I recently attended Norrsken Impact/Week in Barcelona, a two-day gathering that brought
together founders, investors, thinkers and people working to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.
The conversations covered a lot of ground: climate change, energy, food and agriculture,
artificial intelligence, investment and the future of the European economy. Different industries,
different perspectives, but one thing connected them: a desire to build something that makes a difference.
What stood out to me was the focus on action. It is easy to talk about the problems facing the world. Finding people willing to take them on, build solutions and make those solutions work at scale is much harder.
Good intentions need good execution
There is no shortage of ideas aimed at making the world better. But turning an idea into something that creates lasting impact takes more than ambition.
It takes funding, the right partnerships, practical decisions and people who can bring a vision to life.
That is something I think about often when speaking with founders and business leaders.
Having a strong mission is important, but building an organisation around that mission is another challenge altogether.
You need people with the right skills. You need teams that can grow with the business. And you need the right structures behind them so that the organisation can keep moving forward.
Impact cannot depend on one person or a small group working around the clock. It needs to become part of how the organisation operates.
People are a big part of the solution
One thing I keep coming back to is the role people play in building meaningful businesses.
We often talk about innovation in terms of technology, investment and new business models. All of these matter. But behind every solution are people doing the work: developing ideas, managing operations, building relationships and making difficult decisions.
For organisations working across different countries, finding and supporting the right people can become even more complicated.
Hiring internationally brings questions around local employment laws, payroll, contracts, compliance and how to support employees in different markets. These are not always the most
visible parts of building an organisation, but they matter.
At Empleyo, we work with organisations, including NGOs and non-profits, that need to build teams and operate across borders. It has reinforced my view that people strategy should not be something organisations figure out only when a problem comes up. It should be part of the plan
from the beginning
Scaling impact means thinking beyond growth
Growth is usually measured through revenue, customers, funding or market expansion. For impact-driven organisations, there is another question: how does that growth translate into
meaningful change?
Scaling too quickly without the right people, processes or local understanding can create
problems. But staying too small can also limit how far a good solution can reach.
Finding that balance requires organisations to think carefully about where they expand, who they bring into their teams and what support those teams need to succeed.
It also means recognising that there is no single approach that works everywhere. Local
knowledge, trusted partners and an understanding of the communities an organisation serves all make a difference.
The conversations need to continue
Events like Norrsken Impact/Week are valuable because they bring people from different
backgrounds into the same room. Founders can meet investors. Established organisations can
exchange ideas with emerging businesses. People working on different challenges can find
common ground.
I left Barcelona thinking about how much more can be achieved when the right people come together and move beyond discussion into action.
The world’s biggest challenges will not be solved by one company, one technology or one
investor. They require collaboration, commitment and people who are willing to keep working on the difficult problems.
For me, that is the real takeaway: building a better future is not just about what we want to change. It is about the people we bring together to make that change happen.
A big thank you to the Norrsken team, the speakers and everyone I had the chance to meet in Barcelona. It was a pleasure to be part of the conversations
