The Netherlands-Polish Chamber of Commerce

No. 35 Summer 2011

Interview Face to face with Jasper Buter, managing director of Dialogix

ReportTeambuilding with a purpose

President Komorowski meets bilateral Chambers of Commerce

President Komorowski meets bilateral Chambers of Commerce

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issue 35 Bulletin 3

Bulletin Summer 2011

12

28

4 Word of the chairman

5 Chamber calendar

6 Interview Jasper Buter, managing director

of Dialogix

10 Chamber events What has the Chamber recently

been up to?

14 Report Polish labour market getting

back on its feet

18 Career tracker

20 New members

22 Interview Marc van der Ploeg:

from corporate life to entrepreneurship

24 Column Remy Vermunt

24 Column Paweł Mlicki

25 Column Remco van der Kroft

27 The history of Dutch companies in Poland serial part 1: Philips

28 Report Member company Ghelamco visits our

Promised Kids

Minister Henk Bleker visits Poland to talk about agricultural and economical issues.

25Column Remco van der Kroft: Board of the Chamber meets the Polish head of state President Komorowski

Ghelamco visits FCSR for a teambuilding session with a purpose

Netherlands - Polish Chamber of Commerce

Publisher: The Netherlands - Polish Chamber of CommerceManaging Editor: Elro van den BurgConcept and production: Oorsprong MediaColumnists: Remco van der Kroft PawełMlicki Remy VermuntPhotos: Elro van den Burg Advertisement management: MałgorzataSzydłowska

Bulletin is the quarterly magazine of the Netherlands - Polish Chamber of Commerce. It aims to provide a selection of important and relevant information about the chamber and on bilateral business relations and activities between the Netherlands and Poland. Go to our website www.nlchamber.com.pl to find previous issues of our bulletin. Please email any of your comments to office@nlchamber.com.pl.

Dear members and friends of the Chamber,

It gives me great pleasure to present to you our new Bulletin, full of interesting articles reflecting the many business activities that our members undertake in Poland. Since the Polish economy is likely to grow by 3.8 per cent in 2011, Poland is once again offering many business opportunities in the coming period. I hope, however, that you will find time to join one or more of our events.

During our members’ annual meeting in May, we looked back on the past year in which we offered many interesting activities, for instance our visit to the Warka brewery of Grupa Żywiec and the Rijsttafel, to name just a few. Our treasurer, Hans van Houwelingen, presented a detailed financial overview over the past year, which showed that we are in a financial healthy situation.

During our members’ annual meeting, we officially liquidated the Vereniging Bilaterale Nederlands-Poolse Kamer van Koophandel, which was operating under Dutch law. At the same time, all the activities of the association were taken over by our new bilateral Chamber of Commerce, based on the Law on Chambers of Commerce in Poland. We are very pleased with this new structure, which offers us many more possibilities to represent our members in Poland and to voice their issues on an appropriate level.

During the meeting we said farewell to our departing board member, Hans van Houwelingen. He has been our treasurer for two years and has done a great job in structuring our finances. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Hans for his efforts. Maurice Idsardi is his successor who has taken up the function of treasurer on our board. We also welcomed Dini Bouwmeester, Group Quality & Technology Manager at Grupa Żywiec. With her extensive experience in Poland, she is a welcome addition to our board.

Furthermore, I want to mention the very interesting meeting that representatives of our Chamber had with Polish President Mr. Komorowski. This meeting was organised by the International Group of Chambers of Commerce (IGCC). Together with the other bilateral Chambers of Commerce, we had the possibility to meet with the President of Poland and discuss our experiences as foreign companies on the Polish market. To us, this meeting is a strong and positive signal that the highest Polish authority is appreciating and supporting foreign investors doing business in Poland.

In front of you there is the Bulletin, with a whole lot of news and background information. I very much hope that you enjoy reading it.

Eric Drok, Chairman of the Netherlands - Polish Chamber of Commerce.

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September 15 International Octoberfest The international Oktoberfest is a joint business mixer offiveinternationalchambersinPoland:TheDutch-, The British-, the American-, the German, and the Scandinavian-PolishChamberofCommerce. More information will be provided on our website www.nlchamber.com.pl_________________________________October 4 Dutch Business drink

Location:HotelHilton,Grzybowska63, Warsaw18.30–20.30.SponsoredbyCroonTBI_________________________________October 21 Indonesian Rijsttafel

Location:HotelHilton,Grzybowska63,Warsaw

Pleasemarkthisdateinyourcalendar.More informationwillbeprovidedonwww.nlchamber.com.pl_________________________________

June 7 Dutch Business drink Location:HotelHilton,Grzybowska63,Warsaw 18.30–20.30.SponsoredbyVanAmeydeCEE Poland_________________________________July and August Dutch Zomercafé/summerpub Location:Wiatrakiul.Warecka8/30aWarsaw. IncooperationwiththeDutchAssociation Poolshoogte, we are organising a summerpub for thosewhostayinPolandduringsummertime._________________________________September 6 Dutch Business drink Location:HotelHilton,Grzybowska63,Warsaw 18.30–20.30.SponsoredbyKLM_________________________________September 8 B2B Mixer Poznań 2011 Location:Kolegiacki17,Poznaństartingat18.00 The B2B Mixer is a cooperation of four bilateral Chambers in Poland: the Dutch-, the British-, the American-andtheSpanish–PolishChamberof commerce._________________________________

Chamber agenda

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Jasper Buter, founder and owner of the company Dialogix, which possesses the largest email database in Poland, explains why email marketing is no longer only about sending emails.

Dialogix: Less is more

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The story of how Jasper Buter ended up in Poland might sound familiar to many foreignentrepreneursinPoland.In2007,Buter,thesonofanownerofafruitand vegetable wholesale, loaded up his car in Amsterdam with a few suits and underwearandheadedfullspeedforPoland.SettinguphisowncompanyinPolandwasanideathatoriginatedfromaninternshiphetookinPolandin1993.

Did you start up your company Dialogix all by yourself?

“No I didn’t. Now I speak fairly good Polish, but at the time I startedmybusinessinPolandIneededadvisorsforeverything.OneofthepeoplethatIhaveknownforalongtimeisWojciechDobrzański.Wojciechisn’ttheidealpartnerforsettingupamediacompany.Hehasafinancialbackgroundanddidn’thaveanyexperienceinthisbranchuntilwestartedourbusiness.ButtomeitwasveryimportantthatIcouldtrustsomebody.AndIcertainlytrusthim.ImetWojciechduringmyinternshipinPoland.ManyyearslaterhewasthefirstpersonIcalledwhenIfinallydecidedtostartabusinessinPoland.”

Why did you choose Poland to do an internship?

“During my studies in the Netherlands I met another student with manyinternational contacts. He encouraged my interest in exotic countries andbroughtme intocontactwithsomeone inGliwicewho Iwasable to helpwithsettingupabusiness.”

Why did you decide to do an internship abroad in the first place? It would have been easier to fulfil your practicum in the Netherlands.

“OriginallyIevenhadafarmoreextremedestinationinmind:Japan.ItookJapaneselessonsforhalfayear, just to prepare myself with basic language so itwouldbeeasier to findmywayaround in thatcountry.Leftoverfromthatexperienceisanabilityto still read hiragana, the Japanese syllabary, quitewell.IlearnedthisfromaJapanesepersonwho studied Frisian languages at the University of Groningen. He should have helped me withmy trip to Japan, but a few weeks before my internship he left for Russia. And with him, mycontacts in Japan also evaporated. And so Idecided to go for an internship in Poland. Thedecisiontochangemydestinywasmadeattheverylastmoment.”

How did you end up in the business of email marketing?

“IusedtobeasalesmanagerforBNRRadiointheNetherlands.Myformercommercialdirectoraskedmetohelphimstartanewcompany,Mailmedia.This is an email publishing company that became very successful in a very short period of time.Within one year we became the national leader inemailmarketing,andwithinfiveyearsweexpandedfromtwoemployeesto300.However,Iwantedtofulfilanotherwish–tostartmyownbusinessinPoland.AndthatiswhyIleftMailmediain2007.”

Can you tell me something about the email strategy of mailmedia?

“We started out with a data base of 30,000 people from an email clipping newspaper called Sapenda. Our partner, Kees Zegers, who was also thefounderofnu.nl,alreadyownedthisdatabase.Weearnedmoneyfromthisemail newspaper through the advertisements that we placed in it. Aftera while, one of the advertisers asked us to make an email newspaper dedicatedonly tohiscompany.Soonwe foundout that thiswasa reallyinteresting way tomarketise email, and things developed fast.We grewfrom2employees to300 in five years.But in theend, thereweren’t anychallengesleftformeinMailmedia,andIdecidedthatitwastherighttimetofollowmydreamsandstartupmyownprojectinPoland.”

How are you currently doing, four years after your start-up?

“Weareverysuccessful.Wehave75customersoutofthetop1000majorcompaniesinPoland.Althoughitisgoingverywell,whatstrikesmeisthatthereisahugepressureonpricesinPoland.Thereareseveralcompaniesinterested in quality, but manymarketingmanagers look first at what itcosts before they ask about the strategy behind our plans and how we help themtoreachtheirmarketinggoals.”

Isn’t that very difficult in your line of work? You have a very innovative product to sell, but clients mainly want to buy for the lowest price.

“Thatisdifficult,andwehadtoadjustinthebeginningtoservethismarket.But I don’t want to give up on quality, which is why I always try to firstcontact the ‘top dog’ in a company and avoid themiddlemanagement.For instance, Igot to thePolishCEOofAEGONthrough theCEOof thiscompany in theNetherlands.Whenyou talkwithacompanyat this leveltheyoftenstartwithanythingbutmoney.It isthenmucheasiertogetthemessageofthequalityofemailmarketingacross.”

Is it frustrating that Poles are mainly focussed on price?

“It is, but I have found a way to make use of this behaviour. Recently welaunchedawebsitecalled‘proszebardzo’.Onthissite,marketingmanagerscangatherleadssimplyandcheaply.OrdinaryPolescansubscribeandjoinconteststhattakeplaceonthesite.Theycangatherpointsfor joining,andiftheyhavesaved5starstheycancashthisin.Iwillsimplysendmoneyto

theirbankaccounts. Thiswebsitewill geta lotoftrafficwhen I startpromoting it throughouremaildatabase. It isaverysimpleconcept. Iknow thatPoles love bargains and to get money for free, and Itriedtoconnectthistomybusiness.”

What is the difference in email marketing in the Netherlands and in Poland? “I notice that in the Netherlands companies havea better understanding of email marketing and social media. For instance, over the past fewyears, social media, such as Twitter and Facebook,

has developed very fast. Here in Poland, socialmedia is considered as acompletelynewmedium,whichitisn’t,itisjustanotherwayofcommunicatingandusingtheinternet.AndinPolandweseethatalotofmarketingbudgetshavesimplybeentransferredfromemailmarketingtosocialmedia.Howevernot many marketing managers have a good understanding of how to implementandcombineyouremailandsocialmediamarketing.”

Would you say that social media is still in its infancy in Poland?

