Dr. Rod Berger: The entrepreneurial path is often as unique as the person behind the solo pursuit. Please share your transition from research to Over Easy Solar. 

Trygve Mongstad: I spent many years as a physicist, and about a decade ago, I was more comfortable in a lab with my dreadlocks. The transition wasn’t immediate, but I was drawn to challenges outside my comfort zone. I realized I wanted to do something impactful and saw an opportunity in solar energy that few had explored. The move was driven by a growing confidence and the supportive societal framework in Norway, which encourages taking risks.

Berger: When you were growing up, were you creative? Would you say you had an innovative spirit early on?

Mongstad: Growing up in Norway with educators as parents made my life quite typical. However, even as a child, I was fascinated by innovation. I remember sketching floating wind turbines at the age of ten. While I was a quiet and shy boy, the idea of creating solutions for environmental challenges was always there.

Berger: You have been public about the impact of your time In Malawi on the work you are doing today. How does the Norwegian ecosystem of support compare with your time overseas?

Mongstad: My experience in Malawi was transformative. It’s one of the poorest economies in the world, yet the enthusiasm and positivity of the people is incredible. I learned a lot about happiness and community values, which differ from Norway’s more structured support system.

Berger: Let’s talk about sustainability and its role in your path forward as a company.

Mongstad: Sustainability has been at the core of my mission from the very start. It’s not just about creating a product; it’s about contributing to a better world. In Norway, sustainability is part of the everyday conversation, and I hope to embody it in my company.

Berger: What challenges have been the most daunting for you as a CEO?

Mongstad: Coming from the research sector, understanding the language of investors has been a challenge for me. The financial climate is tough, and while there’s recognition of the need for sustainable solutions, bridging the gap between innovation and investment remains a daily endeavor. I am encouraged, though, by the increased awareness among investors about the long-term benefits of supporting sustainability-focused ventures.

Berger: How have you navigated the pressures of entrepreneurship while maintaining your stated mission?

Mongstad: It’s about perspective. I regularly reflect on our progress, which helps me appreciate the journey. While many might scoff, I enjoy writing monthly investor reports because they allow me to see our tangible progress. It’s a balancing act, but the drive to create meaningful impact keeps me motivated and focused on the bigger picture.

Mongstad’s understated presentation shouldn’t dissuade onlookers from honing in on Over Easy Solar’s rapid ascent. There is a quiet and engaging confidence about Mongstad that reminds us that it isn’t always the bluster of an entrepreneur that reigns supreme but rather the belief in oneself to constantly churn against convention and comfort toward a common goal.

[I have edited and condensed this interview for clarity.]

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.

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However, the rapid increase in EV adoption has presented significant challenges in scaling the electric vehicle charging infrastructure (EVCI) to meet the growing demand. The surge in demand has created a fragmented system that is concerned with the viability of the current power grid. 

A renewed focus on home charging stations has resurfaced following the tumultuous ride of Easee home charging units, a back-on-it’s-feet symbol of Norwegian innovation after a very public game of thrones with European regulators. Like any good competition, lessons have been learned among the splashy headlines across Norway and Europe over the last decade. 

Electrified 

Easee, the innovative Norwegian EV charging company with near-unicorn status, teetered on the fence of bankruptcy following compliance issues in the spring of 2023. Skyrocketing demand for chargers and favorable incentives across the EU had positioned Easee as the pacesetter in an exploding market. But sometimes more innovation and passion is needed to sustain startup dreams slamming against the market realities of compliance, regulatory bodies and competitors waiting for an inevitable slip-up. 

Easee isn’t alone. As tech-driven companies’ offerings continue to outpace 24-hour days, savvy navigation is required to build sustainable companies, regardless of the sector, over time. These challenges of personnel growth and market demand underscore the complex landscape tech companies must navigate to ensure product safety while fostering innovation. 

I wanted to learn more about the robust Nordic sustainability ecosystem firsthand. Oslo Innovation Week, presented by the Oslo Business Region, was the backdrop to an in-depth interview with the co-founder and former CEO of Easee, Jonas Helmikstøl.

Once an ambassador, now a case study

In the heart of Oslo, amidst the historic charm and gentle murmur of bustling streets, Jonas Helmikstøl shared a cautionary tale of overexuberance that took him to the brink. His journey is not unlike many entrepreneurs who identified a market need and unabashedly charged forward. Once hailed as a trailblazer in Norway’s burgeoning energy sector, Helmikstøl’s story is a raw testament to the ebbs and flows of life as an entrepreneur. 

