Receiving an entrepreneurial award

In today's episode Mattias finally reveals what he has been doing on a secret trip to Gothenburg last week.

The foundation

Firstly Mattias' t explains about the foundation "Familjen Jacobsson Stiftelse" which awarded him with an entrepreneurial award in combination with a scholarship. The foundation is run and was created by the five daughters of Knut Jacobsson who founded the company "Atlet" back in the 1950s. He built his company from nothing to several billion SEK profit.

Diplomas & scholarships

Every year the foundation is looking for entrepreneurs and scientists who they award with their diplomas and scholarships. When they are looking at the entrepreneurs, it is really important for the foundation that their company is already up and running and has gone through some things in the past. Like that, it is not meant to be a foundation that supports startups but rather medium-sized companies which have been built up with a lot of hard work. The five sisters also listen closely to the founder's story and always ask themselves: "would our father have liked that story?".

Receiving recognition

Mattias applied for the award during the spring, after his chairman of the board, who also won the award some years ago, told him about it. When the foundation actually called him some weeks ago, he couldn't believe that the foundation actually chose him as one of the winners of this year's awards. He shares that it felt very unreal. As an entrepreneur you're always grinding and hustling and it is quite rare that someone gives you a pat on the back and tells you that you did good. It's a great feeling that after ten years someone gives you that kind of recognition and reminds you about why you are working so hard to realize your dream. In connection to that, Mattias also explains that this was one of the reasons why he started "MattGron Talks". He wants to inspire other entrepreneurs by sharing his journey and making this sport a little less lonely.

Harvard program

Connected to this award is also a scholarship which he chose to apply for a program at Harvard University. That program is specifically designed for owners and presidents of companies and consists of 3 units (3 weeks each) with 6 months break in-between. These breaks are mainly due to the fact that the people attending cannot simply leave their business for a long time at once, but it also comes with a positive side effect. The breaks in-between the units really allows the participants to try out and apply the things they learned in real life and share their experiences with each other the next time they meet again.

Award ceremony

Finally Mattias also talks about the actual award ceremony he attended in Gothenburg this week. It was actually not only the ceremony for the winners of this year, but also the ones of last year who didn't have one due to the pandemic. In addition to that the foundation also turned 10 years old.
All that meant many things happening and a lot of interesting people with fascinating stories gathering at one place. It was a wonderful day and he felt really honored to be chosen and to be part of this unique experience.

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Hard work always pays off.

Have you applied for any entrepreneurial awards?