Diggecard’s Henrik Johnsen wins at Incentive Awards

The annual Incentive Awards were held in London last night, and amongst the many deserving winners, our very own Henrik Johnsen won the award for 2021 ‘Industry Young Gun’.  Below you can find out more about Henrik and what made him stand out to the judging panel, but first here is what he had to say about his win!

“It was such a surprise to win the Industry Young Gun award.  I can’t believe it to be honest, but am super happy and really humbled especially with the other great people in the category.  I want to thank the team at Diggecard for nominating me and for giving me the chance to grow and learn.  Having the support of some great mentors, as well as working in such a welcoming environment really has made all the difference to my ability to achieve.”

A bit about Henrik

Henrik Johnsen is Diggecard’s Sales Manager.  He is 28 years old and is based at our head office in Bergen, Norway.  He is known throughout the company as being charismatic, independent and tech-savvy with an ability to connect with retail partners by talking their language.  He has even become ‘the face’ of Diggecard – scroll down to see more!

Henrik has made a significant impact on Diggecard during his relatively short time with the business – securing retail partnerships and closing many deals.  This has helped to further establish our brand position and penetration into the market.   

Henrik’s early achievements

Henrik joined Diggecard in October 2019, and although this was his first full time role since leaving higher education, he joined the team with plenty of previous experience.  He had been mentored by Group CEO, Olav Balandin, in Silicon Valley, where he learnt about sales and marketing in the technology sector.  

Starting out as our Sales Coordinator and Customer Success Manager, some of his early achievements included single handedly onboarding 40 new retailers in his first quarter. All these clients remain with Diggecard and are achieving success because of Henrik’s hard work and Diggecard’s gift card solution.   

Making a mark on Diggecard

Henrik has made his mark right across the Diggecard organisation and is highly regarded by the leadership team.  Most recently he played a key role within the project for Edenred Italy where we developed and launched a new programme to help this client to quickly digitalise part of their reward platform during the pandemic. 

Another key impact that Henrik has made on Diggecard, has been his starring performance in a video presenting Diggecard’s gift card solution and personalisation capabilities.  You can watch Henrik in action here and it is clear to see why he connects so well with customers and team members. 

Respected by colleagues and the leadership team

Olav Balandin, Group CEO describes him as someone who is “smart, trustworthy, who rolls up his sleeves to get stuck in, and who also closes lots of deals!” This is reflected in his promotion to Sales Manager in January 2020.  His role has now become more focused on Tier X retailer partnerships and in just one month he has managed to generate eight qualified leads with large, well-known brands in the Nordics.  By being so good at engaging with new clients and internal teams, Henrik is really helping to shape Diggecard. 

Role model and shared learning

Despite the distance, Henrik has built up a strong working relationship with the UK operations team.  They find him extremely accessible and very charismatic.  With Henrik’s knowledge and expertise of onboarding SME’s in the Nordics, he has been able to share this learning with the team as we roll this product out to wider markets. 

Congratulations once again to Henrik and all the other young people growing within the industry.