Marthe Kilen is a rural woman. She lives on the rural Fosen peninsula, and works in Rissa, a Norwegian town of just over 6000 inhabitants. She participates in the Living Lab of the GRASS CEILING project, as one of the innovative rural women in the agricultural sector and in food production.
As she defines herself, “I am a cook, baker and pastry chef by training, and I don’t know how to do anything else… but I do this very well”, although she is now also a pastry judge on a well-known Norwegian television program from the NRK Channel.
Last year she had to disappear, literally from her village, for six weeks to focus on filming the first season of a television program that has made her very well known in Norway. This spring, she will be filming season two of the baking show. But let’s not forget that she is a rural entrepreneur, owning and operating a small business, working with a small staff and living in a small town.
This time her going away for filming and appearing on TV will not come as much of a surprise. In fact, she is already training the workers of her business, Fru Nelik (Missis Nelik) to be able to operate the business during the two months that the new shooting will last.
It’s not easy for a rural entrepreneur to get ahead by managing a business, controlling purchases, maintaining equipment, designing new products, selling and distributing those products, and now… being a judge on a TV show. Teamwork is key for her, and she relies heavily on both her board of directors and the skills of her employees.
Each one of them is now receiving instructions to be able to undertake specific responsibilities, so that it will not be necessary that everything has to go through her. Starting in April, she will be filming in the TV studio. The brand new ice cream she is launching for summer has to be tested and ready before she leaves, and the warehouse has to be stocked with products. Her small business produces for other suppliers who buy cakes and products from her and sell them in their stores. She also stocks a self-service Fru Nelik pastry store in downtown Rissa.
It is clear to Marthe that innovation is about exploring new opportunities and appreciating the effects that new challenges bring. That is why this year, she will continue to attend the biggest event for locally produced Norwegian food, the Trondelag Food Festival.She is committed to training and knowledge as a way, not only to learn, but also to obtain tools that will allow her to continue to open up avenues of expansion and growth that will benefit her business and, with it, her employees and her people.
