Welcome, Aslak!
Aslak de Silva will start at his new role as VP Sales & Marketing at Naava (formerly known as NaturVention) on 1.9.
De Silva is transitioning from Keskisuomalainen OYJ (stock listed company with yearly revenue of 150 million euros), and his role as Sales Director. Previously de Silva has worked for Finnish companies like Kauppalehti (leading business newspaper in Finland) and Sanoma News (international media company) and has also spent years working abroad in Sweden, Norway and Ireland.
De Silva will be heading the sales and marketing at Naava as the company is taking its business onto the global market. “My job is to create a wow-effect for our customers already before they’ve been introduced to Naava, the world’s only air purifying smart green wall. In this ongoing well-being boom, clean indoor air has until now played a relatively small role. I can however sense potential in the air”.
"In this ongoing well-being boom, clean indoor air has until now played a relatively small role. I can however sense potential in the air."
“Aslak is the perfect example of the new generation professionals, whose soft core values apply to us as well: well-being, the people around you and doing good. With Aslak’s help we will make Naava a concept as well known as for example Tesla. In the future, we want the whole world to breathe Naava air,” said Naava's CEO and founder Aki Soudunsaari.
De Silva can be seen to have all it takes to help make Naturvention’s global success story come true. After a career within martial arts, de Silva has focused his energy and determination towards sales and the management of it.
Generating sales with the help of different marketing related solutions is something that de Silva has worked closely with over the years, and so, the world of digital marketing and content creation doesn’t come as anything new for him.
One of de Silva’s first tasks will be to create an understanding about the customers’ purchasing process: how do we go from generating interest to personal customer service and supporting our customers in their decision making.
“As I’ve worked in times of transition before, one thing has become very clear for me. Everything is built around the customers and their understanding about the product,” said de Silva.
Aslak says he’s got a nickname, Assu. “I often call myself an assustant. My job is to simplify the complicated big picture”. According to de Silva, a common theme for growth ventures are over-reaction to small things due to a great excitement towards everything, while focus instead should lay on building a solid foundation.
“A company’s marketing and sales operations can be compared to the foundation of any athlete’s physical shape, it’s something that has to built up every year. That’s what I aim at doing at Naava now,” said de Silva.