David sees entrepreneurship as a key Unilin value

"I’m a big fan of Unilin’s palpable drive to keep doing better than we already are. That requires real entrepreneurship."

25 May 2023

Finance Data & Analytics Lead David Nijskens (43) creates datasets to help Unilin move forward. "We tend to look at our work from just one point of view, so we may miss possible improvements and new initiatives. By combining data, we can look at what we do from different angles. This then leads to whole new insights into how we can move forward."

Why is entrepreneurship such an important value for you?

"I’m a big fan of Unilin’s palpable drive to keep doing better than we already are. That requires real entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship for me also means working closely with colleagues to carefully think about where we want to go in the long term, and above all, why we want this. Knowing that it will all be worthwhile gives me the energy and drive I need to get started and keep going in the face of unexpected problems. And we do tend to hit quite a few of those. It’s very satisfying for me when I can deliver a data model that enables our company to make better decisions."

How do you apply this value in the workplace?

"My entrepreneurship mainly manifests itself in my search for possibilities with a multitude of available data to then select the best option together with my internal customer. I work alone, but I test everything in a working group with some colleagues from IT and the various divisions. A full and accurate picture only emerges when everyone has given their input. It’s a fascinating and instructive process. The data models enable us to make better decisions and they reduce the time our staff spend on searching and combining data themselves."

What initiative are you most proud of?

"I have been working on a new project for several months now. Each of our 5 business units has always had its own dataset of financial data and that has worked well for us. When they asked me to tackle one of those datasets, I suggested creating one common dataset for all business units that could replace the others. A common dataset has many advantages: the same definitions are used everywhere and new information and functionality immediately become available to everyone. I am convinced that the common dataset helps us to move forward structurally.