PEOPLE >
UP&DOWN
Written by: Monika Mudranincová

PEOPLE UP

Photo: Petr Poliak		Karla Stephens According to the CEO of Oskar, the mobile operator made a profit of CZK 650 million last year. Oskar's customer base increased from CZK 0.9 million to 1.18 million, and revenues increased from CZK 4.8 billion in 2001 to 7.4 billion in 2002.
Photo: Vlad. Weiss		Ivo Lukačovič The founder of the most visited Czech portal, Seznam.cz, entered print media with Sreality, a monthly complement to the real estate server. With 162,000 visitors in February 2003, Sreality was the most visited real estate server on the Czech internet.
Photo: Petr Poliak		Alexis Juan According to the CEO of Komerční banka, the bank's profit last year of CZK 9.2 billion is a record high for a domestic company by Czech standards. By international standards, the profit was half a billion lower. Nevertheless, Komerční banka overtook its competitors Česká spořitelna and ČSOB.

PEOPLE DOWN

Photo: Jan Mihalíček		Dalibor Zelený The general director of České dráhy, who failed to resolve the railway's billion-crown deficit last year, was called off his post by the firm's board of directors. Minister of transportation Šimonovský said that Zelený was incapable of managing the revision of České dráhy from state to a stock company.
Photo: Vojtěch Vlk		Radovan Vávra The man who calls himself the best banker in the Czech Republic was removed from the post of Union banka's general manager. After a career boost as the head of Komerční banka, he had to oversee the closing of a collapsing Union banka.
Photo: ČTK		Vlastimil Argman Thun-Karlovarský porcelán, the biggest domestic producer of porcelain, lost CZK 22 million last year, while in 2001 the company ended with profit of CZK 300,000. The company's head attributes the loss to a strong crown, fewer tourists (due to the floods), and lower global demand for porcelain.

Photo: Tomáš Kubeš

David Čížek: How do you spell "success"?
DAVID ČÍŽEK (34), the executive director of DCCI, bet his business on providing mobile communications services that the large operators shun. He offers standardized SMS services and is now enjoying a great boom, thanks to the opening of a paid portal through which one can send SMS messages via the internet to the networks of all operators without limit. "We took advantage of a situation when at the end of last year T-Mobile terminated free SMS messages via the Internet and we launched our service," Čížek exults. There is huge interest, and we had 10,000 newly registered clients in March."
This enthusiastic SMS message promoter had to try several fields before discovering that mobile communications was the right place for him. He served as an officer at a publishing house, then became a furniture designer, then a chewing gum salesman, and then an executive of AMI, a consulting firm. The informed public remembers him as the creator of an independent audit of web site hits, which he conducted in 1998 as the founder of DCCI. Besides the newly opened portal, his company can also boast of services that allow simply configurable responses or the regular transfer of information via SMS messages, which are popular among corporate and individual clients alike. The company also provides mobile entertainment services for the television stations Nova and Prima, SMS contests for ČEZ, and the information system for the Invex trade fair. But Čížek is always thinking ahead. "I'm interested in wireless connections, and I would like to devote more time to this in the future," he says, outlining his vision, adding that at the moment his dream is to leave Prague for at least a while, surfing in Hawaii instead of on the internet.

	Photo: Tomáš Kubes

Lucie Pilipová: A life of fulfilled ambitions
LUCIE PILIPOVÁ (34) is a woman who has accomplished much during her short career: she was a correspondent for Spanish radio and television stations; from 1992 to 1994 she was spokeswoman for the foreign affairs ministry; and until 1998 she was the executive director of the Bohemiae Foundation. Five years ago she used her rich diplomatic experience in establishing the firm Via Perfecta, which specializes in the organization of VIP events. "Our competition advantage is a perfect knowledge of protocol and etiquette," says Pilipová, adding that their experts teach this subject at the foreign affairs ministry's Academy for Diplomats. Despite of the fact that she is now a well-established professional, her entry into the business world five years ago was not easy. She had to face suspicions arising about conflict of interests, because she is married to an influential Czech politician - Ivan Pilip, vice-chairman of US-DEU.
"The first year was hard. We had to prove that no one treated us favorably because of my husband," she recalls. She can now boast that Via Perfecta and its subsidiary catering company, Millennium, which was founded two years later, have taken part in such events as the conference accompanying the NATO summit and the communications campaign for the European Commission. She is currently organizing a meeting of 150 top managers of SAB Miller, the South African brewer that owns Pilsner Urquell, to be held this April in Prague.
As her partner Johana Dvořáková says, Lucie Pilipová (who is also raising three children) can't stand being idle. Every two years she comes up with new business ideas: this time she is betting on real estate sales. Her new company, Mediterranea Real Estate, has just begun mediating the purchase of real estate for Czechs on the Spanish coast. "In the west this is a huge business, and I believe that even here there are lots of clients who will avail themselves of our services," she predicts optimistically.