History Wild and Free’s history began back in 1981 when the company founder, Rauno Riekkinen, while on a cross-country skiing trek, came up with the idea of combining genuine nature experiences with incentive travel. This memorable ski trek in the spectacular wintry nature also marked the creation of the Wild and Free logo as the grand silhouette of a golden eagle that could be seen in front of the sun. In the mid-1980s the very first customers came from France and invited Rauno to join them on their skiing and snowmobiling trips in North Lapland during his leisure time. These activities were commercialised in 1994 with the founding of the Wild and Free company, and since 1995 the company has been significantly assisting in the international success of Finland's largest corporation.  During that same year, the company started to develop its revolutionary franchise-based incoming network, which incorporated state-of-the-art online systems in all its activities. In 2002, the company was divided into two parts – Wild and Free concentrating on exclusive group travel, meetings, incentive and nature travel, and Fintravel Ltd concentrating on the further development of pioneering electronic systems for the tourist industry.   Later in 2007, the IT Division of Fintravel Ltd was separated into an independent company called WAF Solutions Ltd, which concentrates on open coding solutions for small and medium sized companies.   Wild and Free has always been renowned as a pioneer in the tourist industry, and the same continues today.