Emil Aaltonen ( Widell until 1890; b. 29 August 1869 — d. 16 December 1949) was a prominent Finnish industrialist and philanthropist, who went from humble beginnings to own and run the largest shoe manufacturing business of its time in the Nordic region.
Early life
Emil Widell was born in Sääksmäki (today part of Valkeakoski) to a farming family of modest means, as the third of seven children. The family lost their farm in the aftermath of the Finnish famine of 1866–68, and Emil's father had to take a job as a railway worker. He died relatively young, leaving his widow to care for the children. Consequently the young Emil was expected also to contribute to the household, and started as a shoemaker's apprentice at the age of 13. By age 19, he had qualified as a master craftsman, and set up his own workshop in the town of Hattula.
Widell changed his original Swedish surname to the Finnish Aaltonen in 1890, as was common during the Finnicization of names in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Business career
Footwear
During the 1890s Aaltonen's workshop gradually grew and, after his marriage in 1896 to Olga ( Malinen), the product range was upon her initiative expanded from shoes to other leather products.
In 1902, Aaltonen purchased a used American shoe production line and set up his first industrial business, the Hattulan Jalintehdas factory.
In 1905, however, when the factory burned down and Olga died shortly afterwards, Aaltonen is known to have considered giving up business altogether. In the end, he moved with his two young daughters to the industrial city of Tampere, where he set up a new manufacturing business, Tampereen Kenkätehdas. Within a year of starting, the factory employed over 100 staff and produced 20,000 pairs of shoes.
In 1917, the business was restructured as a limited company, and renamed Aaltosen Kenkätehdas Osakeyhtiö. The operation employed one-third of all shoe manufacturing staff in the country at the time. The business continued to grow, acquiring competitors and setting up supply chain operations in leather production and shoe colour manufacturing. The company was awarded Gold Medal at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, and by the end of the 1930s its product range covered 4,500 models and the operation employed over 1,300 staff. It was the largest shoe manufacturing business of its day in the Nordics.
Aaltonen retired from the day-to-day running of his businesses in 1947, at the age of 78.
He is particularly remembered as a pioneer of shoe manufacturing in Finland.
Other manufacturing
In 1915, Aaltonen had invested in a new steam locomotive manufacturer, Lokomo, and by the mid-1920s he owned it almost entirely. Fuelled by Finland's industrialisation and military procurement, the business grew and expanded into new product lines, eventually employing 1,300 staff.
In 1921, Aaltonen had invested in another new business, , the first manufacturer of plastic (galalith) products in Finland, located in the Hatanpää district. The company was not profitable and after some years the other shareholders exited the venture, leaving Aaltonen owning nearly all the shares. He managed to turn the business around and grow it into a successful and profitable manufacturer, diversifying into new materials and product lines.
Aaltonen was also a shareholder in a textile business, set up in 1921 in Nokia under the name Nokian Kutomo ja Värjäys. Today it is known as Nanso Group and owned by Aaltonen's descendants.
Agriculture
Despite his success in business, Aaltonen did not feel that manufacturing was his true calling; instead, he dreamed of being a farmer, and spent his spare time planning how to acquire a farm and grow and develop it to prosperity. When he eventually purchased a farm, his first attempt was not successful, but in 1917 he managed to acquire from the aristocratic von Qvanten family their 17th-century, Ylikartano mansion in Mäntsälä, which he enthusiastically and systematically developed into a large-scale, successful dairy farming operation. Aaltonen also found synergies between his businesses, for example he used the milk produced at Ylikartano as the raw material for the galalith production of Sarvis.
Philanthropy
Aaltonen's philanthropic ideas were evident from early on, as he built housing for his factory workers, and provided subsidised loans to those who wanted instead to purchase their own properties.