MONTHLY NEWS & UPDATES
NOVEMBER
Greetings!

I hope everyone had a nice relaxing long weekend. Thanksgiving felt different this year but as always it was a great occasion to reflect on what we have and to express gratitude. This year we are so grateful for the support of our members. Your engagement is invaluable to the chamber.

We hope to see all of our members at our (Virtual) Annual Meeting and Holiday Happy Hour on December 16. As always, the annual meeting is a members only event but we welcome all friends and prospective members for the fun afterwards. Cecilia Lif, Trade Counselor at the Swedish Embassy in Washington, will give us a year in review and we will share a festive holiday drink together. There will also be time to mix and mingle in breakout rooms.  Around the holidays we usually get to see our members at our Glogg party and at our annual Lucia Gala. This event is the 2020 alternative to those fun and festive gatherings.  
We have prepared an advent calendar counting down every day until Christmas. Every day in our social media outlets you can find tips and greetings from our members, promo codes and giveaways and links to Swedish related food and items. 

Best Regards,
Ida Pond
Executive Director SACC GA
UPCOMING EVENTS
DECEMBER 8
Women's Series - Giving Back with the Atlanta Community Food Bank
Celebrate a late Giving Tuesday with this post-Thanksgiving online event on December 8 with the Atlanta Community Food Bank!

The Atlanta Community Food Bank's Education and Outreach Team will be joining us to share their brand new Digital Community Food Experience. This interactive simulation was created by the Food Bank in collaboration with a cohort of computer design students at Georgia Tech. Read more here.
DECEMBER 16
Virtual Annual Meeting and Holiday Happy Hour
We are thrilled to welcome you to this year's (Virtual) Annual Meeting & Holiday Happy Hour!
Georgia invite chamber members and friends to join us for an evening of holiday fun and networking.
The first fifteen SACC-members who register will receive a Christmas drink package in advance of the event to make their own holiday drink.
Kindly RSVP by December 7 to receive a drink package. Register here.
JANUARY 2021
5G Webinar
More information to come.
FEBRUARY 2021
Virtual Trivia Night
More information to come.
WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO THE PAST MONTH
Virtual Wine Tasting with Niklas Karlsson
Niklas Karlsson, one of the founders of Hand Selected and importer of the wine, guided us through a virtual wine tasting. He provided a mouth-watering list of wines to amuse our taste buds! Read more about Hand Selected here and view the list of wines here.
Networking in a Virtual World with Stephanie Thoma
Ten SACC-chambers organized a 90-minutes networking session starting off with a workshop hosted by Stephanie Thoma on how to network virtually, followed by the networking itself. This was a great opportunity to network over the regional borders of our organization and level up our networking skills.
How are Swedish companies in US coping with the fall-out of Covid-19?
To get a sense of the recovery progress and how Swedish companies in the US market are coping with the fall-out of Covid-19, Team Sweden (Business Sweden, The Embassy of Sweden and the Swedish-American Chambers of Commerce) carried out a follow-up survey among 70 management level executives operating across 20 sectors in all parts of the country.

A clear sense of optimism was echoed by all respondents with seven out of 10 companies reporting they have fully recovered or are in a recovery phase.

Over 25 per cent of Swedish companies confirm their performance is back at pre-pandemic levels, and one out of ten respondents have expanded their business during the pandemic.

Read more here.
ADDITIONAL NEWS YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS
SACC-GA member Elekta announced a new CEO
Gustaf Salford is announced as the new President and CEO of Electa. In a message from Gustaf Salford he writes; "Ever since I started at Elekta almost 12 years ago, I have enjoyed being part of a company that delivers innovative products that improve and save the lives of people living with cancer and other serious diseases." Read the full message here.
SACC-GA member Ballard Spahr’s Intellectual Property Prowess Recognized by Best Law Firms
Ballard Spahr’s Intellectual Property Department has received several top accolades in the most recent edition of Best Law Firms. For the third time, the firm’s Trademarks and Copyrights Group won Firm of the Year honors, a distinction only one law firm per legal practice earns. The Group, led by Partner Hara K. Jacobs, helps clients protect and maximize the value of copyright assets ranging from musical compositions and literary works to software programs and databases. Read more here.
Sinch wins two gold global SMARTIESX awards
November 12, 2020 — Sinch, a global leader in cloud communications for mobile customer engagement, and a SACC-GA member, has received two Gold global Mobile Marketing Association SMARTIES X awards for its Text For Humanity campaign that enabled people to send a positive message to a stranger – and receive one in return – before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Congratulations Sinch! Read more here.

Need help to solve a strategic business challange?
The “International Practicum – Nordics” is a strategy consulting assignment involving four MBA students that provides a unique opportunity for your company to engage with and utilize international top talent for the benefit of your business! Last year’s program was a great success with Accedo, AVK, Captario, Ericsson, Normative and Sigma Connectivity as participating companies. Christopher Grahn, Adjunct Professor in Strategy & Innovation, is now preparing for the spring semester 2021 and looks forward to involving more Nordic companies. Participation in the program is free of charge. If you have interest in participating, please read more here.
A SACC-GA member, Thomas Concrete, Inc. has once again won an ACI Excellence in Concrete award.
The project 725Ponce in Atlanta was awarded second place in the Mid-rise building category.

The concrete is visually exposed and it will contribute to the sustainability as the concrete will absorb more CO2 through carbonation during the service life of this structure!
Eric Blomster - The Creative Founder of Svensk Husman
We discovered @svenskhusman_socks on Instagram, and we think they make a perfect stocking stuffer for a Swede. We decided to reach out to the founder of Svensk Husman, Eric Blomster, to find out more about him and his business.

GIVEAWAY! The third member who sends an email to info@sacc-georgia.org wins a couple of pairs of these festive socks with Swedish motifs!
Eric, what is the idea behind Svensk Husman? And why did you decide to get into Swedish themed socks?
The idea behind the socks came when I was on vacation with some friends in Spain in 2018. 
A friend and I sat and brainstormed one evening, and I began to think about what you could do that none of the other leading stocking providers had done. 
As I am a trained chef, it felt natural to come up with ideas that included Swedish food and Swedish pastries. That is where the very idea began to take shape and the next thing I did was to figure out how it could be done.

Do you design the socks yourself?
Yes! I design and develop all products, drive sales, plan, and arrange new themes like the surströmming or the crayfish socks. I also manage our webshop and partnerships. 
What are your big sellers?
My absolute favorite design is the cinnamon bun, but it’s difficult to say which product sells the best because it is very much based on what holiday and season it is.
In Sweden, we celebrate certain foods during the year, such as ”the day of the Cinnamon bun” in October, which naturally drives the sales of the cinnamon bun socks up. In August and September, the crayfish sock sells the best because that is when Swedes have crayfish parties.

What is your vision for Svensk Husman?
My vision is to pay tribute to Sweden’s food culture through our fun socks and other products that we have.
I hope Svensk Husman has a strong and stable growth based on high-quality products and customer satisfaction.

Visit their webpage here.
A WARM WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBER
BECOME A SACC-GA MEMBER
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$100 - for individuals, not companies

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$150 - for 2 individuals to join together

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$50 - for individual members up to 40
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