A bit of a title perhaps for this blog post, but it was just a spontaneous choice because I actually want to be more visible, especially to you as Greenphone's customers.
WHO AM I?
My name is Phil Atkinson, and I work a lot behind the scenes at Greenphones AS. I also work as an advisor and investor Pharos Advisors. Pharos has been behind Greenphones since 2014 and I was hired in November 2019 as "CEO for Hire". I work in the team together with the two founders Tor Ingvald Kilen and Tor Erik Håland.
"Well, I'm at the ripe old age of 65! Ready to retire? No way, it's too much fun working with the two founders together.
I am originally from Australia (you can probably tell by my writing style), but have lived in Norway for almost 30 years. (not a citizen yet, but working on it). I have a partner (Norwegian from Bamble), three nice girls and currently live just outside Oslo. I have a strong interest in all things technology and am an avid golfer in my spare time. Oh yes, and I love skiing (slalom), but unfortunately not too fond of cross-country skiing.
WHAT DO I WORK WITH?
My role with Greenphones has the simple but at the same time complex goal of building and developing the company. I liked the Greenphones concept from day one and feel the company has a lot of potential to grow. The competition is tough, but I feel we are making progress step by step. We work to add new services and products and aim to save customers money, deliver quality products and help support the circular economy.
I also work on getting new business relationships/agreements that can add value for our customers. Like for example, we recently partnered with Plussmobil to offer affordable mobile subscriptions. We have a partnership with Trust which provides unbeatable insurance offers for your phone. I am also currently talking to an organization called Milkywire about how we can donate funds to various environmental projects.
WHAT DO I LIKE ABOUT GREENPHONES?
First and foremost, you will always get excellent service from Tor Ingvald or Tor Erik, who both work at our physical store in Tvedestrand. Having been in the industry for ten years, they have a lot of knowledge about mobiles, and I am proud of the service they provide. However, it is their mortgage solution that has really fascinated me.
Greenphones' deposit solution is not only good for the wallet, but good for the environment and the circular economy.
Greenphones began to build on its inventory by introducing a pledge solution for used mobiles where private individuals sold their mobiles to Greenphones.
In 2014, the process was digitized using a simple online registration form, which led to both an increase in efficiency and an increase in the number of mobile phones pledged to the company.
On average, Greenphones pay out approx. 500. NOK 000 every month to the private market (150-200 mobiles) and all incoming mobiles are checked thoroughly with Phonecheck (Read blog post about Phonecheck)
Our goals with mortgage solutions are to pay the best in the market and deliver a good service to the market to support the circular economy. (Then all you have to do is register your mobile phone and get the money paid out. )
Although there is no obligation when you pledge a mobile to buy a mobile at the same time, we would have liked to see more people do it. It is a fairly simple process to buy a mobile phone and mortgage the mobile phone at the same time.
A SMALL SUMMARY AND
A 'little' WISH
My day is never boring, as I have many hats, which make the job both fun and demanding. I like my varied roles very much, but in order to give our customers an even better product and customer journey, we have to have more people on the field. Although my office is in Oslo, I have daily (sometimes hourly) contact with the team in Tvedestrand. And, I'm usually down there once a month for a couple of days at a time.
Greenphones is the oldest business in Norway within the used mobile phone industry. Tor Ingvald and Tor Erik work hard, and I do as much as I can to contribute to the company's development and growth.
A small wish
I wrote this blog to tell you a little about me, how I like my role and working with the two founders to build the company. I really appreciate any feedback about our products, services or websites. Everything positive or negative. Feel free to email me and let me know what we can do to provide better services and products.
You can reach me by email phil. atkinson@greenphones. no, and I promise to answer every email.
