Polish market No. 9 216/2014 SPECIAL EDITION

special edition

PU B LISHED SIncE 199 6 No. 9 (216) /2014 :: www.polishmarket.com.pl

SPECIAL EDITION

years

women economy science culture business politics

September 2014  polish market

51

“ MAKE THE

special edition

NOW THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF YOUR LIFE.” LILI PROJEKT PROJECT MANUFACTURE

ADVERTISMENT LOGOTYPE DTP ARCHITECTURE PHOTOGRAPHY MEDIA SCRAPBOOKING

LILIPROJEKT.PL

September 2014 polish market

49

SPIS TREŚCI CONTENTS

4. Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, Minister of Education: Attitude towards women and men in politics should be equal 6. Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Secretary of State at the Prime Minister’s Office and government spokesperson: Women are more persistent and consistent 8. Iwona Wendel, Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development: Educated but not employed 10. Elżbieta Polak, Marshall of the Lubuskie Region: I consider my job as a challenge 12. Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, Mayor of Warsaw: You always have to aim high and have high expectations

30. Katarzyna Niedużak from Business Advisory Services law firm (Kancelaria Doradztwa Biznesowego) in Warsaw: Women – creative, consistent and conscientious!

31. Beata Mońka: No one should be constrained nor discriminated 32. Aneta Podyma, Managing Director, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic & Slovakia, Genworth Financial: The human is the centre of my attention

14. Danuta Hübner, Member of the European Parliament: Let’s come together to win the future

34. Iwona Gaweł, Coordinator of the Polish Wood Cluster (PWC), Agency for Enterprise Development Sp. z o.o.: It is necessary to be able to take joint action

15. Iwona Sroka, PhD, President of the Management Board of The Central Securities Depository of Poland: Success management

36. Jolanta Zwolińska, General Director of Yonelle: Business is for optimists only

16. Bożena Lublińska-Kasprzak, President of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP): Polish women are enterprising

38. Irena Eris, a co-owner of the Dr Irena Eris Cosmetic Laboratories and Director for Research and Development: I am satisfied with every decision I have ever taken

18. Henryka Bochniarz, President of the Lewiatan Confederation: You just have to fight 20. Monika Piątkowska, vice-president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency: Feminine side of the Polish economy

39. Beata Pawłowska, Managing Director, Oriflame Poland: It’s extremely important to inspire people to work and to develop their careers 40. Zofia Gołubiew, Director of the National Museum in Kraków: Director in the right place

21. Beata Stelmach, President of GE Poland & the Baltic States: Credit for poland’s transformation goes to women

42. Katarzyna Gärtner, a composer: Artist - Composer - Producer...

22. Urszula Potęga, President of the Board of MT Targi Polska: Fairs are like two halves of an apple...

44. Agnieszka Odorowicz, Director of the Polish Film Institute (PISF): The audience is back in front of the big screen to watch Polish films

24. Prof. Elżbieta Mączyńska, President of the Polish Economic Society: Information technologies help women

45. Maciej Proliński: Our winners 47. Maciej Proliński: Outstanding women

September /2014

President: Krystyna Woźniak-Trzosek

Writers/Editors: Maciej Proliński, Jan Sosna, Sylwia Wesołowska- Betkier, Grażyna Śleszyńska, Janusz Korzeń, Jerzy Bojanowicz, Janusz Turakiewicz,

Vice - Presidents: Błażej Grabowski, Grażyna Jaskuła

Contributors: Agnieszka Turakiewicz

Address: ul. Elektoralna 13, 00-137 Warszawa, Poland Phone (+48 22) 620 31 42, 652 95 77 Fax (+48 22) 620 31 37 E-mail: info@polishmarket.com.pl

Graphic design: Agnieszka Andrzejczak-Charuba, Joanna Wiktoria Grabowska - Lili Projekt

Publisher: Oficyna Wydawnicza RYNEK POLSKI Sp. z o.o.

(RYNEK POLSKI Publishers Co. Ltd.)

Editor-in-Chief: Krystyna Woźniak-Trzosek Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Ewelina Janczylik-Foryś redakcja@polishmarket.com.pl Marcin Haber m.haber@polishmarket.com.pl Managing Editor: Rita Schultz rita.schultz@polishmarket.com.pl

26. Magdalena Wyrwicka, PhD, DSc, Eng., professor at the Poznań University of Technology: Potential of Polish science is up to the global standards 28. Prof. Alicja Chybicka, a medical doctor and senator: Patient comes first

Sales: Phone (+48 22) 620 38 34, 654 95 77 Marianna Dąbkowska marianna.dabkowska@polishmarket.com.pl Natalia Suhoveeva natalia.s@polishmarket.com.pl

Zdjęcia w numerze / Photos on issue: www.shutterstock.com

DTP: Lili Projekt project manufacture www.liliprojekt.pl Printing: Zakłady Graficzne TAURUS – Roszkowscy Sp. z o. o., www.drukarniataurus.pl

Oficyna Wydawnicza RYNEK POLSKI Sp. z o.o.

Nr KRS 0000080385, Sąd Rejonowy dla m.st.

Warszawy XII Wydział Gospodarczy Kapitał zakładowy 80.000,- zł.

REGON 011915685, NIP 526-11-62-572 Published articles represent the authors’ personal views only. The Editor and Publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for their contents. Unso-licited material will not be returned. The editors reserve the right to edit the material for length and content. The editors accept no responsibility what-soever for the content of advertising material.

Reproduction of any material from this magazine requires prior written permission from the Publisher.

special edition

Cinderella’s dream – Poland’s reality

“

Let me, I shall grind, and you take a rest” is the first sentence in the Polish language immortalised in the 13th-century “Book of foundation of the Cistercian Monastery of the Saint Mary the Virgin” in Lower Silesia. Given that it was uttered by a poor knight to his wife, is not only a treasure for linguists, but also for those doing research into culture and customs. Well, this 800-year-old monument undoubtedly deprives today’s gender activists of the pioneer nimbus.

It is not the only historical testimony that allows us to consider ourselves as a society rooted in the civilisation of equality and humanistic ideals. On 28 November 1918, Józef Piłsudski signed a decree proclaiming that “all citizens shall have the right to vote regardless of gender.” True, residents of Wyoming in the United States were granted voting rights already in 1869, but in Europe it was certainly a novelty. But this was more than that: the March Constitution of 1921 repealed restrictions on the grounds of gender and put a definite end to any limitations in women’s exercising of legal acts. Also, since 1929, spouses have enjoyed an equal status in marriage.

However, despite legal barriers being done away with, women’s participation in public life was until recently modest. Even an intense equality propaganda after 1945 brought no breakthrough. Perhaps because it made as one of the benefits of the new Communist regime of it. Perhaps because it did so in a primitive manner, featuring women in somewhat exotic social roles as “labour heroines” in agriculture (tractor and harvester female operators) or in construction (female masonry brigades). Few were convinced by demonstrative “social promotions” of women, such as making a seamstress become a factory’s director or eagerly looked for cases of women achieving “typically male” skills and jobs, like a sea captain. Things were normal in areas not covered by the ideological assistance: medicine, science and education, culture, art and media. Gender was neither an obstacle nor an asset in pursuit of a professional success there and was not a problem in respect of participation in public life –unlike in State and party governing bodies, where even the observance of the rule of at least one place for a female representative was just a formal, meaningless ritual.

Only the 1989 revolution brought a breath of fresh air, though not at the highest levels of power and not immediately. Out of the 22 ministerial portfolios Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first non-Communist Prime Minister, entrusted only one to a woman (Izabela Cywińska, Minister of Culture), which was exactly the same as in the government of his Communist predecessor, Mieczysław Rakowski. In the next two cabinets it was even worse – purely male teams. Even Hanna Suchocka during her one year of office (1992-1993) as Prime Minister preferred to work with men. Successive Prime Ministers returned to the tradition of fitting a square peg in a round hole and in almost every cabinet one portfolio was left for a woman. The exception was Jerzy Buzek who had intermittently as many as five women in his cabinet, including in strategic positions of Finance (Halina Wasilewska-Trenkner) and Treasury (Aldona Kamela-Sowińska). The decisive step forward occurred only after Poland’s accession to the European Union.

Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Jarosław Kaczyński and Donald Tusk worked regularly with at least five women in their cabinets, including Zyta Gilowska and Eżbieta Bieńkowska in key positions of Deputy Prime Ministers.

The second area of increasing participation of women in the Polish public life has become business. Of course, this also happened after 1989, because for political reasons the private non-agricultural sector existed only symbolically. A quarter-century after the rebirth of the market economy we can even say that we are a society of entrepreneurial women. Roughly one-third of the self-employed are women; the percentage is even higher among those starting their own businesses. The founder and head of one in three firms is a woman. Women dominate in health care, education, gastronomy, partly also services. In 396 Polish stock exchange listed companies 142 women are members of Management Boards, 24 serve as Presidents and 299 sit on Supervisory Boards. Polish women are more entrepreneurial than their peers in Europe. In comparison with the neighboring countries, more women are self-employed in Poland.

Of course, politics and business do not exhaust the list of areas in which Polish women have made a large step forward. There are famous and influential women’s names in the Polish media world, in Polish and world sport (sometimes more than men’s), in Polish and world science and culture. But that is nothing new, because Polish women have always enjoyed worldwide renown.

Today we have Agnieszka Radwańska, once we had Irena Szewińska; today we have prof. Agnieszka Zalewska in the Large Hadron Collider, once we had Maria Skłodowska-Curie, a Nobel Prize winner, discoverer of radium and polonium. But what is happening in the Polish public and economic life is a real social innovation of the last 25 years. And it is not marginal at all.

Krystyna Woźniak-Trzosek Editor-in-Chief President Rynek Polski Publishers Co. Ltd. September 2014 polish market

3

Attitude towards women and men in politics should be equal Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, Minister of Education, talks to Marcin Haber.

4  polish marketspecial edition  2014

special edition

Which stage in your career gave you the biggest satisfaction?

Each gave me something. Before we freed ourselves from communism I had regularly contributed to the “Mazowsze” weekly. It was the most serious paper of the underground movement and it were women that ruled it. I learnt then that work as a journalist gives you satisfaction. It is not always about global issues. At the time when I published a magazine for women and wrote reportages thanks to which I managed to help someone I felt that the work makes sense, that I am needed. However, when you are a minister you have much more influence on reality and very good instruments to act. The family policy programme I prepared several years ago at the Ministry of Labour still works, although I have already left the ministry. It turns out we prepared it so well that it is still useful.

The latest thing, one that gives me the biggest satisfaction, is the free textbook for schoolchildren. There were many who did not believe we would succeed. They said that it was impossible, that there was not enough time. But the school year has begun and our free book for first-formers, “Nasz Elementarz,” has reached all schools. This gives me big satisfaction. pm

Looking through the prism of your experience of many years, how do you see the role of women in politics?

My sex helped me a lot in politics. I am sure that my road to a career in politics would have been much longer if I were not a woman. It was at the beginning of the 21st century that something changed in Polish politics. When you look at the compositions of earlier governments you can see very few women. No one really worried whether there was any woman in the government or not. My first elections and entry into politics in 2005 happened at the time when all parties, even the most conservative ones, knew that to be perceived as modern they needed to include women in the lists of their candidates for election.

Failing to do so was considered embarrassing and out of date.

The expectations that women who enter politics should change it and make it kinder irritate me. No, politics is what it is. And we have got a chance and have to know how to exploit it. Several days ago there was a discussion on Twitter whether it was really worthwhile to have more women in politics because a female politician happened to use profane language. Does pm

that mean we should ask whether we need men in politics considering that in our history there is already a long list of male politicians who were criminals, like Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot? If we were to remove one of the sexes from politics because of behaviour by some individuals it would be much easier to do so for men. I believe we need a relative balance. However, this does not mean that women should behave in politics in a different way than men. I see absolutely no reason why I should be kinder or fail to see the interest I should represent only because I am a women.

Do you think we should divide politicians according to gender?

We are now at a stage where this irritates me. At the latest meeting of the parliament, Beata Kempa took the floor and said: “My intuition as a women tells me that…” And I ask what female intuition has to do with politics. Or take the situation when people say that someone should not have behaved towards a female deputy in some way because she is a women. No, either you are a politician or not. Either you accept the rules or not. I keep my fingers crossed for women because I have learnt in my work as politician that we need a good representation of women in politics. pm

To conclude, I would like to ask you about your political domain – education. It is … … dominated by women. I think this is how it happened. Some jobs are better paid than others. My parents were both teachers.

But my father had to leave the profession because at that time two teacher salaries were not enough to support a family. For many years it was a very poorly paid profession. And culturally, there is still a dominant conviction that in a difficult situation it is men who should bring money home. As Polish families could not afford having men as teachers, men were leaving the profession. Fortunately, the situation is changing. The teaching profession is now better paid and the labour market has changed.

It would be good to ensure a sex balance in the teaching pro• fession. pm

women politics

“My sex helped me a lot in politics.

I am sure that my road to a career in politics would have been much longer if I were not a woman. ”

September 2014 polish market

5

Women are more persistent and consistent

Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Secretary of State at the Prime Minister’s Office and government spokesperson, talks to Marcin Haber.

Why have you chosen politics, an environment regarded as not particularly friendly to women?

Politics is not a friendly environment, whether you are a woman or man. But if we want to change the world the best way to implement our ideas about how it should look like is politics.

Local government is where I have taken my first steps in politics.

I wanted to change my closest environment. I have always been interested in cultural issues. I felt that the situation in culture could be better, that culture could be valued higher and receive more support. It seemed to me that the parliament was a place where I could do a lot for culture. I received there a big lesson in humility. It turned out that my ideas and positions on specific matters and my gift of persuasion clashed with the political reality of building a parliamentary majority. And this is very difficult because of political divisions and great differences in the views of individual parliamentarians. pm

How are women faring in the world of politics?

Women in politics are tougher. They do not lose heart the first time things go wrong. If convinced that something really makes sense they would not be discouraged by an initial failure.

They would be trying again and again, improving their draft laws and looking for a broad support for their ideas and proposals.

I think that women are more persistent and consistent than men.

It seems to me that it is easier for them to build a broader consensus for what they do. But the most important thing is persistence. Women are not discouraged by failures, just the contrary. pm

6 polish marketspecial edition 2014

You say you have begun your career in politics with local government. Today you are a minister and a government spokesperson. Was it a very difficult road?

It was interesting because every challenge requires hard work.

Contrary to popular belief, politics means really hard work. It demands resistance to stress and responsibility. Also important is your physical condition because a “fresh mind” and keeping things in perspective are enormously needed in politics. My political road is quite dynamic, with frequent changes and new challenges. pm

The post you now hold requires strict discipline. You are responsible for presenting the government’s position to the public. There is little, or actually no, room for your personal opinions. How do you manage in this post?

It is true. Nothing restricts a politician’s freedom more than being a spokesperson (laugh). You have to weigh each word carefully because you no longer speak on your own behalf. I have been in the post of spokesperson several times now, including my work in Bronisław Komorowski’s presidential campaign. But that was just a few months – a period short enough to be able to speak with restraint. Being a government spokesperson, I am responsible for how the government is perceived and how its actions are explained to the public. This “loss” of freedom is difficult and I am a little uncomfortable with it. As a spokesperson for the Donald Tusk government, I had no problem with that because I fully identified myself with the measures taken by the prime minister and his government. But listening to allegations from Law and Justice (PiS) politicians, our political rivals, my replies would have been sharper if I had spoken on my own behalf - I would have simply called a spade a spade. pm

special edition

GDP, provides employment to thousands of people and generates big receipts for the national budget. It is not that the state only spends money on culture. Culture also generates very high revenues for the state. It is very important that we now have institutions supporting various spheres of culture. We are close to 1% of the national budget being spent on culture and I think the percentage could be even higher. Culture is our good export item. It enables us to create brand Poland. Music, painting and film is what many people think of first when they think of Poland. I have a feeling that I have not implemented all of my ideas in this sphere yet.

Your remarks are always very balanced, although as a spokesperson you have to answer difficult and often provocative questions. Is it a matter of predisposition or do you have to learn that?

I can control myself. The recent years taught me self-restraint.

But I believe that an important thing, both in life and in politics, is good manners. They help you in your life. pm

How do you see your further career? Are you going to stay in politics for long?

If someone had told me 15 years ago that I would be a government spokesperson and a parliamentary deputy for a third time now I would have regarded it as a joke. We never know what challenges life has in store for us. But as long as I feel I can do something good and I am still interested in it it is worthwhile to do that. I do not know what life will bring me and what challenges it will put before me. In your life, you should do things that you believe in and they should be your passion. Today I am here, in politics. I do not know what I will be doing in 10 or 15 years. pm

I believe that an important thing, both in life and in politics, is good manners.

They help you in your life.

I am asking about it because you come from an artistic community. You dealt with film production for many years. It was creative work. And in the post of government spokesperson there is no room for creating, I think.

I disagree. Firstly, politics is also a creative sphere. And secondly, it is a team work. Everyone - a government spokesperson, parliamentarian or minister - has his or her task. Politics and culture are very similar because both involve creating reality. The realities differ but you need your own vision in both cases. Perhaps it was easier for me to become established in politics because I had earlier dealt with film production. This teaches you teamwork and predicting things which may change. You always need to have several scenarios because, for example, it may start raining when you have to shoot a scene. And then what? Every filming day costs. In politics, you prepare a plan but something unexpected may always happen. So you need to have a plan A and plan B. This shows that approach is very similar in the two spheres. pm

What do you consider to be Polish successes in culture?

Today we already speak about culture in Poland as an industry. We appreciate the fact that culture has a big impact on the

pm

Looking back at your professional life, what is your biggest success?

There is a thing or two (laugh). When I worked in the film business the production of “Destined for Blues” was the biggest success for me. It was a great determination on our side – me and my husband. We took a big risk and we achieved success. The risk was so high that I would probably not be ready to take it now. I do not know if I would have the courage. But then I was convinced I should do that. I have won a parliamentary seat, despite running from the 11th place on my party’s ticket in Warsaw. It could seem a candidate in such a place has slim chances of making it into the parliament. I have managed to stop attempts to hamper the use of in-vitro fertilization in Poland. Now, when we look at the government programme and hear how many children have already been born thanks to it, I am really proud. Every period has brought me some successes. pm

What about your passions outside work?

