Malin Straumdal has completed her internship at the Future Retail Lab accelerator programme. The assignment was to conduct several qualitative studies and analyse the thoughts, knowledge and experiences of entrepreneurs in retail or trade with elements of the hospitality and experience industry, in particular the time during the pandemic and how the companies worked with business development and marketing.

There is a lot of knowledge and inspiration to be gained from entrepreneurs in the cultural and creative industries. This has been demonstrated not least by their creative solutions, new forms of collaboration and optimistic thinking during a very difficult time," says Malin Straumdal, who is studying Business Administration at Umeå University and has recently completed her internship at eXpression Umeå. 

Malin emphasises that these are entrepreneurs who see opportunities rather than challenges, which she believes is a wonderfully valuable quality.

Gathering their knowledge and thoughts feels very meaningful, because it needs to be harnessed and disseminated further.

The most comprehensive survey I conducted included eleven companies. This was done through telephone interviews which I then transcribed and did a thematic analysis on. It was a lot of pages to transcribe and analyse I can say, but I learned a lot. 

What will you take away from your internship?

There are so many different things! Both this with daring to believe in yourself and your abilities, which has been important since the practice has been done remotely, but I also take away a lot of inspiration and knowledge from all the amazingly knowledgeable and creative people I have come into contact with. 

What happens now?

Now it will be both work and football-em of course! But I will also make sure to enjoy the summer and all it has to offer. I'm looking forward to seeing relatives now that society is slowly opening up, and I'm also planning to sink my teeth into the book "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David Schwartz, concludes Malin Straumdal.

eXpression Umeå says a big thank you and good luck with everything that lies ahead!

Fact box:

Name: Malin Straumdal 
Bor: East in town with partner Anton 
Education: Civil Engineering Program 
Dream job: Where I can develop, learn new things, be creative and work with nice colleagues.
Last book read and/or podcast listened to: The little bookshop around the corner by Jenny Colgan. 
Most looking forward to: Late summer evenings by the water with a small bonfire and lovely trips to some charming little café outside town. 
My best tip right now: Pack a lunch, go for a bike ride and discover what's in your neighbourhood this summer. Maybe you'll find a new local favourite?