Although there are not many Swedes living in Ukraine — about 150 — their presence has a strong influence on the growing bilateral relations. Swedes who have committed their lives to Ukraine tend to occupy managerial positions and are motivated to spread Western democratic values. The Kyiv Post spoke with some members of Swedish community in Ukraine.
Andreas Flodström
Andreas Flodström, a 31-year-old entrepreneur, first arrived in Ukraine in 2011. The next year, he decided to stay. Back then, he had extensively traveled around Eastern Europe and “found Ukraine and Kyiv very dynamic with a lot of positive energy.” This country fascinated him with its “mix of the old and new in terms of the society.” The vibrant Ukrainian “new” caught his attention.
Flodström and his partners established and developed a successful information technology company called Beetroot. Within the first 18 months, they grew to 20 people about the time that the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych.
The revolution deepened Flodström’s commitment to Ukraine. “Let us be part of this positive change” was the new spirit in his team.
Trusting people and their abilities is the most important thing to succeed in Ukraine, Flodström believes. He says “it is easier to find people with a strong drive forward than in my own country.” The decentralized Beetroot now runs in 13 different locations without a strong hierarchical control.
Beetroot won the WorldBlu Freedom-Centered Cultures Award, beating out 31 other companies, for having the most freedom-centered workplace cultures.
Flodström will stay in Ukraine if the nation continues reforms, especially in education and infrastructure. The key indicator for him is how Ukraine tackles corruption. “Almost all the problems in Ukraine in some way or another are connected to corruption in power structures,” he said.
Mona Folkesson
Mona Folkesson, 36, came to Ukraine a year and a half ago to work as the head of the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office in Ukraine where she is responsible for monitoring Ukraine’s sustainable development in poverty eradication and fighting corruption.
Folkesson arrived in Kyiv from Africa on a cold November day and still found that “Kyiv exceeded all expectations.” She admitted that there was “general negativity” in the media towards Ukraine before she came, but “the very beautiful introduction to Kyiv” helped her overcome existing prejudices.
In Ukraine, Folkesson enjoys “the variety of seasons,” “accessibility of different cultural (events),” as well as trips to the Carpathian Mountains.
As of now, Folkesson has mostly seen big cities in Ukraine and she wishes to travel more to Ukraine’s “vast rural countryside” and see more of its nature. In terms of the country itself she hopes Ukraine “continues on a peaceful path” and that Ukrainians “be more open towards those having different opinions.” In Folkesson’s view, “that is important for all countries which truly wish to be democratic.”
Sophie Engström
Starting off in Ukraine right after the 2004 Orange Revolution brought Viktor Yushchenko to power, then-freelance journalist Sophie Engström gradually paved her way into teaching Swedish at the Lviv National Ivan Franko University in Lviv, the city of 720,000 people located 541 kilometers west of Kyiv. During her first days in Ukraine Engström mentioned that Ukrainians were different from their Eastern European neighbors by being “more open and curious.”
Since 2010, Engström has been living and teaching Swedish in Lviv. At first, Engström intended to stay for a year or two, but “the best kind of combination of very interesting city and people” as well as a full-time university job convinced her to stay longer. Engström is not sure if she will stay in Ukraine for good, but she is confident that she will always keep in touch with “Ukraine — my second native country.”
The greatest wish that Engström has for Ukraine is success in combatting corruption. Engström does not see it on a daily basis but hears about it from her students and sees it through examples of rigged constructions projects surrounding her in Lviv. Her second wish for Ukraine is that a lot of young Ukrainians who have left Ukraine in search of better lives “will come back” to their native country and bring along new knowledge and ideas.
Engström believes that “patience” is the secret recipe for success in Ukraine. She also admits that at the beginning of her stay she had a sense of superiority when communicating to Ukrainians, but then Engström understood that it was not the way to live in Ukraine. “Be open-hearted and open minded to Ukraine,” is Engström’s advice to newcomers.
Linn Härfast
Linn Härfast, who heads the economic-cultural section and communications at the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, first came to Ukraine in 2016 as a tourist and “was stricken by how beautiful Kyiv is and all the activities you can do here.” When she was hired by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2017 and received the notification of her overseas posting, she “was so relieved and so happy” to read the word “Kyiv” printed in the document.
Having lived in Ukraine’s capital for two years, Härfast enjoys the cultural life of the city. “Museums, art galleries, workshops, and there is so much energy here,” Härfast said. She singles out ArtZavod Platforma for being an exclusive venue of unique events. Walking around the city has been Härfast’s favorite activity in Kyiv since her first visit back in 2016.
A native of Stockholm, Härfast enjoys the coffee culture of the Ukrainian capital. Swedes are famous for their coffee addiction, she says, and that in Kyiv one can “find high quality coffee shops everywhere” is reassuring.
Härfast recipe for success: “First of all, look at the positive trends over time and see that it is getting so much better in so many ways, but you might not notice (this progress) from day-to-day.” Second: “be cool and (believe that) everything will be sorted out — probably at the last minute, but that could be even better than we expected.”
Håkan Jyde
46-year-old Håkan Jyde has been the managing director of Scania Ukraine since the summer of 2017. But his first trip to Ukraine was in 2000 when he was visiting some colleagues during a business trip. Jyde says that today Ukraine “is much more clear in its direction now than it was” in 2000 as it chose a course of integration with the European Union. He also sees “a huge development in society, in business cycles.
“I feel very welcome as a foreigner in Ukraine,” says Jyde, whose company has been working in Ukraine since 1993 when they opened a representative office in Kyiv. Due to successful business growth and comfortable lifestyle, Jyde intends to stay in Ukraine with his family “for many more years.”
If foreigners decide to run their businesses in Ukraine, Jyde’s advice would be to “be patient, be present. You need to be here, you need to develop your relationships here, and live in the society to understand how it works.”
Judicial reforms and the fight against corruption should be Ukraine’s two major priorities, Håkan says.
“As long as ownership rights are not fully protected, investors will look somewhere else.”