“It’s easier to breathe now,” Helmikstøl begins. “Last year, it was like breathing through a straw. My head felt like it had been put in a microwave oven.” These visceral metaphors encapsulate the physical and emotional strain he endured during Easee’s public crisis that threatened to undo years of hard work. 

Helmikstøl’s journey with Easee was meteoric. From a modest start to being listed among Norway’s richest, he experienced exhilarating highs as the poster child for Norwegian innovation. “I was uncomfortable being listed at the top … almost being seen as a god was difficult.”

The unraveling of Easee was not just a corporate crisis entangled with regulators but a profoundly personal experience for Helmikstøl. As news broke publicly of Easee’s break with Sweden and then a handful of European neighbors in February 2023, Helmikstøl welcomed his second child into the world. “Everything was colliding at the same time. My son was born as my life was unraveling around me.” 

The startup world often celebrates meteoric rises but scowls at sharp descent. Easee, while being the toast of the Nordics, was growing too fast, even outpacing regulators, standards and best practices to date. The rapid rise exposed internal vulnerabilities within Easee. “Growing as fast as we did … it was like I was not in control,” a contrite Helmikstøl shared. In 2022, the company’s expansion from 250 to over 500 employees coincided with personal tragedies, notably the death of his father. 

Caught in the storm of success, potential failure and loss, Helmikstøl turned inward for answers. “I felt like the most terrible person in the world. How could I screw up this badly?” Helmikstøl’s critics cite his very public and defensive stance as part of the Easee story, something he is keenly aware of as he rebuilds himself and his reputation in 2024. “I’ve learned so much through the process of building a company. I’ve been forced to deal with traumas and honestly some unhealthy patterns,” reflects Helmikstøl, his tone laced with gratitude for the lessons gleaned from adversity. 

Helmikstøl’s candid reflections reveal the dark side of entrepreneurial life, where success in a new sector creates opportunities for great success and unfortunate failure. “I was too attached to the company,” he admits. “I was suffocating – I waffled between being Easee myself and Easee being my identity.” The conflation of self with business became an unsustainable burden for Helmikstøl, causing self-reported and pervasive bouts of paralyzing anxiety.

Fast forward to Oslo Innovation Week 2024. Helmikstøl beams with hope for a future centered on being a family man and an innovator. “I’m excited about maintaining my focus on the energy sector in Norway and across Europe while also maintaining balance with myself and my family.” 

Jonas Helmikstøl’s story is not just about the rise and fall of a burgeoning business empire and persona. It is an intimate exploration of resilience, self-discovery and the relentless pursuit of authenticity. His journey is a poignant reminder that riding on a horizon line bridging the past with the future requires a stationary bike approach built on solid ground for the race ahead. 

Like all tech sectors, the ecosystem of climate, energy and sustainability is not immune to the pitfalls of entrepreneurism woven into the fabric of a bustling global economy. The Nordics may be known as self-deferential in personality and promotion, but don’t be fooled. As they collectively stretch their metaphoric arms to the North Pole, they do so with a steely focus on winning the energy game for all of us.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.

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This is a necessary evil when we are all really on a conveyor belt of advancement towards a very unknown and, quite frankly, murky future. The developed world has iterated so often that we have carved the future out of absolutes from a need to reach a final destination without equivocation. 

A dystopian view this is not.

Indeed, many of the voices amplifying the path forward do so through passion projects and years of research fueled by a never-give-up attitude. The future, one might argue, is a lot like our notion of love — a wonderment wrought with the pain of experience and the savvy of repetition over time. We might think that we grasp what the future will look like and how we might partake in the mythical nature of next, but the reality is far less precise than the dreams of tomorrow. For this treacherous narrative, many ought to rethink and reset the value of contributing to our future not by one innovation but rather by the collective voice that shares in the pursuit process and not the result. 

A trip forward 

I am often on the edge of sanity or insanity interviewing notable minds across the globe in search of the story that unlocked their greatness. Sometimes, the tables are turned, and I find myself at the nexus of the story. A recent journey to the Middle East and the United Arab Emirates landed me in the future not as a witness but as a vocal and representative participant. 

A new book published and written by noted futurist and Dubai resident Tariq Qureishy, Voices of the Future, blends a multimedia approach with a nod to traditional books and an embrace of the technology of content weaving audio, video, QR codes, communities and a manuscript through 110 voices worldwide. 

