 Brigitta Sahlgren was the daughter of the merchant Olof Pehrsson Ekmarck and Christina Stillman and married in 1715 to merchant Jacob Sahlgren, who founded the first sugar refinery in Sweden, "Sahlgrenska sockerbruket", in 1729, which became one of the greatest businesses in Gothenburg.She took over the refinery, as well as the trade- and shipping company which was also owned by her spouse, when she was widowed in 1736.Sahlgren had a monopoly upon the sugar industry in Sweden.