KAROLI


HINDRIKS FOUNDER & OWNER, JOBBATICAL


A vision for global work, born out of personal entrepreneurship


Karoli Hindriks was born in Estonia and still remembers the Russian tanks leaving her town when she was eight years old. The soldiers left behind a country that was impoverished, but eager for change.


“ During Soviet Union


occupation, no one was allowed to be an entrepreneur. Everybody was


equally poor. Today, Estonia has more unicorn companies per capita than any country in the world,” she says. “But back then, it was a very different country.” In 1994, the last Russian troops


withdrew from Estonia, formally ending the occupation. This marked the conclusion of more than five decades of foreign domination and the beginning of Estonia's journey as a fully sovereign nation. Today, Estonia is a thriving democracy and a member of the European Union and NATO.


KAROLI’S


ENTREPRENEURIAL TURNING POINT A remarkable moment came in Karoli’s life when she was a 16-year- old and had an idea for an invention


6


which won a school competition. She came up with the concept of a reflector for pedestrians and her father urged her to take out a patent for the invention. She


later won a European


competition for her invention and travelled to Hanover to present it to an audience of entrepreneurs. At


just 23, she became the


youngest CEO of MTV in the world, building the brand’s presence in Estonia. Later, she expanded National Geographic and Fox International channels across the Baltics. Yet


despite her growing


professional portfolio, she never forgot the thrill of creating a business of her own. Her turning point came during


her time at Singularity University, a think tank funded by NASA and Google. Immersed in Silicon Valley’s culture of innovation, Karoli asked herself: Why do the world’s brightest minds flock here? Why can’t similar


innovation happen in other parts of the globe?


“During the three months I was


there, I began to ask how one region in the world was creating so many industry-changing companies,” she explains. I realised that people are not born smarter in Silicon Valley, it is that smart people circle


the


globe and move regions to go and build those companies. So I thought we should inspire them to go to places like Tallinn, Stockholm, and Amsterdam as well.”


THE CREATION OF AN INTERNATIONAL JOBS PLATFORM The answer came in the form of Jobbatical, a platform she founded with her younger


brother


to


connect skilled talent with global opportunities. Initially conceived as a way to merge work and exploration, Jobbatical became a cross-border recruitment platform.


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