Q: Kindly give us a brief introduction of yourself. When did you arrive in India and how long have you been with SEB?
A: I have a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Economics from the University of Stockholm (1993) and have been with SEB since 1986 of which two years in Frankfurt being responsible for our German franchise. I have been a member of the Board of Directors of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce India since I moved here and have recently been entrusted with the position as Chairman of the Board.
I am married to Susanne and have three children. We moved to India on the 1st of August, 2010 when I took on the role as Chief Representative for SEB in India.
Q: What major challenges do you foresee for the SCCI in this year?
A: The topics/results that came out of the Business Climate Survey is what we need to address in some way. What do we do with these results? This is something we will discuss within the Board and I encourage all members to raise their views and ideas to the Chamber in this regard. The Chamber is what its members want it to be. Our strength comes from its members and the more concrete we all can be, the stronger the Chamber will become.
Q: How do you represent the SCCI when you meet your clients who could become potential members?
A: I do most certainly bring it up while conducting business transactions; however, since these are two different positions, it’s important not to mix up the roles.
Q: As the BCS results show, the Swedish companies are expanding vastly in India. What do you think of this?
A: The expansion is very positive and encouraging. It is actually not a new trend and will definitely continue here in India. We have a continues increase of new companies entering India, existing companies increasing its production capacity as well as increasing its ownership in joint ventures to the extent possible .
Q: What do you attribute this expansion to?
A: Well, India is in a strong growth phase and projected to continue so for a long period of time.
Q: What will you bring in as the new Chairman?
A: It’s not about me. We have a board of 11 representatives working together with the General Manager and her team. The social networking which we arrange is really important and should not be underestimated. In my view its working well in most part of the cities, the Focus Groups are getting good responses such as the one on Business Ethics lead by IKEA held in May and we should try to accelerate these type of events . Not only large companies but all members should team up together and take it forward
The problem we face is that the Chamber is seen as too much Delhi centric. Our aim and ambition is and has always been to organise more activities outside of Delhi so, the SCCI is perceived as a true “India Chamber”. For this we need active participation from all across India. As an example if someone is taking a lead for an event such as the Focus groups than as they typically are travelling they could try replicate the event in another city. This could trigger off a chain of events and lead to more activity.
I do believe we can make a difference working together with the Swedish Trade Council and the Embassy of Sweden. The corporates, small as well as large when united through the chamber become a strong force. We all face similar challenges, although they may be of a different scale and intensity.
Q: What new activities should be undertaken for the coming year?
We have a number of events in the pipeline and will continue our journey from last year. We will seek to continue with the Focus groups and are as always open to try new activities. Some will work some will not. We just need to be as active as possible and live up the expectations of our members.
Q: What role will the Board play ahead of this task?
A: We meet every second month to discuss various topics and to get the input from the management team of SCCI in order to achieve our goals. The Swedish Chamber is a young organisation and should look into other Chambers continuously to get more ideas.
Nevertheless, In order to achieve the SCCI mission which is to actively promote and support Swedish Commercial Interest in India we need active members.
Mr. Jorgen Sjostrom was unanimously elected Chairman of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce India at the Chamber's Annual General Meeting on the 28th of April, 2011. We are extremely pleased to have him on board and look forward to his valuable participation in taking SCCI to new heights.
Welcome, Jorgen!