Mauri Kontu Receives the Golden Hoe Award

On 16 June 2022, Vahterus founder and CEO Mauri Kontu received the ’Golden Hoe’ award from Growth Collective Finland (Kasvuryhmä), an accelerator for Finnish scale-up companies. Golden Hoe is given annually to an inspirational successful scale-up leader in recognition of a strong track record of growth, internationalisation and renewal.

Growth Collective Finland (Kasvuryhmä) was created in 2015 by 29 well-known Finnish business leaders, including Matti Alahuhta, Mika Anttonen, Risto Siilasmaa and Ilkka Paananen. The purpose was to develop the entrepreneurial spirit in Finland and to accelerate the renewal and growth of Finnish scale-ups in an inspiring way.

Today, the Kasvuryhmä community consists of 250 leaders of medium-sized growth companies. These include CEOs, chairpersons and owners of companies with a turnover of between €10 million and €1 billion, who grow and innovate their business in a way that benefits the entire country.

Mauri Kontu received the acknowledgement for his growth leadership, inspirational attitude and expressing the Growth Collective’s values in his work. He believes that there’s always strong local knowledge and activity behind successful international companies. ‘We’re committetd to thinking globally and acting locally, and we wouldn’t exist without our employees’, he says. ‘Some of our them have worked with us since 1990.’

‘This is a big honor for me and for Vahterus and a doubly happy day because our sixth grandchild was also born today. To build a successful company, you need the right people, skills, persuasiveness, and a little luck. We believe in deep collaboration, conversation and working together – in our teams, and with our customers. Together we succeed’, Kontu says.

Download the press release here.