Estonian-Swedish Young Leaders leadership exchange program, launched last year, is being jointly supported by Swedbank and SEB to enhance regional integration and facilitate the exchange of ideas among young leaders from Sweden and Estonia. Eighteen promising leaders from both countries have come together to learn from each other and cultivate their leadership skills.
The Young Leaders Program aims to nurture the abilities of young leaders while fostering new connections across the Baltic Sea region. Individuals from diverse sectors including business, politics, culture, and academia are carefully chosen as participants.
This year's program consists of two sessions: the Spring conference which took place in Stockholm during the second week in May and the Autumn conference is scheduled for October in Tallinn.
The program is organized by the Sweden-Estonia Cooperation Fund. Yoko Alender, the Chair of the Cooperation Fund, comments: “I am thoroughly impressed by the exceptional participants in this year program. The participants were selected based on their outstanding accomplishments, demonstrated potential, and strong commitment to making a positive impact in their respective fields. The selection criteria included factors such as leadership experience, innovative thinking, notable achievements, and a passion for driving positive change in society. This ensured that the program connected a diverse group of talented individuals who could contribute valuable insights and perspectives to the Estonia-Sweden cooperation.”
During the program in Stockholm participants from Sweden and Estonia have met highly ranked business leaders, leadership experts, researchers, politicians and diplomats from both countries. The program in Sweden focused on the background of the Swedish model, leadership, equality and sustainability development as well as future cooperation areas for both countries.
“The program’s participants reflect its purpose with their diverse backgrounds, opinions and ideas, but clearly shared values. We at SEB are proud supporters of the program and having discussed the past, present and future states of the countries’ economies gives me confidence in the participants ability to leave positive marks in the future”, said Björn Olsson, speaker at the Stockholm session and Business Advisor to the Head of Baltic Division and member of the Baltic division's management at SEB.
The session in Estonia will take place on October 4 – October 6 in Tallinn.
Pictures from the Stockholm sessions in May 2023
Pictures from the Tallinn session in October 2023
