Written by: Monika Mudranincová

PEOPLE UP

Photo: ČTK		Tomáš Hüner The removed general director of Severomoravská energetika (who criticized the unification of ČEZ with distribution companies), will be in charge of the group of three Bulgarian distribution companies that ČEZ is buying for CZK 8 bln.
Photo: ČTK		Jaroslav Tvrdík The head of ČSA can be satisfied. The airline company transported 2.5 million travelers during the first seven months of this year, which is year-on-year rise of 27%. During the same period of time they operated 18,000 flights, which is 18% more than in 2003. Average occupancy per flight was 71%.
Photo: Euro		Samaras Janis The co-owner of the Krnov based company Kofola announced the company plans to build a factory in Poland for more than CZK 600 million. Production should start by the end of this year, and will gradually employ more than 200 people.

PEOPLE DOWN

Photo: ČTK		Stanislav Gross The ČSSD campaign for Senate elections, featuring the premiere on a series of billboards saying “I mean it honestly”, had quite the opposite effect – instead of trust, the populistic slogan caused mockery and criticism from both the public and the media.
Photo: ČTK		Ivan Horník Former director of Viktoria Žižkov football club has been found guilty of bribery and fixing matches in the premier league last year. He was banned from Czech football for two years by the Football Union’s disciplinary committee and fined CZK100,000.
Photo: ČTK		Přemysl Sobotka The ODS senator supported an event called “Say no to drugs, say yes to life”, which, in fact, was a cover-up for recruitment of the Church of Scientology, a sect which is known for “selling” its members religion for a lot of money. Sobotka claims he had no idea who was behind the event.

 

Photo: Tomáš Kubeš

Klára Nademlýnská: Cutting her own pattern
LOOKS CAN BE decieving, especially in the case of fashion designer Klára Nademlýnská (35). She looks fragile and vulnerable, but she’s been able to assert herself in the merciless world of fashion and become an internationally recognized name. She dresses Czech celebrities, organizes her own fashion shows, has a boutique, and employs ten people. Her main product is luxurious women’s prźt-ą-porter, which she makes in limited series, emphasizing first-rate materials and creative cuts.
Although she grew up among spools and patterns (her mother made clothing at home to order) and has a classic education from a vocational school for tailoring, she went through the real “school of life” in Paris, where she and her fashion photographer husband, Goran Tačevski, went in 1988. “We didn’t know French, we didn’t know anyone, but we wanted very much to succeed in our professions,” she recollects. First she sewed for friends, later making patterns, and in time becoming a designer. In 1998 she founded her own company in Prague, and last year added a partner to her limited-liability company, expanding her output to include Klara Sport and Klara Jeans.
But making it in the fashion business was hard. “When I started, my clientele wasn’t as well-heeled as today’s, but lately we’ve gained permanent customers and the firm is prospering,” Nademlýnská says. She dresses Tereza Maxová, Leona Machálková, and Anna Geislerová, among others, but sees her greatest success in sheer perseverance. “Each new collection motivates me,” she confides, adding that in two years she’d like to enter the international market. Such ambition leaves her little room for leisure. “When I have free time I leaf through fashion magazines or spend time with my son Natan. I’m fortunate that my work is my greatest hobby,” she says with a smile.

 

 

Photo: Tomáš Kubeš

Henry Kallan: Making the world his home
FOR MANY YEARS Henry (Imrich) Kallan (57), originally a Slovak Hungarian who left communist Czechoslovakia in 1967 to find a brighter future in a democratic society, has been living the American dream – a synomym for success. He managed to do so when he set anchor in the US. His road to success wasn’t simple. From a factory job packaging watches he worked his way up to bus boy, then receptionist, and finally head of an international hotel company. After twenty years in America he bought his first hotel. He now owns six in New York, and last fall he added the Prague “music” hotel Aria, a sought-out retreat for music personalities and lovers. Each of its 52 rooms is dedicated to a composer or performer, and hotel visitors can use a computer program to listen to jazz, opera, and classical music concerts.
” Prague has a tremendous musical history, and music is an international language that brings people together,” says Kallan, explaining the motif of the hotel, in which he has amazingly blended luxury with a cozy family ambience. “Building something new is my passion,” this self-made man says enthusiastically. All his dreams have perhaps come true. His recipe for success is simple. “I live by a positive attitude. It’s the best route to a happy life and a successful career. I look for the good in people and enjoy every day,” this father of two adult children and new grandfather says with conviction. Although a typical workaholic, he fully enjoys the fruits of his labors – he likes organizing parties at his house in Long Island, he swims in the ocean, plays tennis, and listens to his beloved operas.