Gabriel Bake from Jönköping has been elected a member of the Board of the UN Association of Sweden. He has previously been President of the United Nations Association in Jönköping, and he has been commited to UN issues for many years.
But not least, he has also been the much appreciated supervisor of the JIBS student delegation for the National Model United Nations (NMUN) conference, and the teacher of the JIBS exclusive NMUN course. Congratulations, Gabriel!
Written by Brenna Shelsta
My countdown to JIBS has officially started, at this time in exactly
6 weeks I will be on a plane on my way to Sweden. Once I arrive in
Sweden I will have a short little vacation in Helsingborg, and then
just a few short days later I will be arriving in Jonkoping to start a
brand new phase of life.
Last time I wrote to you I shared a little bit about myself, and why
I chose to attend JIBS this fall. And now I will get to the really
fun and exciting stuff…Loans, scholarships, and visas!!! 
Ever
since I received my acceptance letter to JIBS it’s been a whirlwind to
say the least. When I received the e-mail on April 21st informing me
that I had been accepted, I was so excited to move and live in a new
country with a completely different culture and language, I was
thrilled at the thought of starting school again. I was also really
nervous about being apart from my family and good friends for three
years. All those emotions were quickly overshadowed by the stress of
getting everything ready and in order.
My visa for instance, has been quite the process… I had to hurry to
get everything together for the consulate, (it takes 2-3 months to
process a visa) I sent in all my paperwork and now I’m just playing
the waiting game… Waiting is the worst, you can’t do anything but
wait… Just waiting… waiting… and more waiting. Hopefully soon
enough I will hear back from the consulate, and it will all be okay.
But for now I’m still waiting.
Things are tight for a lot of people these days, and for my family
it’s no different. Because I’m one of five kids and my parents can’t
afford to support me for 3 years, I was forced to start looking into
different options… Scholarships and student loans. I had received a
scholarship from my high school, however when I approached them about
it they didn’t know how to pass the funds to me. Usually my high
school would just send the money to the university for tuition, but
because there is no tuition fee at JIBS right now I haven’t been able
to receive the scholarship.
So my search for other options continued… A student loan was the
next obvious alternative. When I was researching different student
loans, I ran into a problem. The problem is JIBS is not on a list of
accredited schools and universities that are eligible to receive
federal student aid from the american government. The student loans
from the government have the best interest rates, and re-payment
options. When that door was closed, I didn’t know what to do. So I
continued looking… Looking into different types of personal bank
loans, however I ran into the same problem with JIBS not being on the
list. I’m trying to help to get JIBS on the list of accredited
schools, however this whole process can take 6-9 months (if not
longer). If JIBS gets onto the list of accredited schools it would not
only benefit me, it would also benefit other american students who
would like to attend JIBS in the future.
This brings me to where I am now… STUCK. I’ve been saving as much
money as I can, but it’s simply not enough. My next idea is to look
for a couple individual people who would be able to personally lend me
some money that I could pay back with interest after I’m finished with
school. I’m hoping this idea will be the one that work. I would be so
grateful for any advice or suggestions, at this point I’m open to just
about anything!
So here I am yet again at another hill. I’m climbing this hill hoping
that when I reach the top, I will finally find the open door that will
lead me to JIBS. The challenges grow, and the countdown continues… 6
weeks.
By Israel Ambe Ayongwa
Day 1
The delegation from SIFE Jonkoping arrived at Electrolux Stockholm, where the event was to take place, at 10:45 am on June 16, after a 3 hour ride from Jonkoping.
Members of the Jonkoping delegation who attended this year’s competition included;
Herik Wei (PR & Communication, School of Education & Communication)
Dick Halvorsen (PR & Communication, School of Education & Communication)
Julia Lukyanchenko (International Management, JIBS)
Magdala Leung (Business & IT Management, JIBS)
Mingming Leung (Bachelor of Business Administration, JIBS)
Jingchen Zheng (Innovation & Business Creation, JIBS)
Yun Xu (International Economics & Policy, JIBS)
Mao Yanwei (Business & IT Management, JIBS)
Johan Truong (Business & IT Management, JIBS)
Israel Ambe Ayongwa (International Logistics & Supply Chain Management, JIBS)
Eric Litton (Bachelor of Business Administration, JIBS) who jetted in from Poland for the event.
