Success Stories

With a focus on craftsmanship, local production and promoting the local business community, Katarina Holmberg has been running Norrtelje Musteri since 2017. Together with her husband Toni, she has built a full-scale micro-juice factory that turns Swedish apples into refreshing apple cider. In addition to the must, Katarina also produces different varieties of juice, jam and marmalade. People can also bring their own apples to the factory to have them mustached.

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But it was far from a given that Katarina would choose the entrepreneurial life. For more than 20 years, she worked within the authorities. Slowly but surely, however, the dream of running her own took over and for seven years she took the plunge. The interest in artisanal cider proved to be great and customers quickly found Norrtelje Musteri.

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“I wanted to decide my own time and choose how much I would work. There was a lot to learn and take in but it fell into place during the ride. Today I definitely work more than I did before, but I do it with pleasure because I get to do what I want.”

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In the heart of the Stockholm archipelago is Ostmakeriet on Rindö. Here Anna Kälvebrand has been making artisan cheeses in the small dairy next to Oxdjupet and the Oscar Fredriksborg Fortress since 2012. It all started after a friend talked about food crafts and Anna discovered that there was a shortage of cheese makers in Stockholm. Once the idea was born, everything went quickly. A local was found, she came into contact with a dairy farm and began her journey as a dairyman.

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Since its inception, Ostmakeriet on Rindö has grown rapidly and won a number of awards for its cheeses. The milk is collected by Anna and her husband at Öster Grytinge Gård. She then refines it into cheese before it is stored and sold in her own cheese shop in the dairy building. Her favourite is the cave-stored cheddar cheese Oscar Fredrik which she has been allowed to store inside the old adjacent fortress.

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“The advantage of cheese is that there is an infinite variety of varieties to explore and that there is always something new to learn. I tried a cave-aged cheese at a cheese tasting and was so impressed with the taste that I decided to try making one myself.”

Khranovskyy is one of the founders behind Grafren, a company of 4 employees with over 15 years of experience in materials science and expertise in nanomaterials. Graphene in its foundation is a material that came into existence in 2011, which in the same year became a Nobel Prize winner for the invention. 10 years later, Grafren was founded in Linköping, and has patented technologies that allow graphene to be used on all sorts of products. By applying graphene, which at the atomic level is integrated into a layer like a DNA spiral pattern, it is possible to create a reinforcing and safer material that can be used for everything from drones that need to be able to un-freeze their wings to nursing mothers who need a bra that maintains a uniform temperature. With collaborations and pilot projects with giants such as SAAB and RISE to drone manufacturers, there are endless possibilities for Grafren.

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The year was 2018, and two scientists wanted to create something that would remain after their observance, that would affect the world for real. To see it for generations to come and become a part of the history books. “I started thinking at the age of 40, what am I doing in the world and how can I contribute? I have been researching for a lot of years, with over 80 research papers and recognitions. But now I felt that I wanted to create something that will continue to exist, for real.” In 2004, Khranovskyy came to Sweden, but he has also spent time in both Norway and Portugal, working as a researcher in materials science.

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At Grafren, which runs a small scale production, a lot can still be done. Companies engaged in the same business do not have the expertise and patents of Grafren, and moreover cannot achieve the scale and cost-effectiveness of their production in the same way, something that Khranovskyy is extremely proud of.

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Graphene is the thinnest and strongest material in the world, which is also electrically conductive. It is only one atom layer thin, so it is not possible to make it thinner. What Grafren does is integrate graphene with other materials as a coating on a nanoscale - textiles and composites, for example, and then the resulting material gains additional properties and new abilities. Graphene is thus, like thunder honey, which, by applying to another material, acquires magical properties.

