We would like to thank all participating teams, players and companies for attending SACC-GA’s Annual Golf Tournament on April 24. Despite heavy rainfall the previous day it turned out to be a great day at the golf course. We enjoyed a 18-hole round of scramble at the beautiful Laurel Springs Golf Club – a challenging  golf course featuring rolling hills, tree-lined fairways, creeks and lakes. Dixon Golf arranged a couple of fun golf challenges along the way and we ended the day with drinks and Southern style food in the club house. Congratulations to SACC-GA’s Tournament Winners 2017 – Arnall Golden Gregory – who each won a $100 gift card at PGA Superstore and the SACC-GA Trophy.

Thank you to our Golf committee, consisting of Jonas Jarvholm, Jan Meijer, Niklas Karlsson and Mats-Ola Bydell for all your help in organizing this tournament.

Special thanks to our Sponsors: Skanska & Autoglo and Paramount Transportation Systems – who’s support enabled us to provide really great prizes for this year’s Golf Tournament.

Thank you everyone who attended SACC-Georgia’s Company Tour & Roundtable discussion  at Skaltek on April 13th. We had a great turnout with over 45 attendees with representatives from the Brazilian-American, Finnish-American, Danish-American and Cumming-Forsyth Chamber of Commerce. During the evening we enjoyed an exclusive tour through the impressive Skaltek EcoPark, great networking and sharing of experiences at the roundtable together with Skaltek, gatc L.P., City of Atlanta and The Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce. Swedish chief Anna Bringle at Swedish Dreamish provided us with a delicious traditional Swedish Smorgasbord consisting of  meatballs, toast Skagen, rye bread with meatballs and beatroot salad and homebaked cinnamon buns.

It’s still possible to sign up for our Annual Golf Tournament on April 24th. We already have 9 teams signed up, Skanska, Qmatic, Korn Ferry, Arnall Golden Gregory, Ballard Spahr and many more will be there. Hurry up – registration will close this week Thursday April 20.

SACC-GA would like to thank everyone who attended our Annual Meeting & Member Appreciation Reception, March 23, 2017. This event was in honor of our members, whom actually are the heart and soul of this organization.

It was a great evening where we had the pleasure of meeting and reconnecting with old, new members and friends of the Chamber.

A sincere thank you also to Arnall Golden Gregory who sponsored this event – we truly appreciate your support!

We look forward seeing you again at our upcoming events this Spring. RSVP for our Company Tour & Roundtable discussion at Skaltek, April 13 and Golf Tournament, April 24.

This year SACC-USA is supporting a scholarship for American students to study International business management in Sweden.

SACC-USA is pleased to announce the Linnaeus/AIFM Swedish Scholarship:

• One year Master Program in International Business Strategy at Linnaeus University. Free tuition.
• Internship with AIF Management AB, in parallel with studies
• September 2017 to June 2018
• Location: Kalmar, Sweden
• Application deadline: February 28, 2017

Eligibility:

• U.S citizen or permanent U.S resident
• Bachelor’s Degree (or Master’s) in Business or equivalent
• Genuine interest in internationals business and financial markets
• Both young professionals and students are welcome to apply

Click the link below to read more about the Scholarship:

Linnaeus:AIFM Swedish Scholarship

SACC-GA would like to thank everyone who attended our “Welcome to 2017 Mingle”, February 7, 2017. With roughly 50 attendees, we enjoyed great networking, drinks and hors d’oeuvres, with a beautiful view over downtown Atlanta from the Arnall Golden Gregory headquarter – Thank you our corporate member Arnall Golden Gregory for making it possible!

We would also like to extend a warm thank you to the Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce-Southeast, the Danish-American Chamber of Commerce-Georgia and the Scandinavian-American Foundation-Georgia for co-hosting this event with us.

We look forward seeing you again at our upcoming events this Spring. Stay tuned for our Company Tour & Roundtable discussion at Skaltek in early March.

 

Interview with Jeff Green, President at Qmatic Corporation US

Qmatic is a company that bridge the online and physical world with smart technology solutions. They would love to help to further bridge Sweden with Georgia. It is a Swedish company with offices in both Atlanta, Georgia and Mölndal, Sweden.

Jeff Green directs Qmatic U.S. He is a passionate brand and customer experience advocate with more than two decades of leadership experience focused on service delivery, account management and business development. Jeff leads a team of more than 50 employees who focus on ensuring Qmatic customers enjoy an experience as exceptional as the one they strive to deliver for their own customers.

