Viltu Business? Stories from local entrepreneurs
Agnieszka Sokołowska is an entrepreneur, activist, and translator. She has been living in Iceland since 2007. INNOVATION CENTRE ICELAND (Nýsköpunarmiðstöð Íslands) was an independent government organization supporting local entrepreneurship and encouraging innovation through research. Although, it closed in 2021, the website still offers a good deal of useful information in English about starting a business in Iceland.
SELF-EMPLOYED PARENTS
In Iceland, if the parental leave is less than 100%, a parent can work, ensuring that the sum of the earnings from their part-time work and the parental benefits do not exceed the total amount estimated for the parental leave.
C is for Creative
Agnieszka Sokołowska has a long record of developing successful projects. From a popular café in the heart of Reykjavík to a political broadcast, Agnieszka is a strong voice in the debate about the immigrants’ status in Iceland.
Agnieszka Sokołowska moved to Iceland in 2007 and two years later, together with her partner Stanisław, they looked into opening a café. Many commercial premises in downtown Reykjavík were vacant after the financial crisis of 2008. Stanisław was looking for a new job. Agnieszka baked for fun in her free time. The couple found a property at the Óðinstorg square and spent three months refurbishing it while applying for the necessary permits.
Agnieszka was ready to be her own boss. “I have only good memories from that period. It was a great experience.” The couple ran the popular café “C is for Cookie” for three years until they decided to sell it. “It was 2013. Growing tourism and the Airbnb madness drove our neighbours out of their homes, and soon the majority of the customers were tourists. It was good for the business, but the sense of community was gone. We were ready for a change.”
Popular among locals and tourists café C is for Cookie closed in 2019 due to a massive rent increase. Many other bars and venues in Reykjavík met a similar fate in that period.
Photograph: HappyCow.Working as a translator
Agnieszka decided to study Icelandic at the University of Iceland. Alongside, she took a course in Community Interpreting at Mímir that lasted four months. Today, Agnieszka works as a translator and interpreter, but she finds the translating market in Iceland challenging:
“Large companies win most tenders within the public sector, especially translations for education and health services,” explains Agnieszka who had no choice, and just like many freelance interpreters, works as a subcontractor for bigger players. “Competitive tenders are rarely held and in effect, independent translators receive only a share of the original fee which often doesn’t cover commuting time.” This particular form of subcontracting also extends the payout time. “Sometimes you need to wait up to two months for your earnings,” admits Agnieszka.
“Interpreting prices are very low and have not been updated for many years,” says Agnieszka. Yet, she enjoys her work. Before she started working as a professional freelance translator, Agnieszka went to Innovation Centre Iceland for advice. At the consultation, Agnieszka learned more about the general principles of self-employment, VAT, and bookkeeping. The most useful advice Agnieszka took away was to invest in liability insurance, which now protects her from compensation claims.
Working as a freelance interpreter and translator is a side job for Agnieszka, and she does it as a contractor, using her own kennitala number. Her business is exempt from the obligation to register for VAT because she decided to keep the yearly income from her translating and interpreting services below 2,000,000 ISK.
At the moment, Agnieszka is on maternity leave, and she divides her time fifty-fifty between parental leave and contractor work. That way she has more time with her child, as she extended the statutory six-month leave to one year.
Polo Cockta
Agnieszka’s newest project is the political broadcast series Polo Cockta which she launched at Samstöðin, the community television platform in January 2022. At that time, Agnieszka was associated with the Socialist Party, and she started a weekly program in Polish to discuss actual social problems with the Polish community in Iceland. “The topics we touch on are ideological. Polo Cockta was never meant to be a journalistic series. With my guests we talk about current political issues, prejudices, immigration, and nationalist concerns, things that really matter.”
Polo Cokcta started on Samstödin platoform and continued via Facebook stream. An activist, translator, barista trainer, and business owner, Agnieszka also worked for the City of Reykjavík and the City Library in Hafnarfjörður. She is a strong voice in the conversation about immigrant issues and takes part in various debates and conferences. Agnieszka continues her studies, this year she enrolled in the postgraduate course in Globalization and Migration at the University of Iceland, and in the future, she would like to become a certified translator.
“I have many ideas!” says Agnieszka with her unfading enthusiasm.
Learn more about Polo Cockta on Facebook.