled with lone­li­ness and the chal­lenge of adapt­ing to a new envi­ron­ment. How­ev­er, things grad­u­al­ly improved through ori­en­ta­tion activ­i­ties and meet­ing fel­low inter­na­tion­al stu­dents at the uni­ver­si­ty.

The jour­ney towards the café

After com­plet­ing most of her course­work, Fiza was left with only her the­sis project. This gave her time to focus on an idea that had been grow­ing since her sum­mer job expe­ri­ence.

Although work­ing in a restau­rant had helped her under­stand the basics of the indus­try, build­ing a busi­ness from scratch was a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent chal­lenge. From devel­op­ing the con­cept to design­ing the space and select­ing the menu, she relied on both her cre­ativ­i­ty and organ­i­sa­tion­al skills.

Her efforts even­tu­al­ly led to the cre­ation of Fiz in Fin, a small café in Oulu that offi­cial­ly opened in March 2026.

Chal­lenges of start­ing a busi­ness

Start­ing a busi­ness in a new coun­try came with sev­er­al chal­lenges. One of the first was find­ing the right loca­tion. Fiza want­ed a place that felt prac­ti­cal, wel­com­ing, and suit­able for a small café. She con­tact­ed prop­er­ty own­ers, explored avail­able spaces, and even­tu­al­ly found a loca­tion in Kaup­pa­tori.

Under­stand­ing reg­u­la­tions and nav­i­gat­ing admin­is­tra­tive process­es also proved chal­leng­ing. Lan­guage bar­ri­ers, unfa­mil­iar pro­ce­dures, and find­ing the right con­tacts required patience and per­sis­tence.

To ensure every­thing was done accord­ing to the rules, Fiza con­tact­ed the Finnish Immi­gra­tion Ser­vice to con­firm whether she could run a busi­ness while study­ing. After review­ing her study progress and cred­its, she received con­fir­ma­tion that she could con­tin­ue with her plans.

Experiences with cus­tomers

On the café’s open­ing day, some­thing mem­o­rable hap­pened. A swim­ming com­pe­ti­tion was tak­ing place near Kaup­pa­tori, and one of the par­tic­i­pants vis­it­ed the café look­ing for some­thing refresh­ing.

“Our first cus­tomer came with­in five min­utes of open­ing. That moment gave me a lot of moti­va­tion,” Fiza recalls.

Since then, the café has become more than just a busi­ness. Through her inter­ac­tions with cus­tomers, Fiza has expe­ri­enced the kind­ness and warmth of the local com­mu­ni­ty. Many cus­tomers stay longer than expect­ed sim­ply to chat with her.

One cus­tomer, in par­tic­u­lar, has become a reg­u­lar vis­i­tor and now feels like part of the fam­i­ly. Over time, their con­nec­tion has grown so strong that they occa­sion­al­ly vis­it the customer’s home as well.

“Our most loved prod­uct is our stuffed cook­ies. Cus­tomers love them because the tex­ture and taste are quite dif­fer­ent from reg­u­lar cook­ies,” says Fiza. “Our matcha drinks are also very pop­u­lar. Our best-sell­ing drink is the green smooth­ie. It con­tains lots of fruits and veg­eta­bles, mak­ing it a health­i­er option for cus­tomers.”

Bal­anc­ing stud­ies and run­ning a com­pa­ny

Man­ag­ing both stud­ies and a busi­ness is not always easy, but Fiza bal­ances the two through care­ful time man­age­ment.

What helps most, she says, is that she gen­uine­ly enjoys what she does.

“When you enjoy doing some­thing, it’s not tir­ing,” she says.

For Fiza, work­ing in the café is not just a respon­si­bil­i­ty; it is some­thing that brings her ener­gy and sat­is­fac­tion.

Fiza’s advice to inter­na­tion­al stu­dents

Look­ing back, Fiza believes that many stu­dents under­es­ti­mate the val­ue of trans­fer­able skills.

“You don’t have to lim­it your­self to one path,” she says. “The skills you learn dur­ing your stud­ies can be use­ful in many dif­fer­ent areas.”

She encour­ages inter­na­tion­al stu­dents to stay open-mind­ed, explore oppor­tu­ni­ties, and not be afraid to try some­thing new.

“Some­times oppor­tu­ni­ties come from places you don’t expect,” she says. “For me, it start­ed with a sum­mer job. If you have an idea, don’t be afraid to explore it.”

From soft­ware engi­neer­ing class­rooms to serv­ing cus­tomers in her own café, Fiza’s jour­ney shows how curios­i­ty, deter­mi­na­tion, and trans­fer­able skills can open unex­pect­ed doors.

Some­times, one sum­mer is all it takes to change the direc­tion of your life.

Text: Nus­rat Sho­va

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If you know a per­son, com­pa­ny or com­mu­ni­ty with a strong inter­na­tion­al mind­set, let us know. We’re always hap­py to high­light local voic­es with a glob­al touch.
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