One of them is definitely literature. You need it to maintain balance and keep things in perspective. I also like good cinema and … working in the garden. In the past, I thought it was impossible to like it. I thought you can admire a garden but that working in it was horrible. But as I grew older I came to like gardening and it is a great relaxation for me. In a garden, in one season you can see almost everything you have done. Politics demands • more patience. pm

September 2014 polish market

7

Educated but not employed Iwona Wendel, Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development, talks to Rita Schultz.

What are the statistics on doctoral studies chosen by women in Poland?

Women account for 56% of all students in public and nonpublic universities and colleges. In the academic year 2012/2013, almost one third of the women starting their doctoral courses chose to study social sciences and one fourth chose the humanities. The women showed the least interest in engineering, technical and agricultural studies. The conclusion is simple: formal and natural sciences are not popular as subjects of doctoral thesis among women. It is also worth noting that women account for one fourth of all research workers, but the share decreases the higher the academic degree and position. pm

8 polish marketspecial edition 2014

The truth is that women often have to combine family life with a career, including research work. Perhaps this is why they rarely choose formal and natural sciences, which are more difficult.

I am sure this is one of the barriers. Cultural factors are also of no small importance – the humanities are considered more “feminine.” At technical universities, women choose mainly non-technical courses and such faculties as architecture, chemistry, biotechnology, environmental protection, and chemical, biomedical and materials engineering and technology. This is why we need to promote formal and technical courses among pm

special edition

women. The measures include two campaigns under the slogan “Girls, go to technical universities,” and “Girls choose sciences.”

There is now talk not only about the “glass ceiling” but also about the phenomenon called the “glass escalator.”

This is true, unfortunately. In occupations dominated by women, where there is no shortage of women well prepared to assume high posts, it is men who are promoted more often.

The same is the case with the research sector. Although women make up almost 50% of those employed as researchers, only one in five people with the title of professor is a woman. Additionally, there is still a pay gap between women and men in equivalent posts. pm

What are you going to do to address the problem?

Money from the European Union is very helpful. We spend it to raise women’s professional qualifications, enable work-life balance and promote starting up businesses. The money is also set aside for innovative solutions in many fields. We will continue this kind of support in the next years from the new EU budget.

Thanks to funding available under the Operational Programme Innovative Economy, the Foundation for Polish Science has carried out the Pomost (Bridge) programme designed to help the best scientists with small children to return to intensive research work and make it easier for pregnant women to conduct research projects financed from external sources.

Apart from many measures designed to boost women’s professional activity and make it easier for them to achieve worklife balance that are available under the Operational Programme Human Capital, there are also support instruments dedicated to female doctoral students. They include scholarships in the fields of formal and natural sciences, technology and studies consistent with the province’s Regional Innovation Strategy.

Doctoral students have also been offered additional support in the form of training courses in how to bring research results to the marketplace. pm

Are the projects and measures designed to support women successful?

Of course. But the situation of women on the labour market is still difficult. Promoting the idea of equal opportunities for women and men is not enough - we focus on helping women return onto the labour market and on improving access to care services. We show employers what benefits they may gain from introducing flexible forms of work. And we help women aged 50 or more to raise their qualifications.

As part of the Operational Programme Human Capital we have supported the development of enterprise among women, which included granting them non-refundable subsidies for starting up a business coupled with advisory services and training provided in the first 12 months of their business activity. We have launched for this purpose preferential loans of up to PLN50,000 per person. In 2014-2020, this kind of support will be available within regional operational programmes managed by province governments. pm

Are other ministries aware of the problem?

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education has adopted regulations ensuring that women are represented in bodies making decisions concerning the research sector and defining pm

the rules for awarding the minister’s stipends for achievements in science and sports.

The Ministry, in conjunction with L’Oréal Polska and the Polish National Commission for UNESCO, has run this year another edition of the contest entitled “L’Oréal Polska for Women and Science 2014.” The aim is to provide financial support and promote talented female scientists doing research in the field of life sciences and working on doctoral and post-doctoral thesis.

The Ministry of Science is also a patron of the campaign started by the MaMa Foundation to attract public attention to the situation of young parents in the academic community and the responsibility of universities and colleges for promoting parent-friendliness.

The Ministry also carries out special programmes which enable combining parenthood with studies and research work. One of them, “Mobility Plus,” makes it easier for young researchers to take part in research work at prestigious foreign research centres, with funding provided to make it possible for the researchers’ spouses and underage children to stay with them abroad.

In your view, how much time is needed for real changes to take place?

Changes in women’s and men’s outlook will certainly not take place overnight. It is an ongoing process. The government can make it easier and offer help by investing EU money in specific fields, but the biggest changes have to take place in the • minds of us all. And this takes time. pm

“Promoting the idea of equal opportunities for women and men is not enough - we focus on helping women return onto the labour market and on improving access to care services.”

September 2014 polish market

9

Elżbieta Polak, Marshall of the Lubuskie Region, talks to „Polish Market”.

I consider my job as a challenge It is still not easy for women to fight for top positions. Why is it that in your opinion?

Indeed, in top positions there are still more men than women and men are better paid for the same work than women. In my view, it is the effect of male solidarity. When I attend various meetings, not only in politics, but also in business, I see everywhere black suits. If you look at the room, it is all black and white. Men support each other often at the expense of better educated and prepared women. Moreover, many issues are discussed backstage, during men’s meetings, while watching matches, or playing golf, in situations in which women are usually absent.

Now that we fight for equal treatment of women and men, particularly in the framework of the Congress of Women, we can count on each other. pm

For me, the Marshall’s position means a great responsibility and service, not power. I do not think of myself as “the most important woman in the region.” My function is a challenge. Yes, I have an impact on what is happening in the region, because the affairs managed by the Marshall’s Office can significantly affect its development. When I took up this job, I was clearly aware of what awaits me. I was well prepared. Since 1991, I have performed key functions in the administration. Perhaps during the last four years I got even more confident in the fight for a strong region. Four years ago, we shyly and humbly believed that Lubuskie is important on the map of Poland, that we are closer to Warsaw than to Berlin. Today, we reach for the stars with courage and without complexes. pm

pm

Is the Marshall’s role difficult? How do you see it now compared to when you assumed this position four years ago?

10 polish marketspecial edition 2014

Do you think the Management Board has a gender? Can we talk about the women’s management style? How do you

special edition

manage your team? What is most important for you in cooperation with the employees?

Gender does not matter, what counts is willingness and imagination. In Lubuskie we are fortunate to be actually governed by women. But we did not come out of nowhere. Elżbieta Polak did not appear suddenly at the Marshall’s Office. For my whole professional life, I have dealt with local government. I am very determined in situations that concern me. When it is about the people I work with, I always examine the case in detail in many aspects, also legally. And I consult a way of solving the problem.

I am matter-of-fact and focused on work, but it is a good feature for a public official. You cannot chill out when you have such responsibilities, when you decide how to spend millions. We serve the public, it is a difficult and responsible service, we should not waste time on drivel. I have something specific to offer and do it. And I… shirk typically male meetings. That is when guys try to chill out.

What is your patent for success?

I vividly remember the words of my mentor, President of the Democracy Development Foundation, prof. Jerzy Regulski: “It is not enough to have a goal, you need to know how to achieve this goal.” That has been my credo for the whole professional life, that is more than 30 years in local government. First, you need to know what you want to achieve, then you write a plan, a strategy, draft programmes, and get it done. Do not put plans on the shelf! They must be ours, based on reliable diagnosis and social consultation. At this point, I have to recall again prof. Regulski: “The State should take care of what it has to; of all other things a citizen will take care better.” That is exactly how I understand local government. I act in accordance with my local government’s Decalogue, in an open, transparent and predictable manner. In the Lubuskie region we have the development strategy and sectoral strategies (energy, health, tourism, social policy) as well as detailed programmes that draw upon these strategic documents.

We had a number of consultations, presentations and meetings, we all know where we are heading for: “Lubuskie is a green land of modern technologies.” pm

What measures have you managed to implement? Which accomplishments are you proud of?

In Lubuskie we create favourable conditions for development. We bet on transport and communication, thereby building a strong not only competitive but also innovative region. A region that is sustainable not only territorially, but also socially. Consistent work brings results: Lubuskie has a developed network of national and regional roads. 150 km of roads and 119 km of railway lines have been upgraded. It is here the intersection of the Freedom motorway, S3, and the A4. We are a leader in absorbing European funds ranking second in Poland. We have even received a prize of EUR 55 million, which was allocated for new, innovative university curricula, science and technology parks and interconnections of Lubuskie with Berlin. We are the first region in Poland to have completed the construction of fiber, thereby closing 80% of white spots; we are improving and modernising social infrastructure, we have discharged from debt Poland’s most indebted hospital in Gorzów Wielkopolski. No one believed we

I am very determined in situations that concern me.

pm

would make it, and yet we managed to get the biggest government’s subsidy in the amount of PLN 150 million, including debt relief. New jobs mean greater proceeds from taxes (an increase by 10.5% in 2013, i.e. second place in Poland). More than 320 companies benefited from the support of the Lubuskie Regional Operational Programme. The region’s economy expanded by 2,200 jobs. The recent statistics show that up to 77% of the residents of Lubuskie declare satisfaction with their lives. That is certainly why other surveys find that our region is the most open and tolerant in Poland. Perhaps people who are satisfied with their lives can most effectively contribute to the improvement of the living conditions of their local communities? Now, with an equal consistency and enthusiasm, we are facing challenges of the EU’s new financial period, for which we have very carefully prepared.

Because the prospect of 2020 starts today, in 2014. We will have EUR 906 million to allocate. Never in history has the Lubuskie • Region had such money. We need to spend it wisely.

September 2014 polish market

11

You always have to aim high and have high expectations Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, Mayor of Warsaw, talks to Marcin Haber.

“Warm, friendly, trustworthy; she did not let power go to her head” – your party colleagues say about you. How do you manage after all these years in politics?

I am happy that my colleagues say so. I am just myself, I do not think that the office you hold makes you more valuable as a person. It helps multiply your talents in order to - I may sound pompous - serve others with these talents. But of course who you are is also determined by what you do at work. Only then you have a chance to succeed and be noticed. It is sometimes a stroke of luck that you are in the right place at the right time.

I guess were it not for my friend, Leszek Falandysz, who I always remember fondly, I would not be in politics, because he recommended me, and so the whole story began. pm

h

You have contributed to this picture when, shortly after the fall of communism in 1989, you took over as President of the National Bank of Poland (NBP).

I wish to brag that I was the second woman in the world to head a central bank. The first was Austrian Maria Schaumayer, there were a few others after me, but it is still a function much less accessible to women. I do not know whether any woman president holds the presidency of a central bank currently in Europe.

Bodil Nyboe Andersen used to, but she has retired. There are a little more women – city mayors... In European capitals: Anne Hidalgo is the first female mayor in Paris, Berlin has no female record, and Rome’s deputy mayor is a woman. pm

Was taking over as President of the central bank a big challenge?

Yes, especially that it was a period, as I call it, somewhat romantic. We were building something new. There was no such political stability, governments changed every several months...

I served as President of the NBP for nearly nine years, a time in which there were six prime ministers and seven or more finance ministers. It was a very interesting experience. pm

Together with Hanna Suchocka you were blazing trails for women in Polish politics. Were these times difficult?

These were hard times, there were much less women in politics, including in the government. Today much more women serve as constitutional ministers, then they were deputy ministers, although I often said that it is probably them who were really in charge. I always appreciate women. Let us remember that the first Ombudsman was prof. Ewa Łętowska, the first President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, an office extremely challenging under transition, was prof. Anna Fornalczyk. And of course Hanna Suchocka, the first female Prime Minister designated in 1992. Now we will probably have another one. These women were blazing trails; there were not many women in public life before 1989. pm

12 polish marketspecial edition 2014

And how did the experience gained as President of the NBP influence your mayorship?

I think it can be appraised by the number of investment projects. We have invested a lot, Warsaw has changed significantly, and we have a low debt, something I always watch over. And this is despite the fact that we had to make our own contributions to take advantage of EU funds, and that a number of projects were

pm

special edition

carried out without EU support, such as schools, kindergartens and nurseries. We made it through the recession.

And what do you think is the biggest success of your mayorship? The National Stadium, Metro, Venturillo or something else?

I cannot really take the credit for the construction of the National Stadium, because it was done by the government. I think that the greatest success is the Metro. This is a truly historic project: the completion of the first line and the construction of the central section of the second line. No one had taken up this challenging project before. Successful are also smaller projects such as kindergartens, schools and nurseries, or places such as redeveloped Chłodna Street, Grzybowski Square, Szembeka Square or Małachowskiego Square, which is currently being designed.

Warsaw has become friendly to pedestrians, cyclists, parents with children, people with disabilities. I also finished the overhaul of Krakowskie Przedmieście street, which I found completely dug up. You can cite many other things, including the interchanges of: Łopuszańska and Marsa streets. Still the crucial achievement is the central section of the second metro line. pm

You were elected mayor in 2006. Your second term of office will end soon. What’s next?

The Civic Platform and I have already made a​​ decision that I will run for third term. Michael Bloomberg governed for 12 years and changed New York. Continuity is very important, especially in such short terms of office. Because if you have six years, like in France, then probably two terms are enough; in Poland with a four-year term it is a bit different. Local government requires consistent implementation of projects. pm

Has Warsaw already reached the level of other European capitals, or is it still rebuilding its position after the transformation?

The national income per capita is in Poland still lower than in other European countries. Today, however, you can safely say that Warsaw is a European city. Visitors from abroad are often very surprised that Warsaw has changed so much in recent years. pm

Indeed, I noticed that strolling along the Royal Route at weekends you can hardly hear conversations in Polish. Is such a number of tourists the aftermath of the UEFA,Euro 2012 football tournament? It is said that tourism is in poor standing in Poland, but Warsaw seems to contradict this trend, doesn’t it?

Yes, when it comes to growth in visitor numbers, Warsaw even outpaced Kraków. I think that Warsaw has become fashionable. Walking down the Royal Route, you can always stop by to see something. It is relatively close to hotels and various attractions. Krakowskie Przedmieście street has its unique atmosphere. pm

Women are increasingly present in business, they are able to cope in difficult situations.

h

I assume that you always have to aim high, have higher expectations and then try to do what you can as best as you can.

I had no moments of doubt. One thing goes better, the other goes worse, one depends on me, the other does not. Sometimes there are circumstances beyond your control, such as recession. We have beaten a record by investing together with public utilities PLN 25 billion over the last 7 years. Warsaw has never had such a moment in its history. “The Economist” wrote that not since the days of the Jagiellons had the city been so prosperous. I can safely say that Warsaw has never had such a chance it has now, largely owing to the European Union, the systemic transformation and the prudent management of my entire team.

And lastly, you said once about yourself that you are a “rightwing feminist.” What did you mean?

I meant that I have fairly conservative views, but I think that at the moment I said it far too few women were entrusted with prominent public functions. Now it is better. Women are increasingly present in business, they are able to cope in difficult situations. Overall, I think women are very well educated and there• fore can compete with men over leadership in any field. pm

What about the Saska Kępa neighbourhood?

Soon after the renovation of Krakowskie Przedmieście was finished, revitalisation of Francuska Street began. It is different in nature, but it is the right bank’s equivalent of Krakowskie Przedmieście. pm

pm

Did you have moments of doubt during your tenure as mayor?

September 2014 polish market

13

Let’s come together to win

the

I

t happened that my presence in politics coincided with the crucial period of change in Poland. I will probably say nothing new, but I think this is always always worth repeating, especially in view of the young generation. The time we live in is one of the most fascinating periods in the history of Poland. And it was my great privilege to have been able to actively cocreate not only democratic and economic changes, but also what has become my life’s mission - our European policy and our entry into the European Union. If someone asked me to name one “big thing” we have achieved during these 25 years, I would definitely point to the accession to the EU. Our position in the EU largely determines the future of Poland in global dealings.

Poland has an extraordinary human potential.

Committed, active men and women represent a social capital manifesting itself in the enthusiasm of Polish businessmen and businesswomen, not surrendering to the crisis, but persistently looking for a niche for their small and medium-sized enterprises. This Polish faith in the future will support in the coming years the dynamics of the new postcrisis Europe. I think that especially women have great potential in this regard, because they are always, even fulfilling themselves as individuals in the public and private life, enormously open to the social dimension of the common good. Without the ability to cooperate, to listen to each other we run a risk, whether in family, in the country or in Europe, of dissipating that social capital, so needed in the era of globalisation. The world around Europe consolidates its development potential,

14 polish marketspecial edition 2014

future Danuta Hübner, Member of the European Parliament

its competitive advantages, without waiting for a train with the inscription “Europe” to pull breathless into the station. We cannot allow the world to leave us behind.

This ability to cooperate, to reconcile different interests of men and women, businesses and consumers, young people and seniors, economic growth and environmental protection, will be much needed in this new world based on competition but also cooperation. Success in European politics is measured by the ability to balance proportions and consider interests of many countries, groups, institutions, increasingly developing civil society networks. It seems to me that we are not as aware of it as we would wish. I still encounter the opinion, which I personally find annoying, that the European Union is a fight of naked interests.

I sometimes get the impression that some would like us to go back to the 19th century’s concert of powers. And we know how disgracefully this concert ended. The establishment of the EU and its evolution towards an ever closer cooperation is precisely an attempt to escape from such a “zeroone” logic, according to which if someone wins, someone else loses. We need to switch to a different type of thinking, we must do everything, as Europe, to come together to win the future.

Regional policy, which I dealt with first as the EU Commissioner, and then as the Chair of the Committee on Regional Development, is such an explicit example of that cooperation is beneficial for everyone. I am happy that deciding over the years on the shape of cohesion policy I contributed to Poland’s gaining unprecedented development opportunities, and to us having learnt how

to use them. In its first decades, the EU’s raison d’être was mostly to offset development disparities, and this goal was largely achieved. Now the EU is facing new challenges, including those connected with globalisation. The EU must be a coherent organism, able to react quickly to changing winds, unexpected events, such as the situation in Ukraine. Further deep institutional reforms will be needed.

In the newly elected European Parliament I was appointed the Chair of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, which will deal with these issues comprehensively. This is a very responsible role, which also requires cooperation and consultation with many stakeholders, especially with the citizens of the European Union. It is worth mentioning that according to the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union is a union of citizens. Sometimes it is used as a handy slogan, but I treat very seriously the involvement of Europeans, including Poles, in an active debate about the future of Europe.