“I think that in the Netherlands we have a leading role. Many creativeand thoughtful people with knowledge of social media come from the Netherlands.ImyselfusealotofdevelopmentsfromtheNetherlandsandintroduce themhere inPoland.For instance, the latestdevelopmentsaretheability tochangeemailmessages inreal time.Thisoffersa lotofnewpossibilities to combine email marketing with social media. I found thistechnologyintheNetherlandsandamnowintroducingitinPoland.”

But aren’t there any marketing managers in Poland who do have an understanding?

“Thereare.AgoodfriendofmineismarketingdirectorforMARS.Shedecidednottoinvestinemailmarketingbecauseitdoesn’tfitherproduct.ThatisapityformebutIagreewithher,becauseMARSbarsareamassproduct.Youcanfindthemineverysupermarketorgasstationalloverthecountry,soyoudon’t

“Email marketing has been around for just a decade, but there are already the ‘old days’.”

issue 35 Bulletin 7

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havetotargetaspecialgroup.Inthiscaseitisbettertousethemassmediatopromoteyourbrand.ThesamegoesforthebeerbrandHeineken.Unlessyouwanttoreachaselectgroup,forinstancewiththeOpen’erfestival.Emailmarketing is a perfect tool to call someone to action, and when you want to encourageagroupofyoungpeopletogotothisfestival.”

You have the largest database in Poland, consisting of 6 million people. How did you get this database?

“It is likewithall things inPoland,youhave tobeverypatient. Ihavebuiltup a partnership with publishers like e-gospodarka.pl, mojeauto.pl ande-biznes.pl.Weexclusively rent their databases, and in returnwe receivea commission. All thedata are assorted and stored in our database. Forinstance, in my database you can easily pick out a single man with two dogslivinginarentingflatinWarsaw,drivingaBMW3seriesandintendingtobuyanewflatwithin3months.Youcan target thatdeep intomydata.ButtheaveragemarketingmanagerinPolandcouldn’tcarelessaboutthispossibility.Mostofthemwanttopurchaseonprice.”

What are the rules in Poland for using the data?

“There are European rules that you have to follow. But beside Europeanrules, Poland has its own regulations on top. Every database has to beregistered at the Bureau of the Inspector General for Personal DataProtection(GIODO).Ithasbeenavery longwayandtookalotofnervesto get ourselves certified, but we managed to get approval. With thiscertificationwecanhelpourpartnerssetupandextendtheirowndatabase,andadvisethemhowtoregisterattheGIODObureau.”

What, in your opinion, are the latest developments in email marketing?

“Email marketing has been around for just a decade, but there are already the ‘old days’. Sending asmany emails to asmany accounts as possibleis something of the old days.However,manymarketers in Poland are stillworkinglikethis.Theydoalotofdamagetothemarket.IsometimeshavetoexplaintoprospectsthatIwanttotarget100,000well-definedpeopleforthem.Those companies show me that my competitors offer to send an email to a databaseof5millionpeople.‘Maybethose5millionpeoplehavefriendswhoareinterestedinmyoffer’istheirargument.New developments in my profession are all about combining email marketingwithotherchannelsaswellasoptimisingyourdatabase. Iamcurrently in contact with a company in the US that produces a systemthatmakesitevenmorepossibletotracebehaviouronthe internet. Iwillconnect this data to my email database, which makes it possible to target peopleinmoredetail.Forourclientsthismeansthatwecanofferabetterdefinedtargetgroup,whichcansavethemalotofmoney.”

Are there any particular marketing campaigns that you like in Poland?

“ThereisaverytypicalexamplethatIwantedtoshowyou.AgreatmarketingcampaignfromKraftfoodsandtheirbrandMilka.ItisacampaignconnectedtotheTatraMountainswhich0isverywell thoughtout. It isoneofthefewgoodexamples inPolandof integratingseveralchannels intoacampaign.In my opinion, social networks are suitable for branding and getting intouchwitha largegroupofunknownpeople.Withe-mail it ispossible tohave a direct and personal contact which can end up in dialogue with your prospects. Companies should build and strengthen their brand throughsocialmediaandmaketheconversionbyusinge-mail.Thisisinmyopinionthebestwayofachievingmarketinggoals.Emailmarketingshouldbemoreintegratedwithsocialmediaandviceversa.”

Let’s pick out one channel: Facebook. What is the best way for a company to present itself on this medium?

“Let me give you an example. Recently I advised one of my clients in theautomotive industry on how to set up a Facebook page. It is critical howyousetupyourFacebookpage.UsersareonFacebookbecausetheywantto express themselves. You shouldn’t try to sell themsomething.And theyare also not coming to your Facebook page to hear the latest news about

yourcompany,unless they justboughtacar.Theyarecoming toyoursitebecausetheyareinterestedincarsingeneral.Youcan,forinstance,publishsomething about the difference in perception about driving between man andwoman.Peoplewillfindthismuchmore interestingandwillbewillingtocomebacktoyourpage.Whenyouonlypublishaboutyourself,peoplejudgethisasbeingtoocommercial.Soyouhavetopublishstrongcontentrelatedtoyourbranch.YouthenhavetouseemailtoreachyourtargetgroupandtotellthemtogotoyourFacebookpage.”

What is the reason behind this?

“People have a tendency to talk about themselves, but you should try to avoid this.OnFacebookitisimportanttoinspirepeople.Andyoushouldn’tforgettorewardpeopleforcomingtoyoursite.Ihaveseencompaniesthatoffera diploma to people who push the ‘like’ button on their Facebook page.Thatisalsoagoodwaytokeeppeoplecomingtoyoursite.Thenthereistheissueofconvertingvisitorsintoprospectsandclients.Youcandothatby gathering their email addresses, because when you are communicating withthemviaemail,youcanstartapersonaldialogue.YougatherthisdatathroughsettingupaquizorasurveyonFacebook.Itisnotverydifficult,itjusthastobedoneright.Itisthecombinationofthewholechainthatmakesthese marketing campaigns really strong. Unfortunately, in Poland manycompaniesarestillstrugglingtofindtherightmixofchannels.”

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During our Annual Members Meeting, the new bilateral Chamber of Commerce has taken over the activities of the old organisation.

The Chamber held a historical annual meeting of members in the meeting rooms of the HiltonHotelon10May.Duringthemeeting,theboardofficiallyliquidated the Vereniging BilateraleNederlands–PoolseKamer van Koophandel, which operatedunderDutchlaw.Themembers that were present witnessed the establishment of the new bilateral Chamber of Commerce based on the

LawonChambersofCommerce inPoland.With theapprovalof thePolishNational Chamber of Commerce, we are now empowered by law to represent theinterestsofourmembersinparticulartowardstheauthorities.

Also during the meeting, the director of theChamber,Małgorzata Szydłowskareflected on the highlights and themain events of the Chamber over thepreviousyear.Duringapresentation,she showed us successful new initiatives such as the company visit to the Warka brewery, business mixers „Holland meets....” and other notable events like the Dutch-Indonesian dinner ‘Rijsttafel’. Thiswas followed by a presentation by Treasurer Hans van Houwelingen of the financialreportfrom2010.Thensomequestions were answered, the report was accepted by the members with no votesagainst.JasjavanderVeenandJasperButervolunteeredtotakepartintheauditcommitteethatwillreviewthefinancialreportforthenextyear.

Another issue at the annual meeting was the election of the new board. TreasurerHans van Houwelingen said farewell to the Chamber.Chairman Eric Drok thanked him for his efforts and the energy that he had put into the Chamber over thepasttwoyears.EricvanVliet stepped down and

wasre-elected.JaapBrouwerlefttheboardandtheChamberwelcomedDiniBouwmeesterasanewboardmember.

issue 35 Bulletin10

Eric Drok Chairman

Remco van der Kroft Secretaryandfirstcontactforthe EmbassyandtheInternationalGroupofChambersofCommerce(IGCC).

Eric van Vliet Responsible for events and the operational contactfortheChamber.

Maurice Idsardi:Treasurer

Paweł Mlicki: ResponsibleforallmattersconcerningtheBulletin.

Dini BouwmeesterPosition will be decided on a later moment

New treasurer Maurice Idsardi goes through the budget for the next financial year.

Members’ annual meeting The Executive Board

Boardmember Remco van der Kroft (left) explains the proceedings for liquidating the Dutch organisation of the Chamber.

Eric Drok (right) says farewell to departing treasurer Hans van Houwelingen.

Chamber news and events

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Chamber participates in O Holender festivalThe Netherlands – Polish Chamber of Commerce has participated this year for the third time in the O Holender festival.

The event, that was organised in the Kubusia Puchatka street in Warsaw, is based on and resembles the Dutch Queensday which is a day full of festivities and on which the Dutch celebrate thebirthdayof the theirQueen. TheOHolenderfestival in Warsaw was organized by Redbad

Klijnstra in cooperation with many Dutch and Polish volunteers. O Holender started with abicycle parade that was participated by more thantwentycyclistswithdecoratedorangebikes.On the children stage, a group of twelve Polish-DutchchildrenperformedaDutchchildrensong.Also many children took part in the free-market; The Kubusia Puchatka street was covered with blankets on which children offered their used toys and other trinkets. Otto Workforce had set

upastreetsoccerfieldandorganiseda footballtournament, which was won by a team of homeless soccerplayers.TheChamberwasalsopresentonthefestivalwithatypicallyDutchwheeloffortune.After turning this wheel, the visitors had to answer aquestionaboutoneofourmembercompanies.The right answers were rewarded with gifts and gadgets that were provided by our members and partners.During the festival,manypeoplewherelined up for the wheel and went home with one of

the giveaways that our members had provided us with. “Althoughwewere troubledby theweathera little bit, this years edition of the O Holender festival has been a great success”, says DiniBouwmeester, board member of the O Holender festival.“Wewillsurelycontinuenextyear.Thiswillbethefifthanniversarywhichalsowillbeclosetothe Euro2012 championships so the next edition willsurelybeaveryspecialevent.”

Body Language in Business Just before our monthly business drink in April, many of our members joined the longawaited ‘BodyLanguage inBusiness’ trainingbyRemyVermunt.Entrepreneursandbusinesspeopleallrecognisetheimportanceofstrongcommunicationskills,butthemostimportantelementofthese–bodylanguage–isoftenneglected.“Inthepresenceofothers,wecannotNOTcommunicate.Sinceyourbodylanguagehasalargeimpactonthesuccess of your business, it is important to get control over it,” saysVermunt. During a three-hour session, Vermunt taught the participantsthe basics of how to communicate with your body, but also how to read thesignalsfromyourbusinesspartners.

Over 20 cyclists took part in the bicycle parade

Dutch-Polish children of the ‘Kinderclub’ performed a Dutch song

The Kubusia Puchatka street was covered with blankets on which children offered their merchandise

Six teams took part in the street soccer tournament that had been set up in the street

The Netherlands Polish Chamber of Commerce was present with a wheel of fortune promoting its members.

Hostesses of Athlon Car Lease were inviting inhabitants of Warsaw to the festival

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In April the Dutch minister of Foreign Economic Affairs, Mr Henk Bleker, led an economic and trade mission of twenty Dutch companies to Poland. While over here, Bleker also discussed with his counterparts the social problems concerning Poles in the Netherlands.

