“AkzoNobel is a great place to work; it allows you to define your own degrees of freedom within a solid corporate framework. In our company you don’t just go through the motions, you take responsibility and have freedom to express yourself from day one. We’re encouraged to use pragmatism and ask for opinion and support from all sides of Akzo Nobel. You’d be surprised how fast you can learn and what you get in return – an experience that will never go away.
People say to me: ‘You worked in Asia, Europe and the United States, was it always your objective to work abroad?’ To be honest, it wasn’t initially, but you create that opportunity by showing that you are capable of working in a challenging environment. I was managed by people who recognized this and saw that this was good for my development to go further afield. Working abroad is an amazing process, with positive effects from a personal, business and cultural point of view. My contribution involves envisioning and translating timely changes in management information and designing the framework for our management to create plans to pursue opportunities.”