Aisha Saleem and I are in the newspaper with our product called SUSAN.fi for immigrant integration brought to you by Talent Bridge Finland
Thank you for your support Riihimäen kaupunki – City of Riihimäki Jouni Eho and Juha Hiltunen Henri Hallanoro Samuel Koivisto Teemu Seppälä Laura Manner-Raappana Reetta-Liisa Viitanen Kristian Keinänen Mikko Armila Sami Kazi Laila Bröcker Heli Hidén Solja Sulkunen
Business Helsinki Business Finland Finnish Business Angels Network (FiBAN) Hämeenlinnan kaupunki – The City of Hämeenlinna
—
Partial article in English
—
Money Movements
The series looks into the business world, companies, and entrepreneurship in the Aamuposti region and interviews entrepreneurs at different stages of their careers.
Saleem Qureshi and Aisha Saleem, who came to Finland three years ago, know from personal experience what kind of challenges immigrants face. Now, they run a new business in Riihimäki called Talent Bridge, which is developing an AI-powered application to assist immigrants—and at the same time, the city. The Pakistani couple’s shared “child” is named Susan.fi (Smart User Service with AI Navigation).
Talent Bridge facilitates the recruitment of nurses and waiters from the Philippines to Finland and elsewhere in Europe.
> “The nursing shortage isn’t just a problem in Finland—it’s also an issue in Germany, Italy, Malta… and it’s not just nurses; there’s also a shortage of restaurant staff,” says Qureshi. He points out that Finland’s birth rate is declining, and that’s becoming a problem. “When we retire, who will pay our pensions?” he reflects.
He has been thinking about what kind of immigrants Finland really needs.
“Not the kind who just live off taxpayers’ money—but those who become taxpayers themselves.” “Finland must attract people who will start working immediately.”
Adapting to Finland and Helsinki wasn’t easy, even though Qureshi and Saleem are educated and speak multiple languages.
> “We rented a car to go all the way to Tampere just to get a stamp on a document—one that, as we later found out, we could’ve gotten in Helsinki,” Qureshi explains.
“If things were this difficult for us, how much harder must they be for others?”
Susan’s job is to help. You can type or speak a question to the AI, and you get an answer.
> “You can ask everything in one place—you don’t have to visit the immigration office or Kela’s website separately,” Qureshi says.
“Many immigrants have poor language skills, and Kela staff sometimes struggle to explain things in English.”
The couple’s other company, Lincoln School, offers education in various fields.
> “If an immigrant wants to work in marketing, for example, we can provide training in that field,” Qureshi explains.
Most of the teaching is online.
Susan also helps tailor resumes to the Finnish format and highlights job-relevant information. When someone fills out one school application, Susan can automatically send it to other schools in the same field.