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1:58 – Founding SWESA
3:45 – Being a “working president”
5:00 – Taxes, talent and funding
13:33 – Misconceptions regarding Swiss politics
23:20 – What’s the difference between the SSA and SWESA?
Simon Enderli is the CEO of the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation (SEF) and President of the Swiss Entrepreneurs & Startup Association (SWESA). Before joining the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation as Deputy CEO in 2019, Simon spent 8 years at PostFinance, the financial services unit of the Swiss postal service. In 2020, he took over the CEO position at the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation from his predecessor, Peter Stähli. Shortly after, SWESA was established to work more closely with national parliamentarians and represent Swiss startups in the political decision-making process. Simon was nominated as the association’s first president and within only one year, the organization was well on track to launch its first political initiative: a startup visa to facilitate the access to talent from countries outside the Schengen Area for Swiss startups. Simon holds a degree in Business Administration from the Berner Fachhochschule.
“Don’t romanticize the word “president” — what it actually entails is a whole lot of work.”
“I actually do think there are plenty of ideas in Switzerland. Our true weakness is knowing how to commercialize those ideas.”
If you would like to listen to more Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation co-productions, check out our conversations with Michele Matt, Roxana Porada, Hanspeter Fässler and Karim Maizar.
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