Ulrik Wilhelm Eduard Polón (16 June 1861 – 30 September 1930)[1] was a Finnish business leader[2] and a political patriot during the country's years of oppression.

He was the founder, CEO, chairman of the board and majority shareholder of Suomen Kumitehdas Oy or the Finnish Rubber Company.

[5] He studied at a Swedish lyceum in Porvoo, becoming friends with his classmate, Werner Söderström, a bookseller who introduced him to a model of a money-making business when he established a publishing house.

As a result, a number of board members, led by Karl Alfred Paloheimo, wanted to oust Polón as CEO.

[4] Thanks to the assets he acquired during the First World War, Polón created a group around Suomen Kumitehdas, which is now called Nokia Corporation.

In 1918, Polón first acquired Nokia Ab, a wood processing and power generation company founded by Fredrik Idestam in the 1860s.

[4] Polón decided to name the company Nokia, the name of the town where the factories were based, in order to differentiate their products from Russian competitors.

[7] His successor Torsten Westerlund had long opposed the merging of the companies because he feared that the leftist forces in Finland would insist on nationalization as the group had already become too large.

He managed the Finnish Rubber Factory in Siberia and traded shares on the Helsinki Stock Exchange which led to significant gains during his exile.

Finland's best-known banker at the time was Polón's friend, Wilhelm Bensow, who twice traveled to Siberia to meet his customer.