Sarah Ahnström

Meet Sarah – COO and Deputy CEO of Apotea and BSc in Business & Economics and MSc in Accounting, Valuation & Financial Management alum.

Describe your role and what it is that you do overall and on a day-to-day basis.

I work as COO and Deputy CEO of Apotea, the largest online pharmacy in Sweden. I spend a lot of my time in our warehouse in Morgongåva working with the management team and logistics staff on site, as well as working with investments in automation to continue to increase our capacity. When I am not at our warehouse, I spend my time juggling between involvement in systems development, working closely with our managers at the office on decisions regarding our sales, marketing and purchasing, as well as strategic external partners. 

What interested you about the field you are currently in?

The pace and the breadth of challenges that you are exposed to on a daily basis. Working in e-commerce requires a never-ending focus on sustaining and developing the customer experience and combines continuous work on logistics excellence and smart IT-systems and solutions. 

What path did you take from graduation to where you are now?

After graduating in 2015, I started working as a trainee to the CEO of one of (then) Bonnier AB’s six business areas, followed by a role as Head of Purchasing and Assortment at Bonnier-owned Adlibrisgruppen. After four and a half years at Bonnier, I got the opportunity to take on the role as COO and Deputy CEO at Apotea. 

Following your time studying and living in Stockholm, do you have any words of wisdom or advice you would like to share with our current students?

There are a lot of interesting career paths which you are not necessarily exposed to, or aware of, during your studies. Look for a job that gives you energy and a company or an area that you feel passionate about. 