We are going to live through difficult, but interesting years in European and world politics. Poland, as an active member of the EU, cannot mentally remain on its outskirts. We are engaged in the affairs of our eastern neighbour, and rightly so. But global challenges compel us to take a wider perspective. If we have not been so far interested that much in what is happening in the Middle East, Libya, Syria or Iraq or in the world’s other flashpoints, we are now forced to expand our horizons. Inevitably, we must become more cosmopolitan if we do not want to be on the sidelines. •

special edition

Success

management Iwona Sroka, PhD, President of the Management Board of The Central Securities Depository of Poland, talks to Rita Schultz.

Women still find it difficult to compete for top positions. Why do you think is that?

There are many reasons for that. Women usually have more family responsibilities than men and are more willing to give up their professional careers in favour of family if they believe that the benefits are disproportionate to the costs. This is partly due to overly conservative behaviour instilled in childhood, which results in different life choices of women. On the other hand, men in business tend to mutually support one another which in a way limits the accessibility of top positions to women. Even though they are often better educated and broadly prepared to hold managerial positions.

of professional and family life and a sense of selffulfilment in both. The main key to success is self-development, self-confidence, the ability to work with others, openness to dialogue… and of course a little bit of luck!

pm

In your opinion, does the management board have a gender? Can one speak of a feminine management style? How do you manage your team? What is key in your work with colleagues?

According to ample research on the role of gender in management, diversity in corporate decision-making pays off. Thus, diversity in the board room including gender diversity supports the quality of management. If we limit corporate promotions to men who represent one half of the population, we undervalue the remaining half of all talents as well as social investments in education. Managing the team of two companies, I mainly rely on dialogue and co-operation; however, I prefer conscientiousness, diligence and full engagement of employees in our work. pm

How do you evaluate the education of Polish women managers? Why are there so few in top positions?

Women are generally better educated than men in Poland; however, in my opinion, they lack sufficient courage and self-confidence. To increase the number of women in the boardroom, we should promote diversity across companies, especially among middle and senior management. This is the key pool of women for the pm

You are celebrating a round anniversary.

What has KDPW achieved over the years and what are your plans for the nearest future?

Today, after 20 years in business, we are the biggest and definitely the best developed provider of post-trade services in this part of Europe; we offer a comprehensive package of solutions including those of the clearing house (KDPW_CCP) and the central securities depository (KDPW).

Much has been done in the past few years as the clearing house KDPW_CCP has been spun off the organisation of KDPW and has been authorised by the European authority earlier this year. KDPW has developed the Trade Repository service registered by the European supervision authority ESMA, as well as the competences of a Numbering Agency which offers ISIN codes and LEI identifiers. The development of the KDPW Group has been positively assessed by the rating agency Thomas Murray which specialises in the rating of institutions similar to KDPW. According to Thomas Murray, the level and quality of KDPW services match the CSDs in Germany, France, Hong Kong and Australia. Importantly, KDPW services are rated better than the CSDs in the UK, Sweden or Japan. KDPW will face an important challenge in the coming months: European authorisation under the CSDR (Central Securities Depository Regulation). It will require the KDPW Group’s corporate model to be brought in line with the CSDR requirements, followed by a review of all applicable regulations and procedures and their potential harmonisa• tion with the CSDR. pm

...openness to dialogue… and of course a little bit of luck! boardroom. The companies I manage, KDPW and KDPW_CCP, have around 200 staff. One half of them are women, and one half of all managers in the KDPW Group are women too.

What is your recipe for success?

It really depends on how you define success.

For me, success stands for skilful reconciliation pm

September 2014 polish market

15

1989-2014

Polish women are enterprising 16  polish marketspecial edition  2014

I

n 67 countries across the world, 126 million women are starting their own business activity while another 98 million are already owners of mature enterprises.

The women not only pursue their own ambitions and dreams but also create jobs, with 13 million of them planning to employ another six workers in the next five years. Irrespective of the owner’s gender, in countries with low and average incomes there are much more newly started businesses than well-established ones. This is in contrast to affluent countries. When it comes to the percentage of women who set up their own businesses, there are also big differences among individual countries. In developing countries women are more inclined to run their own business. African countries are in the lead in this respect. One example is Zambia where 40% of women run a business. As a comparison, in developed countries, like Britain and Germany, businesses run by women account for only a few percent of all businesses operating for up to 3.5 years.

In Poland women account for 51.6% of the total population and over 50% of the working-age population. Poland is in ninth place among the 28 European Union countries in terms of the percentage of businesses run by women – 33.4% against the EU average of 31%. This means that one in three businesses in Poland has been set up and is run by a woman.

However, the percentage of economically inactive women is still much higher in Poland than that of men – 39% against 25.6% (Eurostat data for the third quarter of 2013). Additionally, the difference between the percentage of businesses run by men and those run by women is now at the same level as 10 years ago (68% versus 31% in 2004 and 69.8% versus 30% in 2013, according to Eurostat).

Data for the GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) project carried out by PARP show that among young businesses, operating for up to 3.5 years (Total Early Stage Entrepreneurship TEA), the percentage of enterprises set up by women is on the rise, with a narrowing gap between the number of businesses run by men and those run by women. In 2011-2013, TEA dropped from 13.1% to 12.3% for men and increased from 5.1% to 6.1% for women. The gender gap narrowed by 2 pct. points. A rapid increase in the percentage of firms run by women – from 2.9% to 3.8% - was also noted among better established businesses, that is those operating for more than 3.5 years. However, a much bigger increase – from 7.1% to 9.2% - was recorded for firms run by men, which means that the gender gap slightly widened – by less than 1 pct. point. A rise in the percentage of female entrepreneurs with a stable position on the market is especially noteworthy.

The potential for female entrepreneurship is significant. However, for some reasons it has remained unexploited. Women, who are usually better educated than men, see opportunities for starting business activity. The findings of the latest surveys carried out by PARP as part of the GEM project indicate that over 29% of women think that conditions for starting up a business in the next six months are good while only 23% of men have the same opinion. In this respect, Polish women can be called optimists because Poland ranks eighth among EU countries in terms of noticing market opportunities.

PARP’s experience in projects associated with supporting female entrepreneurship, like for example Women for Women, shows that female entrepreneurs expect individualized support tailored to their very specific needs, like for example professional assistance, coaching and mentoring. They welcome networks

special edition

bringing female entrepreneurs together in the form of support clubs or groups with the aim to discuss selected problems involved in conducting business activity, share experience with each other and build their knowledge and potential. This is important and much needed because around 50% of the economically inactive Polish women would be ready to run their own business if the conditions were favourable. Unfortunately, Poland has one of the lowest economic activity rates for women in Europe.

One of the reasons preventing Polish women from pursuing their entrepreneurial ambitions is that they are much less confident about their entrepreneurial competencies than men - 40% of women versus 64% of men believe they have the competencies needed to set up a business. Compared to other EU countries and irrespective of gender, Poles come out very well in terms of entrepreneurial confidence, with women ranking sixth and men topping the league table. However, the difference of 24 pct. points between Polish women and men to the advantage of the latter is still difficult to explain considering that women are better educated than men and have higher soft competencies. Another reason is certainly fear of failure. Polish people, together with Greeks and Italians, are the most fearful of that among EU nations. Almost 60% of women and 54% of men in Poland have decided not to start business activity for the fear of failure. In Greece, the percentages are higher by 10 and 14 points respectively. The results is a continued significant gap between wom• en and men in starting business activity.

Bożena Lublińska-Kasprzak, President of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP)

September 2014 polish market

17

You just have to fight Henryka Bochniarz, President of the Lewiatan Confederation, Vice-President of the Trilateral Commission for Social and Economic Affairs, cofounder of the Congress of Women

f

You were the only woman-minister under Jan Krzysztof Bielecki in the 1990s, a little later there was the government of Hanna Suchocka. Currently, Elżbieta Bieńkowska is Deputy Prime Minister and a number of women hold minister and deputy minister positions. How do you assess the situation of Polish women at the highest levels of government nowadays?

We are still far from equilibrium in which women would hold leading positions in an appropriate relation to their statistical number in society and their skills. As many as 60% of people with higher education are women, and among PhD students even more. You can see that we have made a huge leap in terms of selfinvesting. You can see that especially young girls have made the most of the transition period – they are very progressive. However, when it comes to women’s participation in “big” politics, things do not look that good. Currently, the British, French or Italian Prime Ministers overtly say they want half of their governments to be composed of women. It turns out that there is no problem with finding suitable professional candidates for these roles. After all, it is not the point to force recruiting those who do not meet relevant requirements. It is just that our women get lost somewhere at the selection stage. In my view, this means a loss for the economy and society. Meanwhile, women’s participation in social life and their presence at highest levels is an enriching factor. This applies to all spheres from politics to business. It gives a specific value added. And we are losing it. pm

You co-authored, together with Jacek Santorski, the book titled “Be yourself and win. 10 tips for an active woman.” Are Polish women active and confident?

Watching other women from my perspective as employer, I see that they are hyperactive as far as they try to combine their professional roles with bringing up children, to best fulfill all the tasks.

Unfortunately, Polish women often lack confidence and courage to reach really high. Many times, when I offered a woman taking up the management of a new project, I heard: “I do not know if I can handle it, if I have appropriate expertise.” In an analogous situation, men always answered, almost without thinking, that they accept. This lack of confidence is often associated with another problem: disproportionately lesser involvement of fathers in child upbringing and household responsibilities, which do not allow women to fulfill their ambitions. They are afraid that they will not manage to remain professional on all fronts, and it happens that they forgo promotion, because they cannot count on pm

18 polish marketspecial edition 2014

support from their partners, on a partnership-like distribution of roles at home. They know that they are in charge of the family life. This is a vicious circle. Of course there are some women who have managed to make it to the top, but it is still something rare. Take my example – I am usually the only woman in different bodies: supervisory boards or in Lewiatan. There are no women in leadership positions of Polish business organisations.

I experienced firsthand what it is like to deal with the masculine world. They speak their own language and I had to fought many battles to break through. Thus, either stage of the climb is not easy.

What are, in your opinion, the achievements of the Congress of Women, in which you have been involved since its inception? What went wrong?

The Congress of Women “occurred” in my life by accident. We were celebrating the 20th anniversary of the start of Polish economic and political transition. Along with like-minded colleagues we came up with the idea of organising ​​ a conference to show the role of women in science, culture, politics, business. Three months before June 4, 2009 we decided to convene the congress of Polish women in Warsaw’s Congress Hall. Its success surpassed all our expectations. It was attended by more than 4,000 women. There were so many issues to discuss that we simply had to organise the next congress. The first one finished with the demand of the socalled quota, that is a guaranteed percentage of women on electoral lists. The parliament passed a law ensuring the participation of at least 35% of women on electoral lists to the parliament, local governments and the European Parliament.

But answering your question, the most important outcome of the Congress of Women was for me achieving a certain selfconsciousness not only by women but also by men. Crucial issues are now discussed in a different language. We have come to believe that we can change a lot. Importantly, this applies mostly to women from rural areas or small towns. I hear them say that the activities of the Congress of Women are extremely important, that they have networking opportunities, they can exchange experiences and develop, they feel motivated to be active. Although I myself avoid speaking at conferences, I always look forward to the annual meeting of the Congress of Women, because I know that every time I find out something new. This year, the conflict in Ukraine was on the agenda and we hosted Ruslana, a singer who encouraged the audience on the Maidan. pm

What demands of the Congress of Women are to be fulfilled yet?

Certainly the so-called slider. In developing the quota bill we knew that the mere introduction of quotas (a half and half parity) is not enough. It hardly matters that it is now binding, since our political parties are pushing women down to the end of the electoral lists, or put them in places that do not give chances of electoral success. Take, for example, the party representing pm

f

special edition

farmers – they can well fill all places in their lists in big cities with women, because it is almost impossible for them to get any seats there. And for the places that win parliamentary seats the party approves only men. Therefore, we must apply “slider,” which means that men intersperse with women on the lists. The Civic Platform (PO) already follows this principle. In the first three places there must be at least one woman, in five – two and so on. Accordingly, women account for 37% of MPs in PO. In other parties the percentage of women among MPs is much smaller. So I think that “slider” is necessary. The Prime Minister has promised that this principle will be put in place in autumn. We also have a whole range of other demands, like for example the issue of care for the disabled. It is common knowledge that such a duty falls mainly on women. From the beginning, we had proposals on how to fund this activity with care bills. Unfortunately, we have not managed to push it through yet.

In your public activity you served as industry minister in the Jan Krzysztof Bielecki government, and in 2005 you stood as a candidate for Poland’s presidency with the support of the Democratic Party. Is it a closed chapter for you?

Being a minister during the period of transistion in the early 1990s was an amazing experience. I regret that it was so brief.

It was a good government: we all had one goal, no one counted the hours. We have prepared a number of statutory changes.

I have the feeling that we did a good job, that I was then part of the great project. pm

And the presidential election?

I was suggested to run by Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Władyslaw Frasyniuk. From the beginning, I realised that I had no chance of winning. However, I let myself be persuaded because I thought someone is needed who will advocate the free market. During the campaign I stressed that Poland had made a huge leap forward also thanks to our entrepreneurs. Therefore, they cannot be treated as potential criminals. The dominating approach at that time was that you can tolerate small and medium businesses, but then the greater the value, the greater the “scam” behind it.

I wanted to change the tone of that debate, and I think I succeeded.

As for running in the elections, on any level, I urged women not to hesitate. I encourage them to be active in the public sphere, to demonstrate initiative, but also to grant themselves the right to failures. Not everything goes right straight away and there is no better instructive lesson than a failure. Success is the result of various experiences, consistency and willingness to learn also from one’s own failed attempts. I have never regretted venturing into the world of politics. It is a kind of theatre dominated by men. I believe that it would be beneficial for the art quality if more women stepped in on the stage. pm

Does business have a gender? In what way is it significant for a company to be managed by a woman given that – at least in general understanding – the company’s aim is to make a profit?

The recent crisis has shown what happens when financial institutions are totally dominated by men, who mostly finished the same schools, play golf together and drink whiskey at the same pub for years. That is what makes a uniform view of the world.

And because men are much more prone than women to take risks, the crisis developed – as we could see – almost without hindrance.

Christine Lagarde once said that had there been Lehman Brothers & Sisters instead of Lehman Brothers, the crisis would not have pm

“Success is the result of various experiences, consistency and willingness to learn also from one’s own failed attempts.” been so striking. Male and female management styles are different. And that is good. When executive bodies are diversified in a sense of being composed of men and women, these structures are much more efficient, take better decisions and make better choices. Yet, you have to remember that women are only debuting on the market, because for years they were excluded from politics and business, and they need favourable conditions to be able to quickly jump successive stages. You should make every effort to ensure that political and business entities are characterised by variety. I explain to my colleagues from business that it is enough to adopt an assumption when recruiting that there has to be an equal number of male and female candidates. No need to use quotas. Then it turns out that there are suitable women to fill in the vacancy. Thus, there is no shortage of competent women, but it is necessary to look for them at all.

The Trilateral Commission of the government, trade unions and employers seems not to work well. Why is the government reluctant towards its activities?

The Commission has practically not been working for a year.

In Poland we have a problem listening to someone with different views and finding a common ground where you can reach a compromise. Of course, it is not always possible. There are many issues that divide entrepreneurs and trade unions so radically that it is difficult for us to communicate. Sadly, there is no person representing the government in the Trilateral Commission who would actually believe in the power of dialogue and a good compromise, and would be determined to make it reality.

Nevertheless, I hope we will resume talks, because I think that any format of the debate, no matter the level or the subject, is better than “quiet days” between its participants.

• pm

September 2014 polish market

19

Feminine

side of the Polish economy

Polish male managers say they prefer to work with women because they are better organized, build their position in an organization by winning people over and by getting them involved. What is more, it follows from the Fortune 500 list that companies where there are more women workers have better financial results. Then why is it that there are so few women on company boards? This is surprising, especially considering that a substantial majority of Polish people would have nothing against a law being adopted to ensure that women have access to the most prominent positions.

Monika Piątkowska, Deputy President of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency

W

omen, both in Poland and in the European Union as a whole, account for 60% of university and college graduates. It means that at the start to a career, women have a small advantage over men, or at least equal chances, as recruitment firms say that the numbers of women and men who

20 polish marketspecial edition 2014

get employed through their agencies are virtually the same. But moving up the career ladder the percentage of women declines. Deloitte has estimated that there are less than 30% of women on the boards of the largest Polish companies. As a comparison, according to data from the European Commission, women account for 42% of board presidents in Norway, the country considered to be the leader in this respect. And according to the same source, the share of women on the boards of Polish companies listed on the stock exchange is only 12%, which is below the EU average.

This shows that compared to our western neighbours, especially members of the EU, we still come out poorly. It is worth recollecting that the emerging European Community declared equality between women and men, including equal access to positions of power, in the Treaty of Rome of 1957, which laid the foundations for the European Union. It is easy to declare something, but more difficult to put it into practice.

This is why a few years ago Europe held a heated discussion about a law to ensure gender parity on company boards.

Today, this topic stirs up emotions in Poland as well. It turns out that, although the issue seems to be very controversial judging by media reports, three fourths of Polish society support introducing parities in access to the highest posts. What is more, support for this solution is growing both among women and among men active in business, who have traditionally been the most opposed to gender parities. Surveys conducted by Homo Homini show that only 33% of the men are now definitely opposed. It is beyond doubt that initiatives undertaken by the Congress of Women and its activity have been conducive to

the national discussion about parities and a rise in support for the idea. It seems that Polish people are aware of the results that such solutions have produced in neighbouring countries of the European Union, which has encouraged increasing women’s presence on corporate boards to 30% by 2015 and 40% by 2020.

The problem of women’s access to positions of power in business is gaining a special importance.

At a time of population aging, businesses simply cannot afford ignoring women’s competence, as EU Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding has stressed recently. What is more, women themselves should seek high posts and exploit opportunities to a greater extent than now, irrespective of whether or not they are supported by law.

