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NFGL Global Swede Profile: Soukaina Lamrani

Soukaina Lamrani, one of the few winners of the Global Swede award last year, came to Sweden to learn entrepreneurship. But she also learned to listen. Soukaina tells SI News about her experiences and her advice for other NFGL students.

NFGL Global Swede Profile: Soukaina Lamrani

Soukaina studied business in Morocco, her home country, and graduated in 2009.

“For four years I worked as a strategy and management consultant in Morocco,” Soukaina explained. “So I had been travelling around to many different countries and working on different projects.”

But one project wasn’t quite like the others. Soukaina received an assignment to work with the Moroccan Ministry of Youth, assessing the situation of young people and recommending strategies for 2020.

“During that project I discovered how young Moroccans were in a very vulnerable situation, and needed help,” Soukaina said. “The job market isn’t big enough to handle all of the young people.”

Read also: Interview with Galyna Kaplan, former NFGL student

One of the solutions which Soukaina’s company suggested be implemented was for more people to start their own companies. But entrepreneurship isn’t particularly popular in Morocco yet – a mindset which Soukaina is determined to change.

“At that point I thought, ‘I need to do something’. But my training wasn’t enough, I didn’t have the right tools.”

Soukaina decided to further her education, and when she started looking for programmes, one truly stood out:  the Master's programme in Strategic Entrepreneurship at Jönköping International Business School.

“It was natural for me to apply,” Soukaina said. “Sweden is one of the best places to be for innovation, development, and entrepreneurship.”

So Soukaina applied for the programme and the SI Scholarship – which changed her life.

“My first impression of Sweden was that everything was very relaxed,” she said. “In Morocco I lived in a big cosmopolitan city. Here everyone takes their time, and even Stockholm, which the Swedes think is a big city, is so much more relaxed.”

Of course, going from Morocco to Sweden had its challenges as well.

“The month of November was the hardest part,” Soukaina recalled. “It was very dark so early, and we had so much work in school too. The darkness was terrible. But in December, with the Santa Lucia holiday, everything gets better.”

At first it was also a challenge to make friends, Soukaina said.

“Swedes are very friendly and helpful, and yet it’s hard to really make friends with them,” she said. “I think that Swedish people are introverted. Or maybe I am too extroverted,” Soukaina laughed.

But eventually Soukaina adjusted to Swedish culture, and learned to take part of it with her.

“The most important thing I learned is just to listen,” she said. “In Moroccan culture people are quiete talkative, and if you don’t get interrupted then it means people don’t understand what you’re talking about – so you repeat it.”

The culture clash created a few awkward scenarios, of course.

“When I first I arrived I just kept talking and talking, and no one would ever interrupt me, even if I said the same thing ten times. They’re just so respectful. And then I reflected on this and I realized, ‘I’m wrong. I am missing so much.’ Other people also have interesting things to say, and I can learn so much just by listening.”

After completing her programme in Sweden, Soukaina went on to additional studies in Berkley, California – but she said she still misses Sweden.

“Oh, I do miss it,” she remarked. “I want to reconnect with Sweden. It was so wonderful. It was so easy to go everywhere. The public transportation was great. And it’s so much easier to be active. If you want to do sports you can just walk outside. Here, you need to take your car ten miles to a gym.”

Read also: "Sweden is a wide-open door"

Soukaina said it was difficult to choose the best part of her experience in Sweden, but that the day she received the Global Swede award was definitely a highlight.

“I had no idea! At my school you don’t apply for the award and nobody talks about it beforehand. It was a very rewarding day.”

As for current SI students studying in Sweden, Soukaina said it’s important to learn Swedish.

“I was so busy with school that I didn’t try to learn Swedish for a long time,” she said. “But it is important. Try to learn Swedish and try to get closer to the Swedish people. Just get closer to Sweden in general – there are only benefits to it.”

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INTERVIEW

‘My song is about resilience’: The Ukrainian in Sweden’s Mello song contest

Maria Sur, 17, arrived in Sweden in March after a journey of hundreds of kilometres through Ukraine and Poland from Zaporizhzhia, her home town. She tells The Local's Yuliia Kyzyk of what she hopes to gain from taking part in the Melodifestivalen song contest.

'My song is about resilience': The Ukrainian in Sweden's Mello song contest

THE LOCAL: After weeks of war, a long journey, and emigration to Sweden, you still found the strength to participate in charity concerts in your first month here in Sweden. Tell us about your journey to Melodifestivalen. 

