Anni Ronkainen and Kia Aejmelaeus appointed to the board of EWQ Zone Oy

EWQ is the first investment of the new Evli Private Capital Fund I, focusing on themes of the green transition. Evli’s investment provides EWQ with a solid ownership base and balance sheet, enabling accelerated growth in the Nordic markets. As a result of this investment, the EWQ board is strengthened by two new members, Anni Ronkainen and Kia Aejmelaeus.

“In a rapidly growing company, the expertise brought by board members is crucial in steering international growth initiatives, including potential acquisitions. We now gain additional support in advancing digitalization and developing business and leadership. Success is often tied to customer satisfaction, so the board members’ experience in customer-centric approaches to product and service development is valuable. We also gain reinforcement in our governance and sustainability matters, which are key drivers of value creation in today’s business,” says Stefan Svanljung, Chairman of the Board of EWQ.

Anni Ronkainen is an experienced technology expert specializing in digital transformation, data and analytics utilization, and change management. She currently serves on the boards of several companies, including Sitowise, Loihde, Posti, and Lassila & Tikanoja. She has previously worked as the Chief Digital Officer and as a member of the executive management team responsible for the digital business environment at Kesko, Country Manager for Google and CEO of the advertising agency group McCann Helsinki. Additionally, Ronkainen was named Digital Leader of the Year 2020 and has been listed multiple times among Talouselämä’s Women Decision Makers.

“It is exciting to be part of EWQ’s next growth phase. The company’s operations perfectly combine my experience and interest in technology, data, and customer understanding. Through board work, I can particularly bring a customer interface perspective to the development of new services. The new features of the service portfolio are strongly based on customer needs. It is important to be present at customer touchpoints from inspiration to the final purchase event. In the coming years, the focus should also be strongly on leveraging the opportunities of artificial intelligence and machine learning,” Ronkainen states.

Kia Aejmelaeus has over 25 years of international experience in financial markets and leadership roles from startups to large publicly listed companies, including in the retail sector. She has been involved in numerous demanding strategy projects, business development, mergers and acquisitions, and capital raising. Additionally, Aejmelaeus has strong expertise in financial reporting, sustainability, and communications. She is a Partner at Evli Private Capital.

“Evli is an active owner, providing EWQ not only with capital but also support in clarifying strategy, internationalization, executing acquisitions, as well as access to a broad network of experts. The company, with its technology solutions, is excellently positioned to benefit from market trends such as retail's digitalization and journey towards lower carbon operations. A successful customer experience requires a comprehensive integration of the physical store environment and digital services. I look forward to the opportunity to support management in business development. Our common goal is to build EWQ into a Finnish success story,” Aejmelaeus remarks.

As a result of the investment, Evli becomes a significant minority owner of EWQ. The current entrepreneurs will remain substantial owners of the company. Continuing on the board are Stefan Svanljung, Fred Westerholm and Mikael Krogius.