A Brief Story of My Life

I’m 33 and currently living in the heart of  Africa – in Kenya’s capital city – Nairobi!

After finishing my Master of Business and Economics degree at the Norwegian School of Management in 2002, I moved to Nairobi, Kenya, where I stayed for almost 3 years before relocating back to Norway. After 5 years in Norway, 3 of them as VP Sales Africa in Vyke Communincations Plc., I am once again back in Nairobi.

I am currently the Sales Director of Kyoto Energy Ltd, the Nairobi-based renewable energy company that won the Financial Times Climate Challenge Award 2009.

A brief story of my life

I was born in Washington D.C., USA on May 30th 1977.  After a couple of months, I had already had enough of the place (not really – I was too young to know – but my parents decided to move back to Norway).

Back in my ancestral country at the age of 2 months, I moved to a place called Orkanger – a small countryside place with about 30 000 inhabitants.  At the time when I was 9 – in 1986 – my parents decided to move again, and off we went, this time to a place called Nesodden, nearby Oslo.

So in the summer of 86, I once again found myself in a new house at a new place. I started at the local Steiner school, which I attended for 2.5 years, until end 1988.  At that time, my dad got a nice job in Brussels, with diplomatic status, tax exemptions and all sorts of niceties.

In Brussels I started at the Scandinavian School of Brussels. As I picked up French pretty quickly, I decided to look for a greater challenge, and went over to Lycée Français de Belgique Jean Monet in 1990. Among other activities at that school, I was part of the Théâtre de l’Astrolabe team, acting in Le Timide au Palais in 1993.

In 1993, I once again headed back to Norway.  Since the quality of the French international system ranks in the European top level (by far beating Norwegian schools), I decided to continue at the Lycée Français d’Oslo René Cassin, where I got my baccalauréat in 1996.

Clearing high school in Norway is not a sober affair (even for a Norwegian attending an international school in Norway).  Despite the French language and curriculum of the Lycée Français d’Oslo, most of my classmates were Norwegians or half-Norwegians, with some sort of affiliation to France. Thus, we fully embraced the tradition calledRuss, or russefeiring. To sum it up, one starts drinking at the beginning of the last year in high school, and one continues until exams are over, while attending some major gatherings for russ from the entire region.  Some casualties occur each year.

Now, after being through with that part of my life, I went on to something that is mandatory for all Norwegian males (supposedly mandatory, although only 40% actually complete it): The military service.  Having a dual citizenship, I could easily have escaped, but chose not to – out of pure curiosity. I have never regretted that decision.  Although military insignia in the cases of many officers appear to be a substitute for both brains and self-esteem, the military service was an interesting experience.  I did my 2-month boot camp in the autumn of 1996 at Værnes Military Airport – co-located with the civilian airport just outside Trondheim. I then served the remaining months at Andøya Military Airport, on a small island in the far north of Norway.

Having completed my year of marching and gun-toting, I went on to become a student. The wonderful years at the Norwegian School of Management (BI) in Sandvika passed so fast I was almost shocked when it was suddenly all over, and I had the documents awarding me the title of Master of Business and Economics (in Norwegian: Siviløkonom).  During my time there, I was a highly active participant in the student union, notably as the Head of IT for 2 years, a journalist in Inside, the student newspaper, a member of the International Committee and a participant at the International Week in Zagreb in 2001 and a participant and sometimes co-organizer in a bunch of events. I was also in the Yearbook Committee for 2001 and and 2002.

Besides these activities, I also ran my own one-man venture in IT consulting – something I had actually started during my days in high school.

Of course, my main reason for being a student at BI was my education. Eventually, I graduated with a Master of Business and Economics degree (referred to as “siviløkonom” in Norwegian).

Taking part in student activities is always a good idea. Anyone who has been through college and never taken part in those activities has missed an important point. Also, there are some rewards:

AIESEC, an amazing organization for students all over the world, arranges not only conferences and cool events, but also job exchange programs.  Although I was never a member during my days in college (one of the few things I regret), I still knew a lot of people there, and jumped at the opportunity during my last days in college when there was a traineeship in Kenya available.  Now, that’s how I ended up in Nairobi!

Nairobi is an awesome city to live in. My Swahili skills improved steadily since I moved there in 2002. I’m not completely fluent in the language, however, I am able to hold advanced conversations without any difficulties.

Computerworld, a Norwegian IT weekly, wrote about my traineeship before I left (the article is no longer online).

