Orkla chooses Malmö

Orkla has 1500 employees around Sweden and has chosen to locate its headquarters in Malmö. The company produces food and beverages for private consumers, public organizations, and companies. Some of its best-known brands are Felix, Abba, Pauluns and Anamma.

The decision was based on Malmö's strengths; the company wanted to ensure it was an attractive company to work for, the availability of skills - for hiring and academia, and access to good communications.

--The region's universities are an important recruitment base for us and enable a variety of collaborations, such as ex-jobs, internships, labor market days. They are an important recruitment base close to us," says Alexandra Kaligari Lindholm, HR Director at Orkla Foods Sweden.

The fact that Malmö has a strong food cluster facilitates Orkla's skills supply. Malmö's food companies represent the entire food chain from primary production and processing to retail and restaurants.

Malmö particularly excels in areas such as food tech, circular food production with a low carbon footprint, and functional foods. This means that the industry is creating an exciting food context in Malmö, which is not only attracting skills, but also being boosted by developments in related industries such as packaging, logistics and tech to track and reduce food waste.

Great need for skills

There is a great need for skills; there are over 80 food companies in Malmö alone, and in Sweden, it is estimated that 20,000 new employees need to be recruited to the food industry by 2028.

Alexandra Kaligari Lindholm also believes that a strong cultural life, good housing, schools, and transport links, are important for attracting skills to the company and the industry.

In addition to the proximity to everything in the city and the good infrastructure in the region, the upcoming Fehmarn Belt tunnel and the Öresund Metro will also make a difference in recruiting skills.

-- This is my main argument for companies to choose Malmö. Access to communications, skills, and proximity to the various universities in the region.