In Poland, there are many niches that Polish women could enter. Economic sectors which attract more and more foreign investors – telecommunications and IT – are eagerly waiting for women with technical qualifications. Unfortunately, data from the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) show that women still account for a mere 10% of those working in the sector. According to UKE, in the near future the sector, one of the most rapidly expanding ones, will need as many as 700,000 engineers. Those who have not only high qualifications but also soft skills useful in research projects, for instance, are particularly sought after. And women have these kind of traits.

Dear Ladies, enter the men’s world, especially engineering occupations because demand for them is growing and they offer a truly excellent • chance for a career.

special edition

credit for poland’s transformation

goes to women

Beata Stelmach, President of GE Poland & the Baltic States, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, talks to Patryk Mirecki.

Polish women in business. How do you think their social position has changed over the last 25 years?

The transformation was largely due to women. Don’t you know about it (laugh)? As soon as they were given the chance, Poles, not only women, demonstrated entrepreneurship, willingness to take on new challenges; everyone wanted to take matters into their own hands! Women have proven over these 25 years that they are able to fight for their rights. Today, under the free market economy and tough market rules, if you do not have education and experience, determination and perseverance, you will not find your feet in business, whatever its scale. And statistics say it all: women are better educated than men. Currently, there are more women than men studying at universities. From the first years of transformation, women have been investing in their professional development, undergoing constant trainings. It is also about laying the foundations to further increase strength and build community. In an environment dominated by men, one woman will not blaze the trail for others. But the debate about the role of women in business or in politics, launched a few years ago and now present on many fora, helped women gain self-confidence. Today it is easier to rely on support and assistance as you start. On the other hand, there are examples of women who like battering rams rose to powerful positions. Unfortunately, many women gave up their business or political plans, because they lacked adequate support.

the profession skills should prevail. Women cannot be favoured by reason of gender. Let us give women equal opportunities. If you can compete, let the best win. And if a woman happens to be better, let her win. Let us eliminate systemic obstacles.

pm

pm

Do you see sectors in which women have been particularly successful or from which they get particular satisfaction?

With respect to gender parity, we can see what it means in practice now that the leading EU positions are staffed. It is already something natural that a large part of the commissioners will be women. When will women holding top positions be as natural in Poland?

Parity should mean 50:50. In some Scandinavian countries, through appropriate legislation, the parity was introduced, and then immortalised. As a consequence, such regulations were abandoned, because they were no longer needed. Soon the EU Directive on Woman on Boards will come into force. It is about applying the quota system on the Boards of large stock exchange listed companies and those with stakes held by the state. It is therefore not only an issue in Poland. It is about ensuring that women and men have equal opportunities. pm

Women cannot be favoured by reason of gender.

I do not divide occupations or industries into typically male and female. What is important for me is access to them. Another thing is when due to systemic solutions a given profession is closed to women, or men. I also believe that regardless of

Are you sure that such a solution will have a good result in all cases?

I am in favour of such a solution. I support the introduction of regulatory measures that will balance proportions. But there is one condition: it should be transitional arrangements. Ultimately, after the desired effect is obtained, regulations should disappear. They are meant to speed up the process of equalisation of opportunities and to • replace it. pm

September 2014 polish market

21

are like two halves of an

Fairs

apple...

Urszula Potęga, President of the Board of MT Targi Polska, talks to Maciej Proliński.

In the last decade a lot of attention has been given to the use of the creative potential of women and their role in the economy. What is your opinion about this trend?

In my opinion, there is really no need to distinguish between “masculine” and “feminine” in any field, including company management. Yet, it is true that working with women differs from working with men, and it is worth taking into account these quite natural differences. However, if you ask me, I must confess that I deal very well both with women and men, and indeed in my everyday work I do not pay attention to gender. When meeting with other CEOs who happen to be men, I disregard this particular factor in business. And I am in business for more than 20 years. pm

Right. Your career in business dates back to the crucial year 1989. What made you decide to start your own business?

I was a government employee. And at some point I came up with the idea to start my own business. First it was a boutique.

Then I started working with private sector companies organising fairs, and finally in 1993 I set up my company Międzynarodowe Targi Polska (MT Polska), where I served as President of the Board pm

22 polish marketspecial edition 2014

in the years 1993-2010. Over these years, the wholly private, company, became a leader on the Warsaw market. Since 2011, I have been the President of MT Targi Polska, a newly formed company that spinned off MT Polska as a result of restructuring two years earlier. The company specialises in the organisation of trade fairs, leaving management of the hall with the newly established modern Trade Fair and Congress Centre MT Polska, i.e. a company MT Polska.

When it comes to trade fair and congress infrastructure, which is modern and attractive, the landscape has changed a lot in recent years in Warsaw. Do you monitor what competition is doing?

Business tourism in Poland today is very profitable. Large conferences, congresses and fairs are held in Poland. Polish conference or exhibition facilities are among the most modern in Europe. And I am convinced that our exhibition hall, located at 56c Marsa St., is Warsaw’s flagship one, i.e. an ideal venue for large congresses, fairs and conferences. Of course, competition on the market in Warsaw is still strong although, I will say immodestly, pm

special edition

our hall is one of the best facilities: the most modern, multi-functional and perfectly fit for the organisation of various events. First of all, it is a very large hall, which can be arranged in a variety of ways. MT Polska has 15 200m2, including 10 000m2 of spacious, air-conditioned hall that can be divided into two smaller ones by means of an acoustic sliding wall, 1,​​200m2 of conference space equipped with the latest multimedia equipment, 1,500 parking places. It can be reached in a couple of minutes from the city centre by Fast City Train (SKM), bus, or car. With regards to competition, it should be emphasised that we are a part of MT Polska group which includes both the operator and the organiser of its own trade fairs. As a result, we have a lot of experience and we can advise a customer who wants to organise a trade fair in our hall. 20 years of experience in the organisation of fairs is also, and perhaps above all, the reason why we feel competent to provide such advisory services.

Could you remind what fair events are organised by MT Targi Polska?

We specialise in events for such industries as tourism, hotel and catering, laboratory market. There are 7 events firmly rooted in the exhibition calendar: EuroGastro, WorldHotel, EuroLab, CrimeLab, TT Warsaw, Lato, Wędkuj z nami, Infrastructure, and an internet fair e-gastro.com. All of them are organised in cooperation with and under the patronage of renowned authorities, as well as important State and industry institutions. pm

Preparations are under way for the 22nd International Tourism Fair TT Warsaw 2014. This industry business forum will be held on 27-29 November. For the second time as late as in November. Why? We are already working on the next edition of this very important fair, on attracting interesting exhibitors and on a program of accompanying events. This year’s partner country will be Egypt. We are talking with many tour operators, tourist selfgovernment officials, conference hotels and companies involved in health tourism. When we started, we were getting to know the world, and the world was learning about Poland. Today, it is just a business, and it cannot be done in September, because it is still consider a holiday period. In November, we already have new tools, for example next season catalogues and so on.

I must admit that I had considered deferring the date for a couple of years. And the 21st edition was a good moment for such a change. Last year’s edition of TT Warsaw showcased 380 exhibitors. We were visited by more than 17,000 members of the tourism industry and travel lovers. The fair was attended by representatives of 48 countries and 23 countries were represented at national stands. pm

probably an important reminder for all Poles that tourism is simply a business, isn’t it?

Yes indeed, we are still probably not aware enough that Poland largely lives on tourism. Tourism handles huge money. We are all decision-makers and investors here.

Do you think that the very sense of fairs as a meeting place despite communication tools changing so quickly in today’s and virtual world - remains invariably strong?

The potential of fairs as a tool for promotion and image building is invariably worth unleashing. Fairs are still one of the best and the cheapest marketing tools. It is above all the guarantee of direct contact with the customer. Nothing can possibly substitute chats and acquaintances in business, and during fairs both exhibitors and visitors make hundreds of business meetings.

The Internet is certainly great, but as an additional tool. If it was to completely replace the human factor, books and newspapers, I have serious doubts as to whether we should accept it. I believe that there is nothing more valuable than interpersonal relations.

Anything else is a bonus. Fairs allow people to get to know each other, to have a talk together. Let us remember that tourism or gastronomy is not a simple, quick sale of shoes. It is about building relationships. pm

“I deal very well both with women and men, and indeed in my everyday work I do not pay attention to gender.”

Do you think you are one of those shaping a new image of Polish women in the economy?

No, I do not. If it is considered that in my capacity of a businesswoman I bring something to the business, for example quality, reliability, ethics, I am very glad. In fact, I really like my job, people I work with and contact with them. And fairs are something that has indeed always the same name, but each edition is different...

It has to be so. New developments, new people who have different expectations. Unquestionably, each institution also evolves with the person in charge of it. At the same time, it is important to recognise and appreciate the human potential and ideas of employees. People I had the honour to work with co-created the value of MT Polska. Today it is an over-20-strong team, with specifically selected subgroups being responsible for the organisation of par• ticular trades. pm

What is a fair’s audience success?

I must admit that we have a large turnout at all our fairs. But of course we would always like to have more. You need to work hard to achieve such a turnout. I like to repeat that fairs are like two halves of an apple: one half is our customers, and the other half is customers of our customers... pm

pm

Several years ago, the Polish Tourist Organisation (POT) put out a big campaign to promote Poland’s tourist assets and tourism in our country titled “Zarabiaj na turystyce.” It is

September 2014 polish market

23

Information technologies

help women

24 polish marketspecial edition 2014

The role of chance I have been asked by “Polish Market” editors for remarks about careers of Polish women and potential for their professional development, including the perspective of my own experience.

I am not sure whether my remarks will be reliable because chance has played an enormous role in my life. I am not a good example of someone carefully planning their own career. Neither have I been particularly sensitive to obstacles and difficult moments in my life. This spared me many disappointments, although there were many of them. I was never under pressure from my parents or teachers to make any special effort aimed at my future career. My parents simply believed that one should – as they used to say – “live decently and work decently.” I did not feel pressure from my environment either. There was no atmosphere of a “rat race.” I think I was greatly infected by this “no-pressure” approach because – as I see it now - my behaviour towards my son is similar. I believe that life in harmony with oneself is more important than a professional career understood as moving up the ladder. Nothing is probably more devastating for one’s satisfaction with life than losing face. This is why I think the “mirror criterion” is so important – the ability to look into one’s face, to look deeply into one’s eyes, without feeling ashamed. I think this is the most important thing in life.

But when I think about what had a major influence on decisions and developments in my life, including my professional life, it seems to me that it were my teachers – and definitely some of them at least - who played the leading role. It so happened that at primary school I had a maths teacher who was able to instil in most students a love of mathematics or at least inclination for it. The teacher encouraged us, children – to the surprise of our parents – to study works which were actually suitable for university students. He encouraged us, for instance, to read works of outstanding Polish mathematician Hugon Steinhaus. What is more, he recommended that we should make presentations on this topic. It is beyond doubt that we did that ineptly but the maths bug spread by the teacher had a strong impact on me, if not on others. This is why I decided to study mathematics at the University of Warsaw. On the day when I was to file my application with this faculty, I met a friend who said she was just going to file her documents with the economics faculty. She encouraged me to do the same. However, I stuck to mathematics. But as we thought it would be good to have a talk over coffee after submitting our applications, I decided to accompany her to the economics faculty and then file my documents with the mathematics faculty. When she was in the process of submitting the documents, I had an opportunity to read information on a notice board about the programmes of study available at the faculty. I found that the faculty offered a course in econometrics and came to the conclusion, not without my friend’s influence, that the use of mathematics in economics may be no less interesting than pure mathematics. I changed my application, which was quite risky because the faculty of economics was virtually besieged, with many candidates per place. But I managed to pass the entrance exam and after five years of study became an economist – econometrician.

The knowledge of economics and econometrics, combined with the knowledge of accounting I had acquired at secondary school gave me, during my university studies and after graduation, an opportunity to get many interesting assignments. Most

special edition

of them were associated with making multiple cross-sectional economic analyses. Thanks to this work, I had contact with practice. After graduation I worked as a university teacher, but also as a consultant and analyst at the Polish-Swedish firm Swea-System. This inspired me to develop various research studies that I conducted and still conduct at the Warsaw School of Economics and the Polish Academy of Sciences. As part of this research, I developed quantitative models for bankruptcy prediction and models of early warning against bankruptcy. I still deal with research into corporate bankruptcies.

The knowledge of economics and econometrics helped me a lot in gaining job offers. It was important for me, especially during my time as university student. My ambition was not to be a financial burden for my parents. I alternated between economic analyses and translations from German, which helped me improve my knowledge of this language. After graduation I passed the foreign ministry’s German exam. My good command of German enabled me to use internships and scholarships in Germany, like those offered by DAAD. I value this very highly. The knowledge of German is very useful for me. For example, every year I conduct together with my German colleagues a two-week seminar in Germany on models of the socio-economic system. This is why I think that in one’s professional career it is not only English that is important but also less popular languages. In my case, the knowledge of Russian also turned out very useful as it enabled me to take part in Polish-Russian seminars organized by the Polish and Russian Academies of Sciences.

I am often asked whether, being a women, I have sometimes felt discriminated against in promotions. Such questions are not surprising. It is impossible not to notice that women encounter many barriers to their professional development. This problem requires careful, well-thought-out and comprehensive measures to be taken in social and economic policy. Statistical data prove that we still have to do with the “glass ceiling,” the barrier in the career ladder that women rarely cross. The same is the case with wages. However, it seems I was lucky because I never personally experienced that. I never felt being treated worse at work than my male colleagues. Perhaps the reason is that I spent most of my professional life at the university. If my male colleagues moved ahead of me it was mainly the result of my own choices and life preferences.

There is much truth in the saying that for a woman to achieve a similar success as a man she has to be at least two times better than him in professional terms and has to work much harder, but there are many signs indicating that the future looks favourably for women. Women are increasingly well educated. There are more women with degrees than men and the number of female university students is also higher. This creates the basis and opportunities for women to start an attractive professional activity, even in areas which until recently were dominated by men.

If women are university graduates their chances of professional advancement and career in business grow. Women run one third of small and medium businesses in the United States. In Poland, there are also more and more women starting up their businesses. Most of them are small but some grow into bigger firms. One example is the Dr Irena Eris cosmetics company. All this bodes well for the Polish economy and society.

Although the Polish proverb “Where the devil cannot come he will send a women” can be interpreted in different ways, it illustrates the big potential of women’s creativity, rationality and resourcefulness in every sphere of social and economic life. It

cannot be overestimated. The development of digital information technologies is conducive to exploiting this potential.

Information technologies, including the Internet, and the ongoing digital revolution are now the main factors contributing to women’s careers and professional life. The use of the potential offered by these technologies results in favourable conditions for Alvin Toffler’s “social futurism,” first of all by creating at all levels of social and economic life “imagination centres” aimed at interdisciplinary “brain activation.” This can be a source of ideas technocrats have not even dreamt of. What may seem naïve in an industrial era is not naïve now at the age of Internet and information revolution.

The Internet and information technologies help removing barriers to women’s careers. They are conducive to better organization and work-life balance. They enable work from home, remote work and flexible work time, and make communication easier. This is important, the more so as many research studies show that the presence of women on company management and supervisory boards leads to better management, improved efficiency and reasonable decisions.

All this helps women and these opportunities are exploited to a growing extent, benefitting both the economy and society and promoting a harmonious, empathetic and lasting development. •

help

women

Prof. Elżbieta Mączyńska, President of the Polish Economic Society, head of the Unit for Research into Corporate Bankruptcies of the Collegium of Business Administration Warsaw School of Economics (SGH)

September 2014 polish market

25

Potential

of Polish science is up to the global standards Magdalena Wyrwicka, PhD, DSc, Eng., professor at the Poznań University of Technology, Vice-Dean for Scientific Affairs at the Faculty of Engineering Management, talks to “Polish Market.”

In this decade we have devoted much attention to exploiting the creative potential of women and to their role in economy. Women are present in each of the most complex areas of technology – they design radars and manage important companies. The biggest number of new “female” occupations has appeared in rapidly developing sectors, like information technology and telecommunications. How do you assess this trend?

I think predispositions to performing specific tasks are not associated with gender but with an individual person. The use of women’s potential involves changing preconceived notions and ensuring real support for women in the period of maternity.

Fortunately, our culture allows women to prepare for occupations once regarded as typically male ones. I myself started my career at a factory technical department and – to the surprise of my older colleagues – undertook to program numerically controlled machine tools. One has to admit that gender role stereotypes are still well established in our occupational life but – as time goes by and emphasis is put on the importance of competence - changes towards gender equality have been witnessed here as well. In my view, a positive thing is that Poland, compared to other European countries, has an above-average share of women among people running their own businesses. According to 2011 data from the Polish Enterprise Development Agency (PARP), women accounted for 34.3% of Polish entrepreneurs compared to the EU average of 30.6%. Contemporary women usually run micro-businesses, many of them being set up under pressure from the situation existing on the labour market.

But I hope that well-prepared female graduates of the departments of civil engineering, telecommunications, information technology, automation and so on will be not only good specialists but also enterprising persons present in our business life. pm

26 polish marketspecial edition 2014

Do you feel you are one of the persons behind the process of shaping a new image of Polish universities?

On a micro-scale, I think I am. On an international scale, I built and coordinated in 1995-1996 the CEEPUS network linking the Wirtschaftsuniversität in Vienna, the University of Maribor, Slovenia, and the Poznań University of Technology. I also organized the International Symposium “Market – Risk – Success” on the development of enterprises. It was attended by representatives of 14 countries. In 1995-1997, on behalf of the Poznań University of Technology, I managed a French-German-Polish research programme entitled “Competencies Needed by Future Engineers for International and Intercultural Cooperation.”

Thanks to the programme it was possible to compare the preparation of students of the Poznań University of Technology, Paris II University and Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus for their professional life. The relations, initiated at the end of the 20th century, involve not only mutual visits and collaboration. As a kind of continuation, my colleagues undertook projects entitled “Knowledge for Economy” and “Accelerator of Technical Knowledge.” In 2007-2008, we diagnosed potential zones of high product specialization – clusters – in Wielkopolska and took part in foresight research concerning the future of the region in the social context, with the project carried out in 2010-2011 by the Office of the Wielkopolska Province Marshall, and in the economic context concerning networks. The latter project was conducted at the Poznań University of Technology under my guidance in 2009-2011. The project, which won the Business Innovations Award at the Innovations Forum held in Rzeszów to accompany the 20th Economic Forum in 2010, has resulted in numerous proposals from scientific and economic institutions to work with them.

