Thank You Tampere – All Bright! for the wonderful surprise

What an amazing day it was, December 7th, 2015, the first day of the brightest event of the year, Twinkle 2015. The participation and the enthusiasm of talents and businesses marked the success of the event. #Twinkle2015 was trending on Twitter in Finland. The Mayor of Tampere opened the event in the magnificent Tampere Talo. After a series of keynote speeches from Emilia Lahti, Soulaima Gourani, Micael Dahlen and Poornima Vijayashanker, I noticed Mari Taverne from TREDEA with the moderator of the event André Noël Chaker on the main stage presenting the nominations of The Brightest Tampere – All Bright! Ambassador of the Year Award. A few days back, I was happy to see my name among the nominations for the Brightest Tampere- All Bright! Ambassador of the Year. I was delighted when they announced my name as the winner of the award. It came as a really pleasant surprise. I received the award on the stage and was filled with delight. It always feels good when you get recognition like that especially in a foreign country. I was privileged to receive the award on a stage that had so many eminent speakers. I would like to thank everyone involved in Tampere- All Bright! Ambassador network for believing in me and TREDEA, Tampere – All Bright! And Talent Tampere for the award.

It all started in June 2015 when I came in contact with Mari Taverne who introduced the concept of Tampere - All Bright! Ambassador during a meeting. I liked the vision behind the network and applied for being one of the ambassadors. I came in contact with other ambassadors soon and I figured out that together we can make Tampere as one of the best cities in the world to visit, live, work and invest. Personally, I believe that the talent (students, graduates, expats, researchers) of a city significantly contributes to its growth and development. After living in Tampere for more than 3 years, it has become my second home while India remains my home country. I have been an international student and can say that Tampere is the best student city. With the help of Carlos, Mira and Mari’s connections to different universities, we have been able to activate the student/alumni network.

Twinkle 2015 in association with Talent Tampere supported my efforts as a Tampere – All Bright! Ambassador. With the Twinkle Movement, I have always stressed on creating, sharing and caring for international and intercultural partnerships. I also expressed my views on Twinkle Blog. You can read my blog post here.

I foresee Tampere as the Industrial Capital of Finland and a budding Start-Up hub of Europe. In the year 2016, I plan to promote Tampere and to establish connections between Tampere and BRICS nations including Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa. Finland will need exports to grow and I would like to see Tampere as one of the major centers of global business.

Eashan Salhotra was chosen as The Brightest Tampere- All Bright! Ambassador of the Year and was awarded during a ceremony in Twinkle 2015 held at Tampere Talo on 7th December 2015. You can connect to him on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.