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Forging the New Faroes |
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Written by M. P. Reveal
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Friday, 11 April 2008 |
The great Percy Bysshe Shelley once said that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world — such words ring very true in the Faroe Islands, where entrepreneurship takes on its own meaning.
Nearby the Tórshavn town hall, there is a bronze statute of a man that captures the very essence of the Faroes. He is of medium stature, but with muscles of relentless endurance. His focus is straight ahead, determined. The statute is entitled, Trađarmađurin, a term that defies precise translation as the word is steeped in cultural history. Some suggest that the spirit of the word is best captured in that iconic American term, “homesteader.” Personally, I think “The Entrepreneur” says it all.
The Trađarmađur balances a stone of considerable size between his arms, a stone wrenched from the earth and destined for the rock wall that will mark out his small patch of the planet. At last freed to claim a bit of land for his family, he grapples with the rocks and boulders of his impoverished soil and forges a life … and a country. He secures enough land to nurture a cow or two; he watches over his small flock of sheep with a mother’s patience and tenderness; learning from others, he carefully slices up the sod to create a potato field and scatters about hard-won fish to serve as fertilizer for a welcome crop that will see him and his family through the winter, carefully gleaning even the smallest of tubers. He eventually learns the art of fishing far from home and creates a national industry of unprecedented wealth. As I stand reflecting on this commanding work of art by Hans Pauli Olsen (b. 1957) on a crisp winter day, the obvious question comes to mind: whither might this entrepreneur’s next steps be, bearing his burden of hopes and dreams?
Now most people, even those with the flintiest of hearts, would admit that the artist is able somehow to pull us out of the muck of our mundane lives and slap us in the face with a bit self-knowledge that often we are not prepared for nor particularly seeking, yet once embraced leaves us more often than not with a lingering feeling of freedom and hope. Shelley in his famous essay called the poet the unacknowledged legislator of the world. No doubt Shelley did not intend to limit such responsibility to the poet alone, but rather was speaking of all artists. This attribute of the gifted artists among us is especially evocative in the Faroes, for nearly every work gives testimony to a people who have endured the worst and survived, and who are capable of achieving unprecedented greatness, if one but focuses on the message of heartfelt hope and resolve so earnestly offered up by these unacknowledged and oft ignored legislators of our destiny.
There is a painting by Sámal Joensen-Mikines entitled Skilnađur (‘Leave Taking’) that is especially telling. The fishermen are preparing to sail out into the approaching dawn. The sea is ominously black and foreboding. The mood about the small boat with its triangular deep crimson sail is sombre, yet resolved. The embrace of husband and wife lingering, quiet, as each fights back the tears with mingled emotions of courage and dread. There is no choice. Fishing is our way of life, our strength, and — at times, you may say — our curse as well.
Entrepreneurial artists: Nothing touches the soul more than the memorials to the fishermen lost at sea that are found in nearly every village in the Faroes. The strength the women convey is daunting and leaves no trace of doubt that they will survive and champion a new day. The statue in the village of Eiđi by Fridtjof Joensen entitled Móđir og sonur (‘Mother and Son’) is but one example. The young mother looks longingly toward the sea, ever hopeful, yet the intensity flooding from her eyes gives testimony to her grief. But she is not beaten; her remorse does not paralyse her. She stands transfixed, yes, even mesmerized by the swells on the horizon, but she is nonetheless resolute, protecting her young son, who does not look toward the sea. He stands unwavering as well, arms to his side, and somehow you sense that he has resolved to forge a different life. Regardless of what he may choose to do in the future, his barefoot stance gives evidence that he will not abandon his roots, nor his love for the crisp froth of the sea beating upon the deep black of the craggy basalt of his homeland.
The Faroes is today all atwitter about the necessity of entrepreneurial initiatives and whether local entrepreneurs could be the hope of a country wanting to quickly diversify its economy. Debate rages over how to nurture and take advantage of Faroese entrepreneurial zeal. Should the government support innovation centres, or provide training classes for would-be entrepreneurs? Who should pay for these initiatives? Exactly what does an innovation centre do? And on and on.
I would proffer that the artists of the Faroes have already shown us a way forward and daily remind us that what is needed is not circular debate, but earnest individual effort and the willingness to take the next step into the unknown with determination and without fear, confident that the country will not only survive, but prosper, through the “entrepreneurial” efforts of each and every one of us attempting to carve out a future more prosperous, more rewarding, more unifying than ever before. And the people with the money need to trust in the process, for without the willingness to take a chance, to support a creative thought, nothing will happen. Sad, but true, almost everything, even in the Faroes, revolves around and depends upon some willing soul with the money and vision to embrace the new and make things happen.
A different sound: Tróndur Patursson, one of the most prolific and successful artists in contemporary Faroes, has spent some time on developing a motif of circling sea birds of deep aquamarines and royal blues that to me are a uniquely modern Faroese symbol of freedom and accomplishment. Like Jonathan Livingston Seagull, they seem to beckon us toward an understanding that the secret of our flight to economic success is knowing deep down that “you have already arrived.”
