By Päivi Arvonen

Akram Shinouda is a native of Egypt who has lived in Finland for seven years. He learned Finnish quickly, learned professional skills, passed a degree and established a business. The entrepreneurial man is frustrated by demands for perfect Finnish and by racism in the workplace.

Akram Shinouda worked as a tourist guide in his native country Egypt. He met a Finnish woman named Annemarie on a Nile river cruise in 2005 and married her soon afterwards. The couple moved to Finland in the summer of 2007.

“I immediately went to an employment office to get a job or to find a Finnish language course. I got neither. The mere thought of staying at home for several months doing nothing was unbearable,” Shinouda recalls.

He enrolled in a summer-university Finnish course and ended up passing five levels of language proficiency in six months. But this was not enough for the employment office.

“I was told to continue my language studies with a course offered by the employment office. I thought my Finnish was good enough to manage in the working life, and I enrolled in apprenticeship training to become a bus driver.”

Shinouda started work driving a bus a year after he arrived in Finland.

Travel entrepreneur

Shinouda continued his language studies at the university and was admitted to Helmi Business & Travel College. He graduated with a qualification in business and administration (“merkonomi”) this spring. At the same time, he was informed by the Finnish National Board of Education that his Egyptian university degree had been approved to correspond to a B.A. level degree in tourism and restaurant management.

Shinouda founded a business in 2012. The name of the business, Muinaisen Egyptin matkat (“Tours to ancient Egypt”), reflects his desire to present the rich history of his native country to Finns.

“It was magnificent to receive business counselling from EnterpriseHelsinki in my native language Arabic,” he says. He also had invaluable help from his wife in founding the business.

Shinouda has encountered racism as an entrepreneur.

“Often I receive no reply to an e-mail message. But when my wife sends the same message or telephones, she gets a reply and people are interested in cooperation,” Shinouda says annoyed.

Face-to-face communication is often much more rewarding. Shinouda has discovered that people’s attitudes become much less negative when he says that he is Christian rather than Muslim.

“As long as you stay active, things work well in Finland. I would, however, be happy to see more support for entrepreneurship in Finland. Financial risks are a major challenge for entrepreneurs. The system could be more flexible.”

Shinouda believes that demands for perfect Finnish hamper the employment opportunities of many foreign-born people.

“But not even good Finnish is enough. Many workplaces require Swedish, too! Wouldn’t it make more sense to look at the big picture rather than sticking to bureaucratic qualification requirements,” Shinouda asks.

Safe Helsinki is too quiet

Shinouda lives in Itäkeskus with his wife and three sons.

“Itäkeskus is a fine and peaceful place. All services are close by and the outdoor opportunities are good,” he says.

However, he would want to see more life in Helsinki.

“Helsinki is practically dead on public holidays, and the city is too quiet overall. I would feel more at home in a large city, such as Los Angeles,” Shinouda says. He has spent a few months in the United States.

The qualities of Helsinki that he particularly appreciates are cleanliness and safety.

Translated by Johanna Lemola

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