Pasi Rajala appointed Communications Director at Finnfund

Rajala has about two decades of experience from communications and almost ten years of experience from development issues. He has held communications posts at the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Tanzania, New York and Copenhagen. In Finland, he has worked as consultant in a communications agency and as Special Adviser to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Trade and Development. He will transfer to his new position from the post of Special Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development.

The Communications Director is responsible for Finnfund’s internal and external communications as well as  stakeholder relations. He will also be a member of Finnfund’s Management Team.

“We had dozens of good applicants to the Communications Director’s position. We paid special attention to the selection process and also benefitted from the expertise of an experienced recruitment agency, since the director position is very important for Finnfund. Rajala convinced us with his experience, expertise and vision. We particularly value Rajala’s long experience in communicating development issues,” says Jaakko Kangasniemi, CEO of Finnfund.

“Finnfund does important work to combat climate change, unemployment and poverty in developing countries. There is an urgent need to find solutions, which means we have to harness private sector competences to these efforts. I hope I can, on one hand, strengthen the Finnish debate about developing countries and, on the other, increase the transparency of Finnfund,” Pasi Rajala says.

Finnfund is a Finnish development finance company that provides loans and risk capital for responsible projects in developing countries. Annually, it invests 100–150 million euros to 20–30 projects, with a focus on renewable energy and sustainable forestry. In addition to profitability and corporate responsibility, the financed projects are also required to have positive development impacts.

More information:
Jaakko Kangasniemi, CEO, tel. +358 40 577 7676, jaakko.kangasniemi(a)finnfund.fi
Pasi Rajala, Communications Director (as of 8 January 2018), tel. +358 400 464 393

Finnfund (Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd) is a Finnish development finance company that promotes sustainable development by providing long-term risk capital for private projects in developing countries. Investment criteria include profitability, sustainability and positive development impacts in the target country. Since 1980, Finnfund has invested in almost 370 projects in about 70 countries. At the moment, the investments and undisbursed investment decisions amount to a total of approximately 613 million euros in 167 projects in 34 countries. www.finnfund.fi