Fawad’s story of learning, community, and the courage to begin again
“When a person moves from one country to another, they must learn a new language and a new culture. At the same time, they carry with them experiences of the past.”
Fawad Ali has rebuilt his life more than once. His journey from Pakistan to Dubai, then to Finland, and later to Norway has included new languages, academic degrees, career changes, and entrepreneurship. Through all these transitions, one belief has remained constant: when there is no ready-made path, it is possible to create one yourself.
Although Fawad’s story includes pharmacy, bioinformatics, and entrepreneurship, what matters most to him are people and communities. In his view, home is created when a person is seen, welcomed, and accepted as part of a community.
Noticing Someone Before They Ask for Help
Fawad grew up in Pakistan in a community where people were closely involved in one another’s lives. Help was often offered before it was requested. Everyday acts of care reflect a simple belief: life is not meant to be lived alone.
That lesson stayed with him. He believes that when societies place too much emphasis on individual achievement, people can forget how deeply they depend on one another. Community often begins with something small: noticing when someone is struggling or standing alone and reaching out before they must ask for it.
A New Country Opens Through Language
At the age of 25, Fawad left his home country for the first time. After earning a degree in pharmacy in Pakistan and working as a pharmacist in Dubai, he moved to Finland in 2013 to study bioinformatics in an international master’s program. While studying, he began learning Finnish. Since then, he has become a Finnish citizen. His children were born and raised in Finland, and several languages are spoken fluently in the family.
For Fawad, settling into a new country means far more than changing an address. It means learning how society works, understanding how people relate to one another, and finding a place within the wider community. His advice to anyone moving to a new country is clear:
“Learn the language and culture of your new country as well as you possibly can.”
Language, in his experience, is more than vocabulary and grammar. It is a gateway to everyday life, participation, and belonging. Yet belonging cannot be built by newcomers alone. While newcomers must find their place, society must also be willing to open its doors.
More Than a Background
Living in several countries has taught Fawad that a person cannot be understood through nationality, religion, or appearance alone. People may hold different beliefs and identities, but each deserves respect for their own worldview and life experience.
He hopes that we learn to see each other first and foremost as human beings rather than representatives of ethnic or cultural groups. He also believes that immigrants themselves should be heard when decisions affecting their lives are made. After all, they possess valuable firsthand knowledge of what helps people become part of society and what leaves them excluded. At its heart, the issue is simple: everyone has the right to define themselves.
This question becomes personal when he reflects on his children. They were born in Finland, speak Finnish, and have built their lives here. Yet they may still be described as immigrants. For Fawad, this raises an important question: how many generations must live in a country before they are seen simply as belonging there?
Everything Learned Comes Along
Fawad’s professional path has never followed a straight line. After completing his master’s degree, opportunities took him into leadership and coordination roles within the food delivery sector. Later, in 2022, he moved to Norway to work as a pharmacist, a role aligned with his original education. Alongside his work, he learned Norwegian and reached B-level proficiency by using the language in everyday life.
His experience shows that education never goes to waste. The knowledge and skills gained through pharmacy, bioinformatics, healthcare, and leadership have continued to shape everything he has done, including his later entrepreneurial ventures.
When opportunities did not appear on their own, Fawad created them. He completed a vocational qualification in entrepreneurship and spent several years running an online business. Later, inspired by a successful restaurant concept developed by a friend in Germany, he began developing the idea that would become Suomi Poke.
For him, food is not simply a business. It is also about health, wellbeing, and community. A restaurant can become a meeting place where people who might otherwise never meet sit around the same table. Food, he believes, has its own language. It speaks of care, culture, memory, and what we choose to offer one another.
A New Beginning Is Never Starting Over
From the outside, people often see the degrees, jobs, businesses, and international moves. What remains less visible are the years spent learning languages, understanding unfamiliar systems, building networks, and adapting to new environments.
Yet a new beginning never means starting from nothing. Every experience, every skill, and every person encountered along the way travels with us. Fawad carried with him the sense of community he learned in Pakistan, his interest in health and wellbeing, his professional expertise, his language skills, and his entrepreneurial mindset. Together, these experiences became the foundation of the life he built in Turku.
Home Is Not Just a Place on a Map
When asked where home is, Fawad answers without hesitation:
“Finland is my home.”
That answer does not erase the country where he was born or the experiences that shaped him. Instead, it reflects the possibility that home can grow and transform over time.
For Fawad, home is found above all in family.
“Home is my family. Home is where your heart is.”
Home is not only a country, a city, or an address. It is the feeling that the people who matter most are close by and that life has found a place to belong.
Belonging to a society is not built solely through language skills or cultural understanding. It is also shaped by how people are received. Do we see someone primarily through the lens of birthplace, religion, or appearance? Or do we see a person who is learning, working, raising a family, and building a life alongside the rest of us?
Perhaps community begins, when we stop waiting for someone to ask for permission to belong and instead notice them, welcome them, and open the door.
In Closing
When I asked Fawad what message he would like to leave with readers, his answer was simple:
“Everything is planned. Everything happens as planned, but you didn’t see it beforehand.”
Life does not always follow the route we expect, but each step can lead us somewhere new.
Learn More
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