Upon arrival at the Electrolux center, SIFE Jonkoping met with the other teams: SIFE Malardalens, who arrived with a massive entourage of at least 30 members, SIFE KTH, represented by 2 participants, SIFE Lund, with 4 members, SIFE Umea, with some 8 students on board, and finally SIFE Uppsala having only 2 participants.
Members from the teams then took the opportunity to walk around and familiarize themselves with the environment and the other opposing teams, grab some breakfast and set up their stands for the City Fair event.
At about 13:00, the different participating teams, panel of judges, sponsors, SIFE executive members and other guests were ushered to the Electrolux auditorium for the introduction and formal kick off of the programme.
The Vice President of SIFE Sweden, Camilla Ljunggren, began by giving a brief introduction about SIFE as an organization, it’s goal and principles, before saying what the competition was all about. She also presented a brief picture slideshow of the 2008 competition and concluded by introducing the judges who will assess each team’s performance.
The presentations of projects by the various teams got underway right after the meeting in the auditorium drew to a close and was carried out in two different rooms with SIFE KTH presenting in one room while SIFE Jonkoping carried out theirs in another room at the same time. The other teams proceeded with their presentations during the afternoon. At the end of each presentation there was a Question and Answer session during which the judges raised areas for clarification and further explanation from those presenting.
For SIFE Jonkoping, the task of trying to impress the judges, who were about 10 in number, rested on the shoulders of Mao Yanwei, Yun Xu, Julia Lukyanchenko and Mingming Jiang.
With all the pressure of presentation over and participants heaving a sigh of relief, the next item on the agenda was a mingle between the Sponsors to showcase some of their products and catalogues to the students. Students had an opportunity to inquire what opportunities these companies could offer them in terms of employment and internships.
This item was followed by the last aspect of the day which was a drink mingle and buffet. Jury members, sponsors, students, advisers and special guests all had an opportunity to share in some small talk over a glass of wine and right after this, participants were ushered to the dining section which was an occasion to feast on the different foods on the table. The dining was interspersed with the Award of some Prizes.
These Prizes included the SIFE Monthly Competition for the months of January to June. SIFE Umea handily swept the prizes in this category but SIFE Jonkoping received the prize for Best City Fair Stand. Recipients were awarded a Diploma of recognition.
The SIFE team
Day 2
Wednesday June 17 was the D-day of the competition with the major highlights being results of the last four teams that had made it to the finals of the competition, the finals itself and the declaration of final results.
Hans Stråberg, Electrolux CEO, introduced the members of jury and judges, and handed out medals to all members of all the participating teams as well as a Diploma of participation. The moment all teams had been waiting for arrived and the announcement of what teams had made it to the finals of the competition was made. Malardalen, Umea, Jonkoping and KTH were the four teams while Lund and Uppsala were eliminated.
The leaders of the four remaining teams were called up onstage and through a draw of numbers, KTH had the unenviable task of presenting first in the auditorium, followed by Jonkoping, Malardalen and finally Umea.
A few minutes were given for the two participants representing KTH to prepare and present. With a small SIFE membership, they had 4 projects to present and unfortunately for them one of their presenters had a cold and this made talking for him very difficult.
When their time was up, the four ladies representing Jonkoping had their turn and they did have a better performance than KTH with the 4 projects they had worked on during the year, their show of diversity, results from this projects and the environmental sustainability of it.
Closely followed was Marladalen who had 14 projects during the year and were presenting 6 of them. Interestingly, they had carried out most of these projects out of Sweden in places like Ghana, Nigeria and Slovenia. They raised the bar of performance even higher.