I can see clearly now that cooperation among universities, central and local government institutions and chambers of pm

special edition

commerce has been tightening. I hope this heralds better cooperation between the scientific community and the economy to the benefit of both sides.

For several years now the slogan “Girls, go to technical universities” has been present in our public debate. Have any results of this campaign been visible at the Poznań University of Technology?

The Poznań University of Technology is one of the most popular universities in Poland. An increase in the share of women among the students has undoubtedly contributed to this popularity. The Faculty of Engineering Management, which I represent, is considered to be dominated by women, just like the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Chemical Technology. In terms of the increase in the share of women in the total number of students since 2009, we rank second among Polish technical schools with a rise of 38.5%. This trend is definitely becoming stronger. pm

In Poland we have always been happy about the huge potential of our scientists, but we are still worried that it is outside Poland where they are able to achieve the biggest successes. A process of thorough reform of the research system and its financing has become indispensable.

As scientists, we were and still are mutually dependent in terms of implementation of our discoveries. Cooperation is indispensable because the researcher is not always familiar with commercialization procedures or market realities. Scientists often deprive themselves of the ability to ensure patent protection for their ideas by making presentations at various congresses and conferences. One can say that a network of pro-innovative cooperation should be created in connection with a new discovery in order to place the new solution on the market. Such networks will be efficient if one agrees on the division of tasks, rights and responsibilities among individual participants, and if their relations are based on mutual respect and confidence.

I am convinced that the potential of Polish science is up to the global standards but too little importance is attached to its identification and development, and to propagating its achievements. I can see this especially in the activity of many scientists who move confidently in the international forum and know foreign, but not always Polish, literature. This is probably due to the criteria for research work appraisal used in Poland in recent years as they give preference to foreign publications and projects.

As a result, the best ideas of Polish researchers are published in foreign journals or are presented at conferences in other countries. Before the superiors of a young researcher in Poland realize they have a real talent in their team and start appreciating him or her there often comes an attractive proposal for the researcher from a foreign centre. International research activity certainly helps scientists in their development and there is nothing wrong about accepting proposals from abroad. But it is important for the image of Polish universities and Polish science how the scientist speaks about them – whether he or she is proud of their roots, appreciate those who have prepared them well for international research and want to return to Poland with their new competencies.

As for financing research in Poland, it is at one of the lowest levels in Europe. Science and research require constant investment. These are spheres where there are no quick results. pm

“International research activity certainly helps scientists in their development and there is nothing wrong about accepting proposals from abroad. But it is important for the image of Polish universities and Polish science how the scientist speaks about them – whether he or she is proud of their roots, appreciate those who have prepared them well for international research and want to return to Poland with their new competencies.”

Research priorities, which are set now for instance in connection with the smart specialization of regions, result in the appearance of preferred units interested in competitions on the one hand and quandaries for those who cannot be members of this group because of the scope of research they are involved in. Should they change their occupation or the scope of their research work? Or perhaps the research units should be closed down because they are unprofitable? I personally believe that the businesslike approach to science damages its basic function, which is the pursuit of knowledge, erodes the readiness of research units to work together and destroys confidence where support and consent to experimenting are needed while starting risky innovative undertakings. In my view, one should not hamper the development of basic research because this leads to slowing down applied research.

An especially desirable thing today is quick response to emerging opportunities and threats, and the courage to solve in an innovative manner the problems which arise. We will not become established in the European forum if we continue to merely imitate “well-tried solutions” created historically under different conditions.

•

September 2014 polish market

27

Patient

comes first Prof. Alicja Chybicka, a medical doctor and senator, talks to Maciej Proliński.

The year 2014 is a time of important anniversaries and summings-up in Poland. How would you sum up the period since 1989 – the time of the new Poland? Describing the past quarter-century seems to be quite difficult, the more so as the whole world was changing radically in the last 25 years. If science is a pursuit of knowledge about reality then we may be gradually becoming aware that the closer to the horizon we go, the more distant it becomes.

Absolutely not. Science has developed rapidly over the last decades and changed many things in our life. We have seen great advances in medicine and life sciences, for instance. I think we have made a big progress in the past 25 years. And this certainly is the case with the field I work in. I have dealt with paediatric oncology for 39 years. I remember that at the time when I started to work the recovery rate was only 15%, which virtually meant pm

28 polish marketspecial edition 2014

that every sick child had a death sentence. Polish science in this field was practically non-existent. The borders were closed and the transfer of knowledge to Poland was constrained. Now, the situation is quite different and 85% of cancer cases are already curable. A team of German professors was invited to Wrocław just before 1989 and this actually marked the beginning of our important contacts, which eventually resulted in a sensational progress in medical sciences. Nothing is getting more distant.

In child cancer treatment we are not behind other EU countries or Japan in any respect.

The only exception perhaps is the budget.

Actually, it is not. Apart from experimental therapies - which for legal reasons cannot be funded in Poland, just as is the case elsewhere in the European Union - there is no shortage of money. pm

special edition

Twenty five years ago children were regularly sent for surgeries and other treatment to Western countries. And our Ministry of Health paid for this. Now, there is no longer any need to do so. There are really very few cases now where we have to use assistance from neighbouring countries. In the past, it was even difficult for us to access specialist literature so teaching was also different. The Internet has changed our access to any kind of information.

Has this easy access to knowledge influenced the awareness of Polish patients?

Regrettably, changes in the patients’ awareness are the slowest and this is true of all diseases and particularly disease prevention and preventive screening. Almost no Pole is ready to accept the thought that they or their children may get cancer.

It is always like “a bolt from the blue.” And they always regret they have not thought about it before. Unfortunately, we still do not have in Poland a law on public health, which would certainly be quite a good tool for building this awareness. When the patients’ awareness becomes widespread it will be a piece of cake for us to cross the barrier of 100 years in life expectancy. pm

and technology which serve this profession. The treatment standards we offer our young patients at our clinic do not differ from those at the best European centres. We have the largest ward for stem cell transplantation in children. We have already performed there 1,000 transplant procedures. The clinic also has a research lab equipped “to the teeth” with state-of-the-art apparatus. And this is not all. We are creating in Wrocław a Supraregional Centre of Paediatric Oncology called the Cape of Hope. The cornerstone for the building was laid on September 16, 2013. The goal is to create good conditions for medical activity, scientific research and teaching, ensure a wider access to medical services and raise their quality. The project is worth more than PLN100 million, of which 85% comes from EU sources under the Infrastructure and Environment Programme and 15% from the national budget. The hospital building has already been constructed. At the beginning of next year we will be moving in.

“As a paediatrician, I also have to say that no one can replace women in their role as mothers. And the child’s wellbeing always needs to be the objective in performing this role.”

pm

Do you feel you are a successful woman, a person shaping a new image of Polish women in politics?

No, I have decided to become a senator only to improve the wellbeing of children in Poland. I did not mean just the children who receive treatment in the clinic I still have the honour to head. I had all children in mind. Being a senator is not my profession. I work full time at the Wrocław Medical University and its hospital and since 2007 have been head of the Polish Paediatric Society. And for a long time I have tried to do something more for children. I think that becoming a senator was definitely a good decision. I have met many great people. I have seen how law is made and have learnt to make it myself. When it comes to the role of women in Polish politics, I think it is still too small. I am not a feminist but I take part in women’s congresses and value highly the women who fight with determination for parities and equality, that is for their place and a loud voice in public debate. This voice is still absent. As a paediatrician, I also have to say that no one can replace women in their role as mothers. And the child’s wellbeing always needs to be the objective in performing this role.

At the beginning of 2014, you climbed Mount Kilimanjaro on the border of Tanzania and Kenya with the “Bone Marrow to the Summit” expedition.

We reached the summit! Everyone was OK. The expedition had been organized by the Against Leukaemia Foundation. The originator and one of the participants was Anna Czerwińska, an outstanding Polish Himalayan mountaineer. The expedition was composed of leukaemia sufferers who had undergone bone marrow transplant procedures, bone marrow donors and a group of physicians. The goal was not only to climb Mount Kilimanjaro but also to prove that it is possible to beat cancer and then live a normal life. We also proved that the health of bone marrow donors is also excellent. In 2015, we want to organize a similar expedition, this time for the Akogo Foundation of Ewa Błaszczyk and Father Wojtek Drozdowicz and for children suffering from cancer. The participants will be Polish • parliamentarians.

Your are head of the Department and Clinic of Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation, Oncology and Haematology Wrocław Medical University. What are the most important challenges you are now facing?

Having the honour to treat children in our clinic, I have always been of the opinion that it is them who are the most important and that no one should tell me that money is more important than their life and health. I would like every person who decides to study medicine not to look at its financial aspects. It is the patient that has to be the centre of attention. Everything should be subordinated to their needs and not vice versa.

Not to money, graphs or business. Every candidate for medical studies should ask themselves the question: Why do I want to be a doctor? And they should realize that the degree certificate they would earn would not only be a ticket to professional life but also the beginning of a long road. I think that everyone of us chooses a profession which requires commitment, life-long learning and keeping up with advances in the science

Alicja Chybicka, head of the Department and Clinic of

pm

pm

Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation, Oncology and Haematology Wrocław Medical University, a graduate of the university’s Faculty of Medicine. As an outstanding student, she was proposed an individual plan of studies under the guidance of Prof. Janina Bogusławska-Jaworska. At that time, the professor was laying foundations for the development of paediatric oncology in Wrocław. Alicja Chybicka has been head of the clinic since 2000 and president of the Polish Paediatric Society since 2007. She is also a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and a member of the Board of the Polish Society of Paediatric Oncology and Haematology. In 2007, she received the Honorary Pearl award from “Polish Market” for her achievements in science. She is a member of the Council of the Saving Children with Cancer Foundation. She not only fights for children’s health and life but is also a friend to their parents. She always stands by her patients. She deals mainly with haematology, oncology and bone marrow transplantation.

September 2014 polish market

29

“Although law itself, including commercial law, does not refer explicitly to gender, the truth is that it is generally more difficult for women especially when it comes to reconciling the private and professional life.

I very much appreciate working with women. They are creative, consistent and conscientious. They are doing great in managerial positions,” says Katarzyna Niedużak from Business Advisory Services law firm (Kancelaria Doradztwa Biznesowego) in Warsaw.

Women

creative, consistent and conscientious!

30 polish marketspecial edition 2014

Photo: Łukasz Giersz

I

have run Business Advisory Services law firm since 1998. My professional beginnings, I must admit, were not easy. For 10 years, my law firm was located in Warsaw at Biała St. on the third floor without a lift. To be honest, clients often told me then that it was only when they got to know me, when we were “one step further” with the case that they could fully appreciate their choice, and that, for example, when on their way to meet me for the first time, they felt like turning back on the second floor... For sure, I am happy to hear such compliments, but I should say that I had to work twice as much as my colleagues, do my best twice as much.

Presently the offices are at Koszykowa St. in Warsaw. Still on the third floor, but now with a lift. Today I work with several solicitors and legal advisers.

My law firm provides legal advisory and representation in all matters related to day-to-day commercial and legal services for businesses. We also help in solving disputes through mediation or negotiation. In addition, we advise and conduct judicial proceedings in respect of real estate brokerage and management, including for the needs of residential communities, residential cooperative law, labour law, inheritance, investment (construction law, land use planning), as well as comprehensive services for foreigners seeking legalisation of their status in Poland. We have vast experience in working particularly with the construction industry, medical sector, especially the private one, and telecommunications.

I must emphasise that what I do is primarily my passion. I love what I do and I always want to give 120% of myself, and customer satisfaction is the top priority of my law firm.

First of all, I need to know what the client’s problem is. Then I see if I can do anything for him.

And only after we agree – the client to use my expertise, and myself to take up the challenge – costs

I am I love what I do and I always want to give 120% of myself. and fees are discussed. Not at the beginning, not at the time of the door being opened!

Being many years in my job, I certainly break the stereotype that you have to come from a family with a long tradition of legal practice to achieve something in this business. I do not have such traditions in my family.

I follow the principle that what counts is courage and an open mind. You have to work hard. You also need to have a bit of luck, that is for sure. But, above all, you have to be determined. And each

failure should bring you closer to success, and not drift you away from it.

Although law itself, including commercial law, does not refer explicitly to gender, the truth is that it is generally more difficult for women especially when it comes to reconciling the private and professional life. But it is quite the same in all professions, not yet only with lawyers.

I would like to point out here that in order to increase efficiency of the Polish job market not only changes in legislation are necessary, but also restoring the work ethos both on employers’ and employees’ sides. As far as women are concerned, a challenge remains to make it easier for them to start a career, including in politics. Why are there still few women holding managerial positions? The European Commission data shows that women represent a mere 10% of those sitting on Supervisory Boards of Polish companies.

On the one hand, the reasons are very prosaic, on the other hand, they are due to women’s great sense of responsibility. Prosaic because women tend to have less time. Even if a couple has a partner-like relationship, housework is mostly shouldered by a woman. Women do domestic chores more often than men, despite performing fulltime paid work at the same time.

Today arguments are so many in favour of introducing gender quotas in business. It should be clearly stated that companies, which are in part or in equal parts managed by men and women achieve greater economic efficiency and innovation. There are a number of impartial reports stating that the presence of women on Management and Supervisory Boards has a positive impact on the development and financial performance of companies. Our economy could therefore more fully use that potential.

I very much appreciate working with women.

They are creative, consistent and conscientious.

They are doing great in managerial positions. •

special edition

No one should be constrained nor discriminated Beata Mońka talks to “Polish Market”.

Beata Mońka – CEO with experience in managing and consulting in multicultural Polish and international companies, she was i.a. President of Y&R Brand, Poland (WPP), Canal +, GBC. She has experience in TMTE (Telco, Media, Technology, Entertainment), advertising, communications, business consulting. She is a member of YPO and the European Council of Advisors at Pittsburgh University, mentor and Global Ambassador of VitalVoices, lecturer, speaker and winner of many business awards.

How have Polish business and the media changed over the last 25 years in terms of women’s involvement?

It has been a real revolution, not just a change.

I mean what happened to Polish business and the media during the whole process of political and economic transformation. In the past quarter-century we won the freedom of speech and the freedom of the media. We also have achievements in the development of entrepreneurship. The latter took on a new meaning, in the context of women’s entrepreneurship. Polish women – our mothers, grandmothers – have always been resourceful and hard-working. Today’s growing number of micro-enterprises headed by women is therefore not surprising, although starting and running them is not easy. Over the last 25 years an increase, relatively slow however, could be observed in the number of women in leading corporate positions. Many of them gained an excellent education, but also diversified management experience – not just one sector.

My generation is the first generation of these 25 years. We had different plans when entering the adult life, but the changing reality brought us new, unknown opportunities, but also huge challenges. We often learnt from our mistakes, and such lessons are costly. The free market allowed the media to flourish – local TV and radio stations, speciality channels, press (business, automotive, women’s etc.), and finally the emergence of the pm

Internet and the social media. Today, we observe a number of acquisitions – the market is saturated in these areas and is subject to further assessments and transformations. Take for example the ongoing process of media convergence, being the result of the digital revolution and intermingling of different sectors: telecommunications, IT and so on. Consumer behaviours are changing, and therefore also business models applicable both in the media and in businesses.

In order to succeed during these 25 years we often had to work hard. Now business and media leaders have a huge and very responsible task, not only in creating the reality around us, but also in education and helping those starting in business to compete. Mentoring programmes are prepared within the framework of which people with a long track record in business can share experience with and support self-starters. In my opinion, that is what is edifying and most important, not the proportions of genders in Poland’s success of the last quarter-century. We have Polish own, so valuable brands: Eris, Inglot... known not only in Poland, but also internationally.

So business has no gender?

I will put it this way: business should not have a gender. The point is that no one should be limited, let alone discriminated against, because of gender. If there is a certain system of values​​, and we live in a free country, no restrictions should pm

take place. We should encourage and support wise people. The more of them - both women and men - in key positions, the better the economy, and our lives.

Are women willing to fulfill themselves professionally in business?

We have a long tradition of women being housewives and keeping accounts when men fought in war or insurrection. Today, when I look at the women who I know and who have made that choice, I would say definitely yes. They are professionals who often combine different spheres of life and have time for hobbies, but also sharing their experience. The world of management both in Poland and in the world is still dominated by men. But this does not mean that women do not have access to it. Of course, each person is different in terms of traits and predispositions; some have more self-confidence, others less, which is significant when they have the same skills. There are also a variety of other considerations, such as the family model and personal choices. Every day has 24 hours. The important thing is to have the possibility and freedom of choice. And if needed – also support of your environment – family, community, workmates or boss. We live in a certain milieu, which is important. It’s important to encourage and support women in taking up ini• tiatives in business. pm

September 2014 polish market

31

The human is the centre of my attention Aneta Podyma, Managing Director, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic & Slovakia, Genworth Financial, talks to Rita Schultz.

It is still not easy for women to fight for top positions. Why is it so in your opinion?

Exercising power is often based on stereotypical thinking in terms of division of roles between men and women, both in family and at work. Power is the domain of men, and career, though seemingly a universal word, is still associated with masculinity and politics. However, the reality is more prosaic. Women need to skillfully combine their career aspirations with bringing up children and overcome intergenerational clichés. Women have developed barriers and inhibitions as a result of a centuries-long dominance of men. There are 24% of women on company Boards, but only 6% of them serve as Directors-General. According to “CE Top 500”, a study by Deloitte, 28% of women sits on the Boards of the largest Polish companies but only 4% hold the highest positions. The asymmetry is most conspicuous in large corporations.

It turns out that women are doing well in family businesses, they pm

32 polish marketspecial edition 2014

are entrepreneurial, as many as 37% of SMEs is in the hands of women who willingly run their own businesses.

Do you think the Management Board has a gender?

The Board has a key task in the company, and its leadership and strategic decisions translate into business performance, market position, customer loyalty, employee satisfaction. Increasingly, the leader is assessed through the prism of corporate values ​​ and social responsibility, where the true leadership must be based on an example. I believe that the measure of success is definitely skills, charisma, values​​, consistency of action and not a gender.

Generally, there are no substantial differences between men and women in the way they work, or make strategic choices. Personally, I have to, as much as men, adapt to the requirements of the company, fight with competitors, pursue goals, hold people accountable of the effects of their work. But we have different management styles. Women build differently their pm

special edition

effective leader, exercise influence and use their powers through partnership, collaboration and values.

