Kerstin Lindell is the new Consul for the Netherlands in Southern Sweden. As such she recently joined the Dutch Chamber. We asked her to introduce herself to our members.

My name is Kerstin Lindell and I have been CEO of Bona for almost 12 years now. Previously I worked as R&D Manager at Akzo Nobel Insustrial Wood Coatings. I have been living in Limhamn (Malmö) for 25 years, am married and have two children. My education is a MSC Chem Engineering, PhD Polymer Chemistry and MBA.
 
Could you tell a little bit more about your company Bona?
Bona AB is a family-owned company founded in 1919. With its headquarters in Malmö, Sweden, Bona is now present in more than 90 different countries all over the world through subsidiaries and distributors. We provide products for the installation, maintenance and renovation of wood floors throughout their lifetime and we also supply UV coatings to leading international producers of wooden floors. Through our comprehensive Bona System, we are able to offer our customers complete solutions for every wooden floor challenge. We continuously develop innovative products with a long-term sustainable perspective in mind. So we take into account not just the floor itself but the working conditions of the craftsman and the impact on the indoor and outdoor environment.
 
What is your connection with the Netherlands?
I worked for Akzo Nobel for 14 years so I have good working experience with the Netherlands.
 
What does your assignment as Consul for the Netherlands entail? Do you have any specific ambitions to achieve?
I hope to support the Embassy in Stockholm with activities and an understanding of what is happening in South Sweden.
 
What are your expectations concerning the Dutch Chamber of Commerce? And escpecially for the region South?
The Dutch Chamber of Commerce is a very important area of interaction both with activities for all Sweden and especially South Sweden.
 

/Els Berkers 

Last Thursday on 13 September we organised another Go Innovation Lab in Gothenburg. Our guest speaker Bart Geraads (VP HR Group Volvo) gave us an insight in how companies address the topics compensation and benefits.
Volvo has conducted a large survey among its employees about this topic, as they felt the need to understand what employees or candidates find important in the award area.
Awaiting the results they will face the challenge how to implement target specific needs on specific ages, for specific stages in life and the different profiles.
In general, the employee is more outspoken nowadays and more in a position to demand. A good salary and possibilities to develop yourselves are not the only the key issues anymore.

/Annemieke van Wijk

​My name is Marloes Voll. I moved to Stockholm with my family two years ago and joined the Stockholm Team earlier this year. I have almost 20 years of work experience at an international pharmaceutical company and two medical device start-ups. I am a Medical Biologist by education and my main focus has always been in clinical development.

I quit working when we moved here and adapted the real Swedish sportive attitude; outdoor jogging and excercises throughout the year. Now that I have joined the Dutch Chamber I look forward to meet new and interesting people and of course to support the Stockholm team with their events!
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/Marloes Voll

North Sweden Cleantech is a regional innovation and export platform in the northern part of Sweden (Västerbotten) that supports cleantech business development and promotes cleaner growth.
 
On September 13th, northern Sweden visits Stockholm and our members are invited to join this networking event that is organised by North Sweden Cleantech.
During a couple of hours, you will learn more about northern Sweden as well as the North Sweden Cleantech platform and the cleantech companies in the region.

The purpose of this event is to gather ambassadors and representatives from priority markets to create new business opportunities as well as increased international collaboration.
 
The day will end with cocktail reception and networking.

Time: 15:00-17:00 (Cocktail reception and networking afterwards)
Venue: Region Västerbotten’s Office, Kungsgatan 60, Stockholm
 
To register for this event, or for more information, please email jenny.akermark@umea.se  on August 31st latest.

 With pleasure we introduce a new SME member of the Dutch Chamber: Faber Flags. Wouter Faber tells us more about the company.

"Faber Flags is part of Faber Group, a Dutch family company that, as the name suggests has its roots as a manufacturer of flags and banners. We have grown over the recent years into an international signage and printing company with sales offices and production units in both Europe and Asia.
The products and solutions we produce are used for both brand communication as well as for creating atmosphere. For example, flags are a very traditional way for attracting attention to the presence of your brand, while our custom printed curtains, wall papers and carpets are used to create a pleasant and modern-day environment in an office, hotel or hospital. Another good example is the large format reproduction of the Claudius Civilis on our Fairlyn Mesh (environmentally friendly material) that we recently did in collaboration with the Dutch embassy and the Dutch Chamber (see the picture).

Today our company offers so much more than flags as we have the ability to print on any type of material, from textiles to wood and glass. Therefore, we will soon follow our sister companies in other countries and change our name to FaberExposize.
 
How long have you been operating in Sweden and what is your role in the Company?
In the 1960’s my father, Arnoud Faber, visited large gasoline companies here in Sweden and quickly found out that there was a big demand for our flags. This was the start of successful export to Sweden through agents with steady growth. In the 2000’s after I graduated from business school, my first task was to further improve sales in Scandinavia, which in 2007 resulted in opening our sales office in Stockholm. The office was run by a local MD for several years and in august 2014 I decided to come to Sweden with my family to take on the challenge to grow more. Since then we have seen a double-digit growth rate, recently started with our own local production and are planning to expand our business into Norway and Finland.
 
How have you been introduced to the Dutch Chamber of Commerce?
A friend introduced me to Els Berkers and we met to talk about Swedish business climate. Els invited me for a seminar, where she introduced me to Maarten Merckx. We stayed in touch and I attended a number of other events related to the Dutch Chamber. This leads to my membership of the Dutch Chamber.
 
What do you expect from your membership?
I think the Dutch Chamber is a good platform to discuss doing business in Sweden, as well as getting a better understanding of how the Swedish society functions. It doesn’t limit itself to only the relationship between Sweden and The Netherlands, but actively seeks to connect to organizations from other countries and different parts of society, offering a very wide perspective. I think that’s important in international business. I hope that by being a member of the Dutch Chamber I can also contribute to this.

​/Wouter Faber

On 15 May we organised this year's first Orange Table event in Stockholm. The theme of the evening was gamification in health care - a show case for any business.
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"Accepted solutions are not always the best solutions, neither are the best solutions always the most accepted ones" - it depends on the socio-political complexity and the technical physical one. Our speaker Sebastiaan Meijer, professor at the Royal Institute for Technology, informed the audience about the difficulties of determining adequate logistics for different solutions. 

Normal logistics do not fit for health care. With the patient at the centre, we have to work more cross-organisational. However, people are trained to optimize their "aspect system"  and not the subsystem that is part of a the large complete system.
He also mentioned the problems with AI. What do we measure and who reacts? Are we creating much anxiety by monitoring? He noticed that sensing technology is here already, monitoring and control is on its way but concerning Care Access Pathways, little has yet been done - digital meetings are a starting point.

/Annemieke Ålenius