#1759

Mika Anttonen

Finland 59 years old Self-Made

Overview

Mika Anttonen heads and owns a majority stake in the nearly $8 billion (sales) Scandinavian fuel distributor St1 Group.

Anttonen uses profits to finance projects he hopes will combat climate change and eventually replace oil, such as developing bioethanol from trash.

He got his start as an oil trader working for Finland-based oil refiner and marketer, Neste Oyj, in the early 1990s.

He founded his own company, Greenergy Baltic, in 1995. He renamed it St1 in 2005.

Anttonen plays hockey in his spare time and is a fan of the New York Rangers.

St1 is running a pilot program in Finland in which it drills four miles beneath the surface to extract heat, which can then be turned into energy.