Markus Wartiovaara new Professor of Practice at Hanken
Wartiovaara studied at Hanken at undergraduate and graduate level, and also completed his PhD at Hanken. In 1996 he and a group of friends founded one of Finland's first internet companies, Spray, which was subsequently purchased by US firm Razorfish and Nasdaq-listed in the early 2000s. Nowadays, Wartiovaara is active on the boards of the family businesses Captum and Rotator.
Wartiovaara's tenure as Professor of Practice centres around the subject of entrepreneurship. His goal is to promote Hanken's role throughout the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
"I want to continue being involved and generating new opportunities for our students and alumni, through research, teaching and also our Hanken Business Lab Opens in new window incubation programme."
Currently, Wartiovaara is managing the research initiative Venture Capital for Impact Opens in new window regarding the role of wealthy families' investment companies and the emergence of unicorn companies, i.e. start-ups valued at over one billion USD, in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Wartiovaara has also been teaching a course in business leadership for many years. It will be held in English for the first time this year.
According to Wartiovaara, Hanken has traditionally played a central role in internationalizing business in Finland.
"We will continue to have a natural role in the future helping promising Finnish companies enter the international market and bring new global innovations into the country. Hanken has an important function as a bridge-builder, both in the Nordic region and globally. Let's make the most of that opportunity."
Wartiovaara highlights the European university alliance ENGAGE.EU Opens in new window , of which Hanken is a member. The network will give start-ups that are taking part in Hanken Business Lab access to "hot desks", i.e. work spaces, throughout Europe. Through its activities, Hanken Business Lab has also fostered unique contacts in regions such as Silicon Valley, Switzerland, Singapore and Africa.
Wartiovaara hopes that the students will make full use of their time at Hanken.
"Get involved, find out stuff and get out there! Enjoy meeting as many different, interesting people as possible, both during and after your studies. A great place to start is the basement at Hanken, where Hanken Business Lab is located."
Text and photo: Jessica Gustafsson