Impact Hub Stockholm began in Östermalm at R17 in 2005, named after its address at Riddargatan 17D. Through the years, our coworking space developed into a dynamic space that offered incubator programs, business labs and a close-knit community of entrepreneurs with a shared focus on doing good. This is not the Impact Hub you might have experienced if you walked past our new location at Luntmakargatan 25 and peered through the dusty windows into the bare concrete shop-cum-office in January of 2017.
With our lease coming to an end in 2016, our team scrambled for months to secure a new location to no avail. We were at the end of our tether. With Norrsken opening, we negotiated for all of our beloved Impact Hub family to have a new place to go to while we wrung our hands in despair and considered the impact of throwing the towel into the ring and giving it all up.
It was at the very last moment that Skandia Fastigheter came to our rescue with a partnership centering on circular economy and sustainable innovation in the urban environment that landed us with the office that we occupy now. It was a very cold January. Even with the promise of new resources at a fraction of the market cost and corporate support that could drive us into a new era of innovation. Furniture didn’t arrive on time, the radiators that had been installed for the previous store that had inhabited our new space were far too small for our now bare office, the electricity wasn’t fully connected and the high-tech installations meant that without electricity, we weren’t able to access running water either. On top of that, our work in ensuring that all of our members had secured another coworking space to work from meant that we had to start again from the ground up.
The uncertainty of it all continued to pervade our thoughts but we continued with a dedication to further the good and inspiring nature of our work. With a bare 260 square metres and at half of the space we had previously, we had to think more creatively to make the best use of our space and to make it possible to facilitate meetings of all kind. We moved everything around and tried different layouts to see how people engaged and interacted. The smaller space forced us to aim for a more dynamic and social space because let’s face it, when you’re in an open office, it’s difficult to get away from everyone else. The challenge was in creating an environment where people wanted to be involved and engaged in disruption.
With the help of Sarah, Impact Hub Stockholm’s Events Lead, we developed #SexySallad for our Swedish hub, taking inspiration from our global network and the customs and best practice resources we had available to us. Every Wednesday, we sit down with all of our members and have lunch together. It’s the perfect opportunity for members to network and get to know one another on a personal basis and build relationships that they can turn to for professional assistance when help or advice is needed in the future. Every person is responsible for bringing one ingredient so that in the end, in its most simple form, it’s a constant reminder that the combination of our efforts can always achieve far more than our actions alone. Members who want to take a more active role in planning can share their favourite recipe and in part, share a story of themselves. Some of our members bring their own products to add each week which also provides a great platform for the foodies in us to showcase the work that we do.
With just 5 members in January, we’ve now expanded our community to 57 and are growing a little more each day. As the Community Manager of Impact Hub Stockholm, it’s my personal challenge to continue developing our Community Host Internship Program so students and early-stage entrepreneurs who want to learn more about the dynamics of our local social impact ecosystem can do so whilst growing their network. I’ve always considered myself to be an introvert and at times it is difficult to play a leading role without ever really having the chance to be alone. But in this challenge, I’ve learned to take small steps towards being more engaging and communicative on a more friendly basis to provide the support that others need, even when my natural instinct is to do the opposite. It’s only by having a great team and by nurturing relationships and the people around us that we can do our best work and make the greatest impact on the world around us. And as I’ve found, you really can make friends with salad.
AUTHOR
Cathy Xiao Chen is the Community Manager at Impact Hub Stockholm. With a background in food sustainability, she advises and connects startups with collaborators to maximise impact.