AI Magazine Issue 12 2018

18 Acquisition International - Issue 12 2018 Marja Hillis set the world of waste management alight when she arrived in Ontario with passion and determination almost 20 years ago. We look back on her life and the legacy she left behind as we pay tribute to this trailblazing Female CEO of the Year 2018. olok North America Ltd, headquartered in Mount Forest, Ontario, provides commercial, residential and municipal applications with an innovative way of managing waste and recyclables. A combination of innovation and customer focus is reflected in everything the company does – from sales and business development to ongoing service to research and development. A small, but fast growing company with national reach, the firm pride itself on its small town values and friendly “family” approach to business – both internally and externally. The Molok ® Deep Collection™ system is the company’s flagship product. The original, award- winning, semi-underground waste containment system was created and developed by restaurant owner Veikko Salli in the 1980s in Finland, following his frustration that his overflowing, smelly garbage bin, which attracted critters by the dozen, was the view he saw when he gazed from his window. On talking to his family, his wife, Anja, suggested an underground storage system and the Molok range was born. Launching in 1991, the innovative product has since spread across the globe and is now present in more than 40 countries worldwide. With a strong ethos of working with the environment, rather than against it, Molok developed the Molok ® Deep Collection™ system to work underground with only 40% of the container being visible on the surface. By partly burying waste and recycling it underground, this not only reduces the visibility of the waste, it also creates a cleaner environment. Due to its vertical and semi-underground design, the need for so many garbage collections is vastly reduced too as it uses gravity to compact the waste. This effectively cuts the number of collections needed in half as well as reducing the pungent stench that rotting garbage characteristically produces as, storing the waste underground, means it is much cooler. In all, the knock-on effect Company: Molok North America Address: 152 Harry Bye Blvd P.O. Box 693, Mount Forest Ontario, N0G 2L0 Telephone: 1-519-323-9909 Web Address: www.molokna.com A Lasting Legacy M 1803AI08 of less waste collections has resulted in less vehicle traffic and lower emissions too. Molok products are developed with the end user in mind. Since waste is emptied through the bottom of the reusable lifting liner instead of being tipped, the container, its user, lid and surrounding areas, stay clean and garbage-free. The emptying method too is easy and safe for collection staff as there is no need to handle heavy loads or come into contact with any waste materials. It was in the spring of 1999 that Veikko’s daughter, Marja Hillis, arrived in Canada from Finland with the dream of sharing the user-friendly waste solution of Molok products with Canada, and opened Molok North America. Now, 19 years later, the Molok® Deep Collection™ system proves to be an effective solution for tens of thousands of users across Canada and, although Marja is sadly no longer with us, her legacy lives on. At the young age of 24, Marja was given 50% shares in Molok with her brother, Jari, owning the other 50%. She already had he own company – a sports centre – and was enthusiastic about her father’s new business venture. The company started from next to nothing, with the economy experiencing issues, and Marja and her father divided their time between delivering presentations across Finland and calling potential customers from home. After three weeks, and 58 sales, demand for the containers was already quickly spreading across Finland. Following the birth of her daughter Marja, then a single mother, decided to assess the market potential in North America, and she initially planned a three month visit, however two years later and she was not only still there, but had received immigration status for herself and her daughter. Molok North America was born. Marja had entered a very male-dominated sector, with no real knowledge of the Canadian waste disposal system, and no friends to plug her into the social network. Her path was strewn with challenges, but this didn’t prevent Marja from pushing ahead with what she truly believed in. One such challenge was the acceptance of the crane-lifted system by most major waste haulers at the time. For this reason, Marja chose to focus on “Launching in 1991, the innovative product has since spread across the globe and is now present in more than 40 countries worldwide.”