ARCTIC SPARK
Founder'sStory
It all started with a little 9-year old Finnish boy travelling to Africa on a cargo ship and learning in Zambia about life, people and friendship beyond borders. I experienced beauty and hope even among the most poorest locations and difficult circumstances. I understood that optimism, willingness to believe in better and doing good were at the very heart of the human well being. And to always - always - focus on the opportunities. I decided to try to do my utmost that everyone I will come across with in my life will be able to benefit from these learnings.
Life then took me to many different countries and I learned to embrace the uniqueness of different cultures and was awed by the resilience of people during adversaries. One of my oddest memories was when I was 16 and studying on my own in Finland. I wanted to see my family for Christmas and for that to happen I had to take a 800km taxi ride (one way) across the desert from Amman, Jordania to Baghdad, the capital of the war torn Iraq where my family lived then. It turned out I was not the only one: the desert highway was filled with taxis commuting back and forth taking people to see their loved ones.
In Michigan, as an exchange student I observed and learned what it meant to be truly passionate
about your country, sport or business, but also how a community comes together and helps
each other during hard times when the economy took a nose dive.
As a young professional, I worked for the Finnish Government's Development Aid Agency. After completing my Masters in International Marketing, I spent eight years marketing fast moving consumer goods with Procter&Gamble Nordic in Sweden. In P&G my focus was to understand the end user, ensure that the organization created products which improve the lives of the consumers and to build brands that people want to buy. I also learned about innovation and digital business by working with one of the pioneers in the field at the beginning of the millenium. Later, I also went on to learn how to build advertising agencies before deciding to move into the business of making good even more directly.
I became the CEO of World Vision Finland in 2003 with a task to re-invent the organisation and to step change their fundraising. In six years after a structural re-design, new strategy, holistic marketing plan and brand refresh, the organization had ten folded its income and increased its awareness from 0 to 40%.
In 2009, I became Vice President and Head of Global Marketing for World Vision International where I grew the organization’s private fundraising with 20% to 1.8 billion USD. I set up a Global Corporate Engagement program, co-lead successful global supporter campaigns, built a global marketing skill share system, created a digital center of expertise, refreshed and repositioned the organization's global brand, developed its product portfolio and managed and led a new market entry and development programme into white spaces.
In 2014, after a rewarding career the now not so little boy anymore (6ft 4in / 190cm) decided to reflect and look back at his life and journey so far. I wanted to find out how to best live out my true passion - wanting to make the world a better place - in my next life stage. I decided that it would best accomplished by setting up a company which was focused on helping people do more good, because it is only through people any change is ever possible. The more I can help and support people wanting change in what ever organization, situation or position they find themselves in, the better the world will become.
Arctic Spark.
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Arctic reflecting on my Nordic roots and values: Real, Authentic, Caring and Resilient
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Spark reflecting on my personality and character: Creative, Innovative, Inspirational and Positive
A.T.
Aki Temiseva
For further information, check out my LinkedIn profile.