The Voice of Irish Business held an extremely successful and informative roadshow in the Embassy of the Slovak Republic, Dublin on the 27th September 2018.
(Pictured above, Christopher Plant, Ambassador Pokojny, Wendy Stunt, Branislav Pochaba and Celina Barber.)
The plan of action of the day was to help guests learn a little more about the business scene in Central and Eastern Europe and to bring them a little closer to Slovakia, to also give them an introduction to the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Experts joined us from many countries to lend their knowledge and experience to our guests. Giving them a first-hand insight into how the CEE works on a business level.
We had a jammed packed morning, with presentations and panel discussions in which we welcomed guests to give their input.
Guest of Honour was Slovak Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, Ambassador Igor Pokojny who also kindly provided our first-class venue for the day.
After the Official Opening by Ambassador Pokojny, Managing Director Janos Kovago of Grant Thornton Hungary, gave a keynote speech on FDI & Business Opportunity, with an overview of Central & Eastern Europe. Mr. Kovago also spoke about Export Opportunities, Industrial Overview & a Macro Economic Overview.
We then welcomed Mr.Tomas Salini, Investment Consultant at the Slovak Trade & Investment Agency (SARIO) to give us an introduction to Slovakia. Tomas and his team are very glad to support all companies who are considering investment into Slovakia.
(Pictured above, Janos Kovago.Grant Thornton, Hungary.)
The services provided by the Investment Projects Department cover the assistance by the initial due diligence process, site selection, investment aid consultancy or supplier search. The goal of the Investment Projects Department is to serve as a “one-stop-shop” for the new investors and all services are free of charge.
Next up was Ms. Marketa Tomkova, Head of Financial Support Section in Czech Invest. CzechInvest is the Investment and Business Development Agency of the Czech Republic, CzechInvest’s main objective is to advise and support existing and new entrepreneurs and foreign investors in the Czech Republic. Marketa gave our guests a great insight into the opportunities in Czech Republic.
(Pictured above, Voice of Digital Business, Alan Henderson)
We then had a panel discussion with Experts on Business, Industry and Region moderated by Christopher Plant.
Our Expert panel of speakers were: Our Ambassador of Business, Mr Les Ratcliffe MBE, Automotive CSR Community Engagement Expert, Ms Tina Fleming – Logistic Expert, Boekestijn Transport Ireland, Ms Marian Murphy – Human Resources Expert from CPL, Mr Joe Dalton – Local Irish Business Expert and Mr Patrick Daly, Managing Director of Alba Consulting. The feedback from our guests on the panel discussion was extremely positive & very informative, Members of our audience commented that their eyes were now open to the opportunities in Central & Eastern Europe.
(Pictured above: Pavel Humplik, from Grant Thornton Czech Republic.)
Our next speaker was Tax Partner at Grant Thornton Czech Republic, Mr Pavel Humplik.
Pavel specialises in tax law for corporate clients and holdings and corporate income tax. Pavel’s clients receive advisory services in the area of investment incentives, appraising, transfer pricing and tax audits.
We heard about Growing your business in the CEE from the Advisors point of view.
We broke for lunch and invited our guests to use this opportunity to network a little with our speakers and each other.
We then welcomed our collegue Alan Henderson from The Voice of Digital Business to the floor. Alan spoke to us about best-practice in social selling, relationship building, the changing face of business development, and the role automation plays in all this.
Donal Greene then spoke about “Perception Vs Reality” An honest look at the CEE. Donal runs European Sales at Innovatrics, a Slovak company which is universally recognised as an industry leader in biometric identity management technology. He gave a very insightful presentation.
Our second last speaker for the day was Mr Valer Dunda, Managing Director of Cassa Cloud. In addition, Valer remains intimately involved in projects and client relationships leveraging his unique combination of deep technical subject matter expertise and strong business acumen.
We finished the day with a VIP After Event Reception & Networking provided by the Slovak Embassy in Ireland & Ambassador Pokojny.
Many thanks to Ambassador Pokoyny and Deputy Head of Mission, Branislav Pochaba who both gave up their time and their premises for the event.
Thank you to Grant Thornton our Headline Partners, Our Strategic partners, thank you, to Boekestijn Transport, CassaCloud, CPL & Innovatrics.
Thank you to Sario and Czech Invest, Bank of Ireland, COBCOE & of course The Slovak Embassy our Official Partners.
(Pictured above, Ambassador; Les Ratcliffe MBE, Director Wendy Stunt and Founder Christopher Plant.)
It was a fantastic day, our guests left with enthusiasm and a new found knowledge of Central and Eastern Europe. See you next time.