TheofficialvisitofMinisterBlekerstartedonWednesday20April inWarsaw.For several agrofood and environmental companies that took part in the mission,thevisittoPolandactuallystartedseveraldaysearlier.TheyhadtheirfirstmeetingonMonday18AprilinPoznańwithDutchfarmers.Thenextdaythere were several matchmaking sessions with Polish companies in the agro-industry, where participants got toknowpotentialbusinesspartners.

On Tuesday night the delegation travelled to Warsaw, and on Wednesday there were more matchmaking sessions. On Thursday they paid visits to Dutch fruitand vegetable companies in the area of the Polish capital.  Country manager of KDE energy, Mr Hoiting,gave his reasons for joining the mission, “There are tworeasonswhywearepresentonthistrademission.

WehopetofindnewopportunitiesforwindfarmsinthePoznańregion.WealsohopetofindasolutiontodevelopawindfarminKomarowonearSzczecin.ThepresenceofMrBlekercanplayacrucialroleinthis.”

However, Bleker was not only in Poland to support Dutch companies in their efforts to set up a business.HealsodiscussedtheproblemsofPolishunemployed labour in the Netherlands with his counterparts.AndBlekerhashisownwayofdoingthis,“Iliketoaddressthosetopicsrightaway.Ialso

didthathereinPolandandthisworkedverywell.”Minister Bleker wanted to dispel a misunderstanding that has arisen in recentmonths. In thewakeof theelections toprovincialcouncils in theNetherlands, several politicians proposed tougher measures to seizethe social problems concerning Eastern Europeans in theNetherlands.Minister Bleker wants Poland’s support with this problem, but alsowantsamoreactiveroleoftheinspectoratesintheNetherlands.

Minister Bleker said, “We will see to it that the Poles who want to work in our countryhavethepossibilitytodoso.However,thereisagroupofPolesontheedgeofsocietyintheNetherlands,andwehavetofindasolutionforthem.”According to Bleker, in order to solve the issue, social affairs minister Henk Kamp from the Netherlands has to map out all the problems in the NetherlandsconcerningPoles.“Thismorning,beforeIflewtoPoland,IhadameetingwithMr.KamponaterraceinTheHague,wherewediscussedhowtoaddressthistopicinPoland.Howtogetridoftheproblemswitha small group of mainly repeat offenders, drug addicts and homeless peoplethatiscausingtrouble.”

Did you talk about concrete solutions with your Polish counterparts?

“No I didn’t. However, there is a lot of understanding for our situation intheNetherlands. This is not hard tounderstand.Polandhas similar socialproblemswithworkersfromUkraine,”saysMinisterBleker.

Minister Bleker visits Poland

Minister Henk Bleker: “Poland understands our problems. They have similar social problems with workers from Ukraine.”

Vendere business breakfastOnApril7,togetherwithourChamber,VendereConsultancy&TrainingBV.,organizedabusinessbreakfast.MemberswhojoinedthebreakfastgottoknowmoreaboutVendere(Latinfor‘tosell’),amarketing-orientatedexpertspecialising in telephone communications – qualitative telemarketing,telesales and lead generation. Vendere also supports organisations byoffering practical training and coaching in the area of telephone sales and communication.Manyofourmemberstooktheopportunitytolearnmoreaboutthepoweroftelemarketing.Itwasalsoaverynicemeetingtobreakuptheday.

Speed Business Mixer: Holland meets four Scandinavian CountriesIt was a completely new formula for the Netherlands-Polish Chamber ofCommerce,and it turnedout tobeasuccess.On12Aprilwe joinedforceswiththeScandinavianChamberinPolandinourspeedbusinessmixer.Manyofourmemberswerepresenttogivethisnewformulaatry.Theparticipantswere divided into small groups and were allowed only minutes to interview a potentialpartnerbeforethebellrang,sendingthemontomeetanotherperson.

As many as 50 members of the Netherlands – Polish and the Scandinavian - Polish Chambers of Commerce took part in a brewery tour of the Warka Brewery in the city of Warka.

The tour gave our members a chance to learn more about the brewing process at the brewery of Grupa Żywiec. However, the event also offered

many possibilities to make new friends, or to become better acquainted with oldfriends.Thechambermemberswerewelcomedbythestaffofthebrewery.DuringpresentationsbybrewerydirectorLeszekKałuża,HeinekenmarketingmanagerSzymonMichalikandgrouptechnologyandqualitymanagerofGrupaŻywiecDiniBouwmeester,thevisitorswereinformedabouttherichhistoryandtraditionofthebrewery.ThebeerbrewingtraditioninWarkaisoneofPoland’soldest, and the excellence of the brand was recognised already in 1478 when thebrewerywasgrantedtherighttosupplybeertotheDukeofWarsaw.

During the brewery tour, our members were able to learn more about the productionprocess.Thetourstartedinthebrewhouse.Thepresentbrewerywasbuiltin1975,butthebrewhousewasmodernisedin2004.ItisequippedwiththelargestlautertuneverbuiltinPoland,withadiameterof13.6m.Onebrew produces more than 1000 hectolitres of beer. The daily capacity ofthebrewhouse is12brewsperday. Although theWarkabrewery ishighlyautomated and you only see a few operators in the central control room taking care of the brewing, fermentation and filtration process – it is verymuch ahumanwhodecidesaboutthefinestqualityofthebeer.Thebeerbelongstofood category and only large breweries with restricted hygiene requirements, ISO and HACCP certificates can guarantee top quality and stable beercharacteristics. All the bright beer for the packaging department is filtered

by twomodern, environmental friendlymembrane filters. The bright beer ispackedinreturnablebottles,onewaybottles,cansorkegs.Thevisitorswereimpressedandamazedbythespeedofthepackaginglinesandtheamountofbottlesandcanswhichwereinspected,filledandpackedincratesorcartons.

Theannualcapacityofthebreweryis3.4millionhectolitres.TheWarkabreweryis responsible for the production of the beer brandsWarka, Tatra, Strong,Desperados,HeinekenandKrólewskie,Specjal,LezajskandKujawiak.Thebrewery is continuously making investments, to produce the required volumes andtostayinlinewithmarketdevelopmentsandconsumerexpectations.Thevisit totheWarkabreweryisthefirstvisitof itskindfortheChamber.Neverbeforehaveweofferedeventslikethistoourmembers.

However, events like this offer our members the possibility to extend their networkinacompletedifferentsettingthanduringourregularbusinessdrinks.As Dini Bouwmeester stated, “This brewery and other visits offer a way for SMEcompanies to learn fromeachotherand todiscussa rangeof topicsfrom technical and technological developments, like packaging materials and machines and environmental requirements to people development and salary issues.”At theendof theafternoon,when theofficial tour hadended, thegroup was offered a lavish meal by the Warka brewery and a mug of fresh Polishdraughtbeer,torecaptheday’sdiscussionsandevents.

Facts you might not know about the brewery in Warka:

6 900 340 km is the yearly distance that the Warka trucks are driving to deliver thebeerfromthebrewerytonumerouslocationsallaroundPoland.Thisisthesamedistanceascirclingtheglobe172timesorflyingninetimesfromtheEarth to theMoonandback.Theyearlyvolumeof thebeerbrewed inWarkais285400m3,whichcouldfill114olympicpools(2500m3)or3,5PalacesofCulture(80000m3).

The visitors first went to the brew house, which was modernised in 2004.

The annual capacity of the Warka brewery is 3.4 million hectolitres.

The members had a chance to ask questions about the production process and about the marketing of the beer brands.

Brewery tour Warka

As many as fifty members from the two chambers took part in the company visit to the Warka factory.

issue 35 Bulletin 13

Bilingual? You’re valuable Jobmarket

issue 35 Bulletin14

Eighty Dutch-speaking job seekers and nineteen companies flocked to this years’ job market for Dutch speakers that took place in the Embassy of the Netherlands in Warsaw.

The job fair has become a common method for companies from all over Poland to recruit their Dutch speaking staff in the shortest possible amount of time. For many jobseekers, the job fair provides a free opportunity to meetwithmultipleemployersonthesameday.

Among the employers you could find suchcompanies as Randstad Polska, Van Ameyde CEE, Ernst&Young,CapGemini,andAccenturePolska.

“Although English is the international business language, we are looking for Dutch speaking candidates because we are a Dutch company and they will fit better in our trainings programmes, which are held in theNetherlands,”saysregionalbusinessdevelopmentdirectorKrzysztofJabłońskiofVanAmeydeCEE,whichwaspresentatthejobfairforthefirsttime.ThejobfairattractedeightyDutch-speakingjobseekers.Someofthemwere

stillstudyingDutchstudiesatoneof theUniversities inPoland.Others had developed language skills during work or internships in the Netherlands. One of the attendees, Andrzej Zieniuk,became aware of the event through themagazine ‘Bulletin’ ofthe NPCC. “I have never been here before, but I thought thatit could never hurt to pay a visit to this job fair”, says ZieniukwhospeaksfluentDutch.Hiscurrentemployer is restructuringthecompanyandZieniukdidnotwanttowaitforthisprocesstobefinished.HethinksthathestandsagoodchanceoffindinganewjobatthefairsinceheisaskilledDutchspeaker.“IlivedintheNetherlandsforawhile.AtfirstIonlyspokeGerman,butsinceDutchgrammardoesn’tdiffermuchfromGerman,IpickedupDutchquiteeasily.”

At the Job fair, most of the job seekers learned Dutch at the university.Jabłońskiisespeciallylookingforthistypeofcandidate.“Students who finished university have reached a high level ofintelligence. It is not necessary that they have already gainedpractical skills.We can teach them that later on in their career.”ToJabłoński,thosecandidatesareopen-minded.“Wearelookingfor somebody who is open to learn a lot and to quickly develop themselveswithourorganisationinPoland.”

Market value

ButhowmuchofanassetisitwhencandidatescanspeakfluentDutch?Whilebilingual skills are not always required to obtain good jobs, the number of

companies present at the job fair proves that being able to speak Dutch gives candidates an extra edge. Zieniuk says, “Let’s notoverestimate the importance of the Dutch language for Polish companies. It is a verynarrow specialisation and we are interesting only for a small group of Dutch companies in Poland.But there iscertainlyademand, forinstance among companies that are trading betweentheNetherlandsandPoland.”

KrzysztofJabłońskiwillcertainlyconsidercomingbacktonextyear’sjobfair.Andnotonlytofindnewcandidates:“Thejobfairalsoprovestobeagreatnetworkingplatformformeetingothercompanies.So Iwillsurelyvaluethiseventasagreatsuccess.”

Regional business development director Krzysztof Jabłoński of Van Ameyde CEE: “The job fair also proves to be a great networking platform for meeting other companies.”

Regional business development director Krzysztof Jabłoński ofVanAmeydeCEE.

From left to right: Koen Haverbeke, representative of the Flamish government, Walter van Ditmars, deputy head of the economic department at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and vice Chairman Remco van der Kroft of the Netherlands - Polish ChamberofCommerce.

Andrzej Zieniuk, became aware of the event through themagazine‘Bulletin’oftheNPCC.

