Maarja Kens´ career in finance began approximately 25 years ago in insurance industry. Maarja decided to apply to Veho after seeing a job ad in the local newspaper. She didn't have any previous experience in the industry, but Veho was a well-known company in Estonia. After two years at Veho, Maarja was appointed Controller of Finance Development.
Maarja´s career in finance began in a insurance company, where she started as an accountant and eventually became the Head of Finance. With the company growing rapidly through mergers and acquisitions, Maarja quickly found herself navigating the complex financial functions.
"At some point, we had 15 branches and 15 accounting teams. We soon realized that we couldn't work like this, so we began centralizing things. That's how I first got into finance development. We were young and crazy, and we just started moving forward. In the end, everything worked out well," Maarja says.
Before joining Veho, Maarja worked at Stora Enso and at Estonian fish farming and production company, PR Foods. She applied to Veho by chance after seeing a job ad in the local newspaper.
"Veho was already a well-known company in Estonia before they bought Silberauto, so I was familiar with Veho when I applied, even though I didn't have any previous experience in the industry. This wasn't a major concern for me, as the basic rules of finance are similar regardless of the field," she says.
After two years at Veho, Maarja was appointed Controller of Finance Development. Her main responsibilities include participating in different financial development projects and ensuring that the financial perspective is taken into consideration in various IT systems and process development projects.
In Maarja's view, automation and finance go hand in hand.
"I've always been a big fan of automation. It's a mindset thing. I believe that people are meant for smart work and the rest should be automated or assigned to robots. And, in general, I think that every business area can benefit from constantly asking why things are done the way they are and whether they can be done more efficiently. I call it continuing improvement," she says.