From Professional Skiing to a Career in Fintech: Meet Mari Eide

They say many years of training, wins, losses, and keeping eyes focused on results is the recipe for success when training to be an elite athlete - but for Mari Eide, her definition of success took a different perspective after transitioning out from her professional ski career.

Mari Eide is a legacy professional ski athlete from Beitostølen, Norway, now residing in Oslo with her partner Anders Gløersen. Over the years, Mari spent a majority of her childhood skiing which later developed into her career as an Elite athlete competing for Norway, leading her to winning a Bronze medal from Seefeld in 2019.

“For almost 10 years, I pushed my body to the limit when training to perform my best in competitions,” says Eide. “I didn’t always know that I wanted to be a professional skier. But over the years I grew into loving the sport, which led to training for competitions and setting a goal to be the best athlete in the world.”

For Mari, success took on a different perspective after transitioning out from her professional ski career - not only measured by results, but by efficient team work and support, focus on personal development and performance, and setting goals.

“When I was younger, some years often came with more losses than wins because there was too much focus on the result instead of the actual performance,” says Eide. “My definition of success has changed over the years. When I started to focus on my own performance and developing my skills, the feeling of success wasn’t only based on the result - but also how I could reach my goals.”

From professional skiing to a career in Fintech

Mari joined Banqsoft in January 2021 as a Business Consultant, and since starting her professional career she has found that working agile has become a part of her “DNA” - shaping her strategies in her role for solving challenges as one unit in team environments, evaluating processes and keeping focus on goals in Banqsoft.

“In skiing I’m used to working very efficiently and agile. Setting goals and evaluating the process is a way of working I believe in,” states Eide. "In a company or a team there are different levels of knowledge and abilities, but in Banqsoft we have a collaborative work environment where we take time out for knowledge sharing, evaluate process flows and team support when solving challenges with customers.”

As a Business Consultant, Mari has spent various days learning the ins and outs about Banqsoft’s core software solution, View21 Suite, consulting with customers that need problem solving. In Banqsoft, she works among a team of Business Consultants helping customers across Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

“Working in a team of highly competent colleagues has been important to be able to develop ourselves personally and professionally - and it has also been rewarding to celebrate wins and challenges together, similar to my career in skiing,” says Eide. "Team spirit is also very important, as we all want to see each other succeed. In the national team it was important to speak freely and always evaluate the processes."

"So, keeping focus, prioritize, be efficient, use energy on things actually getting you to the goal has been keys in my work as an athlete and I will continue to use in my work in Banqsoft," she concludes.

Mari’s role as a Business Consultant in Banqsoft marked the start of a new career in the fintech industry - one that has similarly been, to this day, predominantly male.

“Women and men in skiing are not totally equal yet, but we are gradually approaching more equality. I think this is becoming the same in the IT industry,” adds Eide. “To all the women out there: IT can actually be fun, and I think women have qualities that make them very good problem solvers over others. So jump into the opportunity and learn – even if it may be challenging at times. In the end, I think you will look back and see how much you have learned and be proud.”

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Image acknowledgement: 
Header Image - Håkon Mosvold Larsen, NTB
Article Image - Jens Meyer, NTB via AP