The Polish labour market is slowly recovering from the financial downturn. Companies are starting to invest again and the unemployment rate is slowly decreasing. However, employers are more cautious about spending lots of money on salaries.

AccordingtoconsultancycompanySedlakandSedlak,theaveragesalaryin2010inPolandwas3,500PLN,whichis2.2percenthigherthanin2009.StaffintheITandFinancebranchesarerewardedwiththehighestsalaries.

Compared to 2009, workers in the IT branch earned 5.4 percent more in2010,andinthefinancialdepartmentssalariesroseanaverageof2percent.The lowest wages were paid to staff working in warehouses and at customer servicedepartments.

AccordingtoSedlakandSedlak,salariesinPolandareunlikelytorisefasterin2011 than in2010,keeping toapaceof3 to4percent.Theareasandprofessions that are most in demand are specialists and experts in the industryandconstructionsectors,aswellasinretailtradeandIT.Themostsought after positions are webmasters, specialists in social media, information securityexpertsandprogrammers.

The demand for workers in these professions has risen due to the widespread expansionofcompaniesontotheinternet.Agoodexampleistheretailtrade

sector.Justafewyearsago,thelargestchainsmainlyinvestedin Poland by building new hypermarkets in or close to the main shopping areas. Currently those chains are increasing theirinvestments in on-line stores on the internet, because sales are asgoodaswithphysicalshops,butinvestmentcostsarelower.Primeexamplesarecompanies like IKEA,OfficeDepot,Bomi,

Piotr and Paweł, Tescoand Leroy Merlin.

“We notice not only a higher demand for t r a d i t i o n a l m a r k e t i n g s p e c i a l i s t s , but we see

that companies are taking anyone who has practical selling experience on the internet,” says senior recruitment agentAgnieszkaDejnekaofOnTimeRecruitment.“Weseeagrowinginterestinordinarypeopletradingonallegro.Theyarebecomingthe new traders and managers responsible for e-sales in large companies.” In almost every larger company, departments fore-commerceande-marketingarebeingsetup.

issue 35 Bulletin 15

ThereisasignificantdifferenceinwagespaidintheWarsawareaandintherest of Poland. As a result, there is a continuing trend among productioncompaniestomovetheirproductiontoprovinceswithlowerwages.In 2010, the highestwageswerepaid in theMazowsze region (averagingPLN4,500gross).This isabout19percentmorethan in theother regionsofPoland.However,specialistsintheMazowszeregionareearning28–32percentmore.ThelargestdifferenceinsalarywasnoticedamongdirectorsandmembersofmanagementboardsintheMazowszeregionandtherestofPoland.Thisdifferencemeasures38percent.

When focussing only on large cities, we can see that staff in Warsaw earn thehighestsalaries(PLN5,000)followedbyGdańskandWrocławinsecond(bothonPLN4,000)andPoznańwithPLN3,900inthirdplace.EmployersinBiałystok,Kielce,Lublinand OlsztynpaidtheirstaffanaverageofPLN3,000.ThereisalsoasignificantdifferencebetweenwhatPolishcompaniespaytheirstaffandwhatinternationalcompaniespaytheirstaff.

Regional differences

Source:SedlakandSedlak

Average gross monthly wages over 2010 divided by branch

Information Technology (IT) Telecommunication

Insurance Banking Energy

Heavy industry Media, advertising and PR

Construction and engineering Environment and Waste

Transport and logistics Services

Retail Agriculture Education

Healthcare Culture and arts

5 100 4 700 4 500 4 400 4 100 3 900 3 820 3 700 3 200 3 200 3 200 3 050 3 000 3 000 2 800 2 455

1 000 2 000 3 000 4 000 5 000 6 000

Polish labour market getting back on its feet

“Ordinary people trading on allegro are the new traders and managers responsible for e-sales of the big companies,” says Agnieszka Dejneka of OnTime Recruitment.

Efficient salespeople,whoareable tomakeahuge turnover,can count on earningPLN5,000 to 9,000gross.Amanagerof an internet sales channel will receive PLN 12,000 to 15,000 gross.Thereisasimilartendencyintheadvertisingmarketontheinternet.Ordinarywebuserswhoareactiveonsocialmediasites are starting to make careers and become moderators or bloggersforcompanywebsites.

It istheirtasktopromoteandpraisetheproductsorservicesthatareofferedontheinternet.Thebloggersarebeinghiredbycompaniesthatareactiveinverydiversebranches.TheycanearnuptoPLN5,000amonth,andtheirwagesaregrowing.

What is happening today in the internet business resembles the situation in the early nineties, when a University degree and theabilitytospeakEnglishweresufficientinPolandtobecomeamanager.Thedifferencetoday,however, isthatcompanies

are now more cautious with their expenses and also with the height of salaries. Employees whowant to earn a high salary, even when they have a very good CV, will lose their job to someone who is willingtoworkforlessmoney.

The demand for managerial staff in Poland went downtwoyearsagoduetothefinancialdownturn.Companies wanted to cut their costs and laid off their managers on high salaries, replacing them withstaffwithsimilarcapabilities,butwhoearnless.

Recruitment agencies these days meet far fewer financial demands from candidates for a jobapplication. Candidates for the top positions incompanies want to earn PLN 30,000 to PLN 35,000 a month, which is PLN 15,000 to PLN 20,000 less thanbeforethecrisis.

Several industries have remained immune to this,such as the construction industry. The recoveryin the housing market and the launch of several industrial projects like roads, stadiums and train stationsthathavetobefinishedbeforeEURO2012,has caused an increasing demand for skilled constructionworkers.

Their average wage is PLN 4,500 to PLN 6,000 a month, but some of them, especially certain specialists or managers of a large construction site and architects, can earn up to PLN 20,000 grossamonth.

issue 35 Bulletin16

AccordingtoaCBOSstudy„Youth2010”,youngpeoplethinkthatforeignlanguagesskillsarelessandlessimportantwhenapplyingforanewjob.ThisdoesnotmeanthatPolish youth is not learning languages, but they have come to realise that speaking foreignlanguagesisnolongeranythingspecial.

InPoland,notalljobcandidatesarereallyabletospeakthelanguagestheyhaveputontheirC.V.inaday-to-daysituation.Employersareawarethat‘communicativelevel’onacurriculumdoesnothaveto imply that thecandidatehastheskills tofluentlyspeakthislanguage.

SincethereismoreandmoreforeigncapitalflowingintoPoland,theimportanceofknowingforeignlanguageshasgrown.Ofcoursenotalllanguagesareequallysoughtafter,andarenotequallyappreciatedfinancially.

Foreign language skills in high demand

Source:SedlakandSedlak

Average gross monthly wages over 2010 divided by voivodeship

mazowieckie

pomorskie

dolnośląskie

wielkopolskie

śląskie

małopolskie

zachodniopomorskie

lubuskie

kujawsko-pomorskie

opolskie

łódzkie

podlaskie

podkarpackie

świętokrzyskie

warmińsko-mazurskie

lubelskie

1 000 2 000 3 000 4 000 5 000

4 500

3 700

3 688

3 500

3 300

3 200

3 100

3 050

3 000

3 000

3 000

2 900

2 800

2 800

2 800

2 765

Average gross monthly salary in zlotys paid by Polish or foreign companies

25 % earns less than average 25 % earns more

Polish capital

Foreign capital

Source:SedlakandSedlak

2 100 3 026 4 600

3 200 4 800 7 500

issue 35 Bulletin 17

issue 35 Bulletin18

Career tracker

After three years in Poland, Erik Kok is relocating back to the Netherlands as of 1 August 2011.ErikwillstaywithinINGandwillbetakinguptheposition of Global Programme Manager Financial

Markets.PartofhiscurrentresponsibilitiesmovebacktoAmsterdamwith him: Central and Eastern Europe will have a special focus in his portfolioandheexpectsandhopestobebackinWarsawsoon.

_______________________________

Erik Kok

JarosławSołtyshasleftKemaPolandasGeneralManagerwherehehadbeenworkingsince2008.As of 1 May he has been appointed to the board of theMIS group. Jarosław is co-founder of the

PolishKnowledgeManagementPractitionerAssociation._______________________________

Jarosław Sołtys

Dirk-Jan de Groot has been appointed project manager at PhilipsConsumer Lifestyle in theNetherlands.Dirk-Jan worked in Poland between July 2008 and March 2011atPhilipsConsumerLifestylePoland.

_______________________________

Dirk-Jan de Groot

Rogier Eijking (35) has joined ING Bank Śląski asof 1 May 2011 in the position of Head of Market Risk Management. In this role, Rogier Eijking isresponsible for all market risk, retail risk, asset and

liability management and product control of the bank reporting to the CRO.RogierEijkingstartedhiscareeratINGin1999andhasworkedinAmsterdam, The Hague, Hong Kong and most recently London, where he specialisedinhedgefundriskandstructuredcreditrisk.RogierholdsanMBAfromNorthwoodUniversityintheUnitedStatesandisaCFAcharterholder.InhissparetimeRogierisbothakeenfootballandtennisplayer.

_______________________________

Rogier Eijking

Aad van der Weijden, Managing Director Hubs & Gateways Central Europe for DHL Express, will relocatetotheNetherlandsinthesummerof2011.Aadstarted his career with DHL in Amsterdam and has for

thelast15yearsbeenworkinginvariouspositionsinBrussels,Stockholm,Istanbul,DubaiandWarsaw,beingoperationalend-responsibleforseveralclusters of countries, including air and road transportation, service level standards, facility management and customer satisfaction. He will startlookingfornewcareeropportunitiesintheNetherlands.

_______________________________

Aad van der Weijden

Willem Klein Klouwenberg has been appointed General Manager of the training institute Match and More Polska.  This group of professionalsoffers a successful balance between international

experienceandlocalmindsetting. WillemjoinedMatchandMoreatthe beginning of 2011 after a successful career spanning 48 countries as international account director at Randstad Holding, in the global bankingandinsurancesegment.Priortothat,heheldthepositionofManagingDirectorinseveralinternationaltrainingcompanies. 

_______________________________

Willem Klein Klouwenberg

Starting from 1 May, Geert-Jan Beuming (46)has been appointed Chief Risk Officer for BGŻ(Rabobank’s retail subsidiary inPoland).Hehasbeen working with Rabobank for over 25 years in

the Netherlands, Ireland, Chile, Hong Kong, Indonesia, SingaporeandHongKong(again).Mostofthesepostingshavebeenintheareaofriskmanagement.InhisnewroleinPoland,hewillberesponsiblefor the areas of credit risk management, market risk management, operationalriskmanagement,creditadministrationandriskmodelling.Geert-Janismarriedandhasaneight-year-oldson.

_______________________________

Geert-Jan Beuming

Geert Embrechts has been appointed Vice-President of the BGŻ bank. Geert has beenworkingforRabobankInternationalsince1995.Prior to his appointment in Poland, he was

Chief Financial and Risk Officer, Vice-President and Director at RabobankInternationalIndonesia.

_______________________________

Geert Embrechts

issue 34 Bulletin 19

Athlonline is a unique tool that allows you for an on-line quotation of all car brands and access to fl eet reports.