How do you manage your team and what is most important for you in cooperation with your employees?

Being a boss involves working out the most efficient time management, so that I could reconcile the enormity of professional obligations with family life, childcare and housekeeping.

I had to learn discipline and good planning, and this translates into my management style. In my work I am consistent and I set my heart on everything I do. I do not waste time on unnecessary discussions, I support the substantive solutions. I do not like silos and artificial hierarchy, so everyone can come to me to talk, I am open to new ideas, I like teamwork, I appreciate enthusiasts.

The human is the center of my attention. I have a lot of respect for and confidence in people, I bet on teamwork, I manage by delegating responsibilities and creating positive thinking. I would like to build in people power and motivation. The most important is communication and mindfulness. pm

You have a rich CV, meticulous education, professional experience in Poland and abroad. Is it sufficient as a patent for success?

I spent 17 years in Paris working in giant American corporations. Merrill Lynch or BlackRock are the world leaders in asset management. Corporate experience, cultural differences, numerous mergers and acquisitions, organisational changes – all these required from me flexibility, change and team management skills, ability to find my feet in a new environment, very accurate work and continuous learning. I do not know if in my case you can talk about a patent for success, because my personal affairs simply so arranged. But I certainly encourage all young people to gain experience abroad. Every employer looks favourably at a CV with foreign experience. I would definitely recommend it! pm

I do not waste time on unnecessary discussions, I support the substantive solutions. leverage in organisations, they develop networking to a smaller extent and use it less. They are higher assessed in terms of the organisation of work, readiness for development, ethics standards, they use different means of influence, are great at resolving conflicts, while men are highly evaluated for decision-making, laying out the strategic directions and availability. They like hierarchy and widely-understood authority. Women are resistant to stress, multi-tasking, consistent in the pursuit of goals, are well organised, team players, inspired by values. They can also be an

Genworth is a company that supports consumers. What is that you do exactly?

Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYE: GNW) is a leading, Fortune 500 insurance company that has customers in more than 25 countries. It has been present in Poland since 2005, with the ongoing commitment to the development of the Polish market. We provide individuals and businesses with insurances that secure their loan obligations (mortgage loans, cash loans, credit cards) and financial condition in the event of illness, job loss, temporary or permanent disability or death. All of our products have been developed with a view to providing an exceptional quality to our customers.

We focus on the target of the insurance product, its intentions, on what the client can expect when reading the offer. We put the client at the centre of our efforts, we understand that the brand reputation and customer confidence are the key to success.

That is why our programme “Customer Experience” is based on four pillars: faster, better, with a minimum effort from the client, in a relentless pursuit of excellence. We have introduced the “First Call Experience” according to which, when a client reports a loss, a Genworth’s consultant collects all the information needed to make a decision on compensation within 24 hours.

• pm

September 2014 polish market

33

You are leading one of the best performing clusters. Do you feel proud of the results of your work?

Every manager feels proud when his or her work brings fruit and certainly what I have created with my team and today’s shape of the Polish Wood Cluster is a huge success for me. The Agency for Enterprise Development, which I manage and which coordinates PWC, is a company with an enormous economic potential. This is thanks to our people, their know-how and a passion to perform and take on new challenges. Of course, an effective team would not be there were it not for practical managerial knowledge that I gain every day at work and hone in numerous trainings. Seeing how much time and heart is put in daily activities, you must be proud of each, even the slightest, effect. I enjoy small things and approach everything with a positive attitude, and I try to instill such a lifestyle to my subordinates. The most important feature of our corporate culture is an open-door policy. Employees at all levels are welcome to talk, share their doubts, ask questions, and they are not afraid of being frowned upon because knowledge comes with asking questions and sharing experiences. The teams of the Agency for Enterprise Development and the Polish Wood Cluster and the results of our work are what motivates me every day to create and look for new multi-faceted spheres of development and to go beyond our comfortable area. I am proud that what I create takes on colours, produces real effects such as the construction, currently finalised, of Europe’s most modern ORC power plant in a highly efficient cogeneration system, a belt dryer for biomass, or the production line for briquette and pellets and many others. I am happy that I can share my successes, experience and knowledge by giving lectures and speaking at numerous conferences, like for example the Polish Clusters Congress of the Polish Parliament and the Economic Forum in Krynica. pm

It is necessary to be able to take joint action Iwona Gaweł, Coordinator of the Polish Wood Cluster (PWC), Agency for Enterprise Development Sp. z o.o., talks to “Polish Market”.

How do you perceive the role of women in business? Do you think that all barriers have already been broken down?

Many people regard business as a strictly male occupation, requiring a strong character, traditionally attributed exclusively to men. However, I believe that the role of women in business is very important. They can perfectly cope, they can successfully run a business, and it does not have to be challenging for them.

Unfortunately, women still encounter barriers on their career paths. Problems with reconciling professional and family duties, stereotypical perception of the role of women in society, especially in the context of high-profile positions, as well as fear of risk-taking still make it difficult for many women to get promoted. Our strengths are persistence, determination, diligence, high commitment and, of course, intuition, which allows to make the right decisions. I try to see the positive aspects of life and I can say that more and more women are professionally successful, notwithstanding family responsibilities. They are effective because “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Women’s presence in business is very important not only because they are competent in management, but also on account of their soft, social skills. Women make contacts easily, communicate well with different social groups, in addition to being excellent observers. pm

pm

34 polish marketspecial edition 2014

In recent years, clusters have been a very important factor of economic development as far as they give rise to innovative solutions. What do you think they owe such an important position to? What makes their success?

special edition

Yes, I agree - clusters mean strength and market position! The key to their success is cooperation and healthy competition. What matters in today’s economy is history, financial potential, intellectual resources, something that small and medium-sized enterprises often do not have, and large ones lose in their corporate speed. Clusters are by definition the combination of representatives of business, academia and local governments. The links between them were defined by Michael M. Porter in the 1990s, and its definition is still adequate and holds true in the 21st century’s business dealings. Market cooperation is extremely important because at every stage, organisation, design, and strength lies with a group. It is not, of course, only about signing an agreement and passive membership on paper. The group is developing on the basis of joint commitment and joint economic initiatives.

Clusters are very important in building an innovative economy, as evidenced by the success stories of clusters around the world.

At the core of it is cooperation. Making, using and maintaining business contacts within the same market allows common effort towards breaking barriers and creating favourable relationships with external entities. It is necessary, however, to be able to take joint action. Companies form clusters to enhance their growth potential, Cooperating within the framework of the cluster and making use of synergies, they can gain a competitive advantage in Poland and on foreign markets. It is through collaboration with research centres and other businesses that companies are able to implement innovations and modern technologies.

The Polish Wood Cluster invites foreign investors. What is the main purpose of such efforts and what benefits can Polish entrepreneurs draw from it?

International cooperation is a significant aspect of our activity. An important objective of the cluster is to increase its potential by attracting external investors. Cooperation with foreign partners will allow to broaden the range of customers for our products and services, expand distribution channels, and set up representative offices abroad. Many of our activities are targeted at assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises and cooperation with foreign investors. We pay much attention to it. We want to enable the implementation of international cluster projects by Polish entities. This will in turn facilitate the transfer of Polish technology to other EU countries and reversely – the implementation of European technologies that are of interest to our partners, including primarily Polish entrepreneurs. Together with the Polish National Cluster of Innovative Enterprises (OKIP) we have taken steps to create a national cluster capacity, which will be able to represent Polish clusters in Europe and compete with such powerful clusters as Clusterland in Austria.

The Agency for Enterprise Development and OKIP have decided to integrate their structures and establish the Cluster World.

A considerable advantage of the participation in the project will be boosting our research and technological activities, implementing of innovations and business development. Successful clusters means successful entrepreneurs. And it is all intended to increase innovation and competitiveness of the Polish economy. Recently, we have also broadened our outreach beyond Europe to cover partners in Kenya, Congo, Peru, Nepal, Tanzania, Ghana, Vietnam and other countries. These partnerships are expected to bring us closer to the world-class clustering and support the operations of the Cluster World.

Women’s presence in business is very important not only because they are competent in management, but also on account of their soft, social skills.

pm

Do you think that we need more women in business?

Business is the driving force of the modern economy as far as it allows its growth and generates new jobs. The more entrepreneurial society is, the faster economy grows. Therefore, I believe that the role of women in business is very important. You cannot underestimate half of the population if you want to live in a strong and economically viable State. Women also regard economic issues differently than men. I will also venture an opinion that women are better managers, perhaps a little softer, but delicacy is a matter of gender. Men are focused on a specific task, while women see many other aspects - a broader horizon. Women should not be afraid of operating in business, because they are an important pillar of it. For centuries, it has been known that the woman is the neck that turns the man’s head, which is also true about eminent leaders. Today, women take a firm step to come out of the shadow of men, and I hope that more and more of them will hold high and responsible positions. We are cut out • for managing and organising - we are the natural leaders. pm

September 2014 polish market

35

Business is for

optimists only

I knew more or less what I wanted and I kept learning.

Jolanta Zwolińska, General Director, Yonelle, talks to Marcin Haber.

36 polish marketspecial edition 2014

It is said that you have revolutionised the Polish cosmetics market. Do you agree with such a statement?

Rather not, it is grossly exaggerated. I do not feel like a revolutionist, although I certainly was among the pioneers of this business at a time when the very word “business” did not exist in this country. I am talking about the 1980s. I am pleased that we have this conversation right now, because last May 30 years passed from the moment I had started my first cosmetics business, one of the few private companies existing in Poland then. It was another country, another world, governed by different rules, different mentality. Those who decided to “take matters into their own hands” so as to make life less desolate as it unfortunately was at that time, belong to the absolute minority and are calm heroes of the times when we tried to feel free, to live like free people.

Previously, I worked as a researcher. I am a trained biologist.

I believed that scientific work was my future. That is how I imagined my career, nothing else mattered. When I finished studies with honours, it seemed to me that a scientific career was lying at my foots. I always wanted to discover something, to do something that no one else had done before. When I decided to set up my cosmetics company in 1984, my family watched with concern, because I have never manifested any management talents! However, I decided to rely on persistence, expertise and continuous desire to learn. I knew more or less what I wanted and I kept learning.

I bet on reliability, scientific integrity and honesty in customer service. I never meant to make a quick profit. At the beginning, finances played an important role because I decided to set up a business to help my disadvantaged family. It was one of my driving forces; then I simply felt joy that I left behind mediocrity of a full-time employment to venture into such a new, unpredictable and interesting world, which gave me fresh energy for life.

At the same time, I immediately met with customer satisfaction, with the observation that I was doing something for which people were willing to pay their hard-earned money and were so satisfied that they even thanked me.

Soraya, which I then created, was ten years later – in 1994 – the largest cosmetics company in Poland. At that time, many companies were set up, but the core, which was built in the 1980, fared well and, interestingly, they still do today. Despite of systemic change, currency denomination – it is hard to find something which has actually not changed – fortunately some people remained as they were. I become sentimental when I realise that we made it so good in a new Poland, because the year 1989 was a real breakthrough for me. Such a sense of freedom and free access to the rest of the world… It was a beautiful moment in my life, and the fact that I entered it prepared, having already six years of experience in running business was extremely important. I was not certain what would happen to us, whether the western competition would not destroy us. By “us” I mean the cosmetic brands launched in the 1980s. Luckily, we found our feet in the new reality.

In 1994, “material fatigue” occurred between me and my partners. It was hard for me as I hate conflicts and I cannot work in such conditions. It cost me too much mentally because I did not agree with the concept, pushed forward by my partners, to market cheap products in large quantities. My idea for this brand was completely different, but I could not break through with my views, so I decided I had better finish this cooperation and set up a new company where I would be able to pursue what I consider pm

o special edition

most important in this business. At that time, it was vital to fully use the potential of cooperation with foreign countries, landslide development of cosmetology in the world and access to resources and opportunities we had not dreamt of before. This costs and a company trading in the cheapest products cannot take advantage of it.

And so in 1994 I established Dermika, of which I was President for 16 years until 2010. We started operations at the end of the year, just before Christmas, with two products only. Stocks were quickly sold out and we were short of money to launch production, because I invested all I had in Dermika. I only had a two-year-old car. It was the second time I put everything at stake in my life. In order to create Soraya, I borrowed a lot of money from my family. My parents sold their apartment and moved into a smaller one. I felt like I was throwing myself into the abyss, it was complete madness. When I look in retrospect at the beginnings of Dermika, I can say, too, that it was crazy. I had no funds to finance investments as prescribed in today’s management textbooks. I had no funds for marketing. I spent all the money on getting the business going. I had money for three months only.

I assumed that if I do not find customers for the product during these three months, there will not be funds for further operations. And it was not a cheap product. Its price was comparable to L’Oréal’s, and the French company had marketing budget.

I do not know what was decisive for success. These were good products, because I had known long before what I wanted to do, I had it all precisely defined. After these three months, I ran out of money. I did not have funds for materials and packaging imported from abroad. Then somehow, wonderfully, after six hours’ combat, I got funding from the Polish-American Enterprise Support Fund, initiated by President Reagan and promoted in Poland by prof. Brzezinski. I was asked what my collateral was and I answered that I do not have any. But I really believed in success. Finally, at the end of this long conversation, they asked me: “Mrs. Zwolińska, will you manage?,” and I, already exhausted, answered with determination, “Yes, I will.” I was granted a credit line in the amount of USD 100,000, and so I won the company’s future.

Something must be going on, definitely. When I sold Dermika, some people were saying: “Well, now you can finally rest under palm trees.” And I answered: “But what would I do under these palm trees? I will still go crazy there”. It was obvious to me that as soon as I pull myself together, I will start something new, with a new idea. And it was an idea for an even higher-end brand.

I mean a luxury we would all be proud of. A woman who will have such a product in her bathroom, will be happy and will have satisfaction that it is Polish and so good. I have come to think that cosmetology stood still, came to the wall, that all creams are so similar that you cannot exceed a certain barrier of effectiveness.

After selling Dermika, I had a three-year ban on competition.

I spent this time reading and travelling abroad. It was a glamorous time, but I missed action. I was constantly looking for some clue to do something that would perform beyond standard expectations. As a result, I set up Yonelle, a company that first operated as a SPA salon. And again, throwing myself down, placing funds from the sale of Dermika in the new company instead of under the palm trees.

Were the earlier experiences helpful?

They helped, greatly helped. Such experiences give you something you cannot get otherwise. You have to live your life, struggling with a thousand of different problems. You have to learn to go out of the pits you fell into, and that you first need to get out of it and only afterwards wonder why you fell, and how to prevent such a mistake in the future. I believe in the saying “What does not kill you makes you stronger.” Sometimes you go through situations that seem inextricable, and I had a lot of such cases. Even the most successful business is not only a success story, failures are suffered, too. The ability to overcome these failures is essential, but you need optimism for that. Business is for optimists only. If you think through the prism of things that can fail, you will not achieve anything interesting. Perhaps you will manage in the generic business, but certainly not in the creative one. And for me, only the creative business makes sense. pm

You then believed that you will manage. And now, after years, do you think that you have succeeded? Do you feel professionally fulfilled?

Yes, I definitely feel professionally fulfilled. I think that everything I did was brave. When I am asked what was the most important in my success, I answer that it was the courage, mental readiness for risk. I have always had the courage to say that I do not agree with something and do not want it to be that way.

Dermika has achieved a great market position over these 16 years, but the time has come to try something else. A certain concept has probably exhausted, I felt that I did for this brand everything I could. This job started to give me less and less of joy, at some point it became even tiresome. I decided it was time to support the brand with a stronger partner, and so Dermika was taken over by a Swedish company, which had earlier bought Soraya from my former partners. Also, 2010 was a very tragic year in my life, so there were a lot of factors. There are moments when you are told by something inside you that it is the end, and that it is time to stop. pm

pm

You are a woman of action. Something must be going on all the time around you…

ptimists

And how is Yonelle faring?

Last year, we launched five products and customers were all in delight. Again, I showed something new. The product was successful despite being about 50% more expensive than the most expensive Polish ones, but cheaper than Western selective brands.

For now, we cannot talk of great turnovers, but certainly we there is a success that can be measured by sales rankings. It is a selective brand sold only in Douglas chain, where we have been in the top 10 best-selling online beauty products since February. In May, we were in the first place, and in August two of our products were on the TOP 10 list. We go hand in hand with the best global brands in this ranking. We applied a British invention little known yet. As a result of the trips abroad I was talking about, I managed to trace a laboratory, which makes carriers for drugs absorbed through the skin, and I with my partner, have formulated an innovative idea that active components contained in cosmetics penetrate the skin too poorly. You can hear that there are great substances in creams, but actually only a few percent of these substances penetrate, the rest remains on the surface of the skin! The concept of our brand was based precisely on the idea of improving penetration and it looks like we have managed to create really fabulous cosmetics, which have already won the ti• tle of Qltowy Kosmetyk 2014. pm

September 2014 polish market

37

s

satisfied with every I am

decision I have ever taken

Irena Eris, a co-owner of the Dr Irena Eris Cosmetic Laboratories and Director for Research and Development, talks to “Polish Market.”

You are a forerunner of change. You have shown Polish women that they can achieve success. Do you consider yourself to be a model for women in Poland?

I do not. But it is very nice to be aware that my work and what I have achieved serves as an example, that I can inspire others to act and encourage them with my example to take the first step, which is so important. Knowing that I have succeeded may be helpful to others. It is very important to see that you can achieve success and that it is worthwhile to try.

Of course, success in business is not guaranteed, but there is a saying: “It is better to do something and then regret it than regret that you have not done that” – because it may turn out that the risk taken has resulted in success. pm

Do you think that Polish women are enterprising?

Yes, absolutely! It is estimated that one in three businesses in Poland has been set up by a women and that women account for almost 50% of senior managers. This places us in the lead among European nations in terms of female entrepreneurship and – as research shows – has a favourable impact on the economy. At present, women in Poland are well educated and economically active.

There are more and more women who perform equally well as men in managerial posts, combining their careers and home duties. Just look how many women run their own businesses and are successful. Women want to hold managerial posts, earn more and be equal partners in negotiations. In order to achieve that they often start up their own business. Their advantage is education, and the eagerness to raise their qualification and pm

38 polish marketspecial edition 2014

develop their careers. However, I know from my own observations that women often do not have enough confidence. In this case support from the family and friends is vital. These days, at a time of fierce competition, for a business to develop well it has to be supported by various values and diverse potential. Women want and should take an active part in meeting the new challenges of our times. I do not mean rivalry between the sexes, but equal development opportunities.

