The Adolfsen brothers: Quality shall be our hallmark

Both now live in Oslo, but their upbringing by the sea on Andøya has shaped them. The brothers' life's work, which was founded on Andøya, has today expanded not only to the rest of Norway but also to Sweden, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland.

"We started with nothing but had a lot of good advice and tips from home. Since then, it has slowly but surely grown with businesses in real estate, tourism, hotels, staffing, and healthcare to where we are today," explains Roger.

- Why have you invested in health and care?

"We started in other industries and are still active in many other areas. But why healthcare services? It's a combination of several things, including some coincidences, but we have built up the competence and we want to contribute to better services. As a provider of care and healthcare services, we must demand higher quality than what might be needed in many other industries. We have a much larger goal than creating value for us owners; the business should benefit the whole society. We have skilled and motivated employees who ensure that our customers have a better life every day.

Critics of private entrepreneurs try to say about us that our goal is only to make money, that we want to maximize profit. That is entirely wrong. If the goal was to maximize profit, we would do other things and in a completely different way than we do today. Of course, our goal is also to make money and not lose our investments. But we have a genuine desire to contribute to development and create better services. We shall serve society and contribute to making the welfare state sustainable. We will be of service to the user. Then we must be so good that we are chosen over others," says Kristian, before Roger interjects: "The profit is largely kept in our companies to develop and improve them and to have reserves to cope with hard times. In this way, we can be a safe and solid supplier and employer even in tough periods. In this way, we also contribute to society through service innovation, improvements, and development in the areas where we operate.

Another driving force is that we have personal experience with several of these services. I remember well from when we were small that dad took us to the nursing home at Åse on Andøya every Christmas Eve. We drove an hour each way in all kinds of weather on Christmas Eve for 31 years in a row to visit and have Christmas coffee with the elderly. It made an impression.

"We also have our own children who were once small and who have attended preschool. We have seen what worked well and what could have been better in these service areas, and we want to contribute with both capacity, innovation, development, and increased dignity for the users, or customers, as we often say.

"From the hotel business, we know how important it is that the customer is satisfied, and to provide such good service that the customer chooses us. The same mentality is also important when we operate refugee reception centers, individual and family services, preschools, home services, patient hotels, nursing homes, and the like. Ideally, a resident at a nursing home should feel as if he or she is living at a hotel with four-star service.

- How do you want your care company to be?

"They should provide high-quality services and prioritize users. We want them to continue to develop and therefore focus on the companies being innovative and at the forefront," says Roger.

Kristian compares building a company to raising children: "We feel proud because we are the faces behind the companies. If we deliver services of poor quality, it reflects poorly on us. So we would rather earn a little less and deliver a product we are super proud of. At the same time, we must be profitable, otherwise, it's not sustainable in the long term. The coronavirus crisis has shown that things can change very quickly from profitable to loss-making.

The brothers believe that private owners and employees of private welfare companies are wrongly understood if one thinks it's not possible to be concerned with quality and at the same time be concerned that the company achieves sustainable financial results.

"A bit of a funny story is when we were going to hire Nina Torp Høisæter as director of Norlandia Care in 1997. Then we were part of a reverse interview – we had to sell ourselves to her so she would take the job. She is a nurse with professional pride and wanted to ensure that quality, not money, would be prioritized. We promised her that. We said that if you deliver good quality, you can't avoid making money in the long run.

"And that has been our mantra since; that if you deliver a good product, you earn money in the end and get more sales. Quality has been the cornerstone since we started, and Nina is still central in NHC.

Asked about what drives them, both answer that they love to create and are always building something new.

"We stand for relentless entrepreneurship. We are committed to further building our businesses and creating safe, good, and meaningful workplaces. We like to set goals and work hard to achieve them. It gives tremendous satisfaction," says Roger. Kristian points out that this is like a sport for them, that is, setting tough goals and then working hard to achieve them – just like top athletes put in a tremendous number of training hours to win their medals.

"Money is not a driving force for us. We both love to work and live mostly normally. I was in a coma for four days after a ten-minute cardiac arrest in 2011 and have really experienced and felt that the greatest wealth one has in life is good health, family, and friends. That's the most important thing of all," Kristian asserts.

He is grateful for life and for those who helped him.

"I often think of them, especially during holidays, vacations, and other times when I experience nice things that I appreciate being part of. I can never thank them enough."

Before he jokingly adds: "It was very good that I didn't stay dead because I really didn't have time for that! I still have so much to do."