The Better

solutioninfo@athloncarlease.plwww.athloncarlease.pl

+48 (022) 653 78 85

reklama Athlon 05.indd 1 2010-09-20 16:32:21

The Netherlands - Polish Chamber of Commerce invites new members

issue 35 Bulletin20

The Ghelamco Group was established in Belgium in 1985byPaulGheysens.ThecompanyisaleadingEuropean real estate investor and developer active intheoffice,residential,retail,logisticsandleisuremarkets. We maintain a high degree of internalcontrol, with respect for agreed milestones over all phases of project development: land purchase, planning,constructionandleaseand/orsale.Ourprojects combine prime and strategic locations with efficient but aesthetically inspiring designs.We create modern, flexible and market-friendlysolutions that are carefully designed to meet the requirementsofallstakeholders.Our successes on the various markets are generated by the group’s professional andenthusiastic staff, who are driven by our management’s vision and passion to create win-winsolutions.The Ghelamco Group employs about 200 people, mainlyinBelgiumandinPoland.The Ghelamco Group is synonymous with a market leader that combines its strengths as a reliable, highquality anddiversified real estatedeveloperinawidefieldofmarketsegmentswithaninherentflexibility to anticipate new market trends. Ourcapabilities have been widely recognised by the market via numerous awards, such as Developer of theYear2006,2007and2008bytheConstructionandInvestmentJournal.

Ghelamco Poland DomaniewskaSt,52 02-672 Warsaw Phone: + 48 22 455 16 00 Fax: + 48 22 455 16 10 Email:poland@ghelamco.com

KrzysztofStefanskigraduatedfromEconomicsatthe University of Nijmegen, the NetherlandsAfter his studies he held the position of account manager at Delta Lloyd Life Insurance and anactuarialspecialistatGeneraliLifeInsurance.Hehas been living in Poland since 2004 He created his own company, which operates in the insurance sector(Allianz,SignalIduna,MedicaPolska)and healthy products in the direct sales sector (Forever Living Products). He was recently promoted toa managerial position within the Forever Living Productsorganisation.KrzysztofStefańskispeaksDutch, English, andPolish fluently andwrites in Dutch,English,andPolish.

Transparent, which was founded in Amsterdam in 2000 and has expanded rapidly to its current 90 employees, delivers a powerful data-mining servicetolargeorganisations.We analyse the accounts-payable (AP) data ofour clients, provide them with detailed insight into the AP-process quality, including internal and external benchmarks, as well as improvement recommendations.For our clients this is completely free of charge, anduseshardlyanyoftheirresources.Alongsidethis, we identify and recover any undue payments thatourclientshavemadetotheirsuppliers,e.g.double payments. Only when this “lost” moneyis deposited back into our clients’ accounts isTransparent entitled to a finder’s fee. We takecomplete charge of the recovery, which is offered onano-cureno-paybasis.The entire exercise is quick, risk-free and does not require any investment or resources. Itdelivers immediate results: additional bottom-line profit, aswell as sustainable value in the shapeof comprehensive management information and advice. With offices throughout Western Europeand in the US, becoming more active in theinspiringPolisheconomyisalogicalstep.Wearelooking forward to establishing fruitful business relationships in Poland!

Op’en Cloud Services (OCS) provides businessprocess consultancy and delivers customised software solutions based on Open SourceBusiness Applications from renowned suppliers like SugarCRM (CRM), ProcessMaker (BPM)and KnowledgeTree (DMS). Solutions, whichare often available in a Software-as-a-Service orCloud environment and reduces the Total Cost of ITOwnership. Full softwaredevelopment andmaintenance, including mobile applications, are available from a 60+ software development team inWestUkraine. OCS is also the representative of VendOntelemetriasolutionsfortheVendingIndustry,andMapOn software for management and control of companycarfleets.

Op’en Cloud Servicesul.Jaktorowska4/60 01-202Warszawa,Poland 603 272 454

Ghelamco Group

Krzysztof Stefanski

Visible results.

COOPLUX

Op’en Cloud Services

Transparent

Electro Croon Polska Sp. z o.o.

Wearethefirstandmostimportantbusinesscardforyourcompanyonthelocalmarket.Wecanofferyou professional services including:Representing your company and keeping direct contact with your clients, Daily care of the image of your company, Complete market analysis - supply, demand,clientdatabases,SWOTEnglish/Polishtranslations. Theowner of the company -CelinaAlochno - is a Master of Economics and an MBA English graduated in 1989, , having completed many training sessions and courses (including Phare in Luxembourg, Cambridge in the UK, the AcademyofManagersinPolandetc.),33yearsofexperience in managerial positions in marketing, export sales, order management, and working for thelargeststeelcompany-ArcelorMittal.

Contact: Celina Alochnomob.:+48 501 404 686,skype:cooplux-pe-mail:ca@cooplux.pltel.:+4832 2928919,fax:+4832 7445026Kilińskiego48,41-200Sosnowiec

ElectroCroonPolskaSp.zo.o.isawholly-ownedsubsidiary of Croon Elektrotechniek B.V (part ofTBI Holdings B.V) implementing projects in themarket segments of Poland and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, as its mother company is doing in the Netherlands. Since itsestablishment in 1993, Electro Croon Polska Sp. z o.o. has become one of the most highlyrecommended contractors.We offer our clients:Feasibility (studies and surveys), Analyses ofrequirements, Pre-engineering, Complete design of infrastructure, industrial plants and systems, building and systems installations, integrated systems, Skilful and efficient implementation,execution and commissioning, Training, maintenance and after sale services Facility managementCompleted projects:-HollandPark–Warszawa-DomHolenderski–Gdańsk-GaleriaBałtycka-Gdańsk

Electro Croon Polska Sp. z o.o.ul.Marszałkowska76,00-517WarszawaTel: +48 22 59 63 780

Contact people:MrJanuszChełmińskie-mail:jchelm@croon.nlMrSebastiaanSpeeemail:sspee@croon.nlww

issue 35 Bulletin 21

MoneyMakersS.A.offersrealassetmanagementservice from just PLN 40 000.Our people haveinternational experience and a strong track record ininvestmentandclientservice.WE INVEST FOR YOU We invest our client’smoney through their individual investment account accordingtotheirpersonalstrategy.INDEPENDENCE Our client is our only master.We have no sources of income other than the fee paid by our clients, which guarantees a complete alignment of interestsTRANSPARENCYOurclientscanfollowtheirowninvestmentsfromdaytodayonline.Weshowalltransactionsanddiscloseallcosts.Therearenohidden“surprises”.TRY US WITHOUT OBLIGATION We invite youto learn more about us and to open a free demo account in order to find out what investmentstrategybestfitsyourneeds.

Tel.:(22) 463-88-88 Fax:(22) 463-88-89 E-mail:biuro@moneymakers.pl www:www.moneymakers.pl

SaturacjaManagementConsulting isacompanyspecialising in improving business results and operational performance. Our services includestrategy & business consulting and project & interim management. Our style can be bestdescribedasfulldedicationtoourClients’interests,constant delivery of valuable results and capable of resolving complex business matters. Ouranalytical and conceptual skills allow us to quickly identify risks and opportunities for beneficialimprovement. Always pursuing win-win togetherwith the principle that people are your greatest resource, and that implementation already starts attheinitiationstageofanychange. WehavebroadexperienceinprojectsandworkingenvironmentswhereICTisintensivelyusedasanenabler to run business operations, especially in theareaofERP&CRMimplementations.

Saturacja Management Consultingwww. l i n k ed i n . c om / company / s a t u r a c j a -management-consultingEmail:menno.de.jong@saturacja.comTelephone: +48 608 274 497

We are in the business of delivering seamless, consistent, high-quality professional services worldwide.Wehave130,000individualsacross140countries, with an array of talents, who deliver these servicesdaily.United by the belief that every person, organisation and community needs help to achieve their potential, we strive to use our talents to make a real difference to each other, to our clients and to the communitiesinwhichweworkandlive.About E&Y Global Shared Services (GSS): Ernst & Young’s Global Shared Services is aglobal initiative that provides a broad array of services across theglobe. The services includeEMEIA processes, Global Finance, Accountingand Reporting. Ernst & Young GSS is one ofthe most admired international professional service firms and it invites bright candidateswith a promise to provide them opportunities to growandsucceed.EYGlobalServices (Poland) Sp. z o.o. was set up in December 2010 andstarted running from January 2011. Now thecompany has 70 employees and, 250 employees areexpectedtobetakenonby2012.

PVG Polska Sp.z.o.o.

Money Makers S.A. Saturacja Management Consulting

Blue Business Media LtdDe Bruijn & Co, accountants and tax consultancy office. Established over 50 years ago, we actas confidential advisers and a sounding boardto ambitious entrepreneurs, companies and organisations. We are here to serve you withadvice (commercialandprivate)onaccountancy,taxation and administrative affairs.Our customer base consists of national and international companies in Amsterdam and across the provinces of North Holland, Utrecht and South Holland. De Bruijn &Co is an independent bureau and a member of the Accacia network of independent accountants and tax consultancyoffices.ServicesProvided:Accounting,Cost Accounting, Assistance in Tax, General Administration, Company Start Ups,General TaxAdvice, Consolidation, VAT advice, Bookkeeping, Taxcompliance,PayrollManagement,Reporting.

Address: Johannes Verhulststraat 88-90, 1071NKAMSTERDAMPhone: +31 20 5 789 800, Fax: +31 20 5 789 808Email:info@debruijnenco.nlWebsite:www.debruijnenco.nlPartners:WimKrook(+31614006605),PimGroentjes(+31614006604)andRobinRas(+31643453956)

De Bruijn & Co

Ernst & Young

The PVG Group is an international trading company that has been operating in the household climate controlsectorformanyyears.WiththeZibrobrand,wehavebecometheEuropeanleaderinmobileheatersandassociatedfuels.Wehave noticed that there is an increasing attention toindoorairquality.Thisiswhywehavecombinedour forces in a single strong brand: ZIBRO. With ZIBRO, PVG focuses on improving indoorair quality because we believe that: The quality of the air in your private surroundings definesyourwell-being. All your senses and your entirebodyareinfluencedbyairtemperature,humidity,purity, fragrance, circulation, oxygen and other air elements.The quality of air is an important factor in feeling good. With a dedicated organisation currentlyemploying 250 people, the PVG Group is well equippedtomeetthechallengesofthefuture.Weintendtosupply“home-madeclimates”tothe730millionconsumersinEurope.

PVG Polska Sp.z.o.o. ul.Kościelna11026-800BiałobrzegiTel: +48 48 613 00 70

Welcome to the Blue Business Media world!

Iamsureyouagreethatitisnotonlywhatyouknow,but more importantly who you know that causes your success in business! At the conferences of Blue Business Media, CEE’s best conferencecompany, gaining new and unique knowledge and establishing important new relationships goes handinhand.Asorganiser,wedotheimpossibletointegrate our participants and we generate, discuss and present content that was never presented before! Blue Business media is especially strong inRetail, FMCG,Media, Finance, IT andPharmaand is organising THE yearly meeting places for Marketing, Sales, Legal, Finance, ProcurementandITprofessionals.WefocusprimarilyonPoland,Russia and Romania. More than 80% of the top500companiesareour regularclients! Iamsurethat we can be of vital assistance to any company looking to further develop their business contacts! Don’thesitate tocontactmedirectlyon+486604020 71,without doubtwewill finda commoninterest within a couple of minutes!