What do you regard as your biggest success?

There have been many successes, but the most spectacular one in my view was the establishment of our Centre for Science and Research in 2001. The centre is a unique research base in the Polish cosmetics industry, with modern labs, excellent scientists and the exceptionally advanced research they conduct here. The scientists, with degrees in pharmacy, biology, molecular biology and chemistry, work in conjunction with dermatologists, allergists and specialists in aesthetic medicine. The numerous patent applications they have submitted prove that the level of their research studies is really high. pm

Is innovation an important factor in your activity?

Thanks to innovation, our company has for years kept a leading position in the cosmetics industry, despite strong competition, and has been valued highly even outside Poland. The Centre for Science and Research and the scientists who work there are often invited to international cosmetology congresses and their articles are published by the most important scientific journals in the world. Among them are journals included in the pm

list maintained by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). An innovative approach to the product and being ahead of global trends mean that our research centre is regarded as unique and its achievements contribute to the development of cosmetology.

And how come the Dr Irena Eris brand has found itself in the Comité Colbert list? It is a special distinction for you and your company.

In 2012, the Dr Irena Eris brand was invited to join the association. It was a huge surprise to us and it still feels so unreal to me. When I started up my business more than 30 years ago, in the times which were so unfavourable for independent business activity, I only knew what I wanted to do, but I had no idea about running a business on one’s own account. And now, as the only Polish cosmetics brand, we are in this elite group of international luxury brands. This is a great distinction for me, for the company and for our country.

I think one of the reasons we were proposed to join Comité Colbert is that we are a very strong cosmetics brand in Poland and one which gives clients something more than just cosmetics – beauty, which bolsters their confidence and improves the quality of life. The Dr Irena Eris brand means not only cosmetics of excellent quality but also a holistic approach to beauty. Working in keeping with universal values, like the pursuit of excellence, respect for tradition and business ethics, we have won international recognition and were asked to join the prestigious Comité Colbert association.

This success will certainly give credence to our position abroad and, I hope, will improve Poland’s • image in the world. pm

It’s

special edition

extremely important to inspire people to work and to develop their careers eata Pawłowska has over twenty years of managerial experience.

She held executive positions in companies such as Procter-Gamble, International Paper, The Coca-Cola Company, Hoop SA, Royal Unibrew Polska and Selena FM SA. A number of brands that she has created and developed are now market leaders: Hoop Cola, Arctic, Kropla Beskidu water, Lift drink, Łomża beer or Velvet hygiene products. She succeeded in taking the companies she managed through the period of intense change and growth. She has repeatedly proved herself as a manager of companies with multi-million turnover.

Adding to her experience are managerial positions outside FMCG, including in MTV Network, where she was a member of the Management Board and Managing Director, and Walter Services, where she served as President of the Management Board. Most recently, she was with Selena FM SA as Vice President in charge of operational sales and marketing covering Latin America, the US, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States (including Russia), Scandinavia, the Baltic States and Asia.

You have vast experience in executive positions in well-known multinational corporations. Is the new position in Oriflame a challenge for you?

Oriflame offers far more than an average beauty company. It gives you a chance to fulfill your dreams. I’ve dreamt to become a part of this organization. I admit – it was a love at first sight.

The people, work attitude, company’s values – all these things caused that I wanted to be right here.

I believe, it’s extremely important to inspire people to work and to develop their careers and interests – and that is exactly what Oriflame does.

Personally, I get involved in all kind of activities that support women on their way to independence.

You can find a lot of women, who have joined Oriflame, just to do something for themselves: to meet new people, to make progress in their careers and to become financially independent. It happens pm

an adequate work attitude and faith in your abilities. People with a win-win attitude never give up. They can really change the world. As long as we’re building the company and our lives, bearing in mind these core values, we’re bound to succeed.

About Oriflame:

Photo: Rafał Nowak

B

Beata Pawłowska, Managing Director, Oriflame Poland

People with a win-win attitude never give up. quite often that many women spread their wings here to such an extent that working for Oriflame has become their main source of income.

The Oriflame business model suits almost everyone as the company offers multiple opportunities to fulfill one’s dreams. According to the Oriflame’s brand promise Your Dreams – Our Inspiration™, our primary objective is to enable people to fulfill their dreams and change their lives for the better. They’re given the right tools to start their careers again.

The company’s core principles: being together and sharing common passion are equal with the rules I follow in my life. I strongly believe that people, who work together and share the same goals, can achieve more. They motivate each other and they know that working in a team brings more satisfaction and better results than working alone.

Other factors essential in striving for success are

Oriflame is one of the world’s fastest growing international beauty companies selling direct in more than 60 countries worldwide. Its wide portfolio of Swedish, natural, innovative beauty products are marketed through a sales force of approximately 3.6 million independent consultants, who together generate annual sales exceeding some EUR 1.5 billion. Oriflame wide portfolio reflects company’s holistic approach to life.

The company offers a business opportunity for people who want to start making money from day one and work towards fulfilling their personal dreams and ambitions through its unique business concept - Make Money Today and Fulfil Your Dreams Tomorrow™.

Oriflame is passionate about fulfilling dreams.

The integrated beauty product line and business opportunity is what makes the Oriflame brand unique. It’s not just about beauty products or direct selling, it’s the combination. The brand’s sense of success and self-fulfilment should be experienced at all touch points along the Oriflame journey. People should feel the vibrant, positive energy reflected by this inspirational and approachable brand.

The essence of the brand is the Swedish heritage of being natural, progressive and ethical. Oriflame strives to use natural ingredients and let nature inspire products, processes and people.

Progress is about pursuing better solutions, utilising science and creating innovation, as well as being in tune with times in terms of fashion and trends. Acting ethically is about staying honest, transparent and fair in all relationships and interactions. It is also about striving for sustainability in the business model to minimise impact on the environment and the ecological system. •

September 2014 polish market

39

Consistent career

Since 1996 Zofia Gołubiew held the post of deputy director for research and popularization at the National Museum in Cracow. In this period, she worked out a publishing strategy and exhibition policy and supervised their implementation. She initiated promotional and marketing activity at the museum and measures designed to protect its identity. In 2000, she became director of the institution.

“I think the fact that I found myself ‘at the top’ of the museum was simply a consequence of my road and the experience I had gained along it,” says Zofia Gołubiew. “I worked at the museum as deputy director. My boss of many years, the late Tadeusz Chruścicki, presented me in a natural way to the minister to become his successor. It was 1999, a time when there were simply no women in such posts. Tadeusz worried that the minister would

Collections, interiors, temporary exhibitions

According to the prestigious British magazine “Art Newspaper,” the National Museum in Kraków is the only Polish institution among the world’s most popular museums. The institution is visited by over 650,000 people annually. What attracts them to the museum?

The National Museum’s collection is composed of more than 800,000 exhibits of all periods. The core is Polish art – paintings, sculptures, drawings and decorative pieces. The museum’s advantage are also its genuine period interiors and intriguing temporary exhibitions.

Among the great temporary exhibitions held in the museum in 2014 is the world’s first exhibition showing in a comprehensive way the life and work of cinema giant Stanley Kubrick. It deserves

Director

in the right place Zofia Gołubiew, Director of the National Museum in Kraków, is the first and until recently only woman managing a national museum in Poland.

What is more, the institution she heads is the largest Polish museum.

Her peers regard her as the greatest authority on issues concerning the management of cultural institutions. For more than a decade she has consistently proven that an innovative boss – a creator of prodevelopment attitudes and a pragmatic visionary - needs to have a personality, knowledge and organizational skills.

not appoint me. But this was not the case – there was absolutely no conflict. For me the most important thing about the management of cultural institutions is the presence of well-educated and competent people able to clearly understand the mission of the institution. And the institution should make its goals and the strategy for reaching them clear.”

Radical improvements to the museum’s infrastructure have been made during her time as director, with large-scale renovation projects carried out under the guidance of conservators of historical buildings in the Szołayski and Łoziński Houses, Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace and the Houses of Jan Matejko and Józef Mehoffer. Recent years have seen the opening of the Gallery of Polish Art of the 19th Century (July 2010) in the Sukiennice building after its renovation and the modernization of three other branches of the National Museum: the Karol Szymanowski Museum in the Atma House in Zakopane (May 2013), the Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum (June 2013) and the European Culture Centre Europeum (September 2013).

Zofia Gołubiew has worked out a project to turn four branches devoted to individual artists – Matejko, Mehoffer, Wyspiański and Szymanowski – into modern and vibrant centres of information about their life and oeuvre. She also prepared a programme entitled “Open and Friendly Museum” to create gardens – like for example the renovation of Mehoffer’s Garden - cafes and places of relaxation, and to make museum buildings disabled friendly.

She was the originator of an exceptional idea in Polish museology – moving the Sukiennice collection for the time of the building’s renovation to Niepołomice Palace so that the works of art could be shown to the public instead of being kept in storage. Educational activity designed for various social groups, like for example the disabled, and conservation activity have developed excellently under the guidance of her deputies. The museum also leads the way in acquiring money from European Union funds..

40 polish marketspecial edition 2014

special attention. And in autumn visitors to the museum will have an opportunity to see the exhibition of which the director has dreamt for many years – one showing the best paintings by Olga Boznańska. Interestingly, the ambition of the curators is to show the works in the context of world painting, of which Boznańska is an integral part.

Looking for relations

“Contemporary museums are not only about research or collecting, but also about looking for relations, which means building a broad artistic environment for these places,” says Zofia Gołubiew. “In the past these were very elite places. However, until recently a museum was associated with something conservative and fossilized, a place where elderly women in slippers sit and drink tea… Today’s museums are turning into institutions which operate very actively. They introduce very broad programmes – like musical, theatre and film events – and issue many publications as an important supplement to one of their core activities, which is the organization of exhibitions. These days the world’s biggest museums are visited by several million people a year. Our turnout is not as impressive yet but it is still telling.” The “Music in the Museum” series of music lessons for junior high school and high school students is a new valuable initiative adding to the museum’s programme. The lessons, held once a month, are prepared in conjunction with the University of Music in Kraków. During these meetings students hear selected music pieces composed in the eras from the Middle Ages to the present day and then have an opportunity to confront them with works of art from the same period. Each meeting, centred around a single work of art and several corresponding music compositions, is conducted by an art historian and musicologist.

Zofia Gołubiew - photo: Piotr Pękala for Art&Business.

special edition

Funds, sponsors, investment

Cooperation between the National Museum in Kraków and private sponsors is evidently very good. “The subsidy we receive from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage covers only 80-90% of our basic maintenance expenditures, that is wages and some utility bills,” says Zofia Gołubiew. “We acquire money for our popularization activity by ourselves. We have very good cooperation with private sponsors. And we do not treat it as an additional task but as an integral part of our activity. We monitor the expectations of sponsors and treat their role very seriously. This mutual exchange of intangible and tangible goods should be based on full respect and confidence from the two parties.

We are the only museum in Poland with the status of a research unit, thanks to which we also receive support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. We are the leading Polish museum in acquiring European funding for investment projects and research programmes. I have calculated that since 2007 we have managed to acquire more than PLN100 million from European funds. This is really a lot for a museum. Without playing down my role, I have to stress that this is due to team work and my colleagues’ professionalism.”

Awards

This kind of investment-oriented thinking and activity produces not only notable effects but also earns awards for the museum.

This year, the museum has received two professional awards: Sybilla 2013 in the Investment category and Grand Prix - the main award also called the Award among the Awarded. The jury led by Prof. Waldemar Baraniewski appreciated the museum for its “innovative and modern approach to thinking about how money can

turn into values.” Prof. Baraniewski admitted he was greatly impressed by the exhibition in the Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum.

He called it a gem. “I am glad that the jury appreciated us in 2013 – on the 135th anniversary of our museum – for the investment projects we have carried out but also for our long-term project started in 2007 to improve the infrastructure of the whole museum,” Zofia Gołubiew says. “This was possible thanks to the EU funding becoming available and hard work by the whole staff of our museum. I am especially satisfied as this has been my goal ever since I became director of the museum. Being head of the institution, I was no longer involved in making exhibitions or doing research work. This is why I wanted our employees to have decent work conditions and the public to have comfortable conditions when visiting the museum. In 2007-2013, we renovated all branches of the museum with their whole infrastructure. An additional, and very important for me, result of the project is care of greenery and public space. All our branches have well-tended gardens or courtyards open to the public.”

Zofia Gołubiew is also among this year’s laureates of the Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. The award has been granted since 1997 to artists and people responsible for cultural activities in recognition of their lifetime achievement or for outstanding achievements in a given year. Zofia Gołubiew and Paweł Jaskanis, director of the Wilanów Palace Museum, received awards in the Heritage Protection category.

Asked whether she feels she is a successful woman she replies: “I can say that every undertaking requires work, effort and consistence. And there are no easy successes. Every institution changes with new management. The important thing is to notice and appreciate the potential of your associates and their idea about how the institution should function. It is the combination of these factors that enabled me to redefine the mission of the Kraków museum and the vision of its activity. You may call it a success.” •

Maciej Proliński

September 2014 polish market

41

Katarzyna Gärtner during John Paul II Canonisation Mass concert, 27 April 2014, Rzeszów

„I have never thought that one day I will become a producer for my own works,” Katarzyna Gärtner, a composer, tells Maciej Proliński.

42 polish marketspecial edition 2014

Photo: Maksymilian Tumulec

Artist Composer Producer...

special edition

You are being interviewed for a magazine that has for years shown that the economy and culture should not be too far away from each other. How does it look like today in Poland from the point of view of an artist?

They are far away, extremely far away from each other. Culture needs patronage from business. Previously it is the State that was the patron of culture. Today, in the market economy, it is different: “save up who can”. “Every era has its own objectives and forgets about yesterday,” I would say quoting the poet. I can observe that CEOs of large companies do not see the problems facing Polish culture. They often take delight in the fact that they were the previous day with their wives wearing stoles on a great show by this or that artist. But what it did take in terms of costs does not interest them. pm

Since 2013, we have more favourable provisions with regard to Polish songs. The amendment of the Law on Radio and Television Broadcasting of March 2011 imposed on broadcasters the duty to devote at least 33% of their monthly song air time to Polish songs. Until that year, it had been 33% on a quarterly basis.

Monthly or quarterly, it has no significance in terms of quantity. It is broadcasting time that matters. For example, hardly anyone listens to the radio between 24 and 5 hours.

In Poland, the Atlantic culture dominates and foreign music is paid for through the transfer of royalties. This is a drainage. Let me draw your attention to the French cultural policy for instance. There are no English-language ads in France. There is no such access to culture from outside France. Many of our artists have requested that a greater portion of State budget goes on culture, but it is like the proverbial “throwing peas against the wall.” As long as we do not have cultural trade unions represented in the Parliament, they will be ignoring us.

“So as you can see I am awake and working, and it is very intense.”

pm

Did artists have easier lives in the bygone era?

That is a wrong question. If I were an actress, I would feel fantastic playing today in five series at a time. It is very different with composers. If there are no orders, then you do not exist. In the previous era, with a State patronage, I had orders. The musical “Painted on the glass” goes the longest in Europe without interruption. Do I have orders now - no. Therefore, together with my husband I made a big effort to set up my own musical theatre “Balustrada” this year, giving already two premieres: “Trzeba mi wielkiej wody” and the Canonization Mass E Gia Santo. Currently, we are staging a musical show for children. I and my husband are shooting videos based on the musical “Pozłacany warkocz.”

So as you can see I am awake and working, and it is very intense.

I do it with my own money. The songs, which I still like to write, are released in the form of recordings. I have never thought that one day I will become a producer for my own works. pm

And how did a young composer you were make your way in an industry dominated by men?

It was hard but I managed. And most of those who dominated the market are no longer in the industry. pm

You composed “Małgośka” for Maryla Rodowicz, “Eurydyki tańczące” for Anna German. You have always worked with the best. Such a position is probably very comfortable ...

It took some time and effort before those best became who they are. A hit is pushing up the singer and the singer is pushing a composition. A symbiosis.

pm

pm

And ... the key to success?

Feel out the market, have inexhaustible energy resources.

You were in the jury of this year’s Disabled Youth Festival in Ciechocinek. What was this meeting for you?

I thought it would be yet another festival in which I would serve as a juror, but I found that these young people have great strength lying dormant in them, and their creative energy is phenomenal, despite physical barriers. Some performances were simply dazzling. I wonder if I could show such a young singer with a disability to a wider audience. Perhaps they would not be shocked at first, and then after hearing a few sounds, they would stand up from their seats? My group of young soloists from the “Balustrada” theatre has been chosen from among many candidates at festivals of young talents. pm

And your other productions, your other plans, meetings?

In the free market conditions, the composer is often obliged to be a producer and a marketeer, while creating is an extra discipline - I do not know if it is good for the art. We have perhaps said goodbye for ever to orders for musicals, symphonies, oratorios, which flowed from the Ministry of Culture, radio, TV or theater... Can you imagine a 70-year-old lady who knocks on the door of the president with a roll of notes and asks: “Why don’t you buy a symphony. If not, then an opera, or at least a song because it’s the cheapest”... pm

Ridiculous and horrible at once!

A few years ago, I had a hunch that John Paul II will be canonised. Of course, you cannot possibly write such a composition in a month. It took several months to prepare such a work live with young artists and the Carpathian Philharmonic. An important part of my activity is focused on the work with young people and the “Balustrada” theatre I devote a large part of my life to it. We tour together.

I am about to embark on preparations for a musical ordered

by Silesia. The play tells a story one family over ninety years.

I am also planning to write an opera for children, to release an album with songs by Agnieszka Osiecka with new lyrics (provided that I can find a sponsor) and to stage a show for children.

Let us remember that the art will not survive without patronage. In this matter, much depends on the people who head the institutions concerned. Do they understand the importance of • culture? pm

September 2014 polish market

43

The audience is back in front of

the big screen to watch Polish films

44 polish marketspecial edition 2014

Photo: Marcin Kułakowski, PISF

S

he was appointed as Director of the Polish Film Institute by way of a competition in 2005 and again in 2010. She is a co-author of the Act on Cinematography, which created a stable support system for the Polish film production. Previously, she served as deputy Minister of Culture.

