Ilya Suturin: “I have an endless appetite for reaching new peaks in business and personal development”
In our mini-series “Reimagine Mobility” we put faces to some of our own people who have asked themselves, “Where do I want to go next?” Today, it’s time to learn about Ilya Suturin’s transition from Lantmännen Unibake Russia to UBI in Copenhagen.
Ilya joined Lantmännen Unibake three years ago as Sales Director, a position that allowed him to build strategies and execute them together with his team. According to him, at that time he "joined a much smaller company than now with a big potential" and today Lantmännen Unibake Russia is one of the strongest companies in the market thanks to a combination of investments, market context and a very professional local team.
That combination created perfect conditions to synthesize energy, innovation and courage to win an attractive market position. In parallel with the business' development, Ilya's position also evolved.
"Being Sales Director in a small company is very different from being the Sales Director of a market leading company".
Ilya affirms that operating in a global company is a great opportunity for people like himself who want to grow. In his world every employee is an important part of Lantmännen Unibake's "collective brain" and therefore everyone has the opportunity to get as much out of that intelligence as they want: "Our company culture provides us with a unique chance to impact on the business not only locally but also worldwide because we can voice our ideas and share knowledge".
He describes Lantmännen Unibake as a company with a 'flow' that you can use to build your career "having fair conversations related to your development with different layers of the organization facilitates your building of career path." With this support, Ilya asked himself 'where do I go next and what function would I like to develop further?
"There is a career path in the organization that supports your development and provides an opportunity to be moved across functions and markets".
When Ilya decided to go for the opportunity and transition to Copenhagen it wasn't an easy decision - at least not at the beginning; "On the personal scheme, you are leaving your country, you think about the risk of losing connection with the people around you; and professionally you are moving from a market where you are an expert towards a market where you have less experience; you put yourself in a situation where you have to build a lot from scratch".
When he landed in the international headquarter in Copenhagen (UBI), Ilya quickly found a lot of great colleagues also in the different markets that were a great support for his transition; "I have been really welcomed in Copenhagen and I have socialized here much faster than I expected. People are really open in Denmark and Copenhagen is an international city with lots of expats, which means a great opportunity to meat lots of interesting people in your private life as well".
Ilya encourages anyone who has doubts whether or not to make this change, to do it. "It is normal human behaviour to consider risks, but actually once you do it you realize how positively this change impacts on your family, mindset and further opportunities". In Ilya's case he strongly believes that one of the most benefited parts on this transition is his 2 year-old son; "Platon is growing in his current English environment and I hope this impacts on his mentality, flexibility and openness to all the best in that world".
So, is there a next step?
"I feel that this is only the beginning. I have an endless appetite to reach new peaks in business and in my personal development for my own benefit but indeed also for Unibake's. Basically a company is only as strong as its employees are."