Last team for the day was Umea, winners of 2008 competition, they presented the projects they had done through the year and also they had projects about clearing landmines they had carried out in Asia. Their performance was good although it was difficult placing them on the same level as Malardalens and their group did not show diversity.
After lunch, during which the judges took time off to compile their results, participants reconvened once more for the prize award ceremony and declaration of results.
-First prize was for Rookie of the Year and this was awarded to SIFE Lund.
-Best Faculty Adviser Award was given to Malardalen’s adviser.
-The recently launched Green Challenge Competition, which was open to all students in Sweden was won by Miljöveckan of Umea university while the runner up position went to Miljocaset of Lund University.
-SIFE Spirit award was won by Uppsala university.
-The SIFE Team Award prize, which would give the winners a place at the SIFE International Competition to be hosted in Berlin, had SIFE Jonkoping in the second position while SIFE Malardalens took the first place. Both teams would represent Sweden in Berlin.
The event officially came to an end with participants taking pictures and heading off to their destinations.
Last week, I paid visits or listened to influential German business leaders, politicians, academics and journalists. My expectations about the mood of “Corporate Germany” were quite low. But I did not meet a country in despair – despite the ongoing global financial and economic crisis. On the contrary, German decision-makers seem to be (somewhat) more optimistic about the future compared to the analysis of many financial economists and journalists, particularly when it comes to the medium term. Pessimists, however, still can be found in car industry and other major parts of manufacturing industry. And warnings come steadily about an issue that concerns most Germans: the rapidly increasing public deficit caused by the crisis.
The Germans fear future generational conflicts. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany’s new political star – the recently appointed minister of economics – Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (37) get many domestic points for their more cautious fiscal stance compared to many other governments in the OECD area. I have few doubts that chancellor Merkel will win the next election on September 27 this year. On the other hand, one cannot be sure about the composition of the next German government.
The SIFE team from Jönköping University won a second prize in the final during SM in Social Entrepreneurship, which was held in Stockholm 16-17 June. Students from SIFE Jönköping did a fantastic performance and presentation! The 2nd place means that the SIFE team from Jönköping University received a travel grant to visit the SIFE World Cup in Berlin 4-6 October.
SIFE Jönköping team also won first prize for Best Booth at the University and City Fair for their passion and commitment to their school and city.
In total, the teams are evaluated by two groups of jury comprising industry representatives. Final jury consisted of Hans Stråberg CEO of Electrolux, Gunilla Banner manager of Kreab & Gavin Anderson London office, Anna Ekström President of SACO, Johan Göthberg CEO of StayAt, Eva Granström HR Manager of SAAB Aerotech, Jan-Carl DeGeer from HSBC, Claes Dinkelspiel founder of Öhman Fondkommision, Marie Svaton Information Manager of Adecco, Alexander Nagler CEO of AIG Sweden etc.
What is SIFE National Competition? (SM in Social Entrepreneurship 2009)
SM in Social Entrepreneurship was held on June 16-17, 2009 at Electrolux Headquarter in Stockholm. Students compete for who is best to save the world! The competition, organized for the fifth year in a row, is the big finale of the students’ academic year with SIFE.
During the past academic year, students have started and run their own projects on entrepreneurship, sustainable development and business ethics with the aim to spread knowledge and teach others, which also provide them training within project management, communication, teamwork and leadership.
During the final, competing universities are assessed on how they work organizationally, which results and effects they have achieved with their projects and how they work to ensure the long-term sustainability of the projects.
The winner of the final will represent SIFE Sweden to compete with other 40 countries in entrepreneurship in SIFE World Cup which will be held in Berlin 3-6 October.
What is SIFE?
SIFE is an international non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to motivate university students to make a difference in their communities while developing their skills to become future business leaders in their careers.
One of its branches is located in Jönköping that is, SIFE Jönköping which is organized by students in Jönköping University.
Projects of SIFE Jonkoping
In academic year 2008/2009, SIFE Jonkoping successfully built up a strong team with 20 active members. Four projects were launched with great achievements which gained good reputation within the university and local community.
