Highlighted Projects

What happens when 100 hand-picked leaders representing all geographies, sectors, and ages go entirely off the grid with no access to technology to immerse in dialogue about the key global challenges of today? FutureTalks set out to connect engaged leaders who would normally not meet, and foster new partnerships and ventures. The community included globally recognized leaders such as architect Bjarke Ingels, artist Drue Kataoka, Hollywood producer Jonah Nolan, and education leader Ben Nelson. Over 20 new ventures and projects resulted from the expedition.

Global superstar DJ Alan Walker teamed up with the young and rising Saudi talent Zena Emad to create a track that bridged Arabic and Western sounds and cultures. Silje was central to curating the new partnership resulting in a viral hit  - "Land of the Heros". This was the first partnership of its kind, and the feedback from local and global audiences was amazing. As many commented - this was the first time a covered Muslim woman was given a global stage and the project fast became more than music paving the way for Arabic fusion. songs and uniting the world  in turbulent times.

Acceler8 Norway was the first global investor summit in Norway introducing 100 selected Norwegian startups and scale-ups to leading fund managers. It was curated and organized by Silje and made possible through securing solid partnerships with the largest private VC fund globally - Horizons Ventures, an multiple national and global funds including NASDAQ. The 3-day summit included pitch sessions, private meetings for the startups with leading VCs, and a conference were globally leading founders from Horizon's portfolio shared their stories. Participating startups secured millions in funding as a result of the event.

When Silje won Female Entrepreneur of the Year, she put the prize money into developing bSafe. The safety app was designed and developed by Silje and her team and fast became the leading safety app for women globally. By combining everyday features such as "Walk me home" enabling users to have their friends/partners walk with them virtually, with groundbreaking SOS alarms combining alarms alerting the users full network giving them access to a live video stream and GPS feed, the app transformed how mobile phones could be used for safety. The company was successfully acquired in 2016.

Through boutique consultancy company Acceler8, Silje has worked with multiple corporations building new ventures and and services. By using startup methodologies allowing concepts to move fast forward to beta launches and real market testing, she helped curate and design new cultures for innovation in large and traditional corporations. One example was a real estate company were workshops with the C-suite unleashed a desire to develop services that would target the residents of their complexes in their everyday life. Kicking the project off with a Google Design Sprint, it took 50 working days to market launch.

Bipper was Silje's first tech startup built to satisfy the needs she herself felt as a mother for age-appropriate technology and parental control. Launching in 2010, the company established partnerships with leading telecommunication providers offering Bipper as a subscription plan, as well as with other key tech players such as Motorola and Apple. Bipper was the first company of its kind to offer these services and won multiple awards around the world attracting media attention and invitations to speak at global events. Silje was founder, CEO and "Bipper Mom", playing a key role in every part of building and growing the company. 

After co-founding global non-profit World Voices at the age of 19, Silje stood out as a young leader to be reconned with. Her work to connect youth with world leaders and engage them in dialogue and partnerships caught the attention of many leading summits where Silje was invited as a delegate and speaker and to serve on steering groups. Her work gave her a sit around the most important tables at the turn of the millennium, working with people such as President Havel, The Dalai Lama, First Lady Hillary Clinton, President De Klerk, And George Soros. 

The book which became part of the Norwegian curriculum was published in 1998, and brought together youth and recognized global leaders in sharing their dreams, hopes, and fears at the turn of the millennium. The "Tell the World" invitation went out to the global community in 1997 - a time when traditional post was the only way to reach many places - and gathered thousands of contributions where a selection was published. Amongst others, most of the Peace Prize Laureates participated in the project.

Silje was contacted by Jada Pinkett Smith about bSafe shortly after she relocated to Silicon Valley. The Smith family was impressed by the app and understood what it could accomplish, and worked with Silje to raise awareness about it and secure partnerships with Gucci and the "Chime for Change" campaign. The Smith family invested in bSafe and played an important part in the journey building the brand in the US specifically. 

Bipper was established as a social impact company, and for Silje it was important to not only create impact through the product provided but also through engagement in society. One of the projects she helped grow to do just this was Karanba - a soccer club for kids growing up in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. To stay on the team the players had to commit to three things: (1) Go to school, (2) No drugs, and (3) no crime. In 2011 Karanba won the largest soccer tournament for youth in the world wearing Bipper on their chests, and the success of Karanba has proven how soccer can be the turning point for people lifting them out of poverty.