Indufor Oy is the Indufor Group’s original office, established in 1980 in Helsinki. Fully owned by management and staff members, the office’s multilingual team comprises 15 experts with advanced university degrees in forestry and forest economics, environmental engineering, wood technology, forest products marketing, environment and sustainability, and business administration.
With more than 42 years of experience serving public and private clients all over the world, Indufor Oy’s team has in-depth experience working with partners in natural resources and forest industry development sectors, providing a comprehensive set of tailored services throughout the forestry value chain. Our clients include forest industry companies and associations, timberland and other investors and investment banks, forest owners and producers’ associations, development banks and other development organisations, civil society organisations, and state forestry entities.
Providing multiple strategic services, Indufor draws from a multi-disciplinary set of expertise and employs a science-based, iterative approach to develop solutions that best fit our client’s needs.
Our team in Finland
Dr Sepul Kanti Barua has 15 years of professional experience in consulting, international development and research in climate change, environment, including forests and other natural resources, energy, agriculture and agro-commodities, trade and process industries. He holds Doctor of Science degree in Forest and Climate Change Economics from the University of Helsinki 2012 and was visiting doctoral scholar of environmental economics at Yale University, USA, in 2011. He has worked across Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. His work covers sustainability, climate change solutions such as carbon capture in forests, renewable energy, REDD+ for private companies and investors investment planning, green economy, and economic modelling, especially in the forest and environment sectors. He has an in-depth understanding of the broader global sustainability, climate and development agenda. Dr Barua has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, scientific monographs and technical/scientific reports, working papers, and numerous project reports.
He is fluent in English, Bengali, Chittagonian and has fair proficiency in Finnish.
Mr Ervasti graduated with an MSc in Forestry from the University of Helsinki in 1979. He has over 30 years of experience in market and business opportunity studies as well as raw material availability studies in the forest industry (recovered paper, pulp and paper) and related fields worldwide. He has work experience from Finncell (The Finnish Woodpulp Association), Ekono Oy and Pöyry.
Mr Niku holds a master’s degree (MSc) in Business Economics from the Helsinki School of Economics. He has over 30 years of experience in the pulp and paper industries worldwide. This experience includes participation in the preparation of sectoral master plans, corporate strategy, feasibility and DD studies, mill improvement studies, new product development projects, fibre raw material sourcing, market research as well as actual export selling of the products.
Mr Niku has been Team Leader and Project Manager in over 300 feasibility, market and strategic studies. The recent focus has been in the MENA region, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Indian sub-continent, China, Southeast Asia and Africa. In addition to forest industry companies, he has done much work for EBRD, IFC, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank and private financing organizations.
He is fluent in Finnish, English, German and Swedish.
Mr Ankrah holds a Masters in Business Administration from Aston Business School, UK; having specialised in strategic business planning, marketing and strategy and has 30 years of international timber and forestry experience gained in a cross-cultural working environment in the UK, Finland, Sweden, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brazil, Bolivia, Sierra Leone and Ghana. He also holds a BSc in Wood Products Technology from Brunel Chiltern University, High Wycombe, UK, and is an Associate level member of the Institute of Wood Science, UK. He has undergone training and certification in Project Feasibility and Investment Analysis by UNIDO, Vienna.
Previously, Mr Ankrah worked with the Timbmet Group and Saint Gobain Building Distribution; all in the UK. He has good knowledge and experience in the development of forest plantations in Ghana and other parts of the world; and is well-grounded in the economic, technical, strategic, environmental and social aspects of the Ghana timber industry. He has undertaken environmental impact assessments, due diligence and investment feasibility studies on behalf of plantation investors and international development finance institutions. He is fluent in English and 3 Ghanaian languages (Twi, Fanti and Ga) and has good Spanish speaking skills.
Ms Anni Blåsten, Marketing Manager/Senior Consultant, holds a Master’s degree in forest products’ marketing (MSc For) from the University of Helsinki (1990) and Specialist Qualification in Management from the Institute of Marketing (2015).
Anni has 30 years of professional experience in the forest sector, wood products industry, EU forest-related policies, institutional development, as well as tendering and implementation of technical assistance projects. She is responsible for Indufor’s general marketing and the preparation of public sector tenders. She is a communications expert, producing material for Indufor's website, social media and Newsletters. She is fluent in Finnish, English and French.
