Finn Arild Thordarson, General Manager at Supervisuell

Supervisuell was originally founded to be a media company, specializing in sign language production in combination with other media services. The company primarily delivered products in the B2B sector, meaning other film companies, as well as production, design, and print services to other businesses. The company is run by and exclusively employs deaf or hard of hearing people, except for interpreters and occasional contracts. 

Since its founding in 2015, Supervisuell has grown to become a conglomerate that encompasses four other companies. Supervisuell is the parent company, while the other four subsidiaries are NTS Bygg (a construction company), NTS Rørservice (plumbing services), NTS Kompetanse (a consulting company that focuses on education and projects within social innovation), and Tegn.TV (an online channel that produces and distributes content in sign language). 

Supervisuell’s original goal was to create workplaces and possibilities for their employees, that they had otherwise been excluded from in the past. Even with an education, deaf people are still prevented from getting hired at hearing workplaces. However, after a few years, it became apparent that the product of Supervisuell’s work was social entrepreneurship. In fact, Supervisuell was doing something that had never been seen before. Purely by existing, they were breaking a glass ceiling that deaf people have been struggling against their whole lives. 

Supervisuell was never designed to receive public funding, and in the early years there was no support sought out, either through social incubators or public funding programs. Later on, it became apparent that the local community of Sandefjord and Vestfold has a strong social innovation and entrepreneurship environment, and that the municipality provided a healthy environment for startups and social entrepreneurs. Today Supervisuell, and especially its subsidiary NTS Kompetanse, has an established connection to the public funding system, and projects related to immigration and integration into work for deaf immigrants are supported by both IMDI (Norwegian Directorate of Integration and Diversity) and Sandefjord municipality. 

In addition, Finn Arild mentions Stiftelsen Dam (The Dam Foundation) as an important contributor. They have funded several projects and have been important in shaping how Supervisuell and its subsidiary companies operate. 

Employees at Supervisuell experience professional freedom and feel like equals in their professional lives. This inclusion is effectively impossible for a deaf person to experience at a “regular” workplace. Now, Supervisuell can provide opportunities for more deaf people, who otherwise would not get a chance to truly use their education or talents.