Jyväskylä Business Rally
Investor Day

Candace Johnson, jury lead

Founding Member of the Sophia Business Angels, president emeritus of EBAN

Excited to announce that the Investor Day´s jury is led by Candace Johnson!

Ms. Johnson is founding Member and was President of the Board of the Sophia Business Angels in Sophia Antipolis, France from 2006 – 2008 as well as president emeritus of EBAN. In 2023 EBAN’s President Emeritus Candace Johnson, was paid tribute by EU Commission President von der Leyen of her work as a founding member of the Global Board Ready Women (GBRW), advancing the “Women on Boards” initiative, which subsequently became European law on 22 November 2022. City of Jyväskylä is welcoming Candace Johnson to Finland!

Haruka Arai, jury member

Executive Director 
CEFMOF

Haruka Arai is Executive Director of Cefmof. Cefmof is a foundation established by the City of Jyväskylä, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team and the Toyota Mobility Foundation with the main objective of creating a carbon neutral future.

Haruka started her career in sales planning and market research analysis at NTT DOCOMO, a Japanese telecommunications company, in 2010. She gained experience in corporate, business planning and business cooperation through a secondment to a subsidiary. She was responsible for promoting open innovation between start-ups and NTT Group and investing in start-ups at NTT DOCOMO Ventures (NDV), which has been DOCOMO's venture capital company since 2020.

NTT DOCOMO Ventures has operated funds for over 15 years and invested in over 190 companies in Japan, the USA, Europe and Israel etc.  About 27% of Japanese portfolio companies became IPO. At NDV, Haruka supported and invested in i.e., software, SaaS, digital health, and circular economy start-ups both in B2B and B2C sectors.

Audra Shallal, jury member

EBAN Board Member, Vice-President of Corenvest 

Audra Shallal is the Vice-President of Corenvest, with over twenty years of experience in entrepreneurship, business planning, and pitch coaching for investor-ready programs. Based in Finland and France, she consults for esteemed international organizations, including the OECD, UNEP, UNIDO, and the European Commission. Audra teaches courses on entrepreneurship and finance at prestigious institutions such as ENSCP, X, ParisTech, and CELSA, and she conducts her popular workshop, “Craft a Killer Pitch,” globally.

Her significant contributions include launching the Enterprise Financing Network within the MENA-OECD Investment Programme, which connects entrepreneurs, financiers, research bodies, and policymakers to improve financing conditions. As a former Vice-President of FBA and past board member of NFBAN, she holds board positions with business angel networks such as EBAN (European Business Angel Network) and SBA (Sophia Business Angels), while serving on the advisory boards of I4W (Impulse4Women), AFBAN (African Federation of Business Angel Networks), and Tenmou. Additionally, she is a Co-Founder of Flying Finn Angels and Co-Chair of Eban Sports.

Audra is also an Expert Jury Member for the European Commission’s European Innovation Council (EIC) and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA), a D2XCEL Stakeholder member of the AI-Powered Digital Services for Sustainable and Smart Cities Group, and an EIC Mentor/Expert for Clean Fuels and Hydrogen. Additionally, she serves as a D2XCEL Mentor/Expert for Renewable Energy Production and Sustainable Mobility, and is a WOMEN TechEU partner, supporting women-led deep tech startups from Europe to grow into tomorrow’s tech leaders within the European Commission.

Outside of her professional endeavors, Audra is a former classical ballet dancer and is involved in performing arts. She competes in high level fencing and show jumping, winning multiple medals. Bilingual in English and French, she holds two BA degrees in International Business and Economics (AUP), an MBA (École des Ponts et Chaussées) , and a DEA (Sorbonne) in Strategic Management.

Tiina Laisi-Puheloinen, jury member

CEO, FiBAN

Tiina Laisi-Puheloinen is an experienced leader with a proven track record in startups, fundraising, and digital business growth. She has deep expertise in SaaS business models, dynamic pricing, and digital media strategies, and she drives companies toward scalable success.

In addition to her work in the tech and startup ecosystem, Tiina is an active reservist in the Finnish Defence Forces and plays a key role in the defense and security sector. She helps companies navigate growth and strategic expansion in this critical industry.

She firmly believes in strategic leadership, data-driven decision-making, and building sustainable growth models that ensure long-term impact.

Jesper Jarlbæk, jury member

President of EBAN

Jesper Jarlbæk has been a business angel since 2006.He has made 50+ direct investments in startups since then.

In 2009 he was named Business Angel of the Year in Denmark. In 2011, he became the first Chairman of the newly created DanBAN, Danish Business Angel network. From 2014 until 2024, he was Treasurer of EBAN. In 2024, Jesper was elected as President of EBAN, and in January he stepped down as Chairman of DanBAN. During Jespers 13-year tenure, DanBAN was six times awarded as the “Best performing Business angel network”.

In 2023, Jesper was recognized as Business Angel of the Year in Denmark and in 2024 he was recognized as Business Angel of the Year by EBAN.

Jesper has served as Vice-chair of Aktive Ejere (Danish Venture Capital Association since 2009.

Elina Koivumäki, keynote-speaker

FiBAN's Chair and angel investor

Elina Koivumäki is leading FiBAN as its Chair for the second year now. She started angel investing in 2016 at the same time when she left a 17-year long career and partnership in large Finnish law firms and founded her own law firm, Lexperience Ltd. 

Her first investment was to Kyrö Distillery Company and since then her portfolio includes 9 startups. During 2018-2021 she was also a co-founder of the Growpolis startup.

In her legal profession Elina specializes in issues related to data protection, marketing, communications and copyright, as well as their AI-related topics. 

Elina is a professional speaker, moderator, coach and the author of the awarded book series “Marketing Law”. Elina’s company’s registered trademark is “It’s all about people,” and she strongly believes in the importance of communication skills and communities. She actively continues to study these topics and understand the power of influential human capital and smart money.