Luke James’ damn good job
Luke, 28, is a B2B Sales Specialist at Fairphone.
What do you do?
Fairphone is a Dutch social enterprise that is trying to change the electronics industry from the inside out. They do this through their ethical and modular smartphone, the Fairphone 2. Despite my overly corporate title, in the simplest of terms: I help sell the Fairphone 2 and its spare parts across Europe.
I have two main responsibilities: I look after our growth in France and UK, and also try to get organisations (throughout Europe) to adopt the Fairphone 2 as the device they use professionally.
We recently had the pleasure of on-boarding Orange FR. Orange are one of the biggest operators in France so looking after them takes quite a lot of time. Since Fairphone is still quite small I have to liaise almost daily with our different departments to ensure the account is running smoothly; this could be with anyone from legal, finance, operations, customer service or marketing. Although a bit of a cliché , every day is definitely different!
We did a big campaign to launch the partnership. Seeing the Fairphone 2 in an Orange store for the first time as well as the media coverage it received was such an awesome feeling.
I do think however working in sales is justified as being perceived as tough but I’m hugely motivated that I’m working for a company and selling a product that I hugely believe in. There’s definitely always challenges but I think that’s what makes it fun!
How did you get the job?
I found out about Fairphone via Twitter. I immediately fell in love with the company. I just thought they were a complete game changer.
Their office is based in Amsterdam and, given that I was working in Slough at the time, it felt like the move I needed. I kept checking their website for openings. Finally the right thing came up and I was lucky enough to get it.
Ask yourself anything.
Q: Do you think CSR and sustainability is misinterpreted?
A: Massively. There’s a lot of hypocrisy in 21st century business. For example, HSBC are doing some incredibly worthwhile conservation projects across the globe but have been caught out on numerous occasions for not paying corporate taxes. They’re a finance organisation, they should be a leading example for their industry. If they actually paid their taxes it would make their conservation efforts even more creditable. I think ethical business starts with addressing the issues within your industry then working up and around from that. That’s why I love Fairphone and hope to stay for a while.
You can find Luke on Twitter.
