Why Women 50+ Are Building a New Future with ‘Connected Living’

What we talked about.

Hanne, a Finnish entrepreneur now living between Finland, southern France, and Ghana, joins Sunny Ray to talk about Loa Homebase, the company she co-founded with Anamari Lamasaria. Raised in a small town in eastern Finland near the Russian border, Hanne grew up learning discipline, curiosity, and community from her matriarchal grandmother and father, values that later shaped a career spanning sports marketing, international business, and single motherhood across Finland, Germany, Australia, and Thailand. After years of corporate work, she left to build her own path, eventually partnering with Anamari to create Loa Homebase, a new model they call connected living. After interviewing nearly a thousand women aged 50 to 80 worldwide, they discovered a massive underserved market of active, independent women seeking international lifestyles paired with genuine community rather than isolation or traditional senior living. Hanne explains how Loa blends real estate, hospitality, and community into a network of home bases where women can live locally, part time, in multiple countries while staying connected to like hearted peers, describing it as part of the emerging longevity economy rather than conventional co living.

A Finnish entrepreneur builds a global home base network so women 50 plus can live internationally and never feel alone again.

The questions, and the answers.

Can you tell us a bit about what you and your co-founder are building?

My co-founder Anamari and I are two Finnish businesswomen with international careers who both dreamed of having multiple home bases around the world and a community to return to. She called me one day and pitched the idea, and I said yes immediately because it aligned with what I wanted in my life. For three years we've been building a way for seasoned women to live internationally, part time, together.

Take us back to your childhood in eastern Finland. What was that like?

I grew up near the Russian border, splitting time between town and country life, so I got to see both worlds. My grandmother was very matriarchal and taught me alongside my dad that diversity matters and everyone contributes, whether young or old, disabled or not, man or woman. Whether we were cleaning, picking potatoes, or doing homework, we all had to contribute to the family and community.

There's a famous Finnish word, sisu. How would you describe it and where do you see it in your own story?

Sisu means perseverance and dignity, that no matter what comes you pursue your dreams. It also happens to be a salty licorice candy I love. My grandmother and dad taught me that if you want something you'll find a way and be creative, like opening a wine bottle with a screwdriver if you have to. That mindset has carried me through my entire business life.

In 2015 you went all in on entrepreneurship. What pushed you to finally jump?

I'd dreamed of being an entrepreneur since my teens and started a small company early on. After years working with great companies, big and small, I felt something was missing and that I could offer more on my own terms. When I separated from my child's father and became unemployed, I finally had the clarity to pursue exactly the work and life I wanted.

You've been called the queen of networks. When did you realize networking was your superpower?

I've done it naturally my whole life, even as a little girl when adults would come ask my advice instead of my parents'. I only realized in my thirties that this was actually a superpower. I connect with everyone equally, from cleaners to presidents to CEOs, because I'm genuinely curious about why people think and do things the way they do.

You and Anamari interviewed nearly a thousand women aged 50 to 80 around the world. What did you hear that you couldn't unhear?

We were surprised there was a whole wave of women worldwide dreaming of exactly what we were building. But what really struck us was that these women said we gave them hope, that life doesn't have to end at 50, 60, or 75, or after divorce or becoming empty nesters. That word, hope, made us realize this purpose is bigger than us.

Most founders chase young users, but you went the opposite direction. Why?

Over half the world's population is women, and a growing share are 50 plus with careers, wealth, languages, and international backgrounds, yet almost nobody serves them. Women consume and invest differently than men, but this huge, forgotten, unseen, unheard segment has almost no products or services built for how they actually want to live and spend.

For someone hearing this for the first time, what exactly is connected living?

It's a method Anamari and I built from over a thousand interviews, where you live daily life together as locals with certain touch points during the day, while still having privacy and independence. It's not assisted living or slowing down, it's a lighthearted community that keeps you growing, learning, and supported, because we're still very active and going.