Traveler, deejay and fan of Formula 1
Though Pasi Jarvilehto is a busy man as executive director of Konsu Kyiv LLC, an international consulting and financial outsourcing company that specializes in Ukraine and Russia, and doesn’t have a lot of free time at his disposal, he eagerly met me for an interview.
“I’m absolutely open for communication,” he assured me while we were trying to figure out a date and time for our meeting.
Making ourselves comfortable in the homely atmosphere of Il Patio at Besarabska Square. I was absolutely sure Pasi would be easygoing and I was right.
When Pasi started recalling the years spent in his native Finland, and then his rich experience in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and Africa. I was flabbergasted and couldn’t come up with any questions. I was so enthralled by his stories and zest for life.
“I was very young and didn’t have any concrete passion, so I wanted to try everything to find out what I want to do in life,” he explained about his many adventures that have taken him to different parts of the world.
According to Pasi, among his many jobs he worked at a supermarket for quite a while, tried cooking himself, worked as a cashier in a casino and a project director in a gambling company.
As a cook he specialized in meat and fish, trying to prepare fish according to traditional French recipes and now praises French cuisine as the best. But in Kyiv, he still prefers visiting eateries located near his apartment – namely Il Patio, Arena complex and “an excellent Japanese restaurant at Premier Palace hotel.”
One of Pasi’s greatest passions he says, is deejaying and he was mixing music for four years. Deejaying has allowed him to travel and meet a lot of interesting people in different parts of Finland. However as Pasi noted, his music preferences have changed since that time and now he listens to more hard rock music played by “the number one band Kiss, the number two band Depeche Mode and Led Zeppelin.”
As for his involvement in gambling business, it coincided with those eight years that he spent in Russia, mostly in Moscow and Khabarovsk. There he was inspired by very challenging projects and felt excited about setting up the business from the very start. Moreover, there was large economic growth in Russia and their business did well, he says.
“I’m not a gambler myself but if people like gambling – let them gamble. It’s not a secret world, it should be open,” Pasi exclaimed. As Pasi recalled, back in Russia they were looking for premises always in the city center to open entertainment complexes. Since there were almost no restrictions for gambling businesses at that time, the main target area was the central area.
“I always loved Russia, though sometimes people are a little bit too strict there,” Pasi says. “My brightest experience is the time spent in Khabarovsk among those very warm people. We always went to Amur River for swimming, prepared shashlyk, played volleyball, football; now they still remember me in the airport and always greet me when I come,” he shared. “My wife is from Russia, not far from Khabarovsk city and I proposed to her by the Amur River in 2005.”
After gaining experience in Russia, Pasi continued his studies and got a diploma in the Russian market and left for a new contract to Kazahkstan and Kyrgyhstan. This time as a consultant for gaming business. “Our target was to make our business more efficient in Astana, Almaty, Aktau and Bishkek, Kyrgyhstan. We were doing very well over there business wise, but nevertheless the government of Kazahkstan banned gambling there at the end of 2006,” Pasi explained.
Because of this Pasi left for another contract, this time to Africa, namely the Central African Republic and Cameroon, also went to South Africa.
“People there are very relaxed. It’s the peculiarity of their way of life,” recalled Pasi and added that he doesn’t mind when people can relax, but it caused some difficulties while making deals.
“When Scandinavian people want to make things right now, they say – maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow,” Pasi remarked with a smile.
According to Pasi, after living in Africa it was a real pleasure to come back to Ukraine, where he actually started his career in 1995. Ukraine was very different at that time.
“It took me almost two months to get used to the Ukrainian environment, it was really hard for me to work. Sometimes I was running out of hot water and sometimes there were no electricity in my apartment, I couldn’t understand it at first but you always need time to get used to everything,” he said.
Since December 2007, Pasi has been working in Ukraine again and is fond of his new occupation helping foreign companies, mostly Finnish, Swedish and German, to start up their businesses here. “Scandinavian countries are already full with businesses, so they want to grow something in other markets – they either come to Russia or here. Ukraine offers more opportunities, since it has entered the World Trade Organization,” Pasi explained.
Pasi still feels strong nostalgia for his home country, where his family lives and where he’s going to return after his contract is finished.
As Pasi confessed at the end of our conversation, he’s a fan of Formula 1: “F1 is simply the top sport, top tactics and top tech.” Since 1993, he has watched every Grand Prix and every qualification either on TV or by going directly to the races. He traveled to Monaco, Italy, Belgium, and France. He even tried driving carting himself but found he was too slow for it.
