Nordic Business Forum (NBF) is a Finnish company, based in Jyväskylä. The company is best known for its eponymous business and leadership conference in Helsinki. Nordic Business Forum is part of Nordic Business Group, which employs 31 people across Finland,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, Norway, and Estonia. The current managing director is Priit Liiv. Nordic Business Forum is also a part of Business Forum Group which oversees the activities of Nordic Business Forum, Oslo Business Forum, and Amsterdam Business Forum. The annual main event, Nordic Business Forum, gathers together over 7500 attendees from over 40 countries, 17.4% of the attendees being CEOs.

Organisation and history

Nordic Business Forum is a subsidiary of the Nordic Business Group, which was founded in 2008 by Hans-Peter Siefen and Jyri Lindén. It was originally known as the Finnish Community of Entrepreneurship before changing its name in 2011. The first Nordic Business Forum conference was held in October 2010. The following year, the first high-profile international speakers—former US Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

and motivational speaker Les Brown—were added to the lineup. In 2013, Nordic Business Forum added a professional board of directors and held its first event outside of Finland—Sales Master Day in Tallinn, Estonia—featuring sales guru Brian Tracy. The first Nordic Business Forum Sweden event was held in Stockholm in 2017, with a Nordic Business Forum Norway event being added in Oslo the following year. In 2016, Nordic Business Group reported revenue of €15 million, with Nordic Business Forum generating €6.13m of the total. Nordic Business Forum reported revenues of €7.39 million in 2017. In March 2018, Finnish marketing executive Aslak de Silva took over as CEO of Nordic Business Forum from co-founder Hans-Peter Siefen, who remains active with the company as the chairman of the board. In February 2022, Aslak de Silva left the company, and Nordic Business Forum partner and long time employer, Priit Liiv, stepped in as the interim managing director.

Awards and recognitions

* Central Finland Marketing Deed Award 2011 * ICT Product of the Year 2014 * Evento Company Event of the Year 2016 * National Entrepreneur Award by the Federation of Finnish Enterprises in 2018

Event descriptions

Nordic Business Forum

The company’s signature event is the Nordic Business Forum held annually in Helsinki, Finland since 2010. The 2018 event attracted more than 7,500 visitors and featured former US President Barack Obama as the main keynote speaker.

Nordic Business Forum Sweden

Held in Stockholm since 2016, Nordic Business Forum Sweden mirrors the format of the Helsinki event but is smaller in scale. In 2018, the one-day event attracted around 1,000 attendees from 19 different countries.

Nordic Business Forum Norway

Held for the first time in 2018, the Nordic Business Forum Norway takes place in Oslo and largely replicates the event held in Stockholm. The inaugural event attracted nearly 550 attendees.

Speaker Contest

Ahead of the 2018 Nordic Business Forum in Helsinki, the organization launched its first Speaker Contest. More than 170 people applied, from which 24 candidates were chosen to speak at qualifying rounds held in Helsinki, Oslo, and Stockholm. Eight finalists were then invited back to Stockholm in August 2018, from which one speaker was chosen by a jury of audience members and Nordic Business Forum representatives. The winner, James Hewitt, was added to Nordic Business Forum 2018 speaker lineup and received a €30,000 speaking fee for the engagement.

Event archive

Nordic Business Forum 2011: Strength from Responsible Choices

Nordic Business Forum 2011 concentrated on responsibility. The main topic was Strength from Responsible Choices and all the 1800 seats were sold out. The main speaker was the former Vice President of U.S.

Nordic Business Forum 2012: Growth

In 2012 the main theme of Nordic Business Forum was growth, with sub-themes business growth, personal growth and growth of well-being. The speakers included: * Sir Richard Branson * Brian Tracy *

Daniel Pink Daniel H. Pink (born July 23, 1964) is an American author. He has written seven books; five of them are ''New York Times'' bestsellers. He was a host and a co- executive producer of the 2014 National Geographic Channel social science TV series ...

* Hans Rosling *

Peter Vesterbacka ''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish action-based media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment. The game series focuses on the eponymous flock of angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Crush the Castle ...

Taneli Tikka Taneli Tikka (born 8 March 1978, Savitaipale, Finland) is a Finnish serial entrepreneur and IT influencer. Career Tikka studied software engineering at a school which is now known as the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. While studyi ...

Jari Sarasvuo Jari Sarasvuo (born ''Jari Heinonen''; 12 June 1965, in Turku) is the founder, chief owner and CEO of Trainers' House, a Finnish company that arranges training and lectures particularly for marketing topics. Sarasvuo has worked as an editor a ...

