I came to Malmö at the end of 2017 at the age of 26 with the Skatteverket title retired, since I did not have family, work, or study reasons to be here. For me, it was about the Swedish culture which creates a good space to innovate. My career is best described as entrepreneurial, with my last real job being the CEO of the entrepreneurship ecosystem organisation in Skåne. Nowadays I match entrepreneurs with European institutional investors and plan the growth stages with scaleup founders. In my free time, I like to spend time with my family, cold-bathing (only in winter), and work on my passion projects.
Why did you join the Dutch chamber?
At first, it was not a logical step for me, since I have been saying for years that one doesn’t move to a new country to meet Dutch people. Nowadays I know how valuable a network of Swedish-Dutch business relationships can be. There is much free leverage we get by meeting people who come from a similar culture, that it’s stupid not to do. You understand each other faster, and better and have an easier time creating value. It’s both professionally rewarding, and also a lot of fun!
What are your ideas and ambitions for this position?
Like I said in the last answer, networks like these are strong and rewarding to be part of. This should also be available for the southern part of Sweden. The better network effect we create here, the better we can grow together as a person and as a Swedish-Dutch business network—not only as a region but also for the Dutch Chamber in Sweden and all its members across all the regions. There is a lot that Sweden can learn from the region of Ikea, Bluetooth, Android 1.0 and many other innovations!