For instance, cooking class is a project aiming at promoting healthy eating habits and life style among students. By means of teaching cooking skills and nutrition knowledge, we encourage students to care about their daily life as well as their studies.
Another rewarded project is computer workshop for senior citizens. Students from Jönköping International Business School and School of Education and Communication formed a teaching group which plans and teaches the senior citizens in Jönköping the basic functions of computer and internet.
In SIFE, students could create any project that meets one or more of the following criteria: market economics, success skills, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, business ethics, environmental and development sustainability. Projects should also benefit the local or international society.
Why should students participate in SIFE?
There are many reasons:
1)SIFE provides a platform for them to apply their knowledge from theory to practices.
2)SIFE gives them support for their projects to make things happen.
3)In SIFE, they can obtain the training needed to prepare themselves for entering their professional careers.
4)Of course, they will also have opportunities to meet and make friends from different countries and different academic domains.
by Yanwei Mao
Reference website: http://www.sife.se/sife/resultat-fran-sm-i-socialt-entreprenorskap-2009/
Economic research needs to focus more on globalization and its implications on the corporate sector. The corporate sector, on the other hand, must apply macroeconomic trends more consequently, particularly on the executive level. Financial institutions should organize their economics department directly under the executive board in order to improve and accelerate mutual exchange of macroeconomic and macrofinancial issues.
The implementation of more or less most all economic research in capital market departments during the past decade or so with emphasis on short-term analysis must be regarded as a major strategic failure. Bank executives need also continuous information more on economic trend developments and financial macroeconomics. This was certainly many times not the case before the eruption of the global crisis. In my opinion, this whole issue should be regarded as a matter of corporate governance.
More about this topic can be read in my article from June 4 in the Swedish daily financial paper Dagens Industri.
Hubert Fromlet’s blog (mainly in Swedish)
“By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.”
—Introductory line of Jordan’s NBA Encyclopedia biography.
I have never seen Jordan play live but like a true fan during my professional stint in Chicago I went to the United Center to see his statue and like all fans wanted to “Be like Mike” and was curious to know what were the shoes worn by his statue. If you have ever played basket-ball and you do not have a pair of Jordan’s the thought in itself is blasphemy!!!!! Google came to my help and I found that it was Air Jordan IX designed after he had retired from professional basketball.
I wanted to know more and kept on reading and finally found out that Tinker Hatfield is the renowned designer of many of Nike’s most popular and innovative athletic shoe designs. I was surprised to know that Hatfield is an athlete formally trained in architecture!!! Today he’s the master chef in Nike’s “innovation kitchen.” Conventional wisdom was challenged at that very moment! Innovation kitchen, are you serious? An architect is cooking my shoes???? Also found out that Business Week has put Tinker among the top 25 champions of innovation. Move over Mike I have a new role model in Tinker.
Innovation was a word I heard repeatedly during my annual appraisals but that day it had a whole new meaning for me. I kept on reading, looked up innovation and the term innovation loosely means a new way of doing something. Simple, Try innovating in the highly governed and regulated financial services industry!! With profit margins shrinking, acquiring new business almost next to impossible, lay-offs, the R word… my brain was processing faster than IBM Roadrunner the world’s fastest supercomputer. Have I found my calling?
It’s been two years since I decided I wanted to go to graduate school but not for pursuing an MBA. After searching the internet for almost 8 hours and an empty six pack of Heineken, I found what I was looking for…..masters programme in innovation and business creation, JIBS, Sweden. It was as if the course was custom designed for my requirements.
My first reaction…Sweden, very tall, blonde people, living in red houses filled with stuff from IKEA, driving Volvo cars while listening to ABBA with last name “Svenson” and a few of them wearing Viking hats! I am human and like all of my fellow human beings do have stereotypes and am sure I am wrong but I profusely apologize if my words have hurt anyone’s sentiments.