* Anne Berner * Esa Saarinen

Nordic Business Forum 2013: Leadership

Nordic Business Forum 2013 gathered over 3,300 guests under one roof. The seminar was sold out already by the end of February 2012, 7 months prior to the actual event date. The main theme of Nordic Business Forum 2013 was Leadership. Sub-topics included self-leadership, sales leadership and innovation leadership. The speakers included: * Jack Welch *

Tom Peters Thomas J. Peters (born November 7, 1942) is an American writer on business management practices, best known for ''In Search of Excellence'' (co-authored with Robert H. Waterman Jr.) Life and education Peters was born in Baltimore, Maryland. ...

Jimmy Wales Jimmy Donal Wales (born August 7, 1966), also known on Wikipedia by the pseudonym Jimbo, is an American-British Internet entrepreneur, webmaster, and former financial trader. He is a co-founder of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedi ...

* Malcolm Gladwell *

Lynda Gratton Lynda Gratton (born February 1955) a British organizational theorist, consultant, and Professor of Management Practice at London Business School and the founder oHSM Advisory known for her work on organisational behaviour. Biography Born in ...

* Vijay Govindarajan * Alexander Stubb * Alf Rehn *

* Petri Parvinen * Henkka Hyppönen

Nordic Business Forum 2014: Forward

Nordic Business Forum 2014 gathered over 5,300 guests to the Exhibition & Convention Center in Helsinki. This was the first time the seminar was organized in Helsinki. The seminar was sold out already 4 months prior to the event. In addition to the attendees on the spot, there were also hundreds of people watching the seminar through live stream. The main theme of Nordic Business Forum 2014 was Forward. Sub-topics included Choosing Excellence, Building the Future and Growing with Purpose. The speakers included: *

James C. Collins James C. "Jim" Collins (born 1958) is an American researcher, author, speaker and consultant focused on the subject of business management and company sustainability and growth. Biography Collins received a BS in Mathematical Sciences at Sta ...

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

Sir Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

Dambisa Moyo Dambisa Felicia Moyo, Baroness Moyo (born 2 February 1969)Moyo showed a copy of an official document with her date and place of birth as part of a lecture she gave at TEDGlobal 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland. is a Zambian-born economist and author, ...

* Sir Ken Robinson * Matti Alahuhta *

Tony Fernandes Anthony Francis Fernandes (born 30 April 1964) is a Malaysian entrepreneur. He is the founder of Tune Air Sdn. Bhd., which took over the first Malaysian budget airline, AirAsia. Fernandes turned AirAsia, a failing government-linked commerci ...

* Soulaima Gourani

Nordic Business Forum 2015: Impact

The Nordic Business Forum 2015 is held 1–2 October, in the Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Center, in Finland. The speakers include: *

Ben Bernanke Ben Shalom Bernanke ( ; born December 13, 1953) is an American economist who served as the 14th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014. After leaving the Fed, he was appointed a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution. Durin ...

* Arianna Huffington *

Simon Sinek Simon Oliver Sinek (born October 9, 1973) is a British born American author and inspirational speaker. He is the author of five books, including ''Start With Why'' (2009) and ''The Infinite Game'' (2019). Early life and education Sinek was bor ...

Guy Kawasaki Guy Kawasaki (born August 30, 1954) is an American marketing specialist, author, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist. He was one of the Apple employees originally responsible for marketing their Macintosh computer line in 1984. He popularized ...

* Keith J. Cunningham * Garry Kasparov * Nilofer Merchant *

John C. Maxwell John Calvin Maxwell (born February 20, 1947) is an American author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books, primarily focusing on leadership. Titles include ''The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership'' and ''The 21 Indispensable Qualities of ...

Nordic Business Forum 2016: Advantage

Nordic Business Forum 2016 was held on 6 and 7 October and focused on the theme advantage. In addition to the 5,700 conference attendees, around 10,000 people watched the event via the live stream broadcast. Speakers included: * Ed Catmull * Amy Chua * Dick Costolo *

Peter Diamandis Peter H. Diamandis (; born May 20, 1961) is a Greek Americans, Greek-American engineer, physician, and entrepreneur best known for being founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation, cofounder and executive chairman of Singularity University a ...

* Scott Galloway *

Seth Godin Seth W. Godin is an American author and former dot com business executive. Background After leaving Spinnaker in 1986, he used $20,000 in savings to found Seth Godin Productions, primarily a book packaging business, out of a studio apartment in ...

* Tony Hawk *

Jessica Jackley Jessica Erin Jackley (born October 29, 1977) is an American entrepreneur who co-founded Kiva and later ProFounder, two organizations that promote development through microloans. Early life Jackley grew up in Franklin Park, Pennsylvania. She grad ...

