UP&DOWN

Written by: Monika Mudranincová

PEOPLE UP

Photo: Ivan Malý		Petr Šmída The former general manager of GE Capital Bank CR was named the new director of quality of GE Consumer Finance in the company’s US headquarters (Stamford). He is not only the first Czech, but also the first European, in the top management of GE Consumer Finance.
Photo: ČTK		Dominik Hašek Four hockey players from the Detroit Red Wings, led by Dominik Hašek, brought the Stanley cup to the ČR. Proceeds from the celebration (millions of Czech crowns) will be donated to Czech TV’s People in Need foundation, to be used for flood victims.
Photo: Archiv		Jan Mühlfeit Jan Mühlfeit was recently appointed vice-president of Microsoft for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Mühlfeit started his career in 1993 as a marketing manager in the Czech branch, and now enjoys a position never before reached by an east European manager.

PEOPLE DOWN

Photo: ČTK		Jan Gottvald The entrepreneur and former vice-chairman of the Czech-Moravian Soccer Union is facing up to 12 years in prison for having committed four serious criminal offences, allegedly causing damage of more than CZK 400 million. The former “Number Two” of Czech soccer is being prosecuted at large on CZK 20 million bail.
Photo: ČTK		Alexej Babiš The head of Agrofert announced that he does not want to buy Unipetrol under current conditions, but the government is not willing to bargain further. If Agrofert does not pay the agreed CZK 11.7 billion by the end of this year, the contract will be voided.
Photo: Týden		Jiří Balvín The general director of Czech TV, whose position is still in doubt, is facing yet another criticism. While his employees cut their vacation time short to ensure emergency broadcasting during the floods, Balvín chose not to interrupt his holidays in Croatia.

Photo: Petr Poliak

Jiří Antoš: Succeeding in spite of fate
THE MID-SIZED eastern Bohemian furniture maker TR Antoš, which repairs old furniture and produces replicas from solid wood, has become one of the most successful Czech exhibitors abroad in the last five years. Its products, and the work of its wood carvers, have been repeatedly broadcast on German television, and since 1997, the company has continually occupied an even bigger and more prestigious area on the trade fair floor – specifically, at the largest furniture trade fair in Cologne.
In the beginning, there was an ingenuous idea. Jiří Antoš (42), a cabinet maker with many years experience, former employee of Umělecká řemesla Praha (Arts and Crafts Prague) and current owner of TR Antoš, staked everything on the interest of foreign traders in Czech rural furniture from the beginning of the 20th century, and began to repair and sell it. But his initial success was forcibly interrupted by a car accident that made him incapable of working for almost two years. “In one second my life changed. The change of regime happened while I was in a rehabilitation institute in Kladruby. It was very hard on me, seeing everything outside the capital developing while I was confined to a bed,” he recalls.
It was probably due to his determination not to give up that he was able to overcome his unfavorable fate, and at the present time, this employer of 150 people can boast that 99.5% of the company’s production is exported to, for example, 300 department stores in Germany and 60 in Austria, as well as to France and the US. His standard of living grew sharply – he exchanged the destroyed family Trabant for a Volvo with leather interior and his salary multiplied many times beyond the CZK 2,000 a month he was making at Umělecká řemesla. One thing is now clear to him: “After the workaholic period, when the firm meant everything to me, I settled down. Now I see the value in other things,” he says.

Photo: Pavel Veselý

Martin Tlapa: Words are but the shadow of the fact
VITAL ECONOMIST Martin Tlapa (38), general director since 2000 of CzechTrade, the Czech agency for support of trade activities, has been providing a breath of fresh air in the bureaucratic state apparatus for several years already. After four years as secretary for trade issues at the Czech Embassy in Canada, he decided to focus his efforts on establishing an agency for supporting exports from the Czech Republic, a common thing in advanced democracies. “In the beginning, we faced the distrust of companies towards state agencies. But overcoming obstacles, formulating a vision, motivating a team and, last but not least, the joy of success are exactly what I prize in my work,” says the director with great enthusiasm. He cannot stand negative thinking and captivates people with his elan. In the past year, he and his employees have realized 605 long-term orders for domestic exporters to destinations abroad, and they have helped over 2,000 foreign entities find Czech business partners.
However, according to CzechTrade findings, the Czech Republic still has an unfavorable image abroad as a former eastern-bloc country with low-quality marketing and a poor knowledge of languages. “Our goal is to change this image and to help firms achieve beneficial contracts, since it is not important to merely produce something, it is most important to sell it,” says Tlapa, asserting a well-known maxim. His beginnings in the international environment were not easy, he says, and he learned lessons from sticky moments that sometimes came about due to the cultural differences of various nations. “You must continuously improve yourself and not try to find excuses for something not getting done. As Democritos said, ‘Words are but the shadow of the act’”, quotes this literature enthusiast.