Million-euro deals don’t come on the first trip but on the 17th

Interest in recycling rare earth elements has resurfaced in the 2020s. The Tampere region based company Epse signed agreements worth hundreds of millions of euros in Central Asia late this year. Anyone looking to do business in Central Asia should be prepared to visit the area well over a dozen times, with the outcome ranging from a major payoff to disappointment. Having the President of Finland as backing can also help advance deals.

Text, photos, video: Petri Kangas / Business Tampere

“Am I prepared to travel there ten times over two years, with no guarantee that a deal will actually materialise?” asks CEO Jouni Jääskeläinen, who finalised million-euro agreements late last year, reflecting on the risks involved in international trade. His thoughts are directed particularly at companies taking their first steps in export markets.

Jääskeläinen works at Epse, a company specialising in the treatment of metal-containing industrial process and wastewater.

“Everyone told me this is difficult and time-consuming, and that you will never get through the door of a state-owned mine.”

Water is an important element for Jääskeläinen outside work as well. An avid angler, he says his free time is often spent on the lake fishing. Photo: Petri Kangas / Business Tampere.

In November, Finland’s largest daily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, published a feature on president Alexander Stubb’s trade promotion visit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, with Epse at the forefront and under the headline “Take some xylitol,” said Jääskeläinen.

The reason for the coverage was worth 400 million euros.

If realised, the contracts stemming from exports of mine water purification technology to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan would each be worth approximately 200 million euros. In Kazakhstan, a memorandum of understanding has been signed with the state-owned company Samruk-Kazyna Ondeu LLP, with a similar arrangement underway in Uzbekistan.

“I have worked as an entrepreneur my entire life. There are quite a few easier disciplines.”

For Jääskeläinen, travelling in the president’s delegation marked the culmination of years of persistent effort. Speaking to Business Tampere, he estimates that the two-week trip late last year was his 16th or 17th visit to Central Asia.

“If you’re shy, you should probably send someone else. Many times I have been pulling my hair out there. This changes Epse’s entire story. Of course it feels good.”

President Alexander Stubb and Epse CEO Jouni Jääskeläinen. President Stubb paid an official visit to Uzbekistan on 30–31 October 2025, during which he met president Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent, according to the President’s Office. Photo: Jouni Jääskeläinen / Epse

No one comes knocking on your door,

telling you to step outside,

and go out into the world.

Epse’s client Almalyk Mining Group in the Tammerkoski area. They visited Tampere in the autumn to finalise a new agreement. Photo: Yi Tang / Business Tampere

Precise choreography

“I can no longer keep track of all the visiting delegations we host, as we gladly welcome guests to our laboratory. It’s worth aiming for big fish, and you gain experience and confidence along the way. Our own team enjoys it and learns as well. We scripted lines for chemists and laboratory technicians for the guided tours. It was like theatre, and now it flows effortlessly.”

Helsingin Sanomat’s observations from the trade mission may have painted a picture of a slightly eccentric CEO whose suitcase is bulging with sweets. Tooth-friendly candy were chosen as gifts because Jääskeläinen had noticed room for improvement in children’s oral hygiene in both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. According to him, children and family are highly valued in the region’s cultures.

Despite the appearance of eccentricity, the background is one of carefully accumulated regional knowledge and systematic planning, refined together with colleagues and close partners, and delivering results. Long-term commitment shows that success does not come by itself, let alone by chance.

“After the Helsingin Sanomat article, people asked whether I was offended by being called a travelling salesman. That a CEO is a strategist and operational leader, not a salesman. There were 16 companies in Central Asia, largely among Finland’s biggest, and the CEOs were there to sell Finnish technology. A CEO does go out into the field. I recognised myself in the article.”

A favourable moment

The patented water treatment process removes dissolved metals from wastewater. The details remain confidential, as the CEO himself admits he cannot explain them, not being a chemist. The recipe is known only to a small group.

“The basic principle works like this: flows come in from the left, and rare earth elements come out on the right. The water is recycled back into the process for reuse. The remaining material is turned into green cement with the help of a partner. We have technology that removes heavy metals, recycles water, and preserves virgin water resources for human use.”

The purification takes place in Green Zone units, each priced at 35 million euros.

The first plant will be implemented in cooperation with and supported by the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials (EU CRM) programme. The Green Zone programme is part of Central Asia’s green transition.

Now is a favourable time for a company like Epse, Jääskeläinen believes, as climate change and the planet’s limited resources have shifted investors’ attitudes.

“They no longer provide funding unless ESG is in order.” ESG refers to sustainability and responsibility measures.

“That was a step forward for Epse.”

Then came another major shift when power changed hands in the United States with Donald Trump taking office as President. He has served as President since 2025, and previously from 2017 to 2021.

“There is strategic significance beyond industry, including defence. Who will secure critical minerals from Central Asia and Africa, when China dominates the market?”

Epse laboratory engineer Anette Anttonen shows the type of industrial slurry the company treats. This sample comes from a galvanised steel producer. Photo: Petri Kangas / Business Tampere

Strength in numbers

Jääskeläinen recalls that Epse’s Central Asian journey began in 2022.

He lists sectors that, in his view, should be looking in the same geographical direction: education, food products such as gluten-free and lactose-free goods, mining, energy, and environmental technology.

“The environment and water, air pollution. There is a lot to be done and a lot to improve. They want to learn and grow rapidly, forward and upward.”

With a background in accounting, Jääskeläinen frames his role as helping companies. It is also important to know how to accept help, and he lists embassies, Business Finland, the EastCham chamber of commerce, and local actors in the Tampere region.

Entrepreneurs and financial professionals are familiar with the concepts of sunk cost fallacy and escalation of commitment. They refer to the difficulty of letting go after investing large amounts of time, money, and energy. In other words, reaching a point of no return.

From his words, perhaps influenced by the recent news of million-euro deals, it is evident that each visit and each piece of support represented another step forward.

“They are small things: a familiar contact, an opening door, a programme, a couple of hotel nights and travel arrangements. No one comes knocking on your door to tell you to step outside and go out into the world. You need your own drive and commitment, to go there once or twice, to realise there is business to be done, and to keep pushing. For many, Central Asia holds opportunities.”