PROGRAM

BARENTS REUNION 2015 INSPIRATION AND MEETINGS FOR THE PEOPLE OF BARENTS 09 – 10 JUNE 2015 HAPARANDATORNIO SWEDEN/FINLAND CONFERENCE VENUE: JOENTALO KIVIRANNANTIE 13-15, 95410 TORNIO, FINLAND

Barents Reunion is open for everybody and admission is free Simultaneous interpretation: Scandinavian – Finnish – Russian

Anna-Marja Kaddik ST

PROGRAM 1 DAY Tuesday 09 June All times are local times for Finland 10.00 Registration and Coffee 11.15 Welcome to Barents Reunion Kari Lumikero with Nadja Lukin (Barents Reunion 2015 moderators) The Convention consists of four parts. In My Vision, the first part, the speakers discuss their own visions about the future of Barents.

Anna-Marja is an entrepreneur with no limits. At 33 years of age, she has been doing a bit of everything: running a Sami-themed tourism business in Ammarnäs Västerbotten, promoting Slow Food Sápmi –brand, heading a reindeer meat processing company and engaging herself in local Sami affairs. At the same time Anna-Marja has her own flock of reindeer to herd: a family business she was not even supposed to take over after her father, who taught that nothing is impossible, just more or less tough to carry out. Similarly, we get to hear how the right attitude and perseverance can take an entrepreneur further, no matter whether one lives in Barents, Berlin or Brisbane.

Inna Fedorova When Inna graduated from Murmansk State Technical University she had a chance to move to Moscow and get a nice job there. However, she decided to stay in Barents where her heart is. She wants to help Barents thrive by doing things which lead to more communication between the five nations. Right now, she is working for a consulting company with focus on business tourism and she is the Murmansk representative in Barents Regional Youth Council (BRYC).

11.35 My Vision: Opening Speech Anna-Marja Kaddik Anna-Marja has always been willing to courageously try different things in entrepreneurship and other walks of life. Our opening speaker has great passion for Barents and her story contains all the elements the 8th Barents Reunion is all about. 11.55 My Vision: Dreams for Barents Inna Fedorova Representative of the Barents Regional Youth Council, Inna is a young and enthusiastic person who shares her thoughts about the future of Barents. 12.10 My Vision: Prospects for Barents Jens Johan Hjort Mayor of the one of the most dynamic cities of Barents, Jens-Johan Hjort tells us how the city of Tromsø seizes the opportunities in our region. 12.30 My Vision: Five Nations’ BarentsTalk (Panel Discussion) Anna-Marja Kaddik, Inna Fedorova, Jens Johan Hjort and representatives of Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC)

Jens Johan Hjort Jens Johan Hjort is a Norwegian lawyer. In addition to practicing law he has been working at the Norwegian Ministries of Finance and the Environment. A long-time consul of Sweden in Tromsø, he has had multiple board memberships within business life and sports. Elected to Mayor of Tromsø in 2011 representing the Norwegian conservative party, as the leading politician in one of the fastest growing cities in Europe he tells us in which ways his city promotes young entrepreneurship and the opportunities in Barents as well as his personal view on where our common Barents is going.

After My Vision, we move on to Ideas and Inspiration. In this part, we emphasize the importance of branding and right attitude in entrepreneurship. Besides stories by our keynote speakers, the Sales Pitch Competition The Beehive@BarentsReunion provides us with practical examples on branding.

Linda Liukas Linda is a children’s author and programming activist who was selected as this year’s young speaker in Finland. In a short time and as a result of clever branding, she did gather more than 350 000 € crowdfunding for her upcoming children’s book exposing the magical world of technology to primarily small girls. She is the Digital Champion of Finland and she won the State Award for Children’s Culture in 2014.

13.00 Lunch 14.00 Ideas and Inspiration: The Importance of Branding Keynote Speaker Linda Liukas Linda gives us ideas and inspiration about branding as well as shares her tricks on how to attain investors for your own personal project. 14.40 Ideas and Inspiration: My Story Barents Reunion 2015 Designer Susanna Sivonen Every individual, organization and region has a story. Susanna tells how she as an artist and textile designer interpreted what makes Barents special when she renewed the visual design for Barents Reunion. 15.00 Ideas and Inspiration: The Importance of Attitude Keynote Speaker Arman Alizad Arman speaks about entrepreneurship, attitude and how to reach one’s dreams. Do not let one-time failures stop you from reaching your long-term goal. 15.35 Coffee Break 16.15 Ideas and Inspiration BarentsTalk Linda Liukas, Arman Alizad and Susanna Sivonen 16.45 My Business Idea: THE BEEHIVE In The Beehive, young Barents business skills present their ideas to the audience. 17.15 End of 1st Day Program

Susanna Sivonen A textile designer and illustrator, Susanna has designed patterns to Finlayson, Metsola, RCollection and produced art graphic for Aarikka 60th anniversary exhibition. She not only works for businesses at different projects but also develops her own trademark and lectures on interior design. Originally from Haparanda and now living in Oulu, Susanne studied her BA at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi. Her art is rich in joyful details, fantastic colors and you can find a touch of philosophy in everything she creates.

Arman Alizad Arman is an entrepreneur, producer, journalist, tailor and television host. His television programs have been sold to 135 countries. Getting to the top of Finnish broadcasting industry has not been an easy task: Arman has faced many setbacks in his career but has always been going forward. To be successful one needs to keep on trying and believing in one’s own ideas and dreams. Arman is also a good example on a person who after getting famous uses his influence to raise awareness on groups of people who are not in an equally favorable position.

