The first Learn&Lunch of 2023 in the Innovation House on March the 15th had a great turn-out. We are happy to see members and non-members find their way to the Innovation House on a regular basis.
This time Dirk Carlier from Keego mobility took the stage. Dirk presented us the challenges in the topic of sustainability in last-mile delivery services. Electrification of transportation touches on so many more areas than just food deliveries, on which some interesting discussions followed. The next Learn&Lunch session will be held in April. 

​/F.C.

Can you tell us more about yourself and background?
I love to build and that captures a lot of who I am and what I am doing. I moved to Sweden in 2014, after having met my wife after a diplomatic dinner in Strasbourg, France in 2011. After one year in Stockholm, I decided to build my own business in the e-commerce space. 5 years later I sold the business and continued my journey building Swedish brands at Amazon. At home, I like to build - snickra - furniture from scratch and lego with my two children.
​
Why did you join the Dutch chamber as a board member-communications?
I value the work that the Dutch Chamber does, nurturing and growing Swedish-Dutch business relationships by organising relevant events and activities. That is why I like to contribute to and continue building on. On top of that, I think it is great to build out a network of Dutch connections and see the amazing stuff that people are doing here in Sweden. 

What are your ideas and ambitions for this position?
I would like to see the Dutch Chamber to continue to be the trusted organisation for Swedish-Dutch business relationships and build out our network. With more members from both Sweden and the Netherlands, the synergies and creative energy will increase. This will help our members getting the most out of being a member of the Dutch Chamber. 

/M.N

We are proud to present our new Premium Member: The Top Employers Institute in the Netherlands. We asked Steven Hormann, Regional Manager Benelux & Nordics, to introduce themselves to our members:

Can you tell us more about The Top Employers Institute, and your activities in the Nordics especially?
The Top Employers Institute certifies organisations on their HR policies and practices. The company has existed for over 30 years and in 2023, we certified over 2000 organisations in 121 countries.
Top Employers already has a presence for many years in the Nordics. For the past two years, we have had a dedicated team focusing on the Nordics, specifically Sweden, and Denmark. Currently, 19 organisations in Sweden are certified as Top Employers, and we look forward to growing this number in the upcoming year.
We organised multiple workshops with our participants in Sweden about relevant HR topics last year. In 2023 we will continue doing so and further expand our footprint in the Nordics. 
 
Do you have a personal relationship with the Nordics?
Professionally the Nordic region is relatively new for me. I had the privilege to work with some of our global participants in the past who also had a presence in the Nordics. This last year I had the privilege to travel to Sweden multiple times.
Privately I traveled to both Denmark and Finland in the past. I enjoyed Copenhagen a lot, but seeing the Northern lights is one of the most breathtaking things I have ever experienced!
 
What are the expectations of your membership?
We feel that we can bring a lot of (HR)knowledge to the table and hope to learn a lot from the other members. I strongly believe in co-creating. Together it is much more convenient to reach (common) goals. I am also eager to learn more about doing business in the Nordics. It is great to hear more about the successes, but we can also learn massively about the failures.
 
What can other members expect from Top Employers?
We love to share knowledge! Our benchmark has data from more than 2000 companies on more than 300 HR policies and practices.
Our HR community is strong and always eager to get in touch with other organisations willing to connect.
Members interested in joining the Top Employers program can expect consolidated HR benchmark data and an opportunity to position themselves as excellent employer in the Swedish market.
 
​/M.N.

Region West hosted a very exciting event on 28 February in Gothenburg: an Indoor Stand Up Paddleboarding Clinic! Our member Jan-Willem Hordijk invited us to his workplace, the Nordcloud IBM office, to share his passion with us together with 6x world champion coach Magnus Lindstedt from Kona Sports.  

They made us very aware of our posture, (im)balance and the benefits of training SUP for our overall health and wellbeing. After learning about the theory we all gave it a go and practiced our paddle strokes with special indoor SUP sets. Most of us were lucky to be practicing on dry ground! 

It was very insightful listening to Magus' story and learning that sometimes you have to focus on your body in order to clear your head and make space for new ideas. I am sure many of us got inspired either with new business ideas, new connections or to start practicing SUP! To follow up we aim for an outdoor session in June to practice on real SUP boards on the water. More information and the exact date will follow. 

Join us for our next event on 29 March: the 'influencers' of Gothenburg - now and then.

/E.M.