I am a Co-Founder and Non-Executive Director of Pelltech. At Pelltech we specialise in the development, manufacturing and sales of pellet burners and boilers.Pelltech was founded by myself and Priit Kotli in 2006 and since then has grown to become the largest and most trusted firm of the sector in the Baltic countries. We believe in innovation and doing things differently. The key business domains are pellet burning equipment and renewable energy. Our headquarters including the assembly line, engineering department and staff of 25 employees are conveniently situated near Tallinn Airport.My role as NED is supporting the whole organisation with the expertise and knowledge I’ve gathered over the years working in several technical industries. I am an avid supporter of flat company structure and therefore work closely with most of the departments.Our daily values are taking care of our customers with environmentally friendly, comfortable and modern solutions for heat production with pellets. We also wholeheartedly promote the use of renewable energy. If you want to hear more about what we do - don’t hesitate to get in touch! - Aavo@pelltech.ee

My second active role is being a CEO and Co-Founder of SB Keskkütteseadmed OÜ - importer and representative of ESBE products in Estonia.ESBE is a leading European manufacturer of hydronic solutions.Probably, most people don’t think about it, but when you turn the tap on to get a glass of water to drink when you stand under the hot water jets of the shower, or when you paw barefoot over your heated floor – most likely one of ESBE’s products is there working in the background.SB Keskkütteseadmed OÜ started in 1993 as a joint venture with my colleagues from Sweden. However, since 1997 we are on our own.SB Keskkütteseadmed works hand in hand with Pelltech and is proudly the sole partner and distributor in Estonia.

About a year or two after 1992 I spent inventing - yes you read correctly, I had an opportunity to come up with ideas and make them happen.This is definitely a period that I look back to with a huge smile on my face. My friends had just bought a metal factory in Rapla, Estonia but didn’t really know what to do with it. I as a talkative and social person sold them the idea to use the space and start making things. And then there I was, making money by coming up with inventions and bringing them to life. One of the inventions was a small scale potato separator that we sold to micro-farmers. During that time micro-farming was very popular and therefore we did very well. We even exported some of them to Finland. Key learning from this period is that - If you don’t know what to do, just start by doing something and the rest will follow!

If I had to describe the first 10 years of my career with a single word, it would be agriculture. After graduating university I joined one of the leading Collective Farms in Estonia as an Agronomist and very quickly worked my way up as Head of Department. In 1987 I was hired as Vice-Chairman of production in Kabala Collective Farm.Being the Vice-Chairman at the young age of 28 was an important achievement for me. During the Soviet era, organisations like this were very hierarchical and the leadership was more direct. As the leader in production, I was directly managing 6 people who in turn had 10-15 subordinates. The time at Viru Collective Farm and at Kabala Collective Farm taught me a lot about myself. I realised that one of my strengths is not only managing and leading people from the front but also that I wasn’t afraid to get my hands dirty when urgent matters needed solving. One of the highlights was the management training I took part in Tartu. This was the very first time I experienced video training. We were put into discussion groups and filmed after what the tape was shown back to us. Even today I often use the body language tips and tricks we learned from there.Then I realised that big corporation is not where I see myself in the future and as also the beginning of the 1990s was the time when the Soviet Union collapsed - I decided to move on to a new path.