The selected recipients range in age from 7–80 and from dozens of countries, disciplines, ethnicities and political leanings. Qureishy calls it his “kaleidoscope” — an apt term uniting numerous forecasts rooted in disciplines spanning the arts, sciences, medicine, technology, writing and oration for this 21st-century platform of people and ideas. 

A city, a future landscape?

A delicate dance occurs when I visit a new land — one that serves as a series of introductions to her charm and culture and my thirst to compress the getting-to-know-you phase. I want the feeling of knowing a place, the rhythm of her transit, the beat of her city lights and the comfort of feeling like a local — a tall task by any measure, and one that requires patience when time is short.

The future, as they say, is now. 

While being included as a future voice in Qureishy’s latest publication, I glean a look into the future through conversations on the margins. Prior to the book launch event, I crisscrossed Dubai via local transit in search of stories outside the sheen of a newly minted book with crisp pages and wonderous imagery. 

Seven happenstance conversations spanning taxi rides, shade-seeking discussions, seaside chats and shared exploration brought me closer to Dubai.

When I could not see her yesterday… today, she shone brightly.

I learned about life here from Pakistani taxi drivers, discussed a young man’s dreams originating from the Dominican Republic, shared a story or two between a young Ugandan woman and this wilting Mzungu (name for white skin) under the canopy of foliage while gazing at the Persian Gulf and found reality from a Sri Lankan who has worked for 18 years in Dubai to send money back home to his family.

Within the margins of these moments, I stared up at the wonders of the Museum of the Future, walked onto the shore of the Persian Gulf and shared a cigar with a Moroccan who discussed the plight of refugees around the world, the power of free speech and the beauty of taking a chance, one visa application at a time. 

The future isn’t tomorrow or next year for this illuminating cast of characters. Their future is now, and their patience is burning hot under the heat of the Dubai desertscape. 

The main event underscored the power of story through the accomplishments and collective vision of a cohort of futurists I’m proud to be a part of. A night of quilted conversations with leading voices from England, Australia, India, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, the US and so many more. 

The future of hope, medicine, technology, story and sustainability won the evening. The people and personalities brought me closer to the aspirations of Dubai and the region and, ultimately, the shared hope we all have for this very small planet.

I am not sure if I am a voice of the future or if those whom I met today are who gave a vibrant voice to a city, a country and a region I am just getting to know.

A bucket for the future

This journey to Dubai was about the future, the voices of the future and those whose efforts will likely craft our experience and understanding of an ever-changing world. Instead of artificial intelligence leading the charge, this journey represents the people and ideas behind the technology that will eventually author our collective next.

The futuristic excursion across the planet serves as a cultural nightcap for an experience steeped in a brighter and broader horizon. Ideas were summarily challenged, assumptions humbled and the notion of one’s own voice understood.

At the closing event, I met a fabulous woman who may reside a generation north of mine but whose vitality for life rivals more than I can heartily count. She shared something that was a profound first — last year, she completed her bucket list. Over 35 years, she completed 283 items. A story, you may say, with a beginning, middle and an end, yet this powerhouse of a human anxiously wonders, “What’s next?”

As the event descended into the night sky, she asked if I might sign her copy of Voices of the Future. I attempted to sum up my time in Dubai on one simple note:

Dear Michelle,

Thank you for sharing your inspiration. May we share your 284th adventure together.

All the best,

Rod

A woman of powerful stories and adventures ripped from either a spy novel or a National Geographic expose served as my narrative concierge as I put a bow on a wonderful and magical fortnight in Dubai.

The future, for some, has arrived, while for many of us, it remains the carrot to the universe’s stick. The question remains — will we be able to live within the uncertainty as we pursue answers to tomorrow’s questions or find ourselves stuck within the confines of being right? 

There’s a soapbox with my name on it somewhere. 

I, like many of you, wonder when it will be time to turn over the hurt and scars of the past to stand up and join the kaleidoscope of the future. Trust me. From my vantage point, there’s plenty of room on this ever-expanding horizon line or soapbox of our planet’s next. 

The future… awaits!

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.

The post A Trip to Dubai, Future Voices and a Touch of Story appeared first on Fair Observer.

It would be fair to assume that as the child develops, the carrot and stick morph into new motivational structures symbolized by things that spoil, entertain, inform, protect, inspire and delight.