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Marc van der Ploeg A big step into the unknown

Marc van der Ploeg had built a successful career as a corporate professional. However, in 2009 he put everything aside and, together with four partners, he started his own asset management company Money Makers.

issue 35 Bulletin22

How did it all start for Money Makers?

“Theideaforthecompanystartedin2009whenIwasworkingforPZU.Imettwoofourcurrentpartners,KrzysztofSzypułaandJarosławJamka,inmyapartment.We were all at a point in our lives where we felt that it would be nice to start our ownbusiness.Soonwewerejoinedbythetwootherpartners,MichałSzymańskiandAndrzejPłachta.Forme,therewasonebasicconditionforjoiningthisproject,andthatwastomakesurethattheproductIsell isaproductthat Iwouldbuymyselftoo.Inthosesessions,wepuzzledouttheconceptofMoneyMakers.Fortheaveragecustomerwithlet’ssay150thousandzłotiesofsavingsthereisalackofoptionsforinvestinginPoland.Youcangotoaninsuranceagentorafinancialadviser, or to a bank, but good and transparent solutions at that level are hard to find.Withourcompanywefillthisgap.Wedonotofferadvise,weactuallyinvestonbehalfofourclients.Ourservicesarepartlyofferedon-line,becausethislimitstheoperationalcostsyouhavewhenyousetupofficesacrossthecountry.Italsomeansthatwecanofferourcustomersaproductthatcostsless.”

How did you determine a product for this market?

“Duringoneoftheinitialdiscussionswithmypartners,weaskedourselves,‘Ifwehad200,000PLNsavingsonouraccount,wherewouldwego?’andwesimplycouldn’tcomeupwithananswer.Ofcoursetherearemanyadviserswhohaveproducts theywant tosell.But it isverydifficult for thecustomer tomake thedistinction,becausethereisalackoftransparency.Advisersasarulearenotindependent.Theysellaproductfromsomebodyelse,andthereforethereisalimitedchoiceofproducts,andthenthereisalsotheelementofremuneration….”

….namely is the solution is really best for you, or is it only good for the adviser?

“Exactly! Financial advisers are always tempted to choose a product that pays a good commission over a product with less commission, even if it is better for theclientandeasiertosell.Itishardtoservetwomastersatthesametime,butthisisauniversalproblemandverydifficulttosolve,becausethisishowthosepeopleareremunerated.”

And how about Money Makers. How do you earn your money?

“Wechargeafeefortheassetmanagementthatwedo.Thatdiffersanddependson the amount of money that the customer invests and the type of strategy that ischosen.Themoreaggressivethestrategy,thehigherthefee.Thisisnormal,because buying government bonds is less of an art than choosing the right sharesonthestockmarket.Wealsochargeasuccessfeeonproductsthatinvolvemoreaggressivestrategies.Tous,thisisextraincentivetotrytogetthehighestvalueforthecustomer.”

How do you convince your customers of the quality of your product?

“Wedothisinanumberofways.Firstly,twoofourpartners,MichałSzymańskiandJarosławJamka,bothhave15years’experienceascertifiedinvestmentmanagers.Betweenthem,theymanaged80blnzłoties,morethanhalfoftheassetsinthePolishsecondpillarpensionsystem.Theycanoftenbefoundontelevisionandinnewspapersgiving interviewsor comments.Bydoing this,wearebuildingaprofessional imageofaverycapable investmentmanager.Anotherelementcomes from the formula of our company.Our concept is about transparency,becausetransparencybuildstrust.Wehaveplacedawebcaminouroffice,soourclientscanseeuseverymomentoftheday.Ourconsultantstalkwithclientsusingvideo.Unlikeotherassetmanagers,wemakeall transactionsvisibleonadailybasis.Wealsodiscloseallthecosts.Sowearegoingtotheextremeinofferingtransparency.Thisiswhatwedotocompensateforourcurrentlackofawellknownbrandname.” Does it help that you are a foreigner coming from the Netherlands?

“For theclient, themost importantaspect is ‘Who is takingcareofmymoney?’Myroleisfocusedonbuildingandmanagingourcompany.ThemostimportantpeopleinourmarketingstrategyareourpartnersMichałandJarosław,becausetheymanage the investments for the client. Of course a Dutch person in ourcompanyaddsaflavourofinternationalexperience,andIalsoplayalargeroleintalkingtopotentialcustomersorshareholders,buttotheendcustomer,Iamnotimportant.”

How is Money Makers doing in its first year?

“Wewent ‘live’withourwebsiteon7February thisyear. Wehadno ideahowmuch we would spend to convert a lead into a real customer, and how much timethiswouldtake.Itisstilltooearlytosaymuchaboutourresults,butIcanalready say that the average investments of the customers are much higher than weexpected.Weassumeditwouldbeclosetotheminimum,butitismuchmore.On the other hand,, we have less customers than we assumed to have at this point.Intheend,whatcountsisthecostpercustomer.Wehavemadequiteabigstep in bringing these costs back to a level that is sustainable for the company andtoreachbreakeven.”

You are extremely focused on transparency. Do the customers appreciate this?

“I havenoticed that our customershave toget used to thewaywework. Theaverage person only watches their investments when the market makes huge fluctuations.Ourclientscanseetheleveloftheirinvestmentseveryday.Thishelpsto build trust, but sometimes people grow more nervous from it and sometimes youhavetoexplainthingsabitmore.Take,forinstance,ourcosts–weareveryclearaboutthecostsforourservices.Whenyouseethisinrealfigures,peopletendtothinkofitasalotofmoney.Butwhenyouexplainthatthisisthesamefee they would pay elsewhere, only there you would not know about it, people understanditandappreciateourtransparency.Butattheendoftheday,themostimportantfactoraretheinvestmentresultsandIhaveaverygoodfeelingthatwewillshowgoodresultsalreadywhenwepresentthedataoverthefirstyear.”

You have lived in Poland for over 12.5 years, over a time span of 17 years. You must feel very attached to this country.

“Idoandforanumberofreasons.Firstandforemost,thepeopleinPolandareveryhospitable.ForeignerswhocometotheNetherlandshaveamuchhardertimethanforeignerswhocometoPoland.Ihonestlyhaveneverfeltlikeaforeignerinthiscountry.EveninthebeginningwhenIdidn’tspeakawordofPolishyet.Ialsolikethepersonalcultureofpeoplealot,withstrongfamilyvalues.”

And what do you think of Poland from a working perspective?

“People in this country are not afraid to work hard, they are entrepreneurs and are verysmart.Thereare,however,somecultural issues,butwhenyouhaveyourowncompanyyoucanbuildyourownculture.SoIdon’tseethatasaproblem.”

When we look at your curriculum, in 2008 you worked for one year in the Netherlands, to finally return to Poland to come to work for PZU. Was that the first sign that you wanted to stay permanently in Poland?

“AfterbeingalmostfiveyearsasCEOofINGNationaleNederlanden,itwasmylogicalnextsteptogotoadifferentjobinINGintheNetherlands.AfteracoupleofmonthsIrealisedthatIwanttospendmylifeinPoland.Apart from my family and some friends, the people dearest to me all live in Poland.AndsoIdecidedtocomebacktoPoland.IusedthetimeinmynextjobatPZUtothinkthroughwhatIreallywantedtodo.Thereweresomeoffersforacorporatejob,butIdecidedtotakeabigjumpandtoinvestallmysavingsintostartingMoneyMakers.”

How do you look back on this decision?

“Mypartners and I haveput everythingon the line. All our savings are in thiscompanyandweonlyreceiveasymbolicsalary.ItisthebestbusinessdecisionIhaveevermade.Regardlessof thefinancialsuccess,because Idon’tknowthat yet, being your own boss, building your own concept and working in a small teamareallveryattractiveelementsofhavingyourowncompany.AndIdoitonmyownaccount.Ifitbecomesasuccess,Iwillbenefitfromit;ifitdoesnot,Iwillpayforit.Andintheextremecasewhenitdoesnotbecomeasuccess,thenIwillsurelyfindanotherjob.Asanactuary,itismyprofessiontocalculaterisksandInaturallydon’tbelongamongthemostrisk-seekingpeople.Irealisedthattoliveyouhavetotakeriskseveryday,andIthinkthatPolandoffersthebestenvironmenttotakerisksandstartabusiness.IntheNetherlands,themarketissaturatedanditismuchmoredifficulttohaveasuccessfulstart-up.Thecostsofentryaremuchhigher.Thisisacountrywhereitisstillpossibletodoit.Sowhynotdoithere?”

issue 35 Bulletin 23

Columns

InmylastcontributiontotheBulletin,titled‚Charity:theprivilegeofgiving.PartI–theelderly’Isharedwiththereadermyexperienceswithprojectsfocusingon the elderly, mostly poor, ailing and lonely people living in villages around Czaplinekinthenorth-westernpartofPoland.Morethantwoyearsago,thesponsor,whoprovidesfinancialmeansneededto carry out the activities, decided to change focus. After somediscussion,weagreedtosetupaproject targetingthehomelesspeople. Igot in touchwith and established co-operation with the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in Warsaw. The friars serve a hotmeal to the homeless people everyday andprovidespiritualsupportatweeklymeetings.Theyenthusiasticallyextendedtheir assistance by helping me establish first contacts with the group ofhomelesspeopleandbyofferingaplaceattheirpremisestomeetandwork.Ithasbecomeourcommonproject.Themainobjectiveistoassistaselectedgroup of the homeless to radically, and hopefully permanently, change their current status quo. To achieve this we first had to identify those homelesspeoplewhoalreadyhadsomeinitialmotivationtochange.Inthesecondstagewe helped them (re)acquire the social skills needed to function normally in

society.For thispurposewecontracted twoexperiencedpsychologistswho,over four sessions, each consisting of some 15 group meetings, worked with the homeless on subjects like interpersonal relations, assertiveness, anger control, verbal and non-verbal communication, andmanymore. In additiontogroupsessions,therewerealsoindividualcoachingmeetings.Inthethirdstage, taking place now, we are helping the homeless to arrange some basic administrativeissueslikeID-documents,medicalinsuranceoraregistrationofresidence.Alloftheseareinordertomakefindingajobpossible.Thisseemstobecrucial,aspaidworknotonlybringsfinancialindependence,but it also brings every day structures, allows self-reliance, provides positive reference points and dignity, helps improve self-esteem, restores control over one’s own fate, and leads to a redefinition of self, to name just a fewconstructive facets of work. With great pleasure, let me announce thatRandstad, a temporary employment agency and a member of the Netherlands -PolishChamberofCommerce,hasjoinedusintheprojectandfoundthefirstjobs for severalhomelesspeople from thegroup. Idonotbelieve inaone-time-actapproach.Givingfoodormoneytothehomelessmightbeimportant,but usually will not change their situation in the long run, and frequently can evenpetrifythecurrentstate.Ourapproachtotheproblemofhomelessnessisdifferent.Herearesomemostvitalelementsofit:wetakealongerperspectiveand try to change the situation in a systemic way; the participants have joined theprojectpurelyvoluntarilyandareresponsibleforthefinalresults;theyarecommitted to it, have a feeling of ownership and are ready to work really hard tochangetheirlives;ourroleisprimarilytofacilitateandencourage.Letmestress, however, that it all begins and relies on one most basic prerequisite: a clearmessageforthoseinneedthatsomeonedoescare.

