Hestra Inredningar has supported Erikshjälpen since 2015. Every year, the small country company helps to strengthen girls' rights in Uganda.
A history of craftsmanship and development
The story of Hestra Inredningar began back in 1900, when cabinetmaker Natanael Petersson founded N. Peterssons Mekaniska Snickerifabrik in Hestra, Småland. Since then, the family business has grown and developed with the times and is now run by the fourth generation of Peterssons. A Corporate in shopfitting that, despite its growth, works closely with the customer - from idea and layout to construction and assembly.
Today, the company has operations not only in Hestra, but also in Solna, Dröbak (Norway), Lahti (Finland) and Vejle (Denmark).
Johan Petersson, CEO and co-owner of Hestra Inredningar
Johan Petersson, CEO and co-owner of Hestra Inredningar
We think it's important to contribute to something that concretely helps other people and where we know that the money really arrives. Erikshjälpen is also a local organization and the Småland connection means a lot.
Focus on girls' rights
Hestra Inredningar has supported local associations and youth activities for several years. In 2015, the company looked for a partner to support international aid work - Erikshjälpen became the tool. Since then, it has it has become several significant interventions and today the money goes to a school project at Buliisa Lake in Uganda that works for girls' rights and is run by Erikshjälpen's partner organization LACWADO.
- We are very happy to be able to support the project in Uganda. It is a poor country where it is not obvious to go to school, especially not for girls, and then it feels extra important to be able to contribute.
Second Hand gives new life to home furnishings
In 2024, Hestra Inredningar has started a new and exciting collaboration with Erikshjälpen Second Hand. Furnishings that are left over for various reasons are donated to Erikshjälpen, which in turn uses them in its stores around the country. Sometimes lighting, sofas, chairs and other items are also donated for Erikshjälpen to sell in its stores.
- "Although we always work to minimize overproduction, there are times when things are left over," says Johan Petersson. "Our customers often buy large volumes and sometimes the order changes. Then we got the idea that the material could be used in Erikshjälpen's stores. We see this circulation as an important part of our sustainability work.
Sustainability work that permeates the entire business. Hestra Inredningar is 85 percent self-sufficient in energy and the company is environmentally certified according to ISO 14001. The premises are heated with waste heat from a neighboring company and there are solar cells on the roof. The company is also part owner of wind turbines for the production of green electricity. In other words, a Corporate that Erikshjälpen is proud to call its partner.
The electricity company Bixia is a long-standing corporate partner of Erikshjälpen. Money from Bixia's environmental fund contributes to clean water and electricity in villages in Bangladesh and Ethiopia. "We want to drive development for a more sustainable future. That's why our collaboration with Erikshjälpen is very valuable to us," says Peter Janefjord, Marketing Manager at Bixia.
Bixia is owned by several regional energy companies and works actively to contribute to sustainable change in energy production. Through Bixia's Environmental Fund, where the electricity company sets aside a few Swedish kronor (SEK) per customer each month, between 1-1.5 million Swedish kronor (SEK) is generated annually. Money that goes to support projects that lead to more renewable electricity.
interventions Bixia supports
Through the fund, Bixia supports, among other things, Erikshjälpen's work for children's rights in the Jamuna Delta in Bangladesh. Here they have financed solar panels on school roofs - which not only provide electricity but also new future opportunities for children and young people who can now attend secondary school instead of starting work or being married off.
Amazing to see the difference relatively small interventions can make to the lives of children
- It's amazing to see what a difference relatively small interventions can make to the lives of children. In one year alone, our environmental fund has contributed to solar panels in 30 schools, providing them with lighting and enabling the most inaccessible schools to receive education via digital screens," says Peter Janefjord, Marketing Manager at Bixia.
Drilling a well in Ethiopia
Going forward, Bixia will continue to support the work in Bangladesh but also interventions to provide water to a village in Ethiopia. By drilling a well and equipping it with a solar-powered pump, 500 people can get water. This will allow more children, especially girls, to attend school without having to walk for hours every morning and evening to fetch water.
- We at Bixia want to drive development for a sustainable future and therefore our collaboration with Erikshjälpen is very valuable both for us and for the children who receive help. Through the purchase, installation and maintenance of solar energy plants for electricity production, Erikshjälpen creates the conditions for education, health care, improved living conditions and sustainable social development. This creates a difference for children and families in vulnerable areas while increasing the amount of renewable and locally produced electricity, says Peter Janefjord.
Author: Patricia Franzén
If you can help, you should always help. This is the opinion of Elin Ginal, founder of Grafitgrå and Corporate Friend of Erikshjälpen, who also chooses to sell the candle lantern Hopp for the benefit of the project Flickor utan brudpris. "It feels very fun to enter into a long-term collaboration as we are now doing with Erikshjälpen."