Mr Arttu Pienimäki holds a master's degree in forestry from the University of Helsinki (2014). He specializes in tropical silviculture, plantation forestry, climate change and forest carbon. He has worked several years in East Africa with topics related to the development of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems in forestry, design and implementation of forest inventories and other forest sector surveys, forest carbon stock assessments, plantation establishment operations, and the project cycle management. Arttu is an experienced data analyst and a hands-on field expert, with considerable experience in overseeing and participating in field measurement campaigns. His native language is Finnish, and he is fluent in English with competent skills in Swedish and German.
Janne Löytömäki, Senior Consultant - Wood Products, holds a master’s degree in wood technology (M.S. Tech.) from the Helsinki University of Technology (1992).
Mr Löytömäki is specialized in wood technology, sawmilling and wood-based panels industry, operational, financial and economic analyses, and valuations. His tasks in investment and other industrial studies have included process planning, financial analyses, operational and technological assessments, implementation planning; development of cost accounting, monitoring and reporting systems; carrying out forest asset appraisals, and participating in due diligence teams.
Löytömäki is fluent in Finnish and English.
Ms Papunen has a Master’s degree in Forest Sciences (MSc For, 2022) from the University of Helsinki. She is specialized in forest resource management, remote sensing, and GIS. Her tasks have included land cover analyses, resource mapping, and modelling. She is fluent in Finnish and English, and competent in French and Swedish.
Mr Sokolov has MSc (Financial Accounting) from the Syktyvkar State University (2003) and a double MSc degree (2007) from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Business Administration) and the University of Eastern Finland (European Forestry). His professional background includes financial analyses and modeling. Previously, he worked at an international forest asset management and investment company in Sweden, where he was involved in preparing financial and valuation models for different business cases, including in the forest industry. Stanislav has also strong experience in the field of forest investment assessment and analyses in the Baltics, as well as the Balkan region. Stanislav is native in Russian, and fluent in English and Swedish.
Tuomo Visanko holds a degree in Engineering, Wood Technology from University of Applied Sciences, and eMBA from University of Lappeenranta. He has over 27 years of experience in forest industry and wood procurement. He has worked in UPM-Kymmene Oyj in several positions as a Senior Vice President leading international Sawn Timber and Living Business Area, Global Wood Sourcing and Forestry Business Areas. He also has experience in developing the energy biomass sourcing and sales in Europe. His geographic experience covers in particular Europe, Asia, North-Africa and Russia.
He is fluent in Finnish and English.
Mr Dima holds a Master’s degree in Forestry (MSc For) from the University of Helsinki and has been active in the forest sectors of South-Eastern Europe for the past 20 years. In 2006, he co-founded a consultancy company in Finland, working with Finnish, Swedish, Austrian, German, Swiss, Dutch and North American companies in the forest sector. He was the Director of an association of international forest investors, held a managerial position in a leading wood harvesting company in Romania, and focused on optimizing the use of forest technology in mountain areas, as well as on lobbying in Bucharest and Brussels for modern practices in private forests. He worked as a Consultant in several international projects targeting the Romanian forest sector. The most recent one was the formulation of the National Strategy for Forests 2030, where Mr Dima coordinated one of the nine working groups in charge with the project, namely the one in targeting the wood balance and wood market of Romania. Pursuing his goals to promote economically feasible and ecologically sound forestry practices, he started working on the Japanese market, where he has been advising local companies on the selection of suitable harvesting technology for Japanese specific conditions, and provided advisory services and technical assistance to local government and private forestry contractors. His native language is Romanian, he is fluent in English and French, has good Spanish, Italian and Finnish language skills.