An economist with experience in culture management. “For several years, I have supported the filmmakers’ relationships with business,” says Agnieszka Odorowicz. “Entrepreneurs really help us optimise the production and distribution of films.

Were it not for them, it would not be possible to increase the number of Polish films, because PISF subsidises only 50% of the budget.”

She has been involved in the Polish cinema industry for nearly 10 years. “I have no doubts that since the inception of the Polish Film Institute, this branch of our culture, but also of our economy, has changed significantly. Today Europe appreciates creative industries, as they drive the economy and determine the country’s living standard,” she says.

It is worth tracing the changes that have occurred over the last decade in Polish cinema. These years are not only a time of debut for hundreds of new artists, but also a time of radical improvement of conditions in which we watch films in cinemas, i.e. the digital revolution, initiated, actively supported and promoted by the Polish Film Institute.

“When you look at the changes that have occurred in Polish cinema over these years, you will realise that Polish cinema has become important for Poles: the audience is back in front of the big screen to watch Polish films. Producers, cinema owners, distributors, the media – they all make money on it. In 2005, only 700 thousand tickets were sold for Polish films, in 2013 – over 7 million, and in record-beating 2011 – more than 11 million.”

Today, an average of 75-80% full-length Polish films are shot with the participation of PISF. At the same time, it is usually forgotten that PISF is the only cultural institution

Agnieszka Odorowicz, Director of the Polish Film Institute (PISF), former deputy Minister of Culture in Poland to have engaged artists so much in the decision-making process with regard to public funds spending. “Please indicate another institution whose director voluntarily invited artists to co-decide about 85% of the funds, leaving to himself or herself a mere 15%? Thanks to it, we take advantage of the knowledge and experience of experts,” she claims.

PISF deals not only with subsidising film production and modernisation of cinemas. It has launched film education programmes aimed at high school students and university students: the School Film Library, a platform Skrytykuj.pl, Polish Film Academy because cinema is not only films, but most of all the people who make them and watch them.

PISF is not afraid of taboos. “We have neither a list of risky topics nor a list of suggestions as to

the plots,” Agnieszka Odorowicz says. What matters is the artistic quality of the script and the involvement of the producer.

It is widely believed that Polish cinema came out victorious from the crisis caused by the transformation of the Polish economy and rapid economic and social changes over the last 25 years.

“Almost half of this period is the time of activity of the Polish Film Institute. Film-makers, with the support of the Institute, have successfully preserved their creative autonomy and portrayed Poland’s transformation in their films. I think many of you will name in one breath the titles and authors of films important to us. “Saviour Square”, “Katyń”, “Rose”, “Essential Killing”, “In Darkness”, “Ida”, “Reverse”, “Wałęsa. Man of Hope” were acclaimed by audiences and critics around the world.

Behind each of these titles there is an outstanding workshop, but above all the strength of emotions that these productions offered to viewers.”

It often happens that interesting and revealing phenomena in Polish cinema are originated by women. It is worth paying attention to this. There are more and more blockbuster producers who expertly steer through their professional life, while also inspiring others. On Polish screens you can often watch films directed by women. You can safely say that women are the driving force of Polish cinema, recognisable abroad at major festivals such as Cannes and Berlinale. Our Oscar nominations are also indicative of women’s success: Anna Wydra, a producer, nominated for “Rabbit à la Berlin” in 2010, and Agnieszka Holland for “In Darkness” in 2012. Women are also cinematographers such as award-winning Jolanta Dylewska or fresh-tothe-job Ita Zbroniec-Zajt. “We managed to open up the profession of a producer, which is very masculine, for women. There are more and more of them, vigorously consolidating their prominent position in the Polish art. This can be seen also in film schools, with more and more female students being enrolled in direction and cinematography faculties. Soon we will see the effects of work of young female directors in the cinema.” •

Our special edition

Winners

Every autumn for 12 years, during a Gala at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, results are announced of the prestigious ranking “The Pearls of the Polish Economy”. Pearls are accompanied by the Honorary Pearls awarded by a specially appointed jury that represents people who enjoy authority and social recognition. The Honorary Pearls are awarded in the following categories: economy, science, culture, social values promotion ​​and promotion of Polish traditions and patriotic values​​. So far, 70 individuals have received the award. We never forgot about women. Maciej Proliński sketches silhouettes of some of the winners.

mat. Kayax

P

rof. Maria Siemionow is a Polish transplant surgeon who works in the US. She completed medical studies at the Medical University in Poznań. After emigrating to the United States, she was offered a scholarship and specialised in hand surgery. Since 1995, she has been heading the department of plastic surgery and microsurgery at Cleveland Clinic. She regularly cooperates with the Medical University in Poznań. It is thanks to her that about 20 Polish students have received scholarships and could learn in Cleveland. Prof. Siemionow was ​​the fourth in the world and the first in the United States to perform a face transplant surgery, with approx. 80% of the face from a deceased donor being transplanted. She was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic. She received the Honorary Pearl in 2009 in the category “Science”. “Prof. Maria Siemionow works closely with the Surgical Clinic of the Medical University in Poznań that I am in charge of. As a board member of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, she gets each year two scholarships for young doctors whose 12 or 18-month stays usually end with PhDs. The theses are defended in Poland,” Prof. Michał Drews said at the Gala upon receiving the award on behalf of Prof. Siemionow.

Urszula Dudziak is the “first lady” of Polish jazz.

She always adds a unique element to the collective work of the band. And she has worked, in the studio and on the stage, with artists like Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, Bobby McFerrin, Krzysztof

the stage is a sacred place for her. Urszula Dudziak

Komeda, Michał Urbaniak. She was a soloist with Gil Evans’s orchestra. She recorded about 50 albums.

When she started touring, it was said that she sang as if “she was continuously smiling.” And it is until today the essence of her performance. The stage is a sacred place for her. “Wszystko gra” is her last year’s excellent new album, which consists of compositions and arrangements of pianist Jan Smoczyński. Jazz is mixed here with quite perky and lively music from around the world. Everything is transparent like in Mozart. The primacy of melody makes you quickly memorise the song, and within a few minutes, you can capture the incredible joy of that art in its final, though so greatly improvised, shape. The sounds of this album offer a sheer pleasure. This precision combined with swinging freedom! These are beautiful unisons and compositions, arranged with great flair and immediately perceptible space. Everything is still great with Urszula!

Janina Ochojska – a humanitarian activist, laureate of the Pearl in 2010 in the category “Promotion of Social Values”​​for consistent efforts around the world and promoting of humanitarian ​​ operations.

She studied astronomy at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. After graduation, she worked in the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Laboratory of Astrophysics in Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomy Centre in Toruń. As a student, she was active in the Academic Chaplaincy of Jesuits in Toruń, and in 1976 joined the opposition and was involved in the creation of the Solidarity trade union in Toruń.

In 1984, she went to France for a surgery and there September 2014 polish market

45

she encountered the idea of humanitarian ​​ aid. As a volunteer, she worked for a charity “EquiLibre” looking for contacts and coordinating assistance to Poland. In 1989, she was one of the founders of the Polish branch of “EquiLibre”. In 1994, she founded the Polish Humanitarian Action, where she has served as President of the Board ever since. In 2004, the “Polityka” weekly placed her 7th in the ranking of the most influential women in Poland. She is disabled since early childhood. Through her perseverance and kindness, she became known and admired throughout the country and around the world.

Poland has always been a country whose hallmark was the culture. Especially Polish music has its significant place in the world, and in Europe in particular. We are always represented on the international stage. Certainly a lot of celebrities creatively promoting Poland in the world deserved the Pearl in the category “Culture”. We awarded cultural Pearls to i.a. Urszula Dudziak (2007), Małgorzata Walewska (2008) and Krystyna Janda (2011).

Małgorzata Walewska is considered one of the strongest women’s voices (mezzo-soprano). Among her stage partners were such celebrities as Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti! “I grew up with the music of Bogna Sokorska, Zdzisława Donat, Violetta Villas and Orchestra of Chmielna. I liked the opera, though I was not its big fan. I was attracted by acting and singing. Opera perfectly combines these two passions,” she said a few years ago in an interview with “Polish Market”.

While still a student, she was given her first role as Aza in “Manru” by Paderewski at the National

46 polish marketspecial edition 2014

Photo: Robert Jaworski

© Bartek Banaszak. Courtesy VOYK

...found her own tone a long time ago... Małgorzata Walewska

Opera in Warsaw. Then she performed in Bremer Theatre, Vienna Staatsoper, Dresden Semperoper and Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 2006, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, appearing as the title Delilah in “Samson and Delilah” by Saint-Saëns, partnered by José Cura as Samson. Other important, recent roles on international stages include the Nurse in “The Woman without a Shadow” by Strauss at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico (2012) and Delilah in the Grand Théâtre de Genève (2012).

The artist has also an oratorio repertoire, giving numerous piano and harp recitals. Since 2013, accompanied by Małgorzata Zalewska, a harpist, she performs i.a. French songs by Reynaldo Hahn.

She has been appointed this year as Artistic Director of the Ada Sari International Festival and Vocal Artistry Competition, whose 16th edition will be held in Nowy Sącz in May 2015. It is a significant occurrence both in her life and for the promotion of the Polish culture abroad. Among the jurors will be many distinguished guests coming from the European operas and opera agencies.

Krystyna Janda is no doubt one of the busiest institutions of Polish theatre and film. Actress, director, and for almost a decade also head of Polonia Theatre, a private venture combining the audience success with the artistic one. “Theatre seems today one of the cleanest, in terms of ideas, happiest and safest places in the world. A place where people under the miraculous agreement, which have some enter the stage and others listen to them and watch, still wonder about the major concepts of humankind: love, morality, truth, friendship, humanity,” says Janda, who from the inception of her foundation fantastically enriches Warsaw’s cultural life.

...still wonder about the major concepts of humankind: love, morality, truth, friendship, humanity... Krystyna Janda Robin Hawdon, one of the most popular writers of English comedies and farces, wrote especially for Krystyna Janda “Weekend with R.” staged with great success in Warsaw. Thanks to Janda, creator of important stage events, we could see in theatre and with her participation such plays as: Chekhov’s “32 omdlenia” directed by Andrzej Domalik and “Danuta W.” directed by Janusz Zaorski based on a sensational book by Danuta Wałęsowa. And she directed by herself “Miłość blondynki,” story taken from the famous film by Miloš Forman and an oratorio based on the “Dairy of the Warsaw Uprising” by Miron Białoszewski. The actress does not neglect cinema either. Unquestionably, her greatest film achievements invariably include “Interrogation” by Ryszard Bugajski for which she received the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and a double, moving and so painfully “not acting-like” role in “Sweet Rush” by Andrzej Wajda. •

special edition

Outstanding women Women have been for years strongly present in many areas of Polish culture, science and economy.

Maciej Proliński sketches outstanding examples of just some of them.

Photo: Michał Rusinek

Wisława Szymborska (1923-2012) is our great poet and so far the only Polish woman to have won a Nobel Prize in literature (1996). Her art is a unique intellectual poetry, often containing an explicit philosophical subtext. Her work is characterised by precise words, conciseness, frequent use of irony, paradox, joke and distance. This poetry opens the horizons, helps understand the

...precise words, conciseness, frequent use of irony, paradox, joke and distance...

Wisława Szymborska

human condition. Although it grows out of the Polish background - historical and geographical - it is extremely versatile. The Nobel Committee praised her “for the poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality”.

Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa, composer, conductor and teacher, since 2000 Programme and General Director of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (NOSPR), one of the greatest Polish orchestras. She studied conducting and composition at the Music Academy in Kraków, which she graduated from in 1974 under the direction of Krzysztof Penderecki. In 1997-1999, she served as Minister of Culture and Art. At that time, she took an active part in important international fora: the UNESCO’s world meeting “Multicultural of Societies”, Stockholm, 1998, the global convention of culture ministers in Canada “Our Creative Diversity”, Ottawa, 1998 and the meeting of the EU culture ministers, Linz, 1998. She publishes articles in journals, writes scientific papers, takes part as a conductor in important international festivals (such as Warsaw Autumn or Oregon Bach Festival). On 1 October 2014, she will inaugurate the new premises of NOSPR with an illustrious concert featuring stars: Krystian Zimerman, Ennio Morricone, Piotr Beczała, Vienna Philharmonic and Urszula Dudziak. The new large concert hall designed in the shape of the vineyard can accommodate 1,800 music lovers, and the chamber hall has more than 200 seats.

Agnieszka Duczmal is one of the most eminent personalities of the Polish world of music. Already during her studies at the State Higher School of Music in Poznań she formed in 1968 the Chamber Orchestra, which she continues to run until today. Since 1988, the orchestra has performed under the name of the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra “Amadeus”. It regularly participates in a number of European festivals, tours

around Europe, the Americas, the Middle and Far East. The orchestra gave concerts with such artists as Martha Argerich and Mischa Maisky, made recordings for Polish, German, English and Japanese radio broadcasters, and for TV stations in Poland, France, Japan and Mexico. She has recorded 50 albums. Duczmal is the first woman to have performed as conductor in Milan’s La Scala. In 1982, she received the title of “La Donna del Mondo” (“Woman of the World”) granted by the International Cultural Centre Saint Vincent in Rome (under the auspices of UNESCO and the President of Italy) for outstanding worldwide achievements in the field of culture, science, and social activities.

Aleksandra Kurzak, a young singer (soprano) who impresses critics and music lovers from around the world. At the age of 21 she won the Moniuszko International Vocal Competition in Warsaw, after which she started performing in the opera

Photo: Universal Music Polska

Polish art abounds in fantastic women

Aleksandra Kurzak

September 2014 polish market

47

in Hamburg. In 2011, she signed a contract with the legendary Decca Classics and recorded two CDs. Her debut album “Gioia” includes lyrical, coloratura arias, diverse in terms of expressivity. She has already performed the arias on the opera stages and in the concert halls worldwide.

She was accompanied by the Orquestra de la Valencian conducted by its Artistic Director Omer Wellber. In addition to the spectacular bel canto arias from operas by Bellini (“Puritans”) and Donizetti (“Lucia di Lammermoor”) the album also draws from the Polish opera tradition with an aria from “The Haunted Manor” by Moniuszko. When Kurzak debuted in Seattle in October 2010, singing for the first time the title role of “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Donizetti, critics wrote that “her talent and professionalism reach the stratosphere”...

Agnieszka Holland is one of the busiest ambassadors of the Polish film art in the world. For years, she has been creating an important, bold, necessary and often “beneficially painful and provocative” cinema. Characters from Holland’s films are often ordinary people caught up in the great paradoxes of history. However, she rarely focuses on the latter, giving priority to the psychological and emotional truth about the characters.

Since 1981, she has lived and worked in Western Europe and the United States, but recently also in Poland. She is a member of the Polish Film Academy, which she presided over in 2008-2012.

Since 2014, she has been President of the European Film Academy. In 2012, one of her greatest film - “In Darkness” – was released in Poland.

It tells the story of Leopold Socha, a Pole, who was hiding Jews in the sewers of the Lvov ghetto during World War II. Elżbieta Penderecka is one of the best managers of Polish culture. “If I had such a wife...” – Witold Lutosławski used to sigh. But she has been for more than four decades the wife of another great composer, Krzysztof Penderecki. She is President of the Ludwig van Beethoven Association and Director General of the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, a very important, fixed part of the cultural life of Poland and Europe, whose 18th edition was held in April 2014. The programme of every festival is different. While presenting in an interesting way diverse achievements of European music, it shows where the composer of the IX Symphony drew inspiration from, how his music affected the composers of other times, and what is the place of his work in the world of contemporary European art. It is worth noting that Elżbieta Penderecka was also the originator and organiser of last year’s November Krzysztof Penderecki Festival in Warsaw, which turned into a big celebration of the number-one artist of our times. Over half a year earlier, the European Krzysztof Penderecki Center for Music was

48 polish marketspecial edition 2014

inaugurated in Lusławice. The institution dedicated to artistically talented young people from all over Europe, who will be honing their musicianship there under the guidance of the greatest virtuosos, is a beautiful gift for the Master, but also for all those who know that culture means development.

Science under the sign of CERN! Prof. Agnieszka Zalewska is the first woman in the management of CERN, or the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. Prof. Zalewska is a specialist in the field of high energy physics, conducting research into neutrinos and dark matter. From 2010, she were a Polish representative in the CERN’s Council, and since 1 January 2013 she has been its Director. After one year in this position, her contract was extended for another year. Existing since 1954, CERN is the first joint European initiative, which has become a reference model of international cooperation. CERN has now 20 member states. More than 8,000 scientists, technicians, engineers and administrative staff representing 80 different nationalities work in the laboratory complex on the border of France and Switzerland. More than 230 scientists from Poland are among them. CERN’s greatest achievements include inventing web pages www, or identifying a new elementary particle, which may be the long-sought Higgs boson. The prestigious position of prof. Zalewska is a reminder of Poland’s contribution to the development of world science, but above all its clear declaration of accession to the science of the 21st century!

The future of business under the sign of ecology Dominika Kulczyk has chaired since 2010 the Green Cross Poland, the Polish branch of Green Cross International, which is the third largest, non-governmental, global environmental organisation. Green Cross Poland is a platform for dialogue between business, administration, non-governmental organisations and research centres. Strategic workshops, high-profile debates, cooperation with Polish and foreign partners – are only some of its activities pursued in the four main directions: renewable energy, water management, ecological education and public health (SocMed). The organisation provides social consultation on draft legislation and international strategies.

“For a long time we have witnessed Polish business circles going green. There have been large-scale investments to limit greenhouse gas emissions or discharge of waste or leakage to groundwater. The so-called green investments also consisted in implementing production processes which would not impact negatively on the natural environment but enhance efficiency, including energy efficiency in residential buildings.

Green Cross Poland in its activities, points out how beneficial it is to think about the resources of the Earth. As a result, the economy will be able to make the most of natural resources and will be able to develop. We also talk about the benefits for business, which has a greater impact on a variety of ecological phenomena than an individual human being, because it works on a larger scale,” she said in our columns in October 2013. •

For a long time we have witnessed Polish business circles going green.

Dominika Kulczyk

Polish Market :: 9 (216) /2014 SPECIAL EDITION

50 polish marketspecial edition 2014

52 polish marketspecial edition 2014