It took me a good two weeks to decide if I wanted to leave my job, leave Chicago and move to Sweden while simultaneously working on my application. Just apply and then take time to think over it was my initial strategy and the more I read about Sweden, its culture, its economy my stereotypes took a strong beating and changed the reference points of my thought process. I was ready to go to Sweden with a clean slate only if I was accepted. I registered my application at Studera and sent in my supporting documents wondering about the fate of my application!
Waiting for a decision for around 5 months without any communication is a test of patience and character and I started checking my Studera account every day. Till the first week of May 2009 nothing moved and I was getting worried if I would get in. Then I got SG & RG for my application and wanted to know what it meant? Who else then the main man, Tomas Bengtsson, wrote to him, tried calling him but he is a tough cookie to crack. He politely told me to wait till the results were out and I promised myself if I make it to Jonkoping, he is not getting any Indian souvenir from me!
It was time for the “leap of faith”! I packed my bags as my assignment was getting over, chose not to go to a graduate school in US and moved back to Delhi to be with my folks and unwind after the three brutal winters I had spent in Chicago. Time to travel and thaw my bones!! Home sweet home here I come!
Lo and behold, magic happened when the status flipped to under process and then around May 5 my application pages were blocked as the results were to be out for the first round of admission. These were the longest days of May with the Delhi heat at its best I was on the edge! One of my cousins flew in from Dallas, TX for a family reunion of sorts on May 6 and that day I had my doubts! Am I doing the right thing? Leaving US to go Sweden? Am I letting go of my “American Dream”? Not yet my friend, not yet!
I have been a good student all my life but somewhere at the back of my mind I have felt that I have never lived up to my potential! It’s time for redemption I constantly told myself and with each passing minute I grew confident of my decision that I did want to go to JIBS because that was something I really wanted to study. Finally in the afternoon of May 7 2009 I got my admission result and was I happy!! I was admitted to JIBS in a programme I wanted to study. To confess had I not been admitted Mr. Jordan and Mr. Hatfield would have lost one of their loyal customers.
The waiting was over and I desperately wanted to calm my frayed nerves, what better than a nice clean beach and a couple of weeks away from this maddening world! Picked up my backpack, jumped on to a flight and Thailand was where I wanted to be before the next big thing…..application for a student residence permit.
After a few weeks in Phuket, Thailand with the stress of waiting for admission results gone I started preparing for my student visa application. Copy of my passport, couple of photographs, visa fee, and admission letter & armed with my bank statements I was standing outside the Swedish Consulate in Delhi. The staff at the consulate was absolutely fabulous, understanding and polite & they did answer all my questions.
Walked in around 09:15 am on June 02, the woman across the counter went through my papers, arranged them in a manner she wanted them to be, made me arrange the documents in the second set like the first and handed me a number…3… for my visa interview. Now unlike other consulates that make a decision on the day of application the decision for Swedish residence permit takes a good 6-8 weeks and this made me a wee bit nervous. I have been through a lot of these visa interviews but this one gave me jelly knees, why because I would know the fate of my application after 6 more weeks. My number flashed on the screen I walked up to the visa officer she takes a look at my face, then the papers, looks back at me and starts typing in information on her browser based system which generated my application number.
After 25 minutes and having asked me questions on why JIBS, my source of funding and others which I quite frankly couldn’t care to remember hands me a receipt and tells me to wait for 6 weeks before following up with them. Are you kidding me, 6 more weeks? I need another vacation once I get my residence permit.
Ever since have been surfing the web for more information about Jonkoping, life in Jonkoping and as accommodation is taken care of by the university I am also searching for information on driving license & learning Swedish.
This is my story, Amit C, a prospective student at JIBS, Jonkoping for masters in innovation and business creation.
Thank you for reading it and I wish you the best in all your future endeavors!
Next week all I have found out on the web and from friends!
Hey everyone!
My name is Brenna Shelsta, I’m from Denver Colorado in the USA. I will be attending JIBS this coming August. There are so many preparations and things to get done before I can begin school in Sweden in 2 and half months. But before I get into talking about all my preparations let me tell you a little about myself and why I’ve chosen JIBS.
