Radisson Blu Hotel, Malmo receives Entrepreneurial Prize for Diversity

Radisson Blu Hotel, Malmo has won the Malmo City Entrepreneurial Prize for Diversity, awarded at the Malmo Business Gala and presented in front of 1500 important guests at Malmo Opera.

The Malmo Business Gala is an annual event that features an awards ceremony for seven different business catagories. The 2012 event was held in front of sold-out crowd. This is the second consecutive year that the Radisson Blu hotel in Malmo was nominated, but the first time that it took the prize.

Malmo is a very internartional city, with people from 164 different nations working and living there. Every fourth resident of Malmo was born outwith Swedens borders. With this award, the City of Malmo recognises and rewards companies that take advantage of the opportunities offered to Malmo's ethnic diversity.

Radisson Blu's Managing Director, John F. Monhardt, was proud, but very humble when he accepted the award. He said:

"Actually I have not done anything particularly spectacular. For me it is obvious that there are many different ways to work with diversity"

The jury disussed their motivation, saying: "When you have a product that sells almost anywhere in the world, there are many different perspectives to look at. Not least because when you start up an organisation in Malmo, nations from all over the world are represented here. For this year's winner, there is room for diversity!"

Other finalists in the category were IKEA and Örestads bevakning.

In December 2011, the CEO of Radisson Blu Hotels won another award for its work for diversity in Malmo. John F. Monthardt has been praised for initiatiing a collaboration between the hotel industry and the city of Malmö employment service 'Sweden for Immigrants' and 'The Hotel & Restaurant school' by starting up the project 'Talent Hunt'. The project gives newcomers the opportunity to gain Swedish work experience whilst trying to gain employment in the Malmo accommodation industry. The Radisson Blu Hotel Malmo participated in the project which lead to eight of the nineteen participants securing employment after six months.

The prize money will be used to purchase ten laptops to be donated to Rosengård School, a school where most of the students come from abroad.