Håkon Andre’ Berg, CEO Salmon Evolution ASA
It has to make sense
In 2019 I was evaluating my career choices after I returned from an extended sabbatical year in the US. And every time an opportunity came to the surface, I got this simple phrase in my mind that kept repeating itself over and over again: It has to make sense.
What I understood as I went through that process, was that we all spend significant amounts of hours and effort, first as students and later as professionals, to create and develop our businesses. But we need to ask ourselves every now and then: What do we actually fight for? And what is the legacy we leave behind? And we should enjoy the answer we are getting. When we are evaluating such fundamental concerns, it is important to remember that in a fragile ecosystem like an open economy, every job and all ventures carry an important value and covers unique needs and demands. But at the same time as this is true, there is a desperate need for companies that seek to provide solutions for the major challenges we are facing in the world today.
As a response to the repeating phrase of making sense, I decided to take a leadership position in the newly established company Salmon Evolution. We had money to keep us occupied the next 6 months and the risks were more than easy to identify. But the contribution we could make if we were able to execute on our plans were too significant to focus on the downside. And as we now look back, only 3 years in, our team can easily say that it has been worth the risks, the hard work and long evenings. We now actually believe that we can make an impact on the global food supply and the growing need for sustainable protein production. We are already involved in operations on three continents, and we are getting closer to a full demonstration of the capabilities in our systems. Our business does make sense, and I strongly believe that all our employees and partners are proud to be part of the journey.
Mr Berg is the CEO of Salmon Evolution ASA, a listed land-based salmon Farmer, based In Møre og Romsdal, Norway. He has an educational background from financial economics at Norwegian School f Economics (NHH) and extensive professional background from the private equity industry where he mainly focused on investments and ownership in seafood related companies. He joined Salmon Evolution as CFO in 2019 and took over as CEO in March 2020. The company has the last years developed the first phase of it’s land-based facility at Indre Harøy outside Molde (Norway) which has an estimated production volume of 32.000 tones pr year. Salmon Evolution has also established a joint venture with Korean Seafood Giant Dongwon Industries for the construction and operation of a 2 x 8.000 tones facility on the east-coast of South Korea. The company entered the operational phase in March as the first fish was released in the tanks at Indre Harøy and targets first harvest during Q4 2022. In June this year the company also informed of it’s plans to establish a North American venture with the goal to launch a 32.000 tones facility in North America. As of June 2022 Salmon Evolution has app 50 employees with several offices/locations in Møre og Romsdal as well as offices in Seoul (South Korea) and Seattle (USA).