Mycorena is quickly growing, and so is the team. A few months ago, the team welcomed a new Head of Controlling, Anette Björndal. With a background in financial control and accounting, most recently at Mat.se, she took on the challenge of business control at our fast-paced company in a significant scale-up phase.
- I joined Mycorena in mid-August, so I’m coming up on three months. Time has flown by, there is always so much going on, and no day is like the other. It’s a lot of drive, constant speed. I look forward to the journey ahead. (...) I hadn’t heard of Mycorena before. It was something that fluttered by in my Linkedin feed. The first thing that caught my attention was the sustainability focus and the potential of the products. It feels great to be part of building something sustainable. Also, I find the culture and “way of working” of smaller companies and start-ups both charming and challenging.
Previously, Anette worked as Business Controller at Mat.se, an E-commerce retail business part of big concern Axfood. She had a broad role where she was part of the strategic work and planning alongside the management team. Her responsibilities included budgeting, financial reporting, key performance indicators, and making different scenario analyses for the future.
- It was an exciting challenge to balance the innovative and tech-oriented spirit of Mat.se and simultaneously meet the requirements of sophisticated structures and ways of working in the Axfood Group.
At Mycorena, Anette takes on similar tasks but in a new setting.
- Some of my primary responsibilities currently include implementing a budgeting process and an ERP system. The selection of KPIs and design of reports are natural steps to come. My responsibilities are similar to my previous experiences in budgeting, reporting, and understanding the value chains in a business. Taking the lead in introducing processes from scratch brings stardust to the challenge. The food-tech industry is new to me, and a new industry usually brings new challenges and a promise of personal development.
If she were to describe her typical day at work, she would say it is impossible.
- It is difficult because there is no such thing as a typical day here. However, I am lucky to be part of a great team and spend my days with fantastic and professional colleagues. Also, I spend time improving my understanding of value flows, structures and triggers of transactions in the company and the strategic goals ahead of us to build a scalable budgeting model.
In terms of the technological aspects, Anette doesn’t find any issue with working at such a tech-heavy company.
- It’s the opposite. I am excited about the combination of manufacturing and the innovative tech side of the company.
On a personal level, Anette has an adventurous streak and loves trying new things. She grew up outside of Gothenburg, and during her studies, she spent a year abroad in Brisbane and Prague. Today, she lives in Sävedalen with her husband and their two children.
- I have done a little bit of a lot of things. I have scuba-dived quite a lot, parachuted a couple of times, and enjoy river rafting, sailing, and skiing. Nowadays, adrenaline rushes are not at the top of my mind. Priorities change over time. Now, I value family-oriented activities and have become a small-scale hobby hiker. Also, I have always enjoyed food and cooking, and this interest has grown over the last few years. We spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen at home.
Even though there are fewer adrenaline-filled adventures these days, the adventurous spirit lives on in the work life, which includes a lot of speed and action in the current scale-up phase.
- The company is expanding quickly, and I enjoy the fast-paced environment. I definitely recommend Mycorena as a workplace to anyone who wants an active environment.
Fun fact:
I have seen Mamma Mia probably 20 times.
