In late April the Chamber arranged a webinar on the consequences of the covid-19 pandemic and if it was a silver lining in sight. We had some experienced guest speakers participating from Sweden and Hong Kong and representing very different industries.
Alexander Hjertström is CEO of Airinum that produces and sells air masks – an industry that has experiences a dramatic rise during the pandemic. Still, Alexander told a bit about their challenges with production in China and about sticking to long term strategies despite short term opportunities.
On the other side, we heard Mats Johannesson, CEO of MTRX, that operates a railway service between Stockholm and Gothenburg. The travel industry has been hit hard by the pandemic and the travel restrictions and after having had five years battling for a position aside the giant SJ, the pandemic has presented new challenges to the company. But maybe, in the long run the railway industry might gain from people moving from airline to rail on distances like the one between Sweden’s biggest cities.
From Hong Kong, Kristian Odebjer, chairman of SwedCham HK, participated and gave an overview of the situation in Hong Kong with restrictions for travellers coming from abroad, closed schools and face masks whenever moving outside your house. It is of course hard times for a city so dependent on commerce – both business to consumer and business to business.
Finally, Ming Chen, Chief Culture Officer at EF Education First offered some insights how EF has adopted to closed schools and to working from home. With a fast adoption of technical solutions, EF has been able to keep the business and education going.