Ukraine specialist started at Business Tampere

Project Coordinator Minna Tihinen is Business Tampere’s new Ukraine specialist. She supports and connects companies and stakeholders with Ukraine’s current and reconstruction-oriented markets. Tihinen believes that interested companies should establish relations with the market already now.

Text and photos: Petri Kangas / Business Tampere

In late summer, Business Tampere welcomed a new Ukraine specialist, Project Coordinator Minna Tihinen. Her task is to smooth the way for companies in the Tampere region and Pirkanmaa to enter Ukraine’s current and future operating environment.

On 24 February 2022, Russia launched its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine on a broad front. The war continues, and the overall need for reconstruction is enormous. According to Tihinen, companies interested in Ukraine must establish relations with the country without delay.

“In Finland, information is reliable and constantly updated. Simply following the news is enough to get started. Digging deeper will certainly pay off. There is demand for construction, healthcare, infrastructure in all its forms,” Tihinen lists, and continues:

“No one can say when peace will come, or whether it will be permanent or a temporary peace agreement. For companies, there is naturally a major risk in entering the country in any form. Even crossing the border into Ukraine requires civilian courage, caution, and following instructions. However, the groundwork must be done now,” she emphasizes.

Supporting companies

Tihinen helps companies find contacts in Finland and in Ukraine, since taking the first steps can be difficult. Networking, demand in the country, and identifying the most suitable region of operation are among the aspects she highlights.

The state-owned group Business Finland reports that the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has drawn up a two-tier plan for Finland’s participation in Ukraine’s reconstruction. The plan extends until 2027.

What comes first?

What can a Pirkanmaa-based company that is now or in the future directing its resources to Ukraine do first?

According to Tihinen, Business Tampere is the first “one-stop shop”, and she can guide companies in their next steps. She does not work alone, as sector-specific experts are immediately involved in developing the company’s Ukraine solution.

“I know that my colleagues have a good grasp, for example, of funding or international projects in which a company can participate,” she says with appreciation.

In addition to BT’s Tampere operations, companies can also rely on the Tampere and Pirkanmaa EU Office in Brussels. It serves companies, business organizations, municipalities, the higher education community, and other stakeholders in EU advocacy, partnerships, funding, and the provision of up-to-date information.

Tihinen considers Ukraine’s EU and Western integration important, and companies, alongside other actors, play a role in this process.

“We provide Finnish companies with the means to help them build a new Western country.”

A quarter century of experience

Tihinen has experience in Ukraine, other parts of Eastern Europe, and Central Asia dating back to the Soviet era. She first traveled to Moscow for work in 1987. In total, she estimates she has accumulated about a quarter of a century of experience.

“The Soviet Union was so pervasive and massive, half the world. In the former Soviet republics, practices and bureaucracy may still be inherited,” Tihinen says.

She describes Ukraine’s current operating environment as variable.

“You cannot access the front-line areas. But, for example, in the west in the Lviv region and in central Ukraine, it can be in quotation marks ‘peaceful’.”

During her first month, Tihinen estimates she attended around twenty meetings, which reflects both the interest and the need.

The next expert trip to Ukraine is scheduled for this autumn. In addition, the Rebuild Ukraine exhibition and conference will be held in Warsaw, Poland, in mid-November (13–14 November 2025).