Gösta Christiansson is the entrepreneur who runs the company Sneckenström, an e-commerce company that focuses wholeheartedly on horticulture for everyone. Since 2008, Sneckenström has existed and gilded people's gardens with all sorts of products. Everything from seeds to pallet collar greenhouses and lighting. But Christiansson has been an entrepreneur longer than that, for over 20 years he ran a transport company, but with the financial crisis of 2008, the train stopped there. With his passion for growing veggies and wanting to make more people feel the premium feeling that comes with growing their own vegetables for their cooking, Sneckenström was started and the focus was placed directly on the environment and sustainability. The basic idea is that you should grow what you eat.

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"I strive to, as far as it is possible, to grow naturally.” This was one of the reasons why he also registered and started creating his own products, including guano. It is high content of phosphorus, which is needed in the soil for it to germinate in the best possible way. It started with the fact that Christiansson did not personally appreciate commercial fertilizer, because it depletes the soil that is cultivated, so he began to look for alternatives. Guano, which is basically manure from bats, contains a lot of phosphorus, which is a good substance for making the crop feel good.

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“It's great to have vegetables that you grow yourself. To be able to go and pick directly from one's cultivation in the summer and prepare a meal that always feels best, because you can really stand for the craft, time and energy that is behind it.”

Edwalls Ur is one of Örebro's oldest companies and can almost be seen as an institution. In 1862 the company was founded by P.A. Åberg — watchmaker and the person who installed Örebro's first telephones. Åberg continued to run the company until 1918 when Gunilla Edwall's grandfather took over the business. For three generations, the Edwall family has run Edwall's Ur and Gunilla has already begun ensuring for the tradition to be passed on. These days, her niece Karolina is already a part of company.

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In addition to Gunilla and Karolina, Gunilla's brother Mårten also remains in the company but at the age of 76 he is now a part-time worker. Once upon a time, he was a watchmaking specialist in Rolex, with training from the prestigious brand in Switzerland during the 80s. For 25 years Edwall's Ur were authorized by Rolex and people came from all over the world to buy the fabled timepieces. Although the authorisation is no longer active after Rolex switched to working with fewer authorised watchmakers, the knowledge remains and Edwalls Ur still accepts Rolex watches for repair. It is precisely the repairs of wristwatches, wall clocks and other automatic and mechanical timepieces that remain as the real watchmaking craft according to Gunilla.

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“Today, anyone can shop for watches online, but if you buy a watch online, you don't know if it has been serviced correctly. For the craft, Edwalls Ur and other watchmakers fulfill an important function. We pride ourselves on our craftsmanship and always provide a one-year warranty on our repairs to ensure customers are satisfied and feel welcomed back. That's probably a big contributing reason why we have so many customers who come back and always say they're happy that we're still there.”

Michael Isa is the entrepreneur behind Skarphagen Cykel, a well-known gem in Norrköping. Skarphagen Cykel was founded sometime during the 90s, and was then run by Isa's uncle. All the way up until 2006, it was run under his uncle's own direction, and then Isa became interested and asked if he could become a partner. This is how Isa entered the cycling industry, with zero background from it since before. Today Isa runs it on his own, where he has expanded the range to bikes for all ages, electric- such as vintage bikes, repair shop but also a paint shop. At Skarphagen Cykel, all companies can come and order bicycles in their own graphic profile, something he is alone in having in a bicycle workshop.

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When Isa started, he could barely change a bike tire, but as the passionate entrepreneur he is, he set a goal and today he is like a pioneer in his industry. In the beginning, sales were a bit difficult, where the company lived on recommendations for a long time, but due to the lessons he had learned from running companies since before, he quickly started marketing and started networking. He points out that networking is the key to a profitable business. To dare to bet and find their specialty in the market. For Isa's part, it was the paint shop, and to always respond to customers right.

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“I have always been a service-minded person. Before Skarphagen Cykel, I ran a video store, which I sold in 2006 and moved on to other things. But there has always been a core of investing in customer service and bidding for yourself. Because the more you offer your service, expertise and time, the more you get back. I believe this is the key to the company's growth, not least because of the networking, but to always be mindful that there are always solutions offered and an eye for the long-term.”

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