Antti Hovila awarded the 2008 IK Finnish-American scholarship

The IK Finnish-American scholarship, worth EUR 25,000, has this year been granted to Antti Hovila, a 27-year-old civil engineer from Pyhtää in Finland.

Hovila will use the scholarship to pursue an MBA degree at Harvard University (Massachusetts). Harvard has one of the leading business schools in the world, and after a highly competitive application process, about 900 new students enroll in the university’s MBA programme each year.

Harvard was Hovila’s number one choice because of its alternative teaching methods, world-class professors and prominent guest speakers. He will join the exclusive ranks of the relatively few Finns who have had the opportunity to study at Harvard. “I’m grateful to IK, because being awarded the scholarship has made my decision to study for an MBA easier,” says Hovila.

Antti Hovila graduated with distinction from the Helsinki University of Technology (Department of Industrial Engineering and Management) in 2005. Since then, he has worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and as a Business Development Manager at Nokia. In addition to his academic and professional achievements, Hovila has displayed an avid interest in forging links with the world outside of Finland, and has visited nearly 60 countries.

“IK wants to strengthen the bridge between Finland and the USA, the world leader in research and development, because we want to do our part to channel cutting edge international knowhow into the Finnish business world. Our scholarship has proved to be an effective way of enabling talented Finnish students to enroll in high-quality graduate and postgraduate programmes in the United States. This year we are delighted to once again be able to grant the scholarship to an outstanding young Finnish professional. We wish Antti a lot of success at the renowned Harvard University”, Björn Savén, Executive Chairman at IK Investment Partners, says.

IK, with its own pool of talented professionals representing a wide diversity of nationalities and backgrounds, active on the competitive and dynamic international business arena, is a firm believer in the value added by international exchange and experience.

Antti Hovila is the sixth recipient of the IK Finnish-American Scholarship, administered by the League of Finnish-American Societies Foundation. The scholarship was instituted in 2000, and has since provided exceptional young Finnish business or engineering students with the opportunity to broaden their academic and international perspective with studies at top universities in the United States.

In previous years, the scholarship has been granted twice for an MBA degree, to Pasi Tolmunen in 2001) and Aki Kettunen in 2002, for studies at Tulane University in New Orleans. In 2003, the scholarship was granted to Nelli Öster for a PhD in Finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Erkko Etula received the scholarship for a PhD programme at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005. Matti Lannetta received the 2006 scholarship for a Master of Science degree at Indiana University.

More information:
Charlotte Laveson
Communication Manager
Tel: +46 8 678 95 51
www.ikinvest.com