USA:s ambassadör Matthew Barzun i samspråk med  Årets Nybyggare kategori Nystart 2010 Jangir Maddadi. I mitten Rafael Bermejo, IFS´ grundare.

USA är ett land som har byggts av invandrarföretagare.
"Att slå sig ner i ett nytt land, att vara pionjär - det är hårt arbete och sitter i vår ryggmärg" säger USA:s ambassadör Matthew Barzun, som har arbetat på kända Internetsajter som CNET och ZDnet.
"USA är ett land av invandrare från Sverige, Grekland, Irak, Turkiet och Kina - från alla de länder som Årets Nybyggare genom åren har kommit ifrån".
Läs det spännande tal som han höll på utdelningen av Årets Nybyggare - ett tal fyllt av spännande historiska anekdoter och så lovprisar han företagarna, t ex Yngve Bergqvist som startade ishotellet i Jukkasjärvi och Marcus Samuelsson, den kände kock som invandrade till Sverige från Etiopien och sedan gjorde succé i USA. 

As an American it is hard to be brief – even in English – when asked to speak on this subject of immigrant entrepreneurship. The hard work of settling, of pioneering – is at our core. America is, as you know, a land of immigrants: immigrants from Sweden, from Greece, from Iraq, Turkey, and China – from all the other countries of previous winners of this prize.

So, how to keep it short? I was tempted to start with Benjamin Franklin – the famous American entrepreneur and first successful author of what today we would call a business self-help book. He wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac with practical advice to colonists (we hadn’t become a country yet when he was writing) about how they can get a start in this new world, advice such as, “A penny saved is a penny earned” – and hundreds more. He published this as an experiment, but it turned into a huge success and was published continually with updates for 25 straight years.

Franklin was, as you know, the first official representative of the U.S. Government to Sweden. He’s a tough act to follow. During our country’s war for independence, he was named Minister Plenipotentiary to Sweden to negotiate a trade deal with none other than King Gustav III of Sweden in 1783. It was tempting to start with Franklin, but if I started in 1783 then I would have to go through the incredibly long and impressive list of Swedish immigrants who arrived into my country over 80 years and changed it forever by building big companies like Nordstrom or many small ones – and changed it for the better.

No, that wouldn’t work. So instead, I want to celebrate the successes on display here today by a short story about a Swedish settler some of you may never heard of and a decision he made 20 years ago. That decision and his insight is something I think can help us.

His name is Yngve Bergqvist. Do you know him? He is the founder of the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, 200 km above the Arctic Circle. Many of you may not think that moving to Jukkasjärvi is immigrating, but think if you were living in Malmö and moved to Kiruna, that would be a trip of 1,800 kilometers. If you went the other direction, you would have moved from Malmö to Rome, Italy.

Bergqvist was in the North working in the tourism industry and enjoying the midnight sun like everyone else. But in September all tourism would cease. Bergqvist pushed to get tourists to come to Jukkasjärvi in the Winter, but his colleagues looked at him like he was crazy, telling him it was too cold and too dark for tourists. Bergqvist was adamant, however, and said, “It’s not dark, it’s just a different kind of light.” He went on to elaborate that there are Arctic clouds, the famous Northern Lights, and the daily reflection from the snow. There was light everywhere.

Of course, the facts didn’t change, it’s still not very sunny in the winter up there in Jukkasjärvi, but attitudes changed. And now the Ice Hotel is a top hotel being copied throughout the world.

How do we look at our current facts in a different kind of light? This lesson goes way beyond the Arctic Circle and I’d like to list a few examples before I conclude.

Marcus Samuelsson – you know him, the great chef who is now a Swedish-American citizen. He was born in Ethiopia, raised on the west coast of Sweden, taught to cook by his "mormor," and the youngest ever chef to win 3 stars from New York Times for his Aquavit restaurant. He had a big barrier to overcome: quite simply Americans didn’t want to eat Swedish food in New York. Few Americans will say “Honey, it’s Wednesday night, let’s eat Swedish.” But he realized that the foods he loved – especially the herring he had been taught to pickle, was actually a lot like sushi, which New Yorkers adore. So he served it like sushi and marketed that well. It worked. Fast forward and President and Mrs. Obama chose him to cook their first State Dinner. 

Speaking of President Obama, he too is seeing things in a different kind of light. When he took office, he wanted to have the U.S. and Muslim communities around the world, 1 billion people in total, see each other and engage in a different kind of light – with mutual respect and mutual interest. To that end, he held a big speech in Cairo in June 2009, which you may remember. The speech covered many topics, but one of most immediate was a commitment to use a shared history of and passion for entrepreneurship. This commitment led directly to a Summit on Entrepreneurship that President Obama held in Washington, DC last April. 

Working with partner organizations, we at the embassy organized a series of seminars around the summit, focusing on immigrant entrepreneurship. At one of our sessions we listed all the obstacles to immigrant entrepreneurship, which is the easy part. We then turned to our group and asked what advantages they have as immigrant entrepreneurs in Sweden. One hand shot up. It was a young gentleman named Rabih Kanaan. His business opportunity was not apparent to most Swedes. He realized how much Swedes love dogs. Just look in any park, and it’s obvious. But he saw Swedes didn’t talk about it to each other. Kanaan explained that he and a friend created HundSmart in 2008 to be a social networking site for dogs and their owners. What a smart idea! Yet it took seeing things in a different kind of light for it to be created. 

After that session we met again to welcome back the Swedish immigrant entrepreneur who was invited to the Summit in Washington, Ashar Saeed. When he came back he said he met so many good contacts his main wish was that there would be a way they could stay in touch. It turns out that many felt that way and decided to do something about it. I am happy to report that with the State Department’s help, Secretary Clinton launched a new “e-mentorship” platform to allow entrepreneurs to share ideas with each other regardless of what country they are in.

So, to wrap this up, President Obama has said that “innovation is the currency of the 21st century.” And the work that each of you is doing as entrepreneurs and industry leaders, policy makers and patrons as part of this effort is making a lot of valuable currency. Together you are building up much needed treasure in this land that is new to some, old to some, and home to you all. And you are doing it, in part, by looking at things in a different kind of light.

Tack!

2010-11-01
Matthew Barzun