New blood

Written by: Philippe Riboton

JUDGING BY THE COVERS that the good old economic weeklies dedicate to covering business in the Czech republic, one could conclude that there are basically two different ways to illustrate the topic. One is to interview the people who are talking about it, and (surprise) in most cases those are politicians – who have, of course, never managed any kind of business. At best, they have studied economics in university and therefore feel entitled to give their opinion about the direction the economy should take or the way it should be run. As an example, one of our competitors managed, in the last two months, to dedicate two different covers to two different ministers of the current government. Quite a fascinating example of misrepresentation of the actual economy on one side, and of “kissing up” to the powers-that-be on the other. The other way to cover business is to interview the people that are actually doing it – creating real ventures, managing real companies, taking real risks. That’s the commitment made by The Prague Tribune to its readers: to showcase the people and the companies that represent the new blood of this country, those who are generating new ideas, seeking new visions in the landscape, and creating real value for the Czech economy. In line with our December special edition dedicated to the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, this month we are introducing a gallery of portraits of unusual and creative entrepreneurs. One thing is for sure: they would certainly not appear on the cover of those government-friendly magazines, as they are not managing a favorite loss-making public company or a soon-to-be-privatized mining concern. What they do offer, however, is an interesting lesson of product creativity, persistence in efforts, and determination in strategy. From producing minibikes to farming crayfish, they have created a business out of personal curiosity or pure invention, and therefore represent a rather unknown face of the Czech economy. Turn our pages and meet a few extraordinary entrepreneurs.