Evening Program Park Hotel Tornio Itäranta 4, 95400 Tornio, Finland 19.00 Opening of Evening Venue 19.30 Welcome Drink and Music 20.00 Dinner 21.00 Presentation of the Winner of THE BEEHIVE 21.30 Grooving High Allstars Barents Party Band

Johanna Bluemink, Business Kitchen

PROGRAM 2nd DAY

Business Kitchen, Universities’ joint entrepreneurial center in Oulu is where the public sector meets the private sector and the students meet the serial entrepreneurs. These crossroads are often the best contexts for creating and trying new ideas. The aim is to help and support entrepreneurs and “would-be” entrepreneurs in the best possible way. Specializing in learning, Johanna is a scholar with homebase at the Martti Ahtisaari Institute of Global Business and Economics and Oulu Business School at the University of Oulu.

Wednesday 10 June All times are local times for Finland 09.00 Coffee 09.30 Welcome to 2nd day of Barents Reunion Kari Lumikero with Nadja Lukin 09.35 THE BEEHIVE Highlights Samuel Holmström In the first part of the second day, Rethinking Business, our speakers give their view on what makes a company successful. How leaving your own comfort zone can be a way to success? 09.50 Rethinking Business: Our Story Johanna Bluemink, Business Kitchen In many homes, the kitchen is often the place with the best discussions. By the same token, companies often get better ideas to develop their business concept when doing it together with others at a common meeting place. 10.10 Rethinking Business: My Story

Samuel is only 27 years old but when he was even younger he was certain to become an ITprofessional. An unexpected coincidence changed his plans. Five years ago Samuel started a totally different career at Lundqvist Trävaru, a family company specializing in wood products. Starting as an outsider, he is now the CEO and main owner of this family business which has been growing considerably ― due to some rethinking as to how to develop and sell products. Samuel believes that Barents and its people have certain unique strengths and that we should be more aware and communicative about what makes us and our products special.

Samuel Holmström, Lundqvist Trävaru AB Product development can be done in so many revolutionary ways. 10.30 Rethinking Business: My Story Oleg Khadartsev, Fridaymilk Relaxed networks of creative people can be good platforms for rethinking. 10.45 Rethinking Business BarentsTalk Johanna Bluemink with Samuel Holmström 11.15 Coffee Break

Oleg Khadartsev, Fridaymilk Oleg is the creative director of Fridaymilk – a joint platform for media, communication and production companies in Murmansk. Learning about best practices in business, NGOs, PR and media helped Oleg to launch Fridaymilk – his own entrepreneurial project/network. In 2010 and 2012 Oleg won a Government grant for Young Entrepreneurs. He has for example arranged a talk-show for Murmansk International Business Week. Now Oleg is focusing on international art and media projects, further developing good cooperation with the government, international festivals and art curators.

Lina Thomsgård

The final part deals with Diversity and how it can be harnessed as an opportunity to growth.

Lina does not believe in bad excuses. After hearing "truths" on what is possible to any given person and what is not, she decided to prove the established facts wrong by founding Equalisters (Rättviseförmedlingen). Using social networks and crowdsourcing, this non-profit digital movement lists individuals who diverge from the norm but are perfectly suited to the job offer. Equalisters help businesses and media find alternatives when looking for lecturers, directors, comedians, DJs, clowns, or any other expertise: thinking about equality – for example when hiring people – can be an opportunity for companies. Lina is not only a PR expert and radio profile but also a DJ and columnist – and a much-wanted speaker and commentator whenever equality is debated.

11.45 Growth through Diversity Keynote Speaker Lina Thomsgård For companies, thinking about equality – for example when hiring people – can be an opportunity for new growth. 12.20 Growth through Diversity: My Story Anja Guttorm Graven, Graveniid Coming from a remote North Norwegian municipality and being a member of a national minority does not mean that you or your company can not reach the whole world and the opportunities in it. 12.40 Growth through Diversity BarentsTalk Lina Thomsgård with Anja Guttorm Graven and Anna-Marja Kaddik Anja Guttorm Graven th

13.15 The 8 Barents Reunion Ends with a Common LUNCH. See you next year!

How about wearing some fashion from Sápmi? Anja is the CEO of a family company from Kárášjohka (Karasjok) in the heart of Norwegian Sameland. Many family members participate in creating the products which combine functionality with beautiful design, inspired by the rich and distinctive Sami culture. Besides sharing how her studies at BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo have helped her develop and run the company after returning back to Barents, Anja tells us how Graveniid has been successfully branding "Made in Sápmi", and enlarged their customer base to all Nordic countries.

Barents Reunion 2015 moderators:

Kari Lumikero Kari is well-known in both Finland and Sweden for his long career in journalism. A long-term foreign correspondent in Berlin, he is perhaps best remembered for his reports from various crisis areas throughout the world. Kari was awarded Bonniers Grand Journalism Prize for his coverage from the Asian tsunami of 2004. What is perhaps most distinguishable about Kari is his energetic, flexible and independent way of working: most often he not only reports from the scene and interviews people but also shoots and edits the videos himself right on the spot, meaning that when something newsworthy happens Kari is often the first to tell about it.

Nadja Lukin Nadja is only 34 years old but already has strong experience from all the three branches of government. After legal education in Umeå, Nadja has been working at several key positions for the city of Haparanda, giving her solid knowledge on the legislative and executive parts of the democratic process. When working as the acting municipal chief executive in Haparanda she was the youngest in Sweden in the position. Nadja combines professionalism with compassion and is always willing to through discussion increase understanding between people. Her skills have been acknowledged nationally, e.g. through nomination to Public Leader Prize in 2014 by a public sector specialized newspaper and to the Future Female Leader Prize in both 2013 and 2014.