Grafitgrå is an experience shop stationed in an old forge in the community of Kaxholmen just north of Jönköping. Elin Ginal started the company in 2012 as a way to combine her great interest in interior design and creation, but also as a way to create a genuine place for meetings and experiences. Today, the old blacksmith's shop houses both an interior design and fashion shop as well as kafé.
- With Grafitgrå, we want to help make the world a better place and we know that this place has meant a lot to those who have visited us over the years. But it also feels incredibly important to give back with what we do financially. If you can help, you should always help, whether it is with small or large funds," says Elin Ginal.
We want to make the world a better place
As a Corporate Friend, Grafitgrå has chosen to provide annual support to Erikshjälpen's work to strengthen girls' rights in Karamoja in East Africa, a region where one in three girls is married off before the age of 18. Here, Erikshjälpen works together with local partner organisations in the Girls Without Brides project to get more girls to go to school and to break negative traditions.
- "It was important for us to be specific in our giving. This will be something that we can follow together and it will be exciting to see the results of the work we are supporting.
Product cooperation
As part of the collaboration with Erikshjälpen, Grafitgrå has also chosen to sell its Hopp lantern to benefit the project. Five Swedish kronor (SEK) from each lantern sold goes directly to the work in Karamoja.
- "We are so happy that we can be involved in giving girls hope for a brighter future. There is added value for both the customer and the product, that it contributes to something more when you buy it.
Elin Ginal also hopes and believes that the collaboration will provide added value for the employees.
- "In a long-term partnership like this, I think it will be easier for the staff to develop a relationship with what they are supporting, and that in itself creates greater commitment than if they give one-off gifts.
When a company's results improve, there is an opportunity for greater commitment. That's what Ulf Lindström, CEO of Lindströms Bil, thinks. As a Corporate Partner of Erikshjälpen, Lindströms Bil supports a well project in Ethiopia, which gives more people access to clean water and better health.
Lindströms Bil has been around for over 50 years and works with car sales and services. The company is located in six different places in western Sweden and the Jönköping area. Since 2018, Lindströms Bil has been a corporate partner of Erikshjälpen.
- "It's great fun and inspiring to develop a Corporate. Then we have to make money on what we do, we have to do that. But there are other purposes for running Corporate too," says Ulf Lindström.
There are other purposes to running Corporate than making money
He says that the company works long-term and thinks sustainability at all levels. He sees the fact that Lindström's car can be an influencer that helps to change the world for the better as positive and very important.
- "We think it's absolutely the right way to go. There are huge needs in the world and many organisations doing good things. We support several good interventions and we are interested and want to be involved in how it goes.
Adding value to employees
The fact that Lindström's car is involved in, for example, enabling well drilling in poor villages in Ethiopia is something that is well received by both customers and staff.
- An employee I met the other day said "This is one reason why I want to work for you". It's proof that what we do is right," says Ulf Lindström.
Related
The electricity company Bixia is a long-standing corporate partner of Erikshjälpen. Money from Bixia's environmental fund contributes to clean water and electricity in villages in Bangladesh and Ethiopia. "We want to drive development for a more sustainable future. That's why our collaboration with Erikshjälpen is very valuable to us," says Peter Janefjord, Marketing Manager at Bixia.
Bixia is owned by several regional energy companies and works actively to contribute to sustainable change in energy production. Through Bixia's Environmental Fund, where the electricity company sets aside a few Swedish kronor (SEK) per customer each month, between 1-1.5 million Swedish kronor (SEK) is generated annually. Money that goes to support projects that lead to more renewable electricity.
interventions Bixia supports
Through the fund, Bixia supports, among other things, Erikshjälpen's work for children's rights in the Jamuna Delta in Bangladesh. Here they have financed solar panels on school roofs - which not only provide electricity but also new future opportunities for children and young people who can now attend secondary school instead of starting work or being married off.
Amazing to see the difference relatively small interventions can make to the lives of children
- It's amazing to see what a difference relatively small interventions can make to the lives of children. In one year alone, our environmental fund has contributed to solar panels in 30 schools, providing them with lighting and enabling the most inaccessible schools to receive education via digital screens," says Peter Janefjord, Marketing Manager at Bixia.
Drilling a well in Ethiopia
Going forward, Bixia will continue to support the work in Bangladesh but also interventions to provide water to a village in Ethiopia. By drilling a well and equipping it with a solar-powered pump, 500 people can get water. This will allow more children, especially girls, to attend school without having to walk for hours every morning and evening to fetch water.
- We at Bixia want to drive development for a sustainable future and therefore our collaboration with Erikshjälpen is very valuable both for us and for the children who receive help. Through the purchase, installation and maintenance of solar energy plants for electricity production, Erikshjälpen creates the conditions for education, health care, improved living conditions and sustainable social development. This creates a difference for children and families in vulnerable areas while increasing the amount of renewable and locally produced electricity, says Peter Janefjord.
Author: Patricia Franzén
Listening 