Andrea Sgambaro, Corporate Financial Manager

So your team digs up all the dough? Yes, we bring the money in. We work with investors across the cap table. Meaning both on the equity and the debt side. But when you bring in money, you also need to be able to explain how you're going to use it. So we're involved in developing the business plan as well.

What’s going on in your head right now? We're in the middle of a fundraising process. So it's a lot of reaching out to investors, taking care of them and explaining how they're going to be part of this. And it's also a lot of internal preparation work. Right now we have a lot of parties looking at us and we need to be able to explain to them what is it that we're going to do.

How did you and up here? It was determination. After uni everybody was going into that traditional business school path. I really didn't want to do that. So I decided to focus on things that I really liked, and Northvolt was one of them. One recruiter at Northvolt checked out my profile on LinkedIn and I thought "Ka-ching, that's my way in." So I started stalking her on LinkedIn. I mean, not in a million years I would think I had a chance, but it worked out.

What’s most attractive about Northvolt: The financial opportunity or its purpose to enable a better future? I think it's the intersection of both. And that's also what investors care about nowadays. I mean, they're not willing to give up the returns, but they also want to make a sustainable impact in the world. So I think it's that combination that makes Northvolt the sweet spot.

Being an Italian and all. Any tips to other foreigners eager to join? At Northvolt, I don't think they would need to be aware of anything because it feels like home. Everybody's very open and multicultural, so I think you fit right in. In Sweden obviously there's a whole kind of cultural consideration, but I think that the quality of life that you get in a place like Sweden so much higher. It’s about fitting in allright, understanding the culture and adapting to it, rather than hoping that the culture adapts to you.

Determination

It’s not just about giving 100% of your time. It's also about caring. Putting your heart into what you do. Because if you give 100% and you don't care, then I think it's a bit tricky to stay the distance. But if you actually put some heart and passion into what you do, then it really makes a difference and people can feel it.

Responsibility

Taking responsibility and being accountable for what you do and ownership of things – that's really important. The people that I admire in the company, when they see a problem, they're not afraid to pick it up, and fix it. And along the way, if something goes wrong, they’re not afraid of admitting that they did wrong.

Belonging

I love my colleagues. It's super informal. For me, it feels like you're going to work with a bunch of friends. Where you can actually say things as they are and you're not afraid of calling bullshit on them. Normally it will take years to build that level of trust but here it happened pretty much overnight.