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The story begins in the winter of 2009 in Vantaa, Finland. I had finalized my Master’s degree in
Theology and was offered a position in a Lutheran congregation in Helsinki. My very first ideas about
being an entrepreneur were born during an evening walk. I was thinking about life and the future. I
had been working in the church my whole adult life and never really considered any other options.
Entrepreneurship was unknown territory for me back then and being an entrepreneur had never
crossed my mind.
Six months later my wife, our son Ruben and I moved back to our old hoods in Ostrobothnia. Since I was now unemployed, I decided to start my first business, Petros. I soon got a job as an insurance sales agent and later also offered coaching through my business. Looking back at that evening walk I really feel that it was the starting point for this journey.
I was a 28-year- old Master in Theology, with no business experience whatsoever. I worked as an entrepreneur full-time for a couple of years. I offered WHP (Workplace Health Promotion) sessions and coaching for executive teams. Our second and third child were born, and our home started to feel quite cramped. We had to find a bigger house and our need for income therefore increased.
I accepted a job as chaplain in a small parish in Ostrobothnia. I was ordained priest and worked in the congregation for a few years. Alongside work I founded Young Entrepreneurship-groups in the local senior high schools. During my time as a priest in this congregation, six teenagers died tragically, all within two months. This is very unusual. After handling this crisis, I felt very tired and drained, and soon after I had a break down. I was burned out.
When working as a chaplain I realized that the traditional work as a congregational priest wasn´t for me. As a priest, you´re supposed to hang on to and cherish what others before you have created. But deep down I was an entrepreneur, a creator of new things. I unexpectedly got a job at Novia and Centria (Universities of Applied Sciences) which gave we the opportunity to work as a business coach for both students and teachers. Through different projects my coachees got to learn about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education. This gave me the idea about education export and offering Finnish business coaching abroad.
It was February 2017 and I was on a plane from Prague to Helsinki together with my wife Anne-Maj. During the trip I had experienced a strong longing for being an entrepreneur again. Together we then decided that we would start a new business, and with that Nordic School of Entrepreneurship was born. The Nordic trademark is respected worldwide, and the word ”Nordic” represents quality, purity, democracy and cooperation. That is why we chose to incorporate it in the name of our business.
Our first business coaching program GROW was launched in May 2017. Nine entrepreneurs started their journey towards a vocational education in entrepreneurship and the course was realized together with Optima vocational school. In the fall of 2019, the fourth GROW-business coaching course started and during the winter of 2020 GROW 5 and GROW 6 will be launched. About 60 entrepreneurs have graduated the GROW-business coaching course so far, and I am truly proud of all of them!
From the start my intention has been to team up with other people. In the summer of 2019 me and my brother Tony went to our family summer cottage. We had a relaxing day with nice food and good conversation. During our discussions I started thinking about what it would be like if Tony joined our business. I am by nature a creative initiator. As former director of education, Tony is an efficient administrator. Could we collaborate? Tony was earlier working as director of education in the municipality of Kronoby. He is Chairman of Board at Nordic School of Entrepreneurship and also minority owner.
My wife Anne-Maj manages our social media marketing. Besides me, there has also been several other coaches involved in the different GROW-Business Coaching courses. Many coaches have contacted me about coming onboard. We are continuously looking for new and inspiring coaches as our business expands.
Our mission consists of educating entrepreneurs with external businesses, while developing internal entrepreneurship skills. We want to make this available world-wide, especially for people living in less developed countries and parts of the world with poor support for entrepreneurs. Our strategy is to combine high-quality online coaching with a sense of fellowship. In fact, fellowship is a very important value for us. Progress can be slow when working alone, but through fellowship change can happen very fast. As an entrepreneur you need a lot of courage, and this is also something that fellowship can greatly contribute to. Our mission is to help people live their dream through entrepreneurship. We strongly believe that entrepreneurship can make our world a better place!
This story is only just beginning. The main character is and always will be the entrepreneur, every single business owner who strives to promote welfare for themselves, their families and the society. The entrepreneur is the hero in this story, the one that we want to help and encourage in every way that we can. We want to support entrepreneurs so that they can continue creating a safe, healthy, pure and bright future through their work.
Sebastian Widjeskog, 16.10.2019 in Riga
Sebastian is a Master in Theology, a priest and a teacher in Religion and Psychology. He is also a Tiimiakatemia team coach. He has a wife and three kids. Sebastian has been an entrepreneur since 2009 and has coached hundreds of entrepreneurs and leaders during his career. He also competes in high jump and has participated in national championships several times. He is a gold medalist in the European Veterans Championships and came third when competing in the World Veterans Championships.
Phone: +35840-8259 986
E-mail: sebastian@nordicentre.com
Hakakuja 3, 68700 Teerijärvi
Tony is a Master in Pedagogy and has been a teacher for 20 years. For fifteen years he worked as a principal in primary school and community college. The past few years he has been the Director of Education in the municipality of Kronoby and was therefore in charge of more than 200 employees and 900 students. Tony is the older brother, but a lot shorter. Tony has a wife and three kids and lives in Terjärv. Tony´s hobbies are motor sports and ice hockey.
Phone: +35845-313 7200
E-mail: tony@nordicentre.com
Hakakuja 3, 68700 Teerijärvi