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With a focus on craftsmanship, local production and promoting local business, Katarina Holmberg has run Norrtelje Musteri since 2017. Together with her husband Toni, she has built a full-scale micro-must factory that turns Swedish apples into delicious apple juice. In addition to the must, Katarina also produces different kinds of juices, jams and marmalades. Visitors can also bring their own apples to the mustery to have them pressed.
But it was far from obvious that Katarina would become an entrepreneur. For more than 20 years, she worked in local government and the public sector. Slowly but surely, however, the dream of running her own business took over and seven years ago she took the plunge. The interest in artisanal must proved to be great and customers quickly found Norrtelje Musteri.
"I wanted to be in charge of my own time and choose how much I would work. There were a lot of new things to learn and absorb, but it all fell into place during the journey. Today I definitely work more than I did before, but I do it with joy because I get to do what I want."
Founded
2017
Headquarters
Norrtälje, Sweden
Employees
3
For a few years now, Katarina has also been running Norrtelje Lanthandel in an old gas station next to the muster's premises. She sells her own products in the shop and also invites local producers to give them the opportunity to sell their goods. Protecting local businesses is close to Katarina's heart and she wants more people to choose local more often.
"It's hard to make ends meet as a small business owner when you produce something that is also available from a larger producer. But when the larger producer has problems, there is a shortage throughout Sweden. It's important to nurture local traders to ensure that the community stays afloat."
When you work with raw materials with clear seasons , it is natural that the business also becomes seasonal, as is the case for Norrtelje Musteri. There also needs to be enough liquidity to be able to buy and utilize a good batch of apples when the opportunity arises. That's why Katarina turned to Froda.
"Over time, I have realized that it is natural to use financing to balance the company's finances and maintain balance. The biggest advantage of Froda is the simplicity, the speed and the fact that I can arrange the repayment to suit my business. I am more than satisfied."
What does the future hold for Norrtelje Musteri?
Katarina wants to invest in solar panels to power production with solar energy. Otherwise, she is careful to emphasize that the goal is not to scale up to a large-scale muster. Instead, she mainly wants to promote the local business community and get more people to dare to start up in order to develop Campus Roslagen, where the mustard factory and country store are located.
"There are several premises that can certainly be turned around. A pottery workshop, bakery, carpentry or café would give a pulse and create a gathering place for everyone to be in."
About Froda AB
Froda was founded in 2015 with the ambition to redefine business finance by making it more accessible and effective for small businesses. Froda's vision is to empower all small business owners, regardless of background, to realize their business ideas. By combining technological innovation with efficient digital processes, Froda has shortened the loan processing time from months to minutes - creating a financing model that is fast, fair and inclusive. Today, Froda is one of Europe's fastest growing tech companies.
In 2021, Froda launched an embedded finance initiative, through which the company has expanded to the Nordic region, the UK and Germany and entered into partnerships with Visa, Lunar and Checkout.com, among others. As a credit market company, Froda is under the supervision of Finansinspektionen.
