Summary
Anna Lindbäck is a multi-awarded social entrepreneur and published author. Her work as an entrepreneur has entailed developing and executing scalable business models and communication strategies. Her formal education in Sustainable Business Management was attained at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The bachelor thesis about male entrepreneurs before and after #metoo resulted in a published scientific article in Gender in Management – An International Journal 2020, cited in Strategic Direction’s brief as cutting-edge research.
Story time
I believe in a clean, green and happy future. Growing up the climate change and biodiversity crisis became very apparent, I saw with my own eyes sailing each summer how the Baltic Sea turned into a sluggish yellow mess of extreme algae bloomings. But I wanted to run my own business and do-gooders were non-profits, not millionaires. I wanted to crack that nut. My first venture at 13 was freelancing as a short story writer and later at 15 an easy-to-read environmental journalist. Several years and businesses later – today I am an award-winning entrepreneur, dedicated to creating sustainability for-profit.
Sustainability is a very complex matter and selling it has made me an expert in simplifying complex concepts across industries.
I make sure the projects I work on achieve the same success I’ve made – by slimming down concepts, scaling them up and thereby winning clients, positive press, awards and users over and over and over again.
Entrepreneurial life
Built PR-campaigns to reach millions in TV, newspapers and radio, CSR strategies merging stakeholder perspectves, risk management and communication to accelerate scaling up businesses. Closed deals with grocery stores, retail chains, kiosks, distributors, NGOs, lobby organisations and MNE companies. And figured out logistics and unit economics. And built websites and e-commerce stores. The consequence of being an entrepreneur, having to do a lot of everything with limited knowledge.
Always with a focus on building a strong team culture and increase revenue with clear messaging.
As a business developer, I have gotten the pleasure to coach 150+ startup ideas in various stages and industries using methods based on design thinking, stakeholder analysis and entrepreneurship research.
Academic life
I went on to study Corporate Social Responsibility and attend the bachelor programme for Sustainable Business Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). At SLU I gained a greater understanding of sustainability and quality management, change management, organizational theory and leadership.
The bachelor thesis on the entrepreneurial identity with a gender perspective investigated the norms of masculinity and being an entrepreneur. The topic was chosen when we discovered the majority of articles problematized or compared women entrepreneurs to men and there was a distinct lack of research on the male entrepreneur norm from a gender perspective. To understand how we can create a more inclusive norm it is important to study the norm and how it is created rather than who or why someone does not fit into it. The thesis was given the highest grade, 5, and rewritten into a published scientific article in Gender in Management An International Journal and later cited in a journal (Strategic Direction) which summarizes the latest cutting-edge research.
