Daniel Vaknine and Måns Skogman founded the whistleblowing service Visslan with a vision of making whistleblowing safe, simple, and transparent. The two founders have now been awarded the 2021 Göran Bredinger Scholarship, which is presented in collaboration with Forum for Social Innovation Sweden Malmö University.
Visslan was created in response to the new whistleblower law that takes effect in Sweden on December 17.
“With Visslan, we want to foster an open culture and encourage and facilitate whistleblowing in the workplace. Whistleblowing isn’t just a legal requirement; it holds great potential, as employers and companies can use reports of misconduct to improve their work culture and operations,” says Daniel Vaknine.
A social innovation that’s right on trend
In April, Daniel Vaknine and Måns Skogman began work on creating a web-based whistleblower service, and over the summer they founded the company Visslan. Visslan is perfectly timed. On September 29, the Swedish Parliament passed a new law on the protection of individuals who report misconduct. This protection means that individuals who report suspected violations are shielded from various forms of retaliation. The new law will provide protection for more people, lower the threshold for receiving protection, and replace the current whistleblower law. The law requires companies with more than 50 employees to have a whistleblower service or a reporting channel for misconduct. The reason for the new law is that the current Whistleblower Act does not comply with the EU directive that must be implemented in Sweden by December at the latest.
Complex new law requires information and training
However, the new law is complex and difficult to interpret. The EU directive on which the law is based is very detailed and complex, and consequently, so is the law itself. In addition, there are overlapping legal frameworks—such as the Swedish Constitution—that make its application complicated. This means that information and training become a key issue.
User-friendly and secure digital service
Visslan is user-friendly and secure, and complies with the requirements set forth in the EU Directive and the new Whistleblower Act. The digital service allows whistleblowers to report cases anonymously; the technology is based on secure encryption and penetration testing, which ensures confidentiality and the secure handling of personal data. But Visslan is not just a platform for reporting and case management; it is also intended to be a resource center for policy issues related to whistleblowing. Through Visslan, employers and employees will be able to find out what the rules are.
“We gather insights from experts in a range of fields, such as whistleblowing, bribery, corruption, business ethics, and business law,” says Måns Skogman.
The scholarship provides valuable mentorship and networking opportunities
Daniel Vaknine and Måns Skogman have been awarded the 2021 Göran Bredinger Scholarship for Visslan. The grant amounts to 50,000 Swedish kronor, and Göran Bredinger, CEO of the Dieden Group, will serve as a mentor, providing support through his extensive network of contacts and offering guidance based on his long experience and deep knowledge of business development and entrepreneurship. Forum for Social Innovation Sweden, at Malmö University, contributes its network of contacts across various sectors and expertise in the field of social innovation.
“We applied for the scholarship because we’re interested in the mentorship. Göran Bredinger has already been down the path we want to take, and we look forward to learning from him,” says Daniel Vaknine.
The jury's statement for 2021:
This year’s scholarship recipients, Daniel Vaknine and Måns Skogman, have developed the digital whistleblowing system Visslan, which is user-friendly and secure and meets the requirements set forth in the EU Directive and the new Whistleblower Act, which takes effect on December 17, 2021. Visslan has already signed its first clients, and the goal is to launch the system on the market immediately. Visslan is a platform for reporting and managing whistleblowing while simultaneously gathering, developing, and sharing knowledge in the field. The founders also aim to develop Visslan into a resource center for policy issues related to whistleblowing, thereby contributing to cultural and systemic change.