Why training does not work Imagine you are amanager, and after manymeetings you are getting sotiredofthefactthatyourpeoplestilldon’tunderstandwhatyoumeanaboutbeing pro-active instead of re-active, solution-orientated instead of problem-orientated, taking initiative insteadofwaiting.Sowhatdoyoudo?Youhirea specialist to solve all your problems, a trainer/coach. Then you brief thisspecialist:firstyouwantsometrainingandthisandthat(blahblahblah)shouldbethecontent!Andofcoursethetrainer/coachspecialistpreparesatrainingsessionthatmatchesthebriefingandinwhichhe/shebelieves,conductsit,theattendees think they learned something new, or at least refreshed old stuff, and thenthespecialistsendsaninvoice,everybodyishappy.

Really? Unfortunately, approximately only 20% of the attendees consciously useand implement the training inpractice.That is thestuff they remember,theywillnotusewhattheydon’tremember.Another60%saytheyimplementitunconsciously,whichmeanstheydon’t,andthelast20%deliberatelywon’timplementit,forseveralreasons.Whenyourmanageroranexternalspecialisttellsyoutoquitsmokingbecauseitisbadforyourhealth,willyoulisten?Nope.You’ll only stopwhen you feel strongly that it is necessary to change yourhabits,andwhenyou,becauseofthis,aremotivatedenough.Motivatedfrom

inside,youfeelthisyourself.Amanagerandatrainertogethercontemplatingall the stuff they thought off together, and then imposing it on a group of employees…. It onlyworks for those intrinsicallymotivated.And even theydon’tremembereverything,sowhoishelpingthemtoimplementit?

How do you develop your managers and people when you see what they needandtheydon’t? The answer is to make them feel the need, and construct along-termstructuredplantogetherwiththem.Accordingtothe“Path-Goal-Motivation-Theory”, people aremoremotivated if they have freedom andspacetobemorecreativeinhowtoreachgoals.Thethingtodoistocreatean open atmosphere in which you discuss together a plan on how to reach the collective goals, to let them discuss content and plan (Path) withoutdiscussing thegoals.Makeadevelopmentplan,collectiveand individual,which is part of the PDP, the ‘Personal Development Plan’. Start withmeasuring the level of competences and then design a plan together on how todevelopthedesiredlevelofcompetences.Thiswillmakeyouremployeesmuchmoremotivated to remember and implement the training-sessions. If youdesigna trainingplan that fits thecompanygoals, the team’splanand the individual competence needs, make sure it is a long-term plan in which there isa lotof repetition.Secondly,makesure there isacoach toguidetheTransfer-to-Practiceprocess.Itisessentialtoappointaninternalor external coach who will enable the motivated 20% group to implement the stuff they did not think of themselves, as well as the moderately motivated 60%group to actively implement. In fact, if your people feel the need todevelopbecauseitfitstheirdevelopmentgoals,theywillwanttrainingandcoaching,andtheywillseethebenefit.Thelastgroupof20%whostillaren’tmotivated….Well,youknowwhattodowiththem.

issue 35 Bulletin24

Paweł P. Mlicki Ph.D.DeputyDirectorDehoraConsultancyGroup.

Charity: the privilege of giving. Part II – the homeless.

Remy VermuntOwnerRazorbladeSpz.o.oTraining,CoachingandConsultancy.

Columns

Meeting the President of Poland was an exciting enough prospect, if nothing else itwouldofferagoodphotoopportunity(seethefrontpage),andsomethingtobragaboutoverabeer.OnApril28,PresidentKomorowskimetintheBelvederePalace with representatives of the international chambers of commerce in Poland.AmongtheinviteeswerefiveboardmembersofyourChamber.ThesubjectofthemeetingwasthecompetitivenessofthePolisheconomy.The meeting started with an introductory speech by the President, in which he stressed the progress that Poland had made since the fall of communism, and in particular in the past two years, during which all of Europe with the exception of Poland saw recession. In the 2010 – 2011Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, the President stressed,Polandnowtakes39thplace(outof139countries),which isupsevenspotsfromlastyearandup14from2008.Hedidnotgointodetailaboutthereport,butthisisworthadigression.Thereportrankscountriesbasedon12pillarsofcompetitiveness,(1)Institutions,(2) Infrastructure, (3) Macroeconomic Environment, (4) Health and primaryeducation,(5)Highereducationandtraining,(6)Goodsmarketefficiency,(7)Labourmarketefficiency,(8)Financialmarketdevelopment,(9)Technologicalreadiness,(10)Marketsize,(11)Businesssophisticationand(12)Innovation.Those active in Poland will easily be able to predict that Poland ranks high onmarket size (21st), educational standards (18th), and a well-developedfinancialsector(32nd).NeithershoulditcomeasasurprisethatPolandranks108th when it comes to transport infrastructure, and an equally embarrassing 103rdplaceforgovernmentefficiency.

He also proudly announced that he had signed the Law on Limiting AdministrativeBarriersforCitizensandBusinesses.Judgingbythetitle,thisisindeedalongoverduepieceoflegislation.Thisistrue,inparticularbearinginmindthe2011IFCDoingBusinessReportcovering183economies,inwhichPolandisrankedinadisappointing70thplace.Thisrankingtakesintoaccountthe following administrative procedures and ranks all the economies for the ease of suchprocedures: starting a business (rank 113), anddealingwithconstruction permits (rank 164 out of 183!), registering property (rank 86).SavingthedayforPolandistheeaseofgettingbankcredit(rank15),thoughthishardlyinvolvestheauthorities.Othercategoriesareprotectinginvestors(rank44),payingtaxes(rank121),tradingacrossborders(rank49),enforcingcontracts(rank77)andclosingabusiness(rank81).The new law introduces changes to many existing laws, with the goal to cut downon red tape. For example, authoritieswill no longer be allowedtodemanddocumentsordeclarations fromcitizens (includescompanies)regardingfactsthatcanbeestablishedbasedonpublicregisters.Inmanycases,citizenswillbeallowedtofileastatementoffact,ratherthanhavingto file copies of documents. The latter should be particularly helpful toforeigners,whoalwayshadtheadditionalobligationtofilesworntranslations,andsometimesapostilleddocuments.After thePresident’sspeech,CristianoPinzauti,currentlypresidingover theGroupofInternationalChambersofCommercethankedthePresidentforhisinvitation, and each of the chambers was able to raise issues, such as the

stateofPolishinfrastructure,thelackof“serviceorientation”oftheauthoritieswhendealingwithbusinessingeneral,andonehottopic–thepublictenderprocess.Oneofthemainissuesrelatedtothepublictenderprocessisthefact thatpriceseems tobe thesolecriterionwhendecidingon tenders. Inthiscontext,anoldDutchsaying–“goedkoopisduurkoop”springstomind(i.e. when you buy something cheap, you get what you pay and end uppayingmore)..AgoodexampleofthisisthereforalltoseeintheformofthehaltedconstructionofpartoftheA2highwayfromWarsawtoŁódź,wherethewinningconstructioncompany(fromChina)simplycouldnotaffordtoworkfortheofferedandagreeduponprice.The American Chamber offered to share its economic report with the president, theFrenchPolishChamberdidthesamewithareportonpublicprocurement.The Netherlands - Polish Chamber suggested that life could be made much easier for foreign investors if the Polish Government would make basic informationavailableinEnglish.During the question and answer session, the President made his own notes, and his replies showed profound knowledge of the issues raised, and genuine interestintheproblemsofforeigninvestorsinPoland.Althoughconstitutionallythe influenceof thePresident is limited, it is good to haveaheadof statewhoiscommittedtomakingPolandabetterplacetodobusiness.So,intheend the meeting of the group of international chambers of commerce with the PresidentofPolandturnedouttobemuchmorethanjustaphotoopportunity.

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Meeting the president of the republic

By Remco van den Kroftisadvocaat(Dutchlicensedlawyer)andapartnerofBSJPinalliancewithTaylorWessing.

issue 35 Bulletin26

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The history in Poland of Philips, one of the most well known brands from the Netherlands, dates back to 1921. In that year, Anton Philips, the co-founder and owner of the company, signed a contract with the Borkowski brothers for the distribution of Philips light bulbs from the Netherlands.

ItwasonlythreeyearsafterthenewlygainedindependenceofPoland,whichhad given a strong boost to the local economy. Anton Philips recognisedthe potential of the local Polish market, and swiftly decided to increase his investments.Justoneyearafterthisdistributionagreement,PhilipsopenedafactoryinWarsaw,whichwasthefirstproductionlocationoutsidetheNetherlands.Another year later a second factory was opened in Warsaw, and in the following years, Philips started the production of radio lamps, x-ray equipment, radio receivers,andtelephoneparts.InthosedaysPhilipspracticallyheldamonopolyon theproductionof radios inPoland.Thecompanyhadalsosetup itsowndistributionnetworkofshopslocatedinallthemajorcitiesinPoland.

SecondworldwarDespitethefactthat,duringtheSecondWorldWar,Philipshadtoproduceradio equipment for the German government, the factory in Warsaw was a centreofresistanceagainsttheNazis.Manyofthe2500staffweremembersof the ‘Home Army’ (Armia Krajowa), the Polish resistance movement.

Furthermore, during the war, a unit of Philips employees took part in the WarsawUprising in1944.Dutchmanagement favoured the resistanceandhelped to protect its staff. Still in the 40s, the Polish government-in-exileawardeddirectorArieKrijgsmanwiththecivilstateaward,theSilverCrossofMerit,forPhilips’supporttotheresistance.In1995,PetervanderWeideandFriderikWalterscheidwereawardedtheWarsawCrossoftheUprising.Thismilitary decoration was awarded to participants or persons who contributed totheWarsawuprisingin1944.

At the end of the uprising, the Philips premises in Warsaw, just like large parts oftherestofthecapital,werecompletelydestroyed.Philipsplannedtorebuildthemanufacturing plant to restart production in late 1945. However theseplansfailedduetothenationalisationofthefactory.In1947Philipsopenedarepresentationofficeemploying13people.In1949,onthesiteofthePhilipsfactory, a new light bulb factory was established named Rosa Luxemburg, andPhilipsbecameoneofthesuppliersforthefactory. In1966Philips lostpermissiontokeepitsrepresentativeofficeinPoland.

A new eraAfter the end of the communist era, Philips resumed its activities in Poland in 1991. It bought a majority share in the Polish light bulb factory Polam-Piła.Throughout the1990s,Philipsmademany investments inPoland.Thecompany became the owner of several factories for the production of lighting equipment:Polam-FarelinKętrzyn,Polam-BielskoandPolam-Pabianice,andalsobecametheownerofafactoryforhouseholdappliancesinBiałystok.

