How a Swedish ex-banker ended up selling sustainable paints in Hong Kong
Joakim Cimmerbeck, an ex-banker and the founder of Eicó, an eco-friendly paint company, on why using an environmental-friendly paint is a no-brainer
My parents were both chefs. They worked together in a few restaurants and briefly ran one, but soon found that restaurant work doesn’t fit well with family life. They had me young – my mum was 17 and my dad was 19. I was born in 1964, the eldest of five brothers; the youngest was adopted. We lived in a few towns on the southern coast of Sweden – Simrishamn and Landskrona – and my formative years were spent in Hörby, in (Skåne), the southernmost county in Sweden.
Success and failure
My mum’s family is very arty and so was my dad. They had a vision that I should play music and get into the arts. I played all the instruments – piano, guitar, flute, violin, the works – but I wasn’t very good and couldn’t read music. I preferred sport. My brother closest to me in age works in the arts; he’s a photographer, so he succeeded. I’m the failure in terms of my family’s values because I went into finance.
Barmy army
What (not) to wear to an interview?
I applied to study history at university and got a summer job with the local council doing gardening. One of my dad’s friends worked at the Post and Credit Bank. He’d found someone to fill a vacancy at the bank, but HR demanded that at least two candidates apply for the position, so he asked if I’d apply just to meet the requirement. I didn’t care about getting the job. I was only doing the interview as a favour to my dad, so I went along in my gardening overalls. To my shock, I was offered the job. I found out later the person who was targeted for the job didn’t take it because he got a better offer.
