We spoke to Anette Rhudin, entrepreneur in The Foundation Navigator and former project leader of Business Generator (now Navigator Scaleup), one of the award-winning projects of the 2017 European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA) in Tallinn, Estonia, about her experience winning the EEPA.

Anette described the benefits that the award brought to her winning project, Business Generator (now called Navigator Scaleup), which has become an established initiative in Sweden, creating growth in scalable companies and supporting the development of growth leadership in small and micro companies.

Could you briefly introduce yourself, your organisation, and your EEPA-winning project?

I'm Anette Rhudin, an entrepreneur at The Foundation Navigator, former project leader at Business Generator (award winner at EEPA 2017), and business owner since 2002.

Our EEPA-winning project, Business Generator (now Navigator Scaleup) started with an idea scribbled on a napkin. One morning at our breakfast meeting, I told my colleagues about an article about external competencies as a key factor in fostering growth and sustainability in companies and the importance of local banks for growth and innovation. I had a pen but no paper, so I wrote the Navigator model on a napkin. 

This was the starting point for the EU project Business Generator. If one supporting person could make a company's profitability increase, what could four people then do? With this in mind, we considered the external expertise to consist of four people (two men and two women, gender-balanced) with different skills and perspectives, using a coaching approach to guide the entrepreneur towards a successful business.

The 30 participating companies made fantastic progress. We saw a strong connection between increased profitability, the number of employees, and the purchase of external services. 

However, we identified a gap in the strategic management processes. Public funds in Sweden support startups and large companies, but we asked ourselves: “What is there for important scalable companies in between? Who will become our future employers?” What has proven to be Navigator’s decisive success factor has been the fact that we got two savings banks and Swedbank support. 

Today, the project is a foundation founded by the National Association of Savings Banks in 2021, which runs the Navigator Scaleup concept. We create nodes across Sweden, partnering with local science parks and savings banks. Our national organisation is small to maximise regional and local benefits. The success stories from various parts of the country affirm our approach. 

What was it like to win an EEPA prize? What benefits have you seen as a result?

"The sky is the limit" was my thought when I travelled home from Tallinn. The whole experience of winning and standing there in a sea of camera flashes was surreal. Jury members really appreciated our project’s concrete results. 

Winning at the EEPA validated our efforts and kept me motivated. Without it, I would have left the EU project and moved to something else. The EEPA is a mark of quality that continues to open doors for us – in 2021 we even became a Best Practice Inside Out EU by Interreg Europe!

Transitioning from a successful project to an established initiative requires long-term planning, the right contacts, and persistence. EEPA was my guiding star, and winning this award meant a lot to me.

How has Navigator evolved from an award-winning concept at EEPA 2017 to establishing itself in local communities throughout Sweden?

Our success story involved time, persistence, and the right support from people who saw the greatness of what we were doing. Winning the EEPA was just the beginning; establishing and expanding Navigator required a scaleup mindset.

The Savings Banks National Association saw the benefit for their customers and founded The Navigator Foundation in 2021. We now have nodes across Sweden, each with a coordinator to ensure consistency. All coordinators go through a “Train the Trainer” process so that the navigator process looks the same regardless of where in Sweden it is.

Since its creation, the purpose that has been driving the Navigator Foundation has been to create growth in scalable companies and support the development of growth leadership in micro and small companies whose management and owners have a will and ambition to grow in terms of turnover and create new jobs.

Why do you think it is important to promote enterprise in Europe?

Promoting enterprise is crucial for strengthening entrepreneurial human capital. We're facing a paradigm shift that requires new approaches. Entrepreneurs, who are adaptable and innovative, are best positioned to lead this change. Europe must update policies like the "Small Business Act" to support ambitious, scalable companies. Learning from each other across Europe will also help us navigate these challenges effectively.

Would you recommend entering EEPA to other enterprise promoters? If so, why?

Yes! Even if we hadn’t won the award, that week was something special.

If you ask an artist how they created a special piece of art, you probably won’t get a clear answer. They just do it. It’s easy for them and hard for us to understand. That was the case with Business Generator. Writing the application and being forced to describe our work so others could understand was a valuable part of the EEPA process. The application required an external perspective, compelling us to be concrete and explain in detail what we had accomplished. Now, I’m here again, trying to explain what we really did and how we did it.

I also gained significant insights from listening to others during the SME Assembly. A whole week of lectures, stories, and corridor conversations about Europe’s and Sweden’s challenges was enlightening. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel in every country; we can use each other as role models.

I only have one wish: to see role models who have successfully transitioned from the "hive" of projects into the "reality" of implementation. Highlighting those who have scaled up their projects can inspire us all. Together, we can make a difference.