Dr Senko holds a PhD in Agriculture and Forestry (2021) with Forest Science as the major subject and a master’s degree in European Forestry (2014) from the University of Eastern Finland. His background spans more than ten years of experience promoting sustainable and intensive forest management initiatives in Finland and Russia while building relationships with various stakeholders through his consulting and research work. Sergei has completed his PhD dissertation on the topic “Nordic forest solutions as an opportunity to reform the forestry sector in Russia”. At Indufor, Sergei is in charge of forestry and wood supply consulting. His key expertise includes wood sourcing, timber markets, and forest resource assessment and management issues. Sergei has also a sound knowledge of wood product industries, climate solutions, renewable energy and other biomaterials. Sergei has been involved in several clients and research projects in Russia, Europe and Asia, acting also as a project manager. His native language is Russian, and he is fluent in English
Hanna Nikinmaa, Senior Advisor, is specialised in the promotion of sustainable forest and natural resources management with international organisations and private companies. She holds a master’s degree in forest ecology (MSc For) from the University of Helsinki (1989) and a postgraduate diploma in educational technology from the Kuru Institute of Forestry (1992).
Her expertise includes certification systems for natural resource management, environmental and social appraisals and international rules for the legal trade of wood products. Her professional work experience covers several European, Asian, African and Latin American countries.
Her language skills cover Finnish, English, Swedish, Spanish and French.
Mr Selänniemi holds a master's degree (MSc) in forestry from the University of Helsinki (1997) and a bachelor's degree (BSc) in forestry from Tammisaari School of Forestry (1981). He has been working in commercial forestry in Finland and in international development cooperation assignments for over 30 years. He has a solid background in institutional development and smallholder/community forestry, especially in Africa. He also has a deep understanding of project cycle management, and has led several project planning missions and managed a number of long-term technical assistance projects in forestry. He is fluent in Swedish, Finnish and English.
Esa Puustjärvi, holds a master’s degree in forest economics (MSc For) from the University of Helsinki (1985).
Esa Puustjärvi is a specialist in forest and natural resource policies and forest economics with extensive field experience. He has been a team leader in several short and long-term missions involving project preparation, implementation and evaluation. Puustjärvi's specialisation areas include the design and analyses of sectoral policies; institutional reforms; forest law enforcement, governance and trade; and the management and implementation of policy formulation processes. He is presently the Chief Technical Adviser of the Sustainable Forestry Development for Rural Development project in Lao PRD.
He is fluent in Finnish, English, French, Spanish, Swedish and Estonian.
Leo Eerola, Senior Consultant - Financial Management, holds a master’s degree in business economics in forestry, MSc (For), from the University of Helsinki (1987).
Leo Eerola has long experience in building financial management systems for short and long-term development and capacity-building projects; accounting procedures and guidelines, accounting software, financial control and MIS systems, donor reporting, auditing, and on-the-job training for local staff. He has country experience from several East African and South-East Asian countries and from Russia. The most significant clients have been the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, various EC Delegations, Nordic Development Fund and external auditors.
He is fluent in Finnish and English.
Mr Eerikäinen holds an MSc in Chemical Engineering from the Helsinki University of Technology; he has long experience on private sector environmental evaluations working as Senior Environmental Evaluation Manager at the EBRD and thereafter as Senior Environmental Specialist at the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the World Bank. The evaluations for IFC, MIGA and EBRD included environment-related thematic studies and project evaluations in more than forty countries, comprising forest industries, process and manufacturing, oil, gas and mining, power & energy and infrastructure, agribusiness, telecommunication, health and education, and financial industries. His career started in plant and production management and continued at Sweco Industry Oy before joining the EBRD. After retiring from IEG in 2013, Mr. Eerikäinen has continued his career as an independent consultant at his own company SustEval-Consulting.
His native language is Finnish, he is fluent in English and has good Swedish and German language skills.
Mr Terävä has MSc in Forestry from the University of Helsinki (1990). He has almost 30 years of experience in the forest industry, especially in the fields of raw material sourcing for the forest industry, international trade of roundwood and forest industry products and logistics.
He has been working for 24 years in the international wood market, supplying roundwood, sawn material, wood chips and pellets from Russia to Scandinavia, Western Europe, Asia and Africa.
His native language is Finnish. He is fluent in Russian and English and competent in Swedish.
Jarno Seppälä, Head of Forest Industry and Biosolutions Consulting, holds a master’s degree in forest products’ marketing (MSc For) from the University of Helsinki (2001). Mr. Seppälä completed his thesis at Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA, in 2000.
