It would be tempting to succumb to hindsight and say that Juhana Raitasalo‘s career was destined to lead him to Mallow. After all, what else should one think when the man who, while working at Microsoft, saw and experienced the birth of Azure and its first deployments, is now the Business Development Director at Mallow, a company offering the country’s best Azure consulting?
”Of course, it’s hard to contain the excitement at a time like this, when AI technology is bringing a wide array of new possibilities to cloud services. And to get to join a community of senior consultants that has a crystal-clear focus on Azure and the ability to solve customer needs”, Raitasalo says.
A quick recap of Raitasalo’s work history includes 12 years at Microsoft, where he grew to become a Sales Lead. After Microsoft, Raitasalo worked for about eight years at Loihde Oyj, a digital expert company listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. At Loihde, Raitasalo led the Data & AI sales team, driving business growth through data management, analytics, and AI solutions.
Small is great
Measured by market capitalization, Microsoft is the third or fourth largest company in the world. Loihde is a publicly listed company. Mallow is a growth company in the Reaktor Fusion Ecosystem, a completely different world in terms of size compared to Raitasalo’s previous employers. So why Mallow?
”Ever since Mallow was founded, it has had a positive presence in the industry. It’s common knowledge that Mallow does impressive work. I’m motivated by the fact that when you succeed, you have the chance to significantly impact the well-being of the entire work community. The smaller size also brings agility: we have the freedom to focus precisely on what we do best.”
Raitasalo brings a significant network to Mallow and will form a sales partnership with CEO Jaakko Karhumaa.
Curious and determined
In the people business, it’s fun to look under the hood and peek at what a person does in their free time. Whether it’s significant or not, everyone can decide for themselves. A glimpse into Raitasalo’s free time reveals a 2nd dan black belt in Taekwondo, with some karate on top of that. He has three children, a couple of whom have already flown the nest.
”I’ve practiced martial arts since I was young, but Taekwondo came into the picture because my then-girlfriend, now-wife, practiced it. The sport has a fun community, and it’s a good counterbalance to work: it demands total concentration, meaning a complete break from everything else.”
We always give props for a black belt, no matter what the quote says after it. A black belt is always a black belt. So, with this background, it’s now game on to new challenges?
”This is it. I have to be grateful that so much is happening in our industry again, so many interesting things. It’s fantastic to get to join the Mallow team.”
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