Entrepreneurs coached in the Swedish archipelago

October 16, 2012

Shift, a new accelerator for entrepreneurs working in systemic change, has just had its first camp in Vaxholm outside Stockholm. Shift camp took place the last weekend of September with participating teams from Latvia, Estonia , Lithuania and Sweden. The entrepreneurs were trained in innovations for a resilient future by scientists from Stockholm Resilience Centre.

During three days the teams met with business mentors and science coaches and went through pitch training. They also had master classes in innovations by Sara Öhrvall, Director R&D Bonnier, in PR strategies, Kristoffer Björkman, founder of My newsdesk, in crowdfunding, Cathrine Åsklint from Funded by me and in marketing strategies, Beata Wickbom. The master class in resilience was held by Per Olsson and Victor Galaz from Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Fredrik Moberg and Louise Hård af Segerstad from Albaeco. Pär Larshans, Sustainability director from Max hamburger also shared his insights about getting messages across.

The fact of being on an island made all the difference said Kalev from Like a local. Usually you meet mentors for 30 minutes in a city in a very stressed environment, here everyone was relaxed, had the time to reflect and learn together through dinner and coffee.

According to Maja Brisvall, project manager Shift, the camp exceeded all their expectations.

- The number of qualified mentors we have been able to attract, combined with world leading scientists as well as committed entrepreneurs has created a great community of people willing to learn and collaborate in the Baltic Sea region. This is our beta-year so there is always a chance to iterate and improve until next year.

Now the teams are preparing for demo day, November 12th, where they have a chance to present to investors from a mixed group of capital, VC/angel/impact investing and philanthropy. Learn more about shift at weshift.se