Maria Sur: The next day after I arrived in Sweden from Ukraine, I started looking for opportunities to work. It was obvious that whining and suffering would not help anyone, so I had to do something that would give me strength and help other people.

Since my passion is singing, I decided to continue working on it. I literally wrote to a lot of popular Swedish singers to find a way of making my dream come true and eventually, one of them helped to take part in my first charity singing festival for Ukraine.

As a result, we collected €8 million to help Ukraine. A few days after the festival, I got spotted by Warner Music Sweden. After a meeting and talk about my goals and skills, we started cooperating with them, and after a few months of hard work, we decided to take part in Melodifestivalen.

Maria Sur had been a participant in Ukraine’s version of The Voice. Photo: Maria Sur
 
Before the start of the Russian invasion, I was already working on a singer career in Ukraine. I took part in national singing competitions, and I was quite successful. It seemed like the best time in my career was approaching. I lived, dreamed, and acted, and then one day someone just came and took it all away. Everything just broke down. And suddenly I found myself in a situation where I needed to start all over again.

Now I live for today. Now I know that no one in the whole world can know what awaits us all tomorrow. Of course, I continue to dream, it helps, but I can no longer plan, or live in illusions. And it’s scary that young people like me think this way. That we live one day at a time.

My first goal at Melodifestivalen is to do a really quality performance that I will be proud of. I want to feel after the performance, “I did everything I could. I did the best I could. It was honest. People felt it.”.

That is more important for me than results. 

Maria Sur on stage in Ukraine’s version of The Voice. Photo: The Voice Ukraine

THE LOCAL: Your song for Melodifestivalen is called “Never give up”. What is the message your song has for listeners?

Maria Sur: “Never give up” is a song about my way, about my personal fight. This is my motto. You have to go forward no matter what. This is about my experience before the war, when I fought for a long time to end up singing on a big stage in Ukraine. And this is about my road now, when despite the war, separation from relatives and home, I still go on. With this message, I want to encourage Ukrainians and everyone in the whole world who needs to know it, to continue fighting on his own path. I don’t want to be pitied or win sympathy. My song is about resilience. My story is sad, but it is about strength.

Maria Sur (centre), surrounded by the team backing her at the Swedish arm of Warner Brothers. Photo: Maria Sur
 

THE LOCAL: Russia’s full-scale invasion caught us Ukrainians sleeping. What were the first weeks of life in the new reality in Ukraine like? And how do you see your journey as a refugee shortly afterwards?

Maria Sur: I remember February 24th clearly. Early in the morning, I had online lessons at school, I was going to go to an English class, and in a few hours it became obvious that the war had started. It was very unexpected for me personally. We hadn’t had any conversations in our family about it before it happened. 

I remember very well how many people I saw panicking, at the same time air raid sirens were sounding continuously and everyone ran to the basement. My family could not believe that all those things were happening. We were convinced that everything would be over in a few days. That is why we didn’t want to leave Ukraine. 

My family always stick together. However, in two weeks it became clear. We must leave my city, Zaporizhzhia. For three days we could not pack for the journey. Whenever we attempted to do it, we sat down and cried. Eventually, Dad stayed at home, and Mom and me were forced to go. 

I remember the train station in my city at that time – huge queues, a lot of people and everyone crying, saying goodbye to each other. The trains were completely packed with children and women. It was impossible to cross the carriage of the train because of the hundreds of people inside.

My city is located in the southeast of Ukraine, so we were evacuated to Poland by travelling almost through the whole of Ukraine. It took a very long time. At the border with Poland, they did not want to let the train pass, because it was completely full of people.

So we were sent back to Lviv, a city in the west of Ukraine. Still, a few days later we got to Poland. Later in March we flew to Sweden to my aunt. 

Maria Sur is interviewed on stage by the Norwegian TV host Fredrik Skavlan. Photo: Zap Group
 

How you have changed in the months that have passed since the war started? 

Maria Sur: I have grown up very quickly. I started to appreciate things that I used to ignore. I started to support my parents and my friends. I look differently at things such as happiness. For instance, I was happy when I got the news that I had been selected for Melodifestivalen. But it was not the same joy as I felt before the war, especially since, five minutes previously, I had talked to my dad, who is now in Ukraine, and told me everything that is happening there now.

Despite everything, we must go on living. If we have this chance to live, we should take everything from it to the maximum. That’s what I’m trying to do, and that’s what I’m singing about.

Today, we must not stop talking about the war in Ukraine, we must continue to organise charity concerts, as well as make music to support people.

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