Jarno Seppälä has extensive international knowledge of the primary and secondary wood products as well as bioenergy industries in Europe, Russia and North America. He has been actively involved in and/or managed complete business plans and other strategy formulations, sector studies, raw material, supply chain and market analysis including detailed end-use segmentation and client identification. His responsibilities also include feasibility studies, investment analysis and evaluations as well as due diligence and M&A assessments. Mr. Seppälä has experience in both the private and public sectors – from small local operators to large multinational companies and organisations.
Mr Seppälä is fluent in Finnish and English.
Mr Gnoth holds an MSc Degree in International Technological Development Sciences (ITDS), Social Sciences & Industrial Management at the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands and a BSc in Automotive Engineering Technology.
He has twenty years of experience in sustainability, international business development and consultancy in renewable energy and biomass and in the start-up of SME enterprises in emerging countries. He is a seasoned expert in biomass to energy and in biomass (wood and agri-residues), pelletization as well as in environmental and social responsibility within the energy sector. He is also experienced in stakeholder management and has held board positions in various joint ventures and foundations. Language fluency in Dutch and English with communication ability in French and German.
Mr Mishra holds a master’s degree in Forest Science and Business (MSc For, 2019) and bachelor’s degrees in Environmental Engineering (2015) and Chemistry (2009). He has focused on forest resource management, renewable energy, natural sciences, carbon sequestration and nitrogen mineralization. Previously he has worked with Silvere as Forest Inventory Quality Assurance and projects with UNECE/FAO dealing with forest wood products and marketing, statistical analysis and field measurements. Anup is fluent in English, Nepali and Hindi with intermediate skills in Finnish.
Mr Gaudel has a master’s degree in Forestry (MSc For, 2019) from the University of Helsinki and a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering (2014) from the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. He specializes in forest resource management, remote sensing, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Rabins leverages these skills to analyse and monitor forest resources, contribute to informed decision-making, and optimize supply chains. He has good experience in fieldwork, data analysis, and creating visually appealing cartographic representations. Most recently, he has been involved in the European Space Agency's Earth Observation for Sustainable Development (EO4SD) program, which aims to incorporate satellite data into projects conducted by International Financial Institutions. In addition, he is engaged in projects in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Indonesia. He is fluent in English, Nepali, and Hindi and has good Finnish language skills.
Mr Kataja holds a master’s degree in forest economics (MSc For) from the University of Helsinki and a bachelor’s degree in forest engineering from the Tampere University of Applied Sciences. Tuukka has a solid background in Finnish forestry, spanning from forest management to wood procurement and from data analysis and business development to top management responsibilities. He is specialized in wood procurement and sales. He has several years’ experience from Stora Enso Wood Supply and has most recently worked as CEO for Northern Finland's Forest Market (Pohjois-Suomen Metsämarkkinat), where he oversaw deliveries of over 700 000 m3 of wood per year.
Mr Ylinen holds a MSc in Forestry from the University of Helsinki and has accumulated a wealth of experience in forestry of about 60 different countries, from the boreal forestry to the tropical high forests of South America, Africa and Asia to the dry miombo woodland forests of Africa. He has maintained and updated his professional skills both with further University studies as well as working in a variety of different capacities from market development and sales of forest machines to heading business intelligence of a major forestry company. Before starting his own company ten years ago he worked with Finnish Jaakko Pöyry Oy and Ekono Oy, with the US multinational Caterpillar Overseas S.A. in Geneva, manufacturer of earthmoving machinery and with Metsäliitto Cooperative.
His native language is Finnish, he is fluent in English and has good Swedish and German language skills.
Mr Rantanen holds a master’s degree in forest economics (MSc For) from the University of Helsinki (1999). He has extensive experience in the international wood industry and trade with a strong background in forestry and wood procurement operations. He has worked in demanding sales roles in the timber industry, including softwood lumber, further processed wood and plywood products, and thermally modified wood products, throughout his career of over 15 years. He has extensive international knowledge of primary and secondary wood products in global wood products markets. During his consulting career, he has worked in various international feasibility and market studies and analyses, as well as business development projects related to the wood products industry.
Ms Paro is an experienced administrator with strong organizational and information management skills. She is responsible for office management, human resources and invoicing as well as in charge of the back office. She is a graduate of the Scandinavian Secretarial College of Stockholm University (1982). She is fluent in Finnish, English and Swedish, and competent in French and Russian.