Pentti Juho Kalervo Kouri (born February 12, 1949 in Kemijärvi) is a Finnish economist and venture capitalist.

He was a first Finn to get a stipend to Atlantic College. After graduating from there, he got his Master's degree in economics from University of Helsinki in 1970. At that same year, when he was just 21 years old, he was hired by the International Monetary Fund. It was in IMF's research organization where Kouri first met Michael Porter, with whom he later developed the Kouri-Porter model . Kouri got his Ph.D. from MIT in 1974. He has served as a professor of economics in Stanford, Yale, Helsinki, and New York universities.

Later he become known as a venture capitalist, for instance, he managed George Soros's investments to Finland. Today, he is remembered for his participation to controversial "Kouri-deals" in late 1980s. In "Kouri-deals", a group of investors including Dr. Kouri collaborated to buy a majority of four largest banks of Finland, mostly with borrowed money, causing a political outcry.

References

• Pentti Kouri (1996) Suomen omistaja ja muut elämäni roolit, Otava (trans. of title: Owner of Finland and other roles of my life)
• Harri Saukkomaa (1991) Kuka tarvitsi Pentti Kouria?, Otava (trans. of title: Who needed Pentti Kouri?)

Quotes

• "I have lost my past, but what money I have lost; I know I can earn it back in multiples. I have the ability to create wealth!"