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Business Sweden

“I enjoy the challenges that come with working in complex regions”

2021-11-16

Approx 2 min reading time

Foto: Business Sweden

As a Consultant at Business Sweden’s Casablanca office, Nathalie Thiel has the international career she always dreamt of.

When Nathalie Thiel graduated from Stockholm School of Economics, she knew she wanted to work abroad and have an international career. Joining Business Sweden thus was a natural choice, and after half a year in Beijing, she is now placed at the office in Casablanca, Morocco.

Nathalie Thiel

Title: Consultant at Business Sweden
Education: Master of Science in Business & Management at Stockholm School of Economics, graduated in 2018.
What is your favorite spot in Casablanca? “I would say the Corniche which is a promenade that runs along the coast of Casablanca. It is one of the loveliest places in the city as you can enjoy a beautiful panorama view overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. I tend to do a lot of outdoor activities there such as surfing, yoga, running and bicycling. It feels luxurious to be able to access the seaside and beaches so easily – in the middle of a large city!”

How did you end up in Casablanca?

– I started my Business Sweden journey through the Talent Accelerator, Global Trainee program, where you automatically get placements at two different offices over the course of 12 months. My first placement was in Beijing, followed by Casablanca. The office in Casablanca covers 25 emerging markets in North and West Africa, and I enjoyed it so much here that I decided to continue being based in Morocco after the Trainee Program concluded. It’s an interesting region to work in since it constantly offers new challenges but is also a region where Business Sweden’s work is impactful for Swedish companies.

What kind of projects do you work with?

– It’s a great mix of different projects that I am involved in, and no day looks the same in terms of work tasks. But my main mission is to help Swedish companies to navigate and grow in this highly complex region. In one day I can help a start-up to find a partner in Ghana, followed by positioning a large company in an infrastructure project in Cameroon and then preparing a high-level conference in Nigeria together with the Embassy of Sweden. Having these kinds of very diverse tasks, meeting various stakeholders and clients, makes work interesting and stimulating. Since you are always working with different stakeholders such as Ministries, Embassies, institutions, companies of various sizes and sectors, you rapidly grow your own network.

Describe your team!

– Today we are seven people working in the Casablanca hub, and we have a great mix of different backgrounds and nationalities. I believe that diversified teams are the future. Especially in our line of complex work, it is very important, since we then have different skills that complement each other. We work closely together with the teams based in our sister offices in Nairobi, Kenya, and Johannesburg, South Africa, to cover activities and projects on the African continent. What unites us all is the drive to make a difference for Swedish companies, and of course also for the region and continent. To give you an example of an impactful project: we are working with Swedish companies and Team Sweden to help in establishing a public transport system in Ouagadougou, the capital of the West African country Burkina Faso, that hosts more than 2.5 million inhabitants. There is no public transport system there today, so this project is strategic and beneficial to the city and country, as well as for Sweden.

What developing opportunities are there at Business Sweden?

– All offices at Business Sweden are closely connected, and there is always a global perspective. In that sense, I have 350 colleagues. The culture here is very open and you are encouraged to collaborate with other offices as well as to rotate to new markets to bring knowledge from one office to another. With Business Sweden you can keep exploring and pursuing a career abroad whilst still being closely connected to Sweden!

Text: Sara Schedin

Business Sweden

Business Sweden is jointly owned by the Swedish state and the Swedish business sector with a mandate and a mission to help international companies gain access to the Swedish market and help domestic ones utilize it as a platform for expansion. Our clients range from start-ups via small- and medium-sized businesses to multinational enterprises – with tailor-made services catering to all of these segments.

We have a holistic approach, offering both hands-on support, strategic and practical expertise and a unique capability to create access where access is hard to get, both in Sweden and through our 44 offices across Europe, Americas, Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific. Our expertise, presence and exclusive access to networks and stakeholders in both the public and private sectors in these markets gives us a supreme ability to help clients navigate regional business structures in order to expand their business and unlock growth.

In short, we help companies turn opportunities into reality.

Read more here: www.business-sweden.se

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