This secret is, no doubt, probably already well understood by that enterprising fashion partnership known as Guđrun & Guđrun. Not content to show off their fashion line of hand knit woollen wear in trendy Copenhagen during a recent “fashion week” there, they opted to take a cue from Jonathan Livingston, and fly the fashion editors and the trend-setting gurus of the fashion world who had gathered in Copenhagen over the sea to the Faroes. Acting as if they had already “arrived,” they charted a jet and put on a fashion show catwalk to remember, using the bold yellow stripe on the airport hanger floor as the perfect counterpoint to their brash and very stunning designs, flavoured with inspiration from traditional Faroese woollen wear designs and patterns. Guđrun & Guđrun unabashedly proclaim that their woollen designs reflect a “thousand years of freedom” and it is just that exhilarating, entrepreneurial sense of freedom that Faroese artists are attempting to instil in all of us.
Guđrun & Guđrun without question see the world as their “home” market. They have shows scheduled in New York and Paris later in 2008. Indeed, most artists in the Faroes make a point of embracing a world market, while carefully nurturing their linkages to the Faroes and all that this microscopic land offers to an artist’s inspiration. Here again the artist’s of the Faroes serve as the unacknowledged legislators, guiding and inspiring the rest of us onward to achieve our own personal dreams in the international marketplace.
One group of artists is providing a considerable amount of inspiration. Known by the rather unassuming moniker of Boys in a Band, this gaggle of young fledglings is zipping about the European continent with a flourish and they have even stretched their wings well out to fly over the ocean to North America, landing in Canada for the renowned Canadian Music Week and then on to Austin for the gathering of all music gatherings, the redoubtable South By Southwest. And why not, they are after all the “world’s best band.”
The Boys captured the title in London in December 2007 besting a long line of other unsigned, but quite talented bands from around the world in the Global Battle of the Bands. They had placed second in 2006, and true to Faroese determination and grit, they soared on to take first prize, a fat check for 100,000 USD, free entry to a recording studio, and a world concert tour. Who says art doesn’t pay, and that was just for starters. As of this writing, they are one of 12 unsigned finalists vying for a single performance slot at the world famous Glastonbury Festival in England, the mother of all open-field festivals. That is quite an accomplishment for such a young group, to say the least.
They bill themselves as a “cowboy rock” band, but just as the shores and bays of the Faroes are renowned for capturing bits and pieces of stuff from around the world, even a bit of pumice from a far-off volcano, the Boys in a Band are an eclectic bunch, feeling equally at home pounding out indie rock, or warbling black gospel and blues, or suddenly jumping into a rock’n’roll dance beat, followed by a hippie protest song of deep emotion. Actually, they are a bit refreshing after all the craziness of gangsta diatribe and well-spiced mega-productions. Perhaps it is the invigorating sea breezes of the Faroes that have inspired them. Whatever it may be, they are certainly showing the entrepreneurial zeal required to succeed, and in their words, “have fun and change the world in the process.” Not a bad motto to live by, and it certainly bears the mark of inspired entrepreneurial artists.
Looking for funds: Someone else who is having fun and changing the world in the process is Kaj Joensen, a ship’s engineer turned inventor, who teamed up with another entrepreneurial genius, Tórđur Símun Nielsen, to create a unique oil separator for a ship’s bilge water. At first blush, an oil separator doesn’t sound all that romantic nor world shaking, except when you come to grips with the report prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme that noted that the single greatest source of pollution in our seas is the bilge water that is discharged from nearly every ship on the planet.
Now for those that are not that readily conversant with ships and their bilges, the bilge is located in the very bottom of a ship inside the keel and is home to condensing water and oil leaks from the engine and any number of nasty chemicals and solvents used onboard a modern-day ship, maybe even a wrench or two fumbled out of the grease-laden hands of the engine room crew. Another UN agency, the International Maritime Organization, responding to the pollution peril posed by bilge water, mandated that every ship over 400 gross tonnes must have an piece of equipment that separates out the oil and other contaminants from the water that has settled into the bilge before that water can be discharge from the ship into the sea.
Easier mandated than done. What Kaj and Tórđur have long known, as most other ship’s engineers the world over also know, is that the current breed of heavy-duty and very expensive oil separators don’t usually work as advertised. After years of tinkering and coaxing and taping and mending, no doubt interspersed with liberal doses of robust cursing, Kaj and Tórđur threw down their collective gauntlet and declared they could do what the fancy, high-paid mechanical engineers couldn’t — build an oil separator that worked. And they did.
Nothing like a little bit of Faroese ingenuity borne out of years of experience on the sea to come up with a design that not only works better, but is simple and elegant in function and inexpensive to build, install and maintain and worth a patent as well. The two entrepreneurs have established their own company, Faroe Maritime Technics, and are now in the midst of sea trials to test the performance of their invention.