 

Why is Qmatic in Atlanta? What’s interesting about Atlanta now and in the future vs. when you first arrived?

Qmatic has been in the US for the past almost 30 years.  Originally in Illinois, then Asheville, NC, then Duluth, GA since 2011.  Key reasons are accessibility to a major international airport, solid business (and technology) community, and we enjoy being East Coast (easy access to everywhere) with great quality of living in this area for our employees.  Most interesting in the future is the evolution Georgia continues to go through as a international and national technology business center.  

Is all your business for North America from Atlanta?

Our direct business is managed out of Atlanta, yes, but we have clients in all 50 states and a sales coverage model for whole US.  We support Canada operationally, Qmatic Canada, but sell and manage clients through channel partners in Canada, and Non US North America.

What about the DMV in Georgia? Are they a customer? Are you pleased with this success?

Yes, Georgia Department of Driver Services is a key client of ours in the state.  We partner with 23 of the 44 state run Motor Vehicle departments/agencies.  Pleased with Georgia, yes, working with them on continual improvement of business process and better serving citizens is a key focus for us in our relationship with them.

Any other big successes in Georgia and the U.S.?

Many, we focus in 8 key industry segments in the US and have many strong success stories to share. 

What’s ahead in North America?

Growth. Locally, regionally, and nationally.  We will be tweaking our org structure to better drive market and industry focused growth.  We are the industry leader in US with huge growth potential.

Let’s talk about the bridge between Sweden and Georgia, and the ocean that’s been squeezed to being just a river…

Definitely want to leverage. Working to have a stronger business bridge. From Qmatic US, we are very focused on our national footprint and we are proud of being a Swedish company – we manufacture and create our software and hardware in Sweden.

 

Visit at our corporate member Qmatic, founded in Mölndal, Sweden in 1981. They now have 11 international offices worldwide and one of them is in Georgia. Here with their Swedish intern Max who spent the summer of 2016 at their Atlanta office – he had a great time!

Pictures from The Swedish-American Chamber of Commcerce Georgia’s 31st Annual Lucia Gala which was held on December 17, 2016, at Druid Hills Golf Club. Special thanks to our photographer Randy McDow for these beautiful pictures. Thank you all for celebrating our Swedish cultural traditions with us here in Atlanta. We hope you enjoyed the evening as much as we did. Happy Holidays from SACC-Georgia!

Thank you all for joining us on our 31st Annual Lucia Gala on December 2nd. We had a great time celebrating our Lucia tradition with you, including delicacies from our Swedish Christmas Smorgasbord, cocktails, mingling opportunities, and a moving Lucia performance. Attendees were also able to participate in our silent auction, sing snaps songs and dance to our live band.

What an unforgettable night!

All photos are taken by photographer Randolph McDow.

On Saturday, November 19, 2016, SWEA Atlanta organized a traditional Swedish Christmas Market which brought together the entire Swedish-American community of Georgia.

Don’t miss the annual Swedish Lucia Concert on Sunday, December 11, 2016, at 6:00 p.m., at The Winters Chapel United Methodist Church. Read more about it here.

On Thursday, November 17, 2016, The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce Georgia organized a company tour at one of our corporate members, Swedish Atlanta-based company Regal Lager. Founded in 1991 by husband and wife Bengt Lager (former Swedish Olympics athlete in modern pentathlete) and Luanne Whiting-Lager, they truly are a family business, not only in the sense of the ownership, but also in terms of their values, mission and not least; customers. During this visit, we were given an interesting insight into the world, industry and machinery around everything from the safety, shipment and even design of baby and children products.

It started off with a tour of their modern facilities and impressive warehouse, whereby a special presentation of both their history, as well as their various specialized, Swedish-style and inspired products where introduced and explained, and ended with networking and a luncheon, during which regulations in their specific industry – and how they potentially could be changed in the future – were discussed.

Although they have had their ups and downs throughout the journey of establishing Regal Lager, starting with a thought born through the ideas, concepts and trends they saw in Sweden, which they passionately were eager to introduce to the American market, and seeing many changes in their niched business over the past 25 years – they continously grow, prosper and re-invent themselves, constantly introducing and distributing new, innovate products on the market.