It's not shadenfreude that can be read between the lines when Halla Tomasdottir talks about Iceland's financial crisis and her country's bankruptcy, but there may be a bit of satisfaction. "A lot had gone wrong, some things didn't make sense and it couldn't go on that way," the economist says. "We warned it would happen."

Halla was general director of the chamber of commerce when she issued those warnings, but nobody wanted to listen to her advice. She then parted ways and started her own company together with banker Kristin Petursdottir. Kristin had been a manager at the British subsidiary of the crisis-stricken Icelandic bank Kaupthing. Together, Halla and Kristin formed Audur Capital, a financial and investment company that would take a new path. They established it almost two years ago to the date. Today, Audur Capital is one of the few firms in the Icelandic finance sector that is actually turning a profit -- perhaps the only one, though no one dares to say exactly. The company is growing, with 22 employees already. "We're still hiring," says a proud Halla Tomasdottir. The company currently has around 15 million Icelandic krona (around