4X business for the Nairobi office - Ulf Berg’s visit to STC Nairobi

The Swedish Trade Council in Nairobi, together with the Embassy of Sweden in Nairobi, SIDA and Save the Children Sweden held a seminar on Swedish Efforts for Corporate Social Responsibility in Kenya on the 18th of February 2010. Present in the seminar were 40 representatives of Swedish companies in Kenya. Speeches were held by the Director General of SIDA, Anders Nordström and the Secretary General of Save the Children Sweden, Elizabeth Dahlin, STC CEO Ulf Berg and Tetra Pak East Africa CEO Anders Lindgren.

The seminar, which was arranged by STC, was opened by Sweden’s Ambassador to Kenya.

It brought together various Swedish companies based in Nairobi with an interest in engaging in a Swedish model for CSR in Kenya which could benefit their organizations as well as the Kenyan society.

In conjunction with the theme of the seminar, a cooperation agreement was signed between Diakonia and STC Nairobi whereby the two organizations agreed to form a partnership within entrepreneurship and CSR whereby STC would provide Diakonia with a setup for an entrepreneurial programme and execute it in five different communities in the Lake Victoria region. 

A cooperation agreement was also signed by STC together with UNHABITAT and Chalmers University of Technology. The signing was done by Ulf Berg, Lars Reuterswärd, Director, Global Division UNHABITAT and Jörgen Sjöberg the Senior Advisor to the President at Chalmers University. 

The project, in which STC Nairobi will conduct a feasibility study, mainly involves the establishment of Lake Victoria Urban Academy in the Millennium City of Kisumu, Kenya. The Urban Academy will be the foundation for a Centre of Excellence for sustainable design and development and will integrate into an innovation park and Habitation Laboratory (HAB LAB). The Academy will be part of the Urban Futures network and as such have a global outreach from start. 

Lastly, STC arranged meetings with the Internal Security Minister Hon. George Saitoti. Kenya has shown interest in purchasing commander communications and control systems from Ericsson and SAAB Group. STC has formulated a product on how to work with SAAB Group and Ericsson Kenya within civil security – A Swedish model for civil security.