From cyber-security to organic re-usable tampons -Swedish business women awarded in Shanghai 2018
The world’s most successful women-owned international businesses were rewarded in Shanghai by International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC). Marie Walleberg, Imse Vimse, and Ulrika Nilsson, Secure State Cyber, have just received the 2018 IWEC Award in Shanghai together with 48 other successful business women from around the world. The Swedish business women are now part of a powerful network which run companies around the world with a total annual revenue of 29,8 billion USD and employing over 260 000 people. The Swedish awardees stuck out from the rest of the global awardees with their companies which span over organic personal care products and cyber security services.
Marie Walleberg, ImseVimse
My entrepreneurial journey started 30 years ago in 1988, when I desperately was looking for a way to heal my daughter’s severe diaper rash. I found that a wool diaper cover in combination with a washable cotton diaper miraculously helped to heal the rash. I decided to start my own company. Through my business I have been able to help parents and babies at the same time as having a positive impact on the environment by reducing the use of disposable diapers. Today we are selling a wide range of re-usable personal care products for children and women in over 6o countries. I am very proud of our latest product line of re-usable tampons. The benefits from reusable personal care products is clear – it is better for your helath, the family economy and the environment.
Ulrika Nilsson, Secure State Cyber
I am very proud of having built a successful ICT company delivering cyber security and having taken the steps to go global with our services. The IT sector is predominately male, especially in the security sector, but I don’t believe that success and business skills depend on gender. We managed to increase the turnover with almost 50% the last fiscal year and at the same time we opened our first international office. Ulrika sees that more and more companies are integrating cyber security into their core strategy, in order to protect the assets of the company.
2018 years IWEC awards conference has had a special focus on doing business with China and discovering new opportunities and networks in Asia. This network is exciting and is growing larger each year, both globally and in Sweden, says Charlotte Kalin, who is the keeper of IWEC in Sweden. For us it started in 2012 when the chambers of commerce in South Africa contacted me to recruit Nordic and Swedish international business women. In 2014 we hosted the IWEC awards in Stockholm.
Since then, the following Swedish international women entrepreneurs have been awarded and become part of the IWEC network: Pernilla Stålhane, Pallmax and Maud Spencer, Svalson (2012 in Barcelona), Ida Backlund, Rapunzel and Signhild Arnegård Hansen, Svenska Lantchips (2013 in Lima), Karin Söderlind, House of Dagmar, Karin Bodin, Polarbröd and Emy Blixt, Swedish Hasbeens (2014 in Stockholm), Britt Marie Stegs, Hälsingestintan and Isabelle Löwengrip and Pingis Hadenius, Löwengrip Care and Color (2016 in Brussels), Marie Lindqvist Pahlstad and Jenny Helldén from Zilenzio and Helene Åkerström Hartman from Orbaden Spa & Resort (2017 in Seattle).
IWEC is an international economic empowerment organization exclusively for women business owners, formed in 2007 by chambers from New York, Barcelona and India. IWEC’s mission is to develop a global business network for successful women entrepreneurs, helping them gain and expand access to international markets by presenting a platform to exchange knowledge, experience and connections, and to promote dialogue among women entrepreneurs and business leaders throughout the world.
More information:
– IWEC – https://iwecawards.com/ – Nancy Ploeger, Executive Director, IWEC. np@iwecawards.com
– IWEC Sweden – charlotte.kalin@maketrade.se
– 2018 Swedish IWEC awardee:
– – https://iwecawards.com/news/chamber-trade-sweden-iwec-awardees/
– – Ulrika Nilsson, Secure State Cyber, https://securestate.se/
– – Marie Wallestad, Imse Vimse, https://imsevimse.se/