As I returned briefly to Norway after my first year, my spare-time “career” as an actor in Kenya was what gained the attention of everyone:  Since I really enjoy acting, I was delighted to join the Silver Stage crew at the Kenya National Theatre in the South African musical Sarafina – describing an episode of the liberation fight under apartheid.

Following the Sarafina success, I was later requested to appear in one of Kenya’s most popular TV soaps – Reflections, where I played a Norwegian casanova living in Kenya! I was basically having lots of fun those days.  The Norwegian daily newspaper Dagbladet wrote a full-page article about that. Read more on this link.

My traineeship was a cooperation project between AIESEC and the Norwegian Peace Corps (Fredskorpset). It mainly took place at the Kenya Investment Authority (then called the Investment Promotion Centre) where I was, among other things, in charge of developing and implementing the IT strategy, as well as participating on the board of the e-Kenya Initiative.

After my traineeship contract was finished, I really wanted to stay on for a while still. Since most jobs in Nairobi are poorly paid, I decided to start up a business of my own instead.  Initially, I was part of the team which founded the Nairobi office of Global Entrepreneurs. However, some business consulting ventures of my own were far more lucrative, and gradually took most of my attention.

Most people in Nairobi know me as “Howard” a.k.a. the “crazy mzungu”.  My first name is rather difficult to pronounce for non-Norwegians, so Howard is a good approximation. More on spellings and misspellings of my name.

For the sake of my own career development, however, I decided to move back to Norway in August 2005. Upon returning, I started working in sales for Ventelo – a telecom operator targeting the corporate market. I only worked there for a few months though, before I was headhunted to IPdrum.  IPdrum was a young, innovative mobile VoIP company with a very interesting technology for using Skype on mobile phones. We received considerable coverage for each product we launched.  I myself appeared in a couple of interviews on behalf of IPdrum in Norwegian magazines (links).

Shortly after joining IPDrum, I decided it was time to kiss my landlord goodbye, as mortgage is a far sweeter thing to pay than rent. The bank was willing and I was ready, and I knew exactly what I wanted and where.

The Grønland area in Oslo used to have a terrible reputation that is now improving dramatically. The area is located in the inner eastern part of the city centre, surrounded by a plethora of exciting new urban developments. It is just next to Bjørvika – an ongoing seaside development project that includes the new Norwegian Opera landmark building, the upcoming Munch Museum, Deichman Library, and the Museum of Cultural History to mention a few. PwC, KPMG, Visma and DnB NOR (Norway’s no 1 bank group) are among the companies moving in to what is rapidly turning into the new “core” city centre in Oslo.

Grønland is also where I finally bought my apartment – a sweet place on the top floor, with an open balcony facing south-west (sunny all day during summer). Beautifully located in Smalgangen, a no-cars-allowed shopping street 2 blocks away from the Central Railway Station, 1 block away from the Central Bus Station and just above one of Oslo’s busiest subway stations, it’s as central as it gets! Property prices in the area are also growing faster than in any other part of Oslo. Back in 2006, people warned me about buying anything in that area. Luckily, I didn’t listen!

I continued in IPDrum for another few months, and enjoyed the job as Sales Executive Western Europe. I had been contacted by a few potential employers, but their offers weren’t nearly as interesting as what I had. One day though, I received a call from a headhunter who has something too exciting to refuse. 3 days after the initial call, I went for the job interview, and the day after that, I already had an offer in written. The deal was sealed there and then!

Vyke Communications was at the time the latest killer company in the callshop and callback market, with a skyrocketing share price on the London Stock Exchange. The offer to join Vyke as the VP Sales Africa was simply irresistible, and less than a week after the initial contact, the deal was already concluded, and I jumped at the new challenges with great enthusiasm.

For 3 years and 2 months, I enjoyed the wonderful task it was to be in charge of Vyke’s markets in Africa, building and growing the distribution channels for telecom cash products in some of the world’s most exciting markets.

As much as I loved the job, and the business I was in, destiny eventually wanted me to move on. When I got in touch with Kyoto Energy, a young solar-energy company started by the Kenya-based Norwegian inventor Jon Bøhmer, I quickly realised that this opportunity was more exciting, and more promising than anything I had ever seen before. To cut a long story short: it didn’t take long before I was on my way back to Nairobi.  As of June 1st 2010, I am the Sales Director of Kyoto Energy Ltd, and once again, I live in the heart of Africa – ” the Green City in the Sun” – Nairobi!