* Vinad Nayar * Des Traynor * Gary Vaynerchuk

Nordic Business Forum Sweden 2017 – The Future of Leading People and Growth

The first Nordic Business Forum Sweden took place on 16 January at the Stockholm Waterfront Conference Centre. The event attracted nearly 1,000 attendees from 19 countries. Speakers included: *

Linda Liukas Linda Liukas (born 1986) is a Finnish children's book author, illustrator and an instructor for beginner programmers. In 2014, her ''Hello Ruby'' coding book for children raised $380,000 on Kickstarter becoming the platform's most highly funded c ...

Kjell A. Nordström Kjell Anders Nordström (born 26 February 1958) is a Swedish economist, writer and public speaker. Biography Born in Skärholmen, a suburban district in southern Stockholm, Nordström grew up on a small island in the Finland, Finnish Åland ...

* Sheila Heen * Chip Conley * Ida Backlund *

Chad Hurley Chad Meredith Hurley (born January 24, 1977) is an American webmaster and businessman who serves as the advisor and former chief executive officer (CEO) of YouTube. He also co-founded MixBit. In June 2006, he was voted 28th on Business 2.0's "5 ...

* Andre Agassi

Nordic Business Forum 2017 – Responsibility, Purpose, and Leadership

Nordic Business Forum 2017 was attended by 7,500 guests from more than 40 countries. In addition, the live stream broadcast was viewed by 15,000 people. Speakers included: * Will Smith * Sir Richard Branson * Adam Grant * Rachel Botsman *

Patrick Lencioni Patrick Lencioni (born c. 1965) is an American author of books on business management, particularly in relation to team management. He is best known as the author of '' The Five Dysfunctions of a Team'', a popular business fable that explores work ...

James Hansen James Edward Hansen (born March 29, 1942) is an American adjunct professor directing the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is best known for his research in climatology, his 1 ...

Severn Cullis-Suzuki Severn Cullis-Suzuki (born 30 November 1979) is a Canadian environmental activist and writer. She has spoken around the world about environmental issues, urging listeners to define their values, act with the future in mind, and take individual r ...

* Nick Vujicic * Stéphane Garelli *

Petteri Taalas Jukka Petteri Taalas (born 3 July 1961 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish meteorologist and Secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Appointed in 2015 by the World Meteorological Congress, ...

* Mika Anttonen *

Boyan Slat Boyan Slat (born 27 July 1994) is a Dutch inventor and entrepreneur. A former aerospace engineering student, he is the CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. Initial interest in plastic pollution In 2011, aged 16, Slat found more plastic than fish while div ...

* Selina Juul * Richard Quest

Nordic Business Forum Norway 2018 – Lead Lean

The first Nordic Business Forum Norway took place on 22 January in Oslo. The event attracted nearly 550 attendees. Speakers included: * Eric Ries *

* Alex Osterwalder * Dan Toma * Anita Krohn Traaseth * Hans-Petter Nygård Hansen * Sabinije von Gaffke * Alf Rehn

Nordic Business Forum Sweden 2018 – Lead Lean

Nordic Business Forum Sweden 2018 took place on 24 January in Stockholm. The event attracted nearly 1,000 attendees from 19 countries. Speakers included: * Eric Ries *

Steve Wozniak Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname "Woz", is an American electronics engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, inventor, and technology entrepreneur. In 1976, with business partner Steve Jobs, he c ...

* Anita Krohn Traaseth * Lena Apler * Cheri Tree

Nordic Business Forum 2018 – Strategy, Peak Performance and Artificial Intelligence

Nordic Business Forum 2018 was held at the Helsinki Expo & Convention Center on 26 and 27 September, attracting 7,500 attendees from more than 40 countries. The live stream was viewed by approximately 20,000 people, with an additional 20,000 watching a free broadcast of President Barack Obama’s conversation with Niklas Zennström. Speakers included: * President Barack Obama *

Marcus Buckingham Marcus Wilfrid Buckingham (born 11 January 1966) is an English author, motivational speaker and business consultant based in California. Early life and education Buckingham was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and grew up in the village of ...

Steven Kotler Steven Kotler is an American author, journalist, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his non-fiction books, including Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think, Abundance'', ''A Small Furry Prayer'', ''West of Jesus'', ''Bold: How to Go B ...

* Andrew McAfee *

Don Tapscott Don Tapscott (born June 1, 1947) is a Canadian business executive, author, consultant and speaker, who specializes in business strategy, organizational transformation and the role of technology in business and society. He is the CEO of the Tapsco ...