At present, Philips Poland is the market leader in the lighting segment, and has a leading position in many markets of consumer products (including kitchenware and household appliances, monitors and TVs, audio players, shaversandhairremovalequipment)andhasagrowingpositioninthemarketof specialised medical equipment. Philips employs almost nine thousandemployeesinPolandinfivefactoriesandmarketingandsalesdepartments.The company is one of the largest foreign investors in the Polish market (500 mlnEURsince1991).Inaddition,thecompanyisoneofthelargestexporters(900mlnEURayear).Dueto90yearsofhistoryinPoland,thePhilipsbrandiswell-recognisedamongcustomers,partnersandco-workers.

Dutch companies in Poland: Serial part 1: Philips

One of the shops that was part of the nationwide distribution network of Philips

The Philips factory at the Karolkowka street in Warsaw that was established by Philips in 1922

InthosedaysPhilipspracticallyheldamonopolyontheproductionofradiosinPoland.

issue 35 Bulletin 27

Promised kids suffer from high food prices

issue 35 Bulletin28

Foodpriceshavegoneupoverthepastyearby37percent.The3000PromisedKids thatwesupportand feedaresufferingdisproportionally from that.BillChasey, the founder of the foundation for social corporate responsibility (FCSR),thefundraiserofthisproject,explainswhy.

What is the impact of the higher food prices on our project of the FCSR?

Bill Chasey: “I just printed out the latest data on food prices over the lastmonth,showingan increaseof4.5% inonemonthalone.Wecannotavoidthis;wearetheonesthathavetobuythefood.Weserve60,000mealsonamonthlybasissoyoucanimaginehowbigthisjumpisforus.”

I imagine that the prices are having a double impact because also the families of the kids have to spend more on food?

“Thatistrue.Inmosthomes,about40percentoftheincomegoesonfood.Atthehomesofourkids,thisfigureisabout70percent.Thereforethefoodcrisis is hitting our families the hardest, and their kids are getting to school ever hungrier.Theyrelymoreonourprogrammetokeepthemaliveandhealthy.”

What can you do about it?

“To solve the issuewith foodprices,we have to getmoremembers. Theyare our number one income source. Some of our members also send usdonations.Oneofourmembers,alawfirm,wonacaseandtheyreceivedPLN

50,000recoverywhichtheysenttous.However,fromnextyear,companiesinPolandcandonateonepercentoftheirtaxbasetous.Wehaveappliedforthedesignationlistthisyear.Whatweneedisasustainableincomebase,andthis isoneofthewaystoorganisethat. IfeveryoneofourCEO’swilldonate their taxmoney to us, and I firmlybelieve that thiswill bringus asubstantialadditionalincomesource.”

Is it difficult to attract new members for the foundation?

“Yesitis.Ifeelthatithasbecomemoredifficulttogetcompaniesinvolvedinourmission.Iusedtohavebreakfastsorluncheswithpotentialnewcompanieseveryday.Andnowadays,sometimesweekscanpasswithoutanymeetings.Thiscanmakemeveryfrustrated.Ifitweren’tforus,thosekidswouldrotinhelloutthereintheZachodniopomorskiregionfortherestoftheir lives.Wearemakingahugedifference.Takethelittlegirlthatsangatourdinnerdance.Thankstoourprogrammeandsupportsheisgoingofftocollegenextyear.”

Recently, members discovered the possibility of organising a team-building event with a purpose in the Promised Land.

“This all started with Cargill. Twenty-five junior executives from all over theworld were given PLN 20,000 to work with and were told to remodel four elementaryschoolclassrooms.Theyweregiven30hours tocomplete theirprojects and prepare two hand-over ribbon-cutting ceremonies, complete with refreshments for thePromiseKids, teachersandparents.Theyhad to fend

Ghelamco CEO Jeroen van der Toolen at the PromiseLand in preparation for a Team Building with Purpose excursion that will takeplacefor60Ghelamcoemployeesthissummer.

Chamber member Ghelamco will send 60 employees who will be given an amount of moneytoremodeltwoschools.Theywillbegiven30hourstocompletetheirprojectsandpreparearibbon-cuttingceremonies.

forthemselvesinthisunfamiliarcountrywithoutthehelpofourFoundation’sstafforconsultingmechanicalengineers. Theyhadtofindtheirownsupplies,rawmaterials,carpets, lightingfixtures,toolsandpaint.  Theyhadtoarrangefor their own transportation, meals, and schedules, and all from the money they weregiven.Andtheyallsucceededintheirtasks.Itisteam-building,butteam-buildingwithapurpose,whichmakesitaveryspecialexperience.Theseteam-building events have become popular; recently also our Belgian member, the companyGhelamco,wasatourschoolswithsomeofitsstaffmembers.”

You are also sending two kids from the Promised Land project to the United States?

“Yes we are! Andrzej Mikulko and Marcin Raulin are two kids who haveparticipatedinourEnglishprogrammecalled‘Dreamscometrue’.Theywonarigorouscompetitionandwilltakepartinthisyear’sprogrammeoftheRonaldReaganLegacyFoundation. IworkedcloselywithRonaldReaganduringhiselectioncampaigns,andlastyearhissonMichaelcametoPolandtovisitme.They have a programme where they bring American students to Europe, and take European students totheUS.Thisiscalledthelibertyeducationtours.The whole idea behind the programme is that Presidents Ronald Reagan and Michael Gorbachev endedthecoldwar.Tomanyyoungchildrenthisisjust a chapter in the history books, but the Legacy Foundationwantstochangethat.Withthisstudentexchange programme, the children will visit sites thataresignificanttothefreedomoftheUnitedStatesandEurope.LastyearwehadonegirlGosia,whoattended theprogramme,and this yearAndrzejandMarcinwillgo.Allourcompaniesstepuptohelpthesekidsontheirtrip.AirFrance–KLMispayingforthetickets.Ghelamcoboughttheirclothes,andTravelExpressispayingfortheirtravellingexpenses.”

Will they manage with the English language?

“They were part of our English language programme, so they speak the language.During the trip theydon’tdiffer fromanyotherkid from Poland and they perfectly integrate withtheotherkids.Forinstance,lastyearGosiawasthestarofthetour.Sheisinalmostevery

picture. It gives the children an incentive to be a part of this. But to comebacktoyourfirstquestion,thosetripsandthemusiclessonsandtheEnglishclassesarewhatIcall,‘niceextras’.Ourmaingoalistofeedthekids.Wearetrying to make the lives of the kids better at the same time as we are feeding ourkids.Butifwehavetoleteventsgo,thenwewilldothat.”

Bill Chasey: “If it weren’t for us, those kids would rot in hell out there in the Zachodniopomorski region for the rest of their lives.”

Match and More PolskaOur key objective is to conduct training programs,dedicated mainly to companies from the financial sector(banks, insurance companies, financial intermediaries).We conduct workshops and trainingprograms tailored to the needs of eachclient taking into account the specialclient taking into account the specialneeds of the trainings participants.

Match and More Polska Sp. z o.o.Al. Niepodległości 106, 02-585 Warszawatel./fax +48 22 402 18 17, info@matchandmore.plwww.matchandmore.pl, www.matchandmore.nl

Concentrating on the tasks,focusing on people.

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Bill Chasey: The food crisis is hitting our families the hardest, and their kids are getting to school ever hungrier. They rely more on ourprogrammetokeepthemaliveandhealthy.

issue 34 Bulletin30

Please contact:

Mr Krzysztof JablonskiBusiness Development Director CEE Region

krzysztof.jablonski@vanameyde.comtel. +48 500 10 25 88

Van Ameyde CEE PolandUl. Mickiewicza str. No 63

Warsaw 01-625

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Pursuing Claims in Group Proceedings

In 2010, the long awaited regulations on PursuingClaims in Group Proceedings became effective (“the Act”).Theunderlyingprincipleoftheregulationsistocreate a new type of civil proceedings where a group ofentitieswillhavetherighttofileacollectiveclaimagainstonedefendant.The new regulations adopted in Poland have been designed to remove some of the problems of pursuing mass claims, such as judgment consistency and the costofcourtproceedings.Theprovisionof theAct, definesgroupproceedingsas court proceedings in which claims of a single type are pursued by at least 10 persons, with the same or analogousfactualbasis.Themost interestingaspectof the group proceedings regulation is the assertion ofmonetaryclaims.Whenpursuingamonetaryclaim,a representative of the group is required to identify a unifiedlevelofdamagesforeachmemberofthegroupinthelightofthecommoncircumstancesofthecase.Group proceedings are filed by a group representative, who must be legally represented by afully-qualifiedlawyer.Proceedingsareconductedinthegrouprepresentative’snamebutwitheffectforallrepresentedgroupmembers.The claim must satisfy the appropriate requirements of the Polish Civil Proceedings Code and include elements characteristic for group proceedings, such astheplaintiff’smotiontodeterminethecaseingroup

proceedings, an indication that the case fulfills thefundamental conditions of group proceedings and a specificationofaunified levelofdamages foreachgroupmember if amonetaryclaim ispursued.Theclaim should also contain a statement from the group representative that he is acting as the representative of the group, and this must be supported with statements from all group members attesting that they have acceded to the group and consented to his representation.Moreover,thegrouprepresentativeisalso obliged to present the agreement as concluded withtheirselectedlawyer.The court decides whether the group proceedings areadmissibleinthecasefiled,however,thepositivedecisionofthecourtmaybequestioned.Iftheappealis not successful, the court is authorized to order apress announcement regarding the institution of group proceedings, in which substantial information is given to allow a potential member of the group to join the case.Polishlawhasacceptedtheopt-inrule,wherebyonly these persons who have declared their willingness to join the proceedings shall becomeparty to them.Their participation in group proceedings is dependent on the agreement of the defendant, who has the right toobject.Whenthelistofmembersofthegroupisfinal,thecaseisfurtherprocessedbythecourt.Intheruling,theCourtisobligedtonameallmembersofthegroup.Ifamonetaryclaimwassubmitted,thejudgmentofthe

court must indicate the level of damages awarded to eachmemberofthegroup.In the light of a study performed in 8 EUmemberstates in which a collective redress mechanism already functions, one may assume that this new instrument may be widely applied in Poland, as the annual benefit of the collective redress system perconsumer amounts to EUR 910, and to EUR 523 million in total. According to the study, industrieswhich may be most strongly affected by the new law include the pharmaceutical sector, banking sector, financial services’ sector, transport services, traveloperators, telecommunication services, real estate andautomotivesector.A recent poll indicates that only a small number of Polish enterprises questioned in the poll understand the importance of the new regulation and the ways itmayaffect theiractivities.At thepresentmoment,it is, of course, difficult to predict how the newregulationwillbeappliedbut firstcaseshavebeenlodged to civil courts and await further processing.First verdicts, that will reached by judges in group proceedings cases, will undoubtedly determine business operations of Polish enterprises for years tocome.

Author–SławomirKarasiński,Legaladvisor,PartnerFortak&KarasińskiLegal.

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Money is for people

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