Conversations at Clerkenwell Design Week: NAAVA’s Founder & CEO Aki Soudunsaari
As part of Clerkenwell Design Week’s live programme, Conversations at Clerkenwell 2019 promises even more in-depth dialogue with established and new design talent, industry leaders, journalists and institutes, across a 3-day programme of talks.
A conversation that should not be missed is the Thursday 12:00-13:00 session called ‘Wellness in the Workplace’, presented by onOffice.
OnOffice Editor, Jessica-Christin Hametner, meets with brands and designers, such as NAAVA’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer Aki Soudunsaari, for whom ‘Wellness in the Workspace’ is a focus, whether across business strategy, design or products devised specifically to enhance our wellbeing as we work.
Aki lives and breathes entrepreneurship, which he defines as “ideas into action”. Equipped with over 10 years of experience, he is a true expert of growth venturing with a passion for human behaviour, winning teams, educational leadership and company culture.
After working as a teacher of physical education and health sciences, Aki worked on his PhD in the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics and was a visiting scholar in Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship at San Jose State University. He ran Global Venture Labs’ growth venturing programs for a few years, where multidisciplinary students solved companies problems and learned entrepreneurial thinking and processes.
Aki’s personal mission is to improve people’s health, happiness and performance. During his PhD work he met Naava’s co-founder Niko, and this led to the birth of Naava.
Six years later, Naava has grown from an innovative experiment of two young men, to a global business. Naava brings nature indoors, creating natural environments where we can feel healthier and happier.
Aki has been nominated for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year (2017), PWC’s Most Valuable Entrepreneur (2015) and Young Academic Entrepreneur (2014) awards. He was invited by the President of Finland to join the Finland’s 100-year ceremonies in 2017, and he has been a keynote speaker at tens of different seminars, events and conferences.
For further information contact Anna King or Cora Kemp.