Firstly, to introductions. I am Sean Williams, an Australian who arrived in Sweden in 2009 with my Swedish family. I met my wife Jessica in the UK, while working for BP. We travelled to Singapore together. After our son, Tor was born, we decided that Sweden offered our family the best opportunities. Given the traditional issues with finding a house and home, we eventually settled near Mörby Centrum (at the end of the red line) in 2010. Our daughter, Idun was born in 2014, and we now have an Australian Shepherd, Jake, who rounds-out the family.
It’s your ABCS
After being in Sweden for a couple of years I felt the need for more connection with like-minded Australians. It turned out that I was not the only one - it is, after all, normal to seek a bit of familiarity when roaming the world. A friend, Jonathon Hannam started up a group of Australian professionals working here, and after a couple of iterations that evolved into the ABCS. In the time that I have been associated with the ABCS I have believed that our primary purpose is to be a forum for Aussies working in business in the ”Top End”. Professionally there are times where we can all benefit from tips from others who are building their careers in Sweden, and have learnt what adjustments need to be made, or can provide compatriots with an introduction to their local network, providing a step-up for newbies who need help establishing, or those who have been here a while looking to take the next steps. Beyond the professional there are times when it is nice to socialize and talk English (or even Strayan). My mantra is therefore, "Its your ABCS” (with apologies to the ABC for stealing its jingle).
Continuity and Change
The outgoing Board presented an Annual Report at the AGM, from which I would like to highlight a few themes. Also, I would like to thank our now ex-Chair, Warren Campbell, for his excellent work over 3 years in strengthening the ABCS Board and our processes. In his final report Warren acknowledged the disappointment of the pandemic, which has limited our ability to get together. For an organisation like ours, whose purpose is to network, it felt downbeat. Nonetheless, I believe that 2020 had a number of behind-the-scenes events that have sowed the seeds for great success. We have continued to build on the relationship with the Swedish Australian Chamber of Commerce (SACC), and the Embassy and Austrade, as already mentioned. We also discovered the Australian Business in Europe (ABIE) network, a network of our sister organisations across Europe. This network is extremely active, and in some cases, very well resourced. With the trend to Zoom meetings, it has made a large amount of excellent and relevant content available to us. Last year, I was excited to listen to Eddie Jones, the rugby coach, talk about leadership. The leadership series continues next week with Julia Gillard.
Naturally, not all of the content is famous Australians opining on success. Going forward, I am keen to ensure that we make the most of this content, getting it out to you, whether you live in Östermalm or Luleå. I believe that there is significant value in this for you, and for the ABCS. Another change is that we hope to be communicating more frequently, as we deepen our engagement with the Australian community.
But, the most profound change is that we are beginning to plan for physical meetings again. At this stage, it’s most likely that they will begin after summer, but if the pandemic improves quickly in the weeks ahead, we may try for a small get together.
Author: Sean Williams, ABCS Chairman.