With a career spanning internationalisation, humanitarian organisations, and finance, Lotta Mäki-Turunen knows that scaling a business requires more than just a great product. Now CFO at QHeat, she shares what it takes to expand a company internationally, why local knowledge and the right partners matter, and why people are just as critical as finances.
This series of articles highlights the diverse expertise and team of professionals at QHeat, where different skill sets come together to form an impactful whole.
In addition to ensuring the financial health of the company – which is critical at this stage of growth – my role also includes human resources. Both finance and people are about building the foundation for sustainable growth: having the right structures, resources, and skills in place, and making sure we have the data we need to make good decisions as the business evolves. We have been building our HR practices from early on so that the transition is smooth when we reach our growth targets.
I started my career at Finpro (now Business Finland), helping Finnish SMEs internationalise and expand into Southern European markets. After several years in Spain, family life took us further abroad to China, where our first child was born.
Returning to work afterwards, I found myself increasingly drawn to organisations with a strong social purpose and meaningful impact. This led me to the NGO sector, including the Red Cross and another international organisation, where I held a variety of finance roles, ultimately serving as Finance Director.
The move from humanitarian assistance to a tech company is actually quite a natural continuation. A common thread throughout my career has been the idea of contributing to a better future. Now I work towards that goal from the perspective of sustainable energy and energy security.
A crucial thing I’ve learned in my earlier work in internationalisation is that local market knowledge is absolutely essential. You can have the best product in the world, but if you don’t understand the market you’re entering, it will be very difficult to succeed.
The more complex and novel the solution, the more important that understanding becomes. At QHeat, we therefore put a lot of emphasis on truly understanding each market before entering it. Careful planning of the go-to-market strategy is essential, as is understanding the local language, working culture, and regulatory environment. These things make a real difference in building credibility.
One of the most important things is recognising that we cannot and do not want to work alone. The market is still very young, and the clean energy transformation requires a lot of collaboration.
We can achieve much more by combining the strengths of different actors in the ecosystem. Entering new markets means working with reliable local partners, consultants, lawyers, and other experts, as well as investors. Each brings a different piece of the puzzle, from market knowledge to financing.
Absolutely. I’ve worked with funding structures where you had to constantly understand what options were available, what different funding instruments require, and how funding needs to be used, monitored, and reported. Here, transparency is a key principle.
There is also a certain resilience that comes with working in both NGOs and startups. Funding in humanitarian work is often uncertain, and the only constant is change. Working in a startup means being comfortable with a degree of uncertainty and adapting quickly as things evolve.
When you look at the world today, many things that were previously considered possible threats have become reality. That makes international cooperation even more important.
I believe that a shared vision and shared effort to improve the world is more important today than ever. For me, that is where QHeat has a lot to give: contributing to a more sustainable and secure energy future through technology and international collaboration.
At the same time, while we grow as a company, I want us to preserve what makes QHeat a good place to work. We have fun working together, and I want us to keep that team spirit and flexibility, no matter what happens.
