Author and speaker
Nicolai Prydz
Nicolai Prydz is an economics graduate from the University of St Andrews and has been an entrepreneur throughout his career. For 11 years he led CoTech and Deltager/Participant, where DNB was the largest shareholder and most important partner.
In 2011 he founded Partnership for Change together with Formuesforvaltning and the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, an arena for social innovation and corporate responsibility with annual conferences at the Opera House. In 2012 he established the Aung San Suu Kyi World Freedom Fund, with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate as president.
He wrote the book Startup-Helvete in 2020, which received excellent reviews. After the military coup in Myanmar in 2021 he became an adviser to the telecom minister in Myanmar’s elected government in exile, the NUG, and worked to stop the sale of Telenor Myanmar. Forrådt av Norge is his second book. Both books are written in Norwegian.
Partnership for Change
Social innovation at the Opera
In 2011 Nicolai Prydz founded Partnership for Change together with Formuesforvaltning and the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet: an arena for social innovation and corporate responsibility, with annual conferences at the Oslo Opera House.
It was through Partnership for Change that the Aung San Suu Kyi World Freedom Fund was established in 2012.
Myanmar 2011–2013
The journeys that became a book
Together with former Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, Nicolai Prydz met Aung San Suu Kyi at her home in Yangon, the leaders of the 88 Generation and President Thein Sein in Naypyidaw. The meetings marked the start of friendships, a fund in Suu Kyi’s name, and eventually the book Forrådt av Norge («Betrayed by Norway»).
Aung San Suu Kyi World Freedom Fund
A fund for freedom
In 2012 Nicolai Prydz, through Partnership for Change, initiated the Aung San Suu Kyi World Freedom Fund, with Suu Kyi as president and Kjell Magne Bondevik, Thorvald Stoltenberg and Erik Solheim on the board. The fund received NOK 10 million in start-up capital from the Swedish Postcode Foundation.
Today the fund is called PfC Fund and operates outside Myanmar. Nicolai Prydz and Stian Rustad are now working to relaunch the World Freedom Fund, in honour of the democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
In the debate
Articles by Nicolai Prydz
Since the 2021 coup, Nicolai Prydz has written a series of opinion pieces in Norwegian media about Telenor and the Norwegian state’s role in Myanmar. A selection (in Norwegian):
«Regjeringen bør utøve aktivt eierskap i Telenor» (The government should exercise active ownership of Telenor) · VG, August 2021
«Myanmars Zelenskyj sviktet av Telenor og Norge» (Myanmar’s Zelensky failed by Telenor and Norway) · Nettavisen, March 2022
«Sannheten måtte smugles ut av Myanmar» (The truth had to be smuggled out of Myanmar) · Panorama nyheter, June 2026
«Statsrådene må etterforskes i Telenor-saken» (The ministers must be investigated in the Telenor case) · iNyheter, September 2026