The Polish Business Podcast

Wojciech (Wojtek) Kołodziejczak’s parents were rich once. But when the economy transitioned to capitalism in the early 90s, their business crashed and the family lost everything. By the age of 6, Wojciech was living with his parents in a wooden cabin on the outskirts of Łódź, a kilometre’s walk to the nearest fresh water pump.

That is where his story begins.

Sławek Strzykowski is a visionary and a polymath. He left a high-flying career with Microsoft, driven by an especially personal passion to use the power of technology to improve people’s lives in very tangible ways.

He was a captain in the Polish Prison Service, a Business Analyst with SAS Institute and 10 years in Business Analytics with Microsoft. He has always been ahead of his time: back in the 90’s, when computer science was in its infancy, he developed the first Polish national database of offenders.

He left a high-flying career with Microsoft, driven by an especially personal passion to use the power of technology to improve people’s lives in very tangible ways.

He now runs UnderAnt in Warsaw, Poland, which designs and produces prototype Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – UAVs or drones, customised to each customer’s requirements, and a sister company, Anteya in England, which provides software and algorithms for the drones and takes care of sales and marketing.

Peter Kuncewicz, CA is Associate Finance Director with EFM, Finance Directors and Business Advisors with a difference. He has a long career in senior FD (Finance Director) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) posts in countries across the world, but he calls England home.

He spoke to Bill Mair of PrecisionPresentation.com for PBLINK Stories.

What’s the Difference?

EFM fields a team of over 70 Chartered Accountants UK-wide to act as business advisers or accountants to SMEs who may not yet have grown to the stage where they can hire or contract someone full time. EFM will come in and work as little as one day a month to accelerate the growth of the business, making them both flexible and affordable.

In fact, EFM even offer the option to sign up for Finance Director or Business Adviser services on demand! EFM advisors often grow with their client businesses, contributing more time as the business expands, accompanying the company on its journey.

EFM advisors are not only all Chartered Accountants but also they have each weathered the storms of running businesses and demonstrate real leadership and practical management advice.

Duccio left the corporate world in 2011 and today runs a number of businesses, including: Life Coaching, Career Development Coaching, Executive Coaching and Leadership Development. But in this interview, we’re looking at another part of his portfolio of businesses: his networking groups. Duccio runs the UK Confederation, London Connector, Italian Connector and Property Connector. He also has a property management concern, and a new business, which we will discover in a minute. (UK Confederation is the British branch of Confassociazioni, the Italian networking mega-organisation, with 1.3 million+ members).

This is one of the most diverse interviews we have done to date on PBLINK Stories: Michael Dembinski, chief adviser at the British Polish Chamber of Commerce (BPCC), born in London to Warsaw Uprising war hero Bohdan Dembiński, speaking to Bill Mair of PrecisionPresentation.com.

Iwona Lebiedowicz is the founder and CEO of PAB Group. Her team at PAB delivers multilingual content services including certified translation in over 200 languages, transcreation and localisation, serving global clients in their chosen markets. As a trilingual cross-cultural consultant, Iwona helps brands and companies to attract, engage, and grow audiences internationally.

Aleksandra (Ola) Fiddler has drive, determination and dynamism. She has never had just one job, doing the same thing every day. Now an entrepreneur and influencer, she prefers to adopt a portfolio approach to business, spinning several plates at the same time.

Jan Szczepański of The Sanders Partnership is not your typical chartered accountant. He lists electronic music like drum and bass, techno, jungle, deep house, chill out, etc, among his interests. He originally trained as a lawyer before going on to qualify as an accountant instead…

What’s behind the success of Amberth, the high-end kitchens and bathrooms design studio in London, which enjoys a great reputation for quality and reliability as well as style?

It’s led by a woman, MD Inga Kopała, and around half the workforce directly employed are women, too. Is that the key, or is that just part of it? Amberth deals mainly with residential clients and frequently it is the woman in the household who takes most interest in the detail of the kitchen or bathroom design. Certainly, women feel less likely to be talked down to or patronized when discussing construction or design with a female designer.

Amberth is a family firm, run by Inga, with her husband as Project Director, and his brother in Poland manufacturing the furniture.

Inga is committed to the value of people and the role they play. Of course, Amberth uses only the best materials and appliances, but if the communication and trust is not there between clients and design/installation ream, the client will not appreciate the end result and it will all be for nothing.

Leadership showed during lockdown, too. When they had no choice but to close the showroom for a while, the company discovered that it was actually an opportunity. Inga led her team to brainstorm ideas to respond to lockdown restrictions which led to innovative solutions, better in the long run for their clients. Now, Amberth has honed their remote consultation process to a fine art.

Lockdown also gave Inga the time to bring in an outside perspective in the form of a business Action Coach. Effective leadership means admitting when you don’t have all the answers.

Stuart Mason had it all and more: a national chain of print shops, a business property portfolio worth £1.4 million and £500K in the bank. He travelled his business empire in his helicopter or his hand-built Aston Martin.

Then, one day, he lost it all.

What did he do right? What did he do wrong?