The Swedish Chamber of Commerce (SweCham) in China on 20 October crowned a year of celebrations will be a very special Gala Dinner, held at the Wanda Vista Hotel in Beijing.
SwedCham celebrated 20 years in business with a Great Gatsby Gala. Since the start in 1998 with only 30 companies, SwedCham has grown into a community and a network, rich of the common expertise of close to 300 companies. 200+ guests together celebrated the achievements of the past with an exhibition of 20 stars that has contributed a little extra to the Chamber, and a bright future; enabled through the strong, dynamic and rich network, inspiring and close cooperation with other Chambers in the region as well as within the Team Sweden cooperation.
The gala was led by the Swedish journalist and TV personality Ebba Kleberg Von Sydow, who welcomed the guests and spoke of her impressions of the vibrant Beijing and SwedCham’s accomplishments during the last 20 years. “Only 20 years old?” Ebba stated, comparing SwedCham’s development with Warren Buffets’ who twenty years ago still was a salesman in Omaha, and the same goes for Hilary Clinton, who was about to finish law school as well as Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos who still was flipping burgers McDonalds.
To make the gala night extra special the guests were also joined by Swedish chef Benny Adler who had created an exquisite Swedish Gala menu.. Benny Adler is currently the head chef at member company and Purveyor to the Court, Rosers Hotel & Events, and has previously been responsible for the menu at the Swedish King’s 70th birthday, as well as the Swedish Pavilion at the Olympic Games in South Korea last winter. During the evening the guests could also enjoy beer from the Beijing-based Swedish micro-brewery Arrow Factory as well as chilled drinks in an Absolut Vodka bar.
A lot of prestigious entertainment entertained the guests during the gala night; saxophone music during the mingle, close up and stage magic from Rock the magician, a surprise flash mob from award winning Swedish swing dance group the Harlem Hot Shots and Swedish swing and jazz legendries’ Movits! who jazzed it up on the dance floor.
The speakers of the evening Lars-Åke Severin, Chairman of the Swedish Chamber in China; the Ambassador of Sweden to China and Mongolia, Anna Lindstedt; Kristian Odebjer, Chairman of the Swedish Chamber in Hong Kong; David Hallgren, Trade Commissionaire of Sweden; and (trough a sketch) Mats Harborn, President of the European Chamber of Commerce together with Tommy Liu and Rolf Gren, founding fathers of the Chamber, the speakers of the evening conveyed their respective bithday wishes and a positive vision for the future of SwedCham.
Every year the Chamber awards two people who have contributed a little extra to the Chamber. This year Birgitta Ed was awarded with the Chamber’s Honorary Award, and Michelle Qin was awarded as the Young Professional of the year. In her speech, Michelle spoke of the digital development that China has gone through and how Swedish brands can be agile and adapt in this fast moving pace. “In only a few weeks, Alibaba will kick off the famous single day’s event and it is only 10 years ago that the mega shopping day phenomena first started“, speaking of the necessity to keep up with current trends and sharing experiences amongst professionals.
During the mingle Rock the magician handed out golden tickets to some guests that had the opportunity to be a part of The Great Gatsby Raffle and win fantastic prices, sponsored by our member companies. Prices included two free participations in the 17th edition of Vasaloppet China sponsored by Nordic Ways and ping pong blades from Stiga Sports signed by legendary J-O Waldner, Kong Linghui, Malong, Xu xin, Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Chen Meng and Zhu Yuling, limited Edition Karl Lagerfeldt champagne glasses from New Wave Group, free floats at the exquisite spa Floatasian in Shanghai and free hotel nights at Wanda Vista Beijing.
The Platinum Sponsors of the gala, SEB, PSU Consulting and Celemi, as well as Diamond Sponsors Rosers Hotel & Event, Danske Bank, Elanders, STIGA Sport and Gold Sponsor Fillidutt made the celebration possible.
Source: Swedcham China