Their efforts were originally supported by mini-grants from the Faroese Ministry of the Interior, the trick now is to find sufficient funding to carry out the trials and go into production, and there lies a key issue confronting many entrepreneurs in the Faroes: Where’s the money?
Absent angels: Guđrun & Guđrun turned to SET for start-up capital. Originally created by several institutional investors to orchestrate investment in start-ups, SET is now owned mostly by Eik Banki, and provides just enough money to jump-start an entrepreneurial initiative. “Set” in Faroese traditionally refers to a seed potato and true to its name SET does not place vast sums in each enterprise and considers itself more of a seed capital fund rather than a full-fledged venture capital fund. SET has invested in a variety of start-ups, from software companies to composers, from an importer of flagstones to, believe it or not, a Danish football club, in association with a Faroese footballer. SET is governed by a three-member board and employs a part-time manager to review applications for funding. It does not take an active role in developing and managing the start-up. True to its name, SET is focused on providing limited amounts of seed capital that will enable an entrepreneur to get started and work toward the next level of expansion.
Where to go for the big money to finance this next step is the current challenge in the Faroes. At this stage in the evolution of the venture capital market in the Faroes, there are no independent professional private venture capitalists. There are, of course, major institutional investors, such as TF Holding (the investment arm of Tryggingarfelagiđ Föroyar, the Faroese Insurance Company) and Royndin (the investment group of Lívstrygging, the Faroese Life Insurance Company). They predominantly invest via the stock markets of the world, but have been known to engage in risky investments that have good upside potential.
Another institutional investment company, Lökir, was founded by shipowners and Föroya Banki. Their investment strategy is highly conservative, however, and focused more on local Faroese mergers and acquisitions. Lökir owns 10 percent of the Icelandic investment company, Lćkir Capital, and 20 percent of Eldborg, a company building oil industry supply vessels in Norway. Lökir has also funded the acquisition of a number of IT and media companies in the Faroes to create a powerful group called NEMA. Lökir also orchestrated the take over of Statoil Föroyar from the Norwegian oil company, StatoilHydro, an important provider of oil in the Faroes.
A similar investment company is Notio. Originally founded by Eik Banki, Kaupthing Bank, and Framherji, a company heavily involved in the fishing industry in the Faroes. Soon after it was founded, Notio took controlling interests in Faroe Shipyard, as well as significant percentages of Kollafjord Pelagic and the PM Group, the parent company of the major food wholesaler in the Faroes. By design, they are a conservative investment company staying close to home investing in proven companies. The management of the investment company has indicated, however, that they are open to expanding their investment portfolio internationally in a step-wise fashion. As a testimony to this, Notio has taken a limited position in Guđrun & Guđrun.
Given the dearth of professional angel and start-up venture capital in the Faroes, entrepreneurs turn mainly to government-backed investment funds. Vinnuframagrunnurin [Business Development Fund] was established some six years ago to support Faroese business development on a project basis. By statute, the money it provides is intended to support and compliment funds already allocated to specific development projects and the money it offers entrepreneurs cannot be used for operations or share capital. Fifty percent is better than nothing and many companies have applied for these support funds and have used them to good advantage, especially to attend conferences and exhibitions with the intent to display their products and services and to increase sales.
Abundant ideas: The other government investment fund is Framtaksgrunnur Föroya, or locally just Framtak, which is Faroese for “initiative” or “drive.” Exactly what you need when you’re an entrepreneur looking for money and it’s good that the folks with the money have the same determination and energy. Originally, Framtak was created to bail out the foundering fishing industry in the early years of the economic crisis in the Faroes in the 1990s when the cod were nowhere to be found in the seas around the Faroes. The investment fund took over the fish processing plants and a number of fishing vessels. Those interests have been sold off and now the fund is acting more like an aggressive venture fund. While they still own interests in fishing vessels, the fund has branched out and is now invested in a tourist guest house, a car ferry, an aquaculture farm, IT start-ups, woolen wear, even in a line of cosmetics founded by a young and enterprising Faroese now based in California. According to the fund’s website, it takes on average about 25 percent of a company in exchange for providing the operational capital needed to keep the various companies afloat and growing.
Thus, Framtak is the major source of new venture funding in the Faroes. It is not afraid of risk, as long as the upside looks positive and real. As the chairperson of the Framtak board, Gloria Kalsö, noted in a press release, the fund is focused on developing new businesses in the Faroes, and thus Framtak “must place investment where the risk is great.” Naturally, some of the investments will not bear fruit and, as a consequence, the fund weighs the risk versus return very carefully. But at least it makes an effort to do the math and is in principle willing to take a risk in a new venture.
In days of old, our enterprising Faroese homesteader had to create his farm and forge his new life by himself with only his bare hands and a hope and prayer to see him through to success. Today, there are at least some willing hands to help lighten the load at a time when a growing number of modern-day Faroese Trađarmađurs with an abundance of good ideas are ready and eager to take the next steps to build their dreams and go international.
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Geography