I’ve grown up in Colorado, I’m the 4th out of 5 kids, and I have an AMAZING family. I graduated from high school in 2006, and I was planning on heading to university right after I graduated. But with only a month and half left of high school I decided to postpone university. Instead I joined an amazing organization called Up with People. Up with People is an international organization that takes 80-100 international students ages 18-29, around the world for 6 months doing community service projects, living with host families and performing a dynamic show with music and dance, and at the same time it gives you a global education, along with opportunities to improve your professional working skills.
During my 6 months as a student in Up with People I participated in a couple internships where I got to work with my staff members, I learned about the business side of a non profit organization. After my 6 month tour was finished, I was offered a position on staff to come back on the tour to travel as the Business Administrator. I happily accepted, and was immediately put in charge of all the merchandise and finances for a year while we traveled around the world, along with helping lead our 100 students. It was the most exciting and challenging thing that I’ve done thus far in my life.
Me and baby Jet Lou
While working for Up with People I spent a month in Thailand. 2 out of the 4 weeks there I spent working in an orphanage, spending time with newborn to 3 year old babies. There were about 20 babies in this age group alone… then there were hundreds of other kids in other age groups through out the orphanage. These 2 weeks changed me completely. It was so heart breaking to see all these kids, many of them had lost their parents due to HIV, and some of the children themselves were HIV positive. There was one little boy in particular that really touched
me, his name is Jet Lou and he has Down Syndrome.
Me and Taylor
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study until I met Jet Lou, but after only knowing him for a day I was changed forever. You see my youngest brother Taylor also has Down Syndrome, and it got me thinking about how drastically different these boys lives would be based purely on where they were born. I started thinking how my brother Taylor would never get the same opportunities that I have, just because he was born with Down syndrome. And how this little baby Jet Lou would never come close to the opportunities that Taylor has been given, just because of where he was born. Because Taylor was born in a country where he has access to some of the best schools, technology, and therapy he will have a very high quality of life. And on top of all that that he has a family that loves and cares for him. Jet Lou on the other hand is left in an orphanage with basically no therapy, no schooling, and no family, and in all honesty may not ever get adopted. So Jet Lou will be able to stay in the orphanage until he is 18, and then after that who knows what will happen to him. This is what breaks my heart.
I’ve always known that things would be different based on where you were born, but when I actually got to see with my own eyes how different it really could be, how if my brother was born in another country into another family his life would be COMPLETELY different.
So you see this is why I chose JIBS, I will be studying international economics and policy, in hopes that I can learn why and how someones life can be so different purely based on where you were born or raised. I want to learn more about why things are the way are in the world. I think learning about the global economy and economies in different nations is a great place to start. And what better place to
study global economy than at an international business school, in a country other than my own!
I have the desire and drive to start school at JIBS in August, so now comes the tricky part… Visas, scholarships, loans, preparing to live in another country for 3 years, and just trying to make it all happen. Maybe that doesn’t seem that difficult…. but making all that happen in 2 and half months, now that’s the challenge!
Environmental accountability and social responsibility are every bit as important to the sustainability of companies as traditional corporate governance issues of financial accountability. This was the theme of a recent research symposium co-sponsored by the British Accounting Association, the association of accounting researchers and other academics, and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), a global body of professional accountants with headquarters in London. Gary Cunningham, Professor of Accounting at JIBS, attended the symposium to learn more about current research in the area and get ideas for forming a research center at JIBS that incorporates these issues and others.
Among the interesting themes covered was a study by Professor Andros Gregoriou of the Norwich Business School about carbon trading and the future markets for carbon emissions in the EU. Another study by Professor Dave Owen of Nottingham Business School examined companies’ and stakeholders’ attitudes to voluntary outside assurances of their environmental and social reports. Other studies looked at costing models for water systems, full costing models for building construction, and corporate social responsibility reporting of a major gaming company.