The Business Leader of the Year 2025 is Juha Saarela, CEO of Puuilo.

The Finnish Businessmen's Association, Kauppalehti newspaper and the School of Business announced the Business Leader of the Year 2025 at an award ceremony held at the School of Business on 8 September. The Business Leader of the Year 2025 is Juha Saarela, CEO of Puuilo. The jury praised Saarela for his ability to innovate business practices, build sustainable success and act as a role model for the entire business world. (A recording of the event (mainly in Finnish) can be found at the bottom of this page.)

In addition to recognising the Business Leader of the Year, the Finnish Businessmen's Association, the School of Business, and Kauppalehti daily news traditionally also awarded two students from Aalto University, this time both from the School of Business. Vu Trang received a scholarship for promoting entrepreneurship and Aino Valonen received a scholarship for her excellent master's thesis. Both awardees received a €2,500 grant from the Finnish Businessmen's Association. 

The ceremony also featured a presentation on leadership and management by business executive and board professional Kaisa Hietala. Associate Dean Virpi Tuunainen extended greetings from the School of Business.

Vu Trang awarded for promoting entrepreneurship

Vu Trang completed her first year in the Sustainable Entrepreneurship master's programme last year. Her academic performance has been excellent and she has actively contributed to building Aalto’s entrepreneurship community.

Vu Trang was also recently hired for a new EIT project (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) to help develop the Sustainable Entrepreneurship master's programme. This project focuses on promoting entrepreneurship education and supporting the entrepreneurship ecosystem at Aalto. Currently, Vu is conducting interviews with professors and lecturers of entrepreneurship to gather insights on how the existing Sustainable Entrepreneurship master's programme can be improved and how entrepreneurship education offerings can be developed at Aalto. These insights are also crucial for the continued development of the Aalto Founder School. 

In the Aalto Founder School, which started this autumn, students from across Aalto University have the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship practices in a new university-wide minor, as well as in the associated mentoring programme and Founder Talks events. Founder School benefits from the active participation of entrepreneurial-minded students in its activities. These active participants serve as excellent role models for engaging with the startup ecosystem.

Vu has also demonstrated her engagement by founding the first subject club for the School of Business' Sustainable Entrepreneurship master's programme. Subject clubs are key student-led initiatives that support the continuous development of master's programmes, strengthen the student community and grow the alumni network.

Aino Valonen awarded for excellent master's thesis

M.Sc. (Econ.) Aino Valonen was awarded for her excellent master's thesis ‘Female merchant entrepreneurship – A study on women's entrepreneurial intentions’. The thesis examined factors associated with women’s entrepreneurial intentions using the theory of planned behaviour. Supporting women's entrepreneurial intentions and increasing the number of female entrepreneurs can be achieved by identifying the factors that influence women's decisions to become entrepreneurs. 

Aino's thesis is the first study to explore female entrepreneurship in the context of merchant entrepreneurship. By utilising qualitative research methods, Aino has gained a comprehensive understanding of factors related to women's intentions to become merchant entrepreneurs and identified ways to encourage women to pursue merchant entrepreneurship careers. The study suggests that recognising factors related to women's entrepreneurial intentions can help find ways to increase the number of female merchant entrepreneurs. For example, sharing female merchant entrepreneurs' career stories and establishing role models are concrete ways to attract more women to consider merchant entrepreneurship careers.

Founded in 1896, the Finnish Businessmen's Association established Kauppalehti newspaper and its active members were also involved in the founding of the School of Business (formerly known as the Helsinki School of Economics).

Watch the recording of the Business Leader of the Year 2025 event (mainly in Finnish)

6:40 Opening words by Jouni Riuttanen, Chairman of the Finnish Businessmen's Association
10:40 Kaisa Hietala, business executive and board professional: Leadership and management
45:15 Announcement of scholars: Vu Trang and Aino Valonen
47:25 Vu Trang's thanks and presentation (in English)
50:40 Reasons for awarding Aino Valonen
52:10 Aino Valonen's thanks and presentation
55:40 Greetings from the School of Business Associate Dean Virpi Tuunainen
1:01:40 Announcement of the Business Leader of the Year 2025
1:05:45 Presentation by the Business Leader of the Year 2025 Juha Saarela.