Incentives are embedded in the West as fundamental levers to cajole, influence and persuade communities, families, institutions and the body politic. The current life form is on a ventilator in a proof-of-life scenario where the character isn’t one individual but a tapestry of diverse viewpoints, cultural practices and discourse. 

Incentivizing for self — not others 

To pinpoint where I live would be to locate a red state in the US, previously known for country music and entertainment that has quickly lost its way into a vast and murky retread of history laden with acts of bigotry, ignorance and sheer petulance for anything and anybody different from the then-majority. 

A recent CNN special, “What Happened to Tennessee? The Battle of Blue and Red,” took viewers down the hallways of history to explore the southern state’s path to achieve a supermajority ruled by an uber out-of-your-seat Republican party.

Those concerned that plodding politicians represent the practice of government engaged only when requested haven’t been to Nashville over the last decade. The current leadership of the Tennessee GOP actively constructs legislation not demanded by the communities they serve but by a ragtag group of fear-mongering members seizing an opportunity to exact the powers of a supermajority. Committees have been built, at the hand of Speaker Cameron Sexton, with only one lonely Democrat among Republican peers, resulting in bills that never see the light of day or are whisked through without the whisper of dissent.  

Why would I, for my first Fair Observer column, dare dive into the farce that is Tennessee’s democracy? Because the stranglehold of any one political party suffocates the average voter from the one thing that is self-defining of the Great Experiment that is Democracy — hope. 

Gerrymandering districts confiscates the notion that citizens choose communities and neighborhoods of shared values and community practices. Redistricting says to the average voter that their vote does not count. In 2022, Odessa Kelly ran for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, capturing more than 70% of the vote in Nashville. Kelly did not win. 

Imagine walking the urban neighborhoods of Nashville trying to explain to voters that securing over two-thirds of the local vote resulted in a loss. And, while urban voters are trying to understand the new math of the GOP, the suburbs are being infiltrated by representatives more concerned with radical measures that smack of hypocrisy in the face of a nation that prides itself on the notion of freedom. Let’s not kid ourselves: squeezing your neighbor’s freedom because their values aren’t in line with yours is not representative of democracy. 

Democracy turtling 

The primary incentive structure of democracy to make a difference is facing gale force winds of oppression, stopping at nothing or no one to secure generational control. Gerrymandering, or as I like to call it, a sophisticated form of cheating by culturally unsophisticated adults, has reduced the call to civic duty to an either-or proposition: Either you stand down or risk your safety and your family’s in a state ranked dead last in the Democracy Index. 

It is no wonder why many statewide elections are non-starters from the outset, with many candidates running unopposed. The Democratic party once ruled the Volunteer State. Not anymore. It would be naïve to think the Dems of their day didn’t participate in retail politics and classic good ole’ boy negotiations. Still, the body politic didn’t resemble downtrodden and unrepresented community members waiting for the next injustice to tackle Lady Liberty. Whether it is a current bill to remove basic checks and balances from the legislative process or removing Pride flags from public schools while maintaining protections for the Confederate flag, the shine of Tennessee has patinated. It is on the verge of walking its citizens back through time, passing progress and decency for all into the past, girded by a simple notion that one is better and more worthy than the other.

Maybe I’m a prisoner of the moment, closely tracking the overarching trajectory of the GOP during this presidential campaign. Or perhaps I reside in, arguably, the least democratic state in the US. Either way, I recognize the quiet panic of disassociation from my fellow neighbors. Whether it’s the look of resignation at the grocery store or the lack of adult conversations at a local soccer field, there’s a reluctance to speak up or put out a yard sign that may counter the loudest voices.

I am unsure if Fair Observer found me or if I discovered Fair Observer. The readership thirsts for discourse and unfiltered representation of thought across disciplines, warzones and society. I echo the calls to represent balance, fairness, new opinions, varied opinions and discourse through discussion.

I may not have the background of a former diplomat or intelligence officer, as many of my new colleagues at Fair Observer do. I have had, however, the luxury of traveling worldwide, documenting stories of humanity within a refugee camp in Eastern Africa, surveying historical locations (the baptism site of Jesus in Jordan) and garnering an audience of monumental figures like Pope Francis and leading voices for the United Nations.

If democracy is to survive the winds of authoritarianism, we may need to expand our concept of the kitchen table for one family, into one home. We may want to consider the kitchen table as a metaphor for the world: Unless we invite our planetary citizens to join in active discourse, the global community will starve under the oppressed motivations of a history, sadly, repeated without lesson or favor for the next generation.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.

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