How to turn an empty building into a vibrant startup hub? Our Head of Partnerships, Rashad Ismayilzada, has been part of the Terkko team since 2017 and sure knows the answer!
1. Hello! Who are you?
My name is Rashad, I’m from Azerbaijan, born and raised in Baku – you might have heard of it from Eurovision or Formula 1. Then I moved to Korea (South, not North – you wouldn’t believe how many people actually ask me this) to do my bachelors in Computer Science at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Afterwards, I decided to jump to the other end of the social spectrum and move to Finland. Here I studied Bioinformatics and Synthetic Biology at Aalto University and worked in VTT, FMI and a bunch of other places before finding my passion in Terkko.
2. What’s your role at Terkko?
Current Head of Partnerships and a Co-founder of Terkko, if one may so. These days I’m responsible for 3rd party collaborations, scouting and bringing into the house investors, corporates and service providers. I’m also helping our startups get access to conferences, connect to governments, hospitals, and other public and private sector representatives. I’m also in charge of the Health Talks initiative that has spun the entire country, now consolidating all the health hubs in Finland under one brand.
3. What’s the best thing that has already happened this year? What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
The pandemic is seemingly over, and we’re getting back to proper work. Also, our community keeps on growing and soon, we’re gonna pass the 50 startups mark. I’m looking forward to a good number of conferences we’re gonna attend this year to meet fellow colleagues around the world, connect to new people and rejuvenate the dormant entrepreneurial spirit subdued by Covid!
4. You’ve worked at Terkko for five years. Tell us about Terkko Health Hub’s journey!
It sure has been a rollercoaster. We’d started with a completely empty building, launched the hub, filled it with dozens of startups, created various events and programs for startups and corporates, and acquired collaborators, partners, and networks from around the world. The most challenging part has been the first two years of handling the heavy responsibility placed upon us and finding the unique voice for Terkko. After that, we started developing processes and things started running smoothly.
Over the years, many things have changed – we’ve had many alterations in the physical space, team, event concepts, programs and partners. I guess what I can say is that it’s ok to meander in the beginning, but precise goals need to be set, and any organization should know whom they’re serving and how. It’s also absolutely crucial to constantly reinvent oneself, which requires agility and resourcefulness from the team members. I should also say that it’s equally important to have the freedom to operate, the stakeholders’ support and a passionate team.