BROMAN Group

A group owned by Broman family from Joensuu, whose companies include Motonet, AD VaraosaMaailma, AD Finland and Broman Logistics. The group employs around 2,000 people in several countries and has stores in Finland, Sweden and Estonia.

Fund name
371473
Founded
2019
Capital and expendable funds total yr. 2025
371 473 €

Broman Group established a special fund bearing its name within the Foundation for Economic Education, because they are particularly committed to promoting education and research in international retail business in Finland

Broman Group has been in operation for more than 60 years and has supported society through donations for almost as long. Since the early 1970s, support has been provided to a number of organisations in North Karelia engaged in socially significant work. Supporting the well-being of the region has always been important to the company.

Donations have also been made to the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies at the University of Eastern Finland. Harri Broman has worked closely with the university and has been awarded an honorary doctorate in business studies by the University of Eastern Finland.

Collaboration drives success

Since 2019, Broman Group has also supported the grant activities of The Foundation for Economic Education through donations.

The company wishes the assets donated to the Broman Group Designated Fund to be awarded primarily as grants supporting activities at the University of Eastern Finland that promote entrepreneurship, as well as research and education in the retail sector.

In 2025, Broman Group celebrated its 60th anniversary. To mark its anniversary year, the company decided to increase its total donation to one million euros.The Foundation for Economic Education’s grant activities also received a share of this support.

In 2025, the company’s 60th anniversary year, Broman Group contributed an additional EUR 150,000 to the special fund bearing its name.

A commemorative plaque on the building’s wall serves as a reminder of the company’s history.

”The Foundation for Economic Education is one of the very few channels in Finland through which we can support the kind of research and education that we—and all other Finnish retail operators—need. We are significantly behind countries such as Sweden, where there are large companies with international success and where business schools and companies work in genuinely close collaboration,” says Harri Broman, Chairman of the company’s Board.

”Retail trade needs the support of top-level Finnish research and education, as well as close cooperation between the business community and higher education institutions,” Harri Broman says.

Thinking big leads to great heights

Broman hopes that the donations made by Broman Group will be directed primarily towards grants that strengthen top-level expertise in international retailing in Finland.

“Education and research in the retail sector in Finland need greater financial resources if we are to remain competitive internationally. We must have world-class research and world-class education. Only in that way can we attract top Finnish talent to companies and reach the top in international markets.”

“Research and education in business studies are directly linked to the economic well-being of the entire country. Donations are one way for us to contribute to work aimed at ensuring that Finland as a whole can succeed and prosper,” Broman says.

Harri Broman on the left, Johanna Vesterinen, Chief Executive Officer of The Foundation for Economic Education, and Jari Lauronen, Chair of the North Karelia Regional Committee of The Foundation for Economic Education.

Text: Tiina Makkonen
pictures: Jami Ivanoff and Teemu Kuusimurto (personal profile of Harri Broman)