Susan Cain Susan Horowitz CainGary Hamel * Aswath Damodaran * John Mackey *

Amy Cuddy Amy Joy Casselberry Cuddy (born July 23, 1972) is an American social psychologist, author and speaker. She is a proponent of "power posing", a self-improvement technique whose scientific validity has been questioned. She has served as a faculty ...

* James Hewitt * Niklas Zennström * Sheila Heen

Nordic Business Forum Sweden 2019 – Leadership and Marketing

Nordic Business Forum Sweden 2019 will take place on 7 May in Stockholm. Scheduled speakers include: *

Ryan Holiday Ryan Holiday (born June 16, 1987) is an American author, modern Stoic, public-relations strategist, owner of the Painted Porch Bookshop and host of the podcast ''The Daily Stoic.'' Prior to becoming an author, he served as the former director of ...

* Sahar Hashemi *

Isabella Löwengrip Isabella Desirée Löwengrip, also known as "Blondinbella", is a Swedish entrepreneur, author, lecturer and blogger. Life Löwengrip was born in 1990 in Järfälla. Löwengrip attended secondary school at Jensen Gymnasium Norra in Stockholm. ...

Nordic Business Forum Norway 2019 – Leadership and Marketing

Nordic Business Forum Norway 2019 will take place on 9 May in Oslo. Scheduled speakers include: *

* Sahar Hashemi *

Morten Hansen Morten T. Hansen is a Norwegian-American professor, management theorist, motivational speaker and author. Biography Hansen obtained his BA in political science from the University of Oslo in Norway. He received his Master of Public Administra ...

* Avinash Kaushik * Camilla Hessellund Lastein

Nordic Business Forum 2019 – Growth

The tenth Nordic Business Forum will be held at the Helsinki Expo & Convention Center on 9 and 10 October. Scheduled speakers include: *

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...

Randi Zuckerberg Randi Jayne Zuckerberg (born February 28, 1982) is an American businesswoman. She is the former director of market development and spokesperson for Facebook, and a sister of the company's co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Prior to working at ...

Brené Brown Casandra Brené Brown (born November 18, 1965) is an American professor, lecturer, author, and podcast host. Brown is known in particular for her research on shame, vulnerability, and leadership, and for her widely viewed TEDx talk in 2010. Since ...

* Sara Blakely * Alex Osterwalder * Anssi Rantanen * Donald Miller * Juliet Funt * Costas Markides * Carla Harris

Nordic Business Forum 2022 – Future-Focused Leadership

The eleventh Nordic Business Forum has held in Helsinki, Finland on 20 & 21 September. Scheduled speakers include: *

Yuval Noah Harari Yuval Noah Harari ( he, יובל נח הררי ; born 1976) is an Israeli historian and professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of the popular science bestsellers '' Sapiens: A Brief History ...

Amy Edmondson Amy C. Edmondson is an American scholar of leadership, teaming, and organizational learning. She is currently Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School. Edmondson is the author of seven books and more than 75 articles and case studies. Sh ...

* Rutger Bregman *

Erin Meyer Erin Meyer (born August 22, 1971) is an American author and professor at INSEAD Business School, based in Paris. She is most known for writing the 2014 book, ''The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business'' a st ...

Joseph Stiglitz Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (; born February 9, 1943) is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, and a full professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the Joh ...

* Jitske Kramer * Martin Lindstrom * Zoe Chance *

Petter Stordalen Petter Anker Stordalen Bjorvand (born 29 November 1962) is a Norwegian billionaire businessman, hotel and property developer and self-proclaimed environmentalist. He has an estimated net worth of US$1.3 billion stemming from investments in hotel ...

* Duncan Wardle * Kristel Kruustuk * Miki Kuusi

Nordic Business Forum 2023 – Be: Change

The twelfth Nordic Business Forum is scheduled to be held on 27 and 28 of September in Messukeskus, Helsinki where speakers include Malala Yousafzai and Tim Ferriss. Other scheduled speakers of Nordic Business Forum 2023: *

* Rebecca Henderson *

Nicolai Tangen Nicolai Tangen (born 10 August 1966) is a Norwegian hedge fund manager. He is credited with holding the biggest private collection of modernist Nordic art in the world. He has since September 2020 been CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, t ...

Francesca Gino Francesca Gino (born ) is an Italian-American behavioral scientist. In June 2023, after an investigation concluded that she had falsified data in her research, she was placed on unpaid administrative leave from her position as Tandon Family Pro ...

Amy Webb Amy Lynn Webb (born October 18, 1974) is an American futurist, author and founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute.Christina Vuleta"Don't Sit Back And Let The Future Happen To You: Listen To the Signals" ''Forbes'', January 18, 2017. She is ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.nbforum.com Business conferences Global economic conferences