The e‑club of Verkkorotary continued its service project in 2025 in cooperation with the international MBA students of Laurea University of Applied Sciences. The students, who arrived in Finland from India and Nepal to study Future Oriented Project Management, received support in building their daily life, understanding Finnish society, and becoming familiar with local working life practices.
The autumn 2024 event was held at Laurea’s Leppävaara campus, where members of Verkkorotary and Amit Singh from Tata Consultancy Services shared their experiences of living and working in Finland. The event received very positive feedback. In autumn 2025, Ravi Trivedi (Tata Consultancy Services) participated as an experience expert and spoke about resilience in a new country and in changing work environments – this session was also highly appreciated.
In 2025, a student group from Nepal developed a personal resilience toolbox as part of their studies. They used the Prosilience model (Hoopes 2017), theories of positive psychology and cultural adaptation, and analysed the challenges of international mobility. Rotary mentoring was part of the assignment, and the students reflected on how community organisations like Rotary can support personal development and intercultural understanding.
Verkkorotary mentors also met the students in small groups to discuss resilience, emotions related to relocation, Finnish working life, and everyday challenges. The students found these meetings very valuable and expressed interest in continued mentoring, informal opportunities to practise Finnish, company visits, and expanding their professional networks.
Overall, the project has shown that a Rotary club can act as an important bridge-builder and a concrete source of support for students building a new life in Finland. Human encounters, listening, and working together strengthen resilience both in the students and in us as mentors, and may form the basis for a future model that responds to changing needs.
Text: Maria Ekström, e-club of Verkkorotary
