Meet our pioneers: Anni Karttunen Anni Karttunen, Application Manager, Meteorological Infrastructure & Capability Development, Weather and Environmental Solutions Vantaa, Finland We are a small team, it consists of me and my supervisor. We work with those enormous projects where an entire country’s infrastructure is being modernized at once, for example the newest project is the one in Ethiopia. In a nutshell, there are Vaisala’s weather observation systems and integrated data collection or forecasting system provided by the Finnish Meteorological Institute Institute (FMI). Since these projects are mainly done in developing countries, there is also a great need for financing solutions. Therefore, our job also includes assisting in finance application processes for the projects. It’s very important that we create localized sustainable solutions to achieve the expected socio-economic benefits for the country. The most motivating thing in my work is that the projects are really needed, and everyone involved is very committed. Also, I get to work in a very international setting and with many different stakeholders, such as sales, application managers, Vaisala local representatives, FMI, Finnish embassies, Ministers from both Finland and customer side and of course the entire customer organization. The most memorable Vaisala moment is when the president of Finland was visiting Ethiopia at the same time with the signing of the trade agreement between Vaisala, FMI and the National Meteorology Agency of Ethiopia for a large meteorological modernization project. During my free time, I enjoy spending time with my loved ones and having good discussions. I also like sports and doing different kinds of creative projects. Lately many of these projects have related to art graphics.
