PBLINK Stories: Recent Episodes
Bill Mair
PBLINK Stories is a series of podcasts by PBLINK where we get behind the business to talk to the person. We’re interested in their unique story and their secret of success. Knowledge from Diversity. Interviews by Bill Mair of PrecisionPresentation.com.
How did Karl Konicz progress from rough-sleeping in a London park with only three words of English to become COO of a multi-million pound UK company? And he went on to save Christmas in the UK! He attributes an important part of his success to watching Blackadder on TV.
How did Karl Konicz progress from rough-sleeping in a London park with only three words of English to become COO of a multi-million pound UK company? And he went on to save Christmas in the UK! He attributes an important part of his success to watching Blackadder on TV.
Wojciech (Wojtek) Kołodziejczak’s parents were rich once. But when the economy transitioned to capitalism in the early 90s, their business crashed and the family lost everything. By the age of 6, Wojciech was living with his parents in a wooden cabin on the outskirts of Łódź, a kilometre’s walk to the nearest fresh water pump.
That is where his story begins.
Wojciech (Wojtek) Kołodziejczak’s parents were rich once. But when the economy transitioned to capitalism in the early 90s, their business crashed and the family lost everything. By the age of 6, Wojciech was living with his parents in a wooden cabin on the outskirts of Łódź, a kilometre’s walk to the nearest fresh water pump.
That is where his story begins.
Sławek Strzykowski is a visionary and a polymath. He left a high-flying career with Microsoft, driven by an especially personal passion to use the power of technology to improve people’s lives in very tangible ways.
He was a captain in the Polish Prison Service, a Business Analyst with SAS Institute and 10 years in Business Analytics with Microsoft. He has always been ahead of his time: back in the 90’s, when computer science was in its infancy, he developed the first Polish national database of offenders.
He left a high-flying career with Microsoft, driven by an especially personal passion to use the power of technology to improve people’s lives in very tangible ways.
He now runs UnderAnt in Warsaw, Poland, which designs and produces prototype Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – UAVs or drones, customised to each customer’s requirements, and a sister company, Anteya in England, which provides software and algorithms for the drones and takes care of sales and marketing.
Sławek Strzykowski is a visionary and a polymath. He left a high-flying career with Microsoft, driven by an especially personal passion to use the power of technology to improve people’s lives in very tangible ways.
Peter Kuncewicz, CA is Associate Finance Director with EFM, Finance Directors and Business Advisors with a difference. He has a long career in senior FD (Finance Director) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) posts in countries across the world, but he calls England home.
He spoke to Bill Mair of PrecisionPresentation.com for PBLINK Stories.
What’s the Difference?
EFM fields a team of over 70 Chartered Accountants UK-wide to act as business advisers or accountants to SMEs who may not yet have grown to the stage where they can hire or contract someone full time. EFM will come in and work as little as one day a month to accelerate the growth of the business, making them both flexible and affordable.
In fact, EFM even offer the option to sign up for Finance Director or Business Adviser services on demand! EFM advisors often grow with their client businesses, contributing more time as the business expands, accompanying the company on its journey.
EFM advisors are not only all Chartered Accountants but also they have each weathered the storms of running businesses and demonstrate real leadership and practical management advice.
Peter Kuncewicz, CA is Associate Finance Director with EFM, Finance Directors and Business Advisors with a difference. He has a long career in senior FD (Finance Director) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) posts in countries across the world, but he calls England home.
He spoke to Bill Mair of PrecisionPresentation.com for PBLINK Stories.
Duccio left the corporate world in 2011 and today runs a number of businesses, including: Life Coaching, Career Development Coaching, Executive Coaching and Leadership Development. But in this interview, we’re looking at another part of his portfolio of businesses: his networking groups. Duccio runs the UK Confederation, London Connector, Italian Connector and Property Connector. He also has a property management concern, and a new business, which we will discover in a minute. (UK Confederation is the British branch of Confassociazioni, the Italian networking mega-organisation, with 1.3 million+ members).
Duccio is a successful serial entrepreneur, with a varied portfolio of ventures. Not a single one was planned in the conventional sense, but each one is linked in a chain, via the magic of Human-to-Human Business philosophy.
This is one of the most diverse interviews we have done to date on PBLINK Stories: Michael Dembinski, chief adviser at the British Polish Chamber of Commerce (BPCC), born in London to Warsaw Uprising war hero Bohdan Dembiński, speaking to Bill Mair of PrecisionPresentation.com.
Geography, history, determination: what gives Poland the edge?
“If you close the door, we’ll come in the window!”
Iwona Lebiedowicz is the founder and CEO of PAB Group. Her team at PAB delivers multilingual content services including certified translation in over 200 languages, transcreation and localisation, serving global clients in their chosen markets. As a trilingual cross-cultural consultant, Iwona helps brands and companies to attract, engage, and grow audiences internationally.
Iwona is more than her achievements, she's proof that passion and drive can deliver positive changes and understanding. Even across language and cultural barriers.
Aleksandra (Ola) Fiddler has drive, determination and dynamism. She has never had just one job, doing the same thing every day. Now an entrepreneur and influencer, she prefers to adopt a portfolio approach to business, spinning several plates at the same time.
Aleksandra (Ola) Fiddler has drive, determination and dynamism. She has never had just one job, doing the same thing every day. Now an entrepreneur and influencer, she prefers to adopt a portfolio approach to business, spinning several plates at the same time.
Jan Szczepański of The Sanders Partnership is not your typical chartered accountant. He lists electronic music like drum and bass, techno, jungle, deep house, chill out, etc, among his interests. He originally trained as a lawyer before going on to qualify as an accountant instead…
Our guest on PBLINK Stories is not your typical accountant. Jan Szczepański lists electronic music like drum and bass, techno, jungle, deep house, chill out, etc, among his interests. He originally trained as a lawyer before going on to qualify as an accountant instead.
What’s behind the success of Amberth, the high-end kitchens and bathrooms design studio in London, which enjoys a great reputation for quality and reliability as well as style?
It’s led by a woman, MD Inga Kopała, and around half the workforce directly employed are women, too. Is that the key, or is that just part of it? Amberth deals mainly with residential clients and frequently it is the woman in the household who takes most interest in the detail of the kitchen or bathroom design. Certainly, women feel less likely to be talked down to or patronized when discussing construction or design with a female designer.
Amberth is a family firm, run by Inga, with her husband as Project Director, and his brother in Poland manufacturing the furniture.
Inga is committed to the value of people and the role they play. Of course, Amberth uses only the best materials and appliances, but if the communication and trust is not there between clients and design/installation ream, the client will not appreciate the end result and it will all be for nothing.
Leadership showed during lockdown, too. When they had no choice but to close the showroom for a while, the company discovered that it was actually an opportunity. Inga led her team to brainstorm ideas to respond to lockdown restrictions which led to innovative solutions, better in the long run for their clients. Now, Amberth has honed their remote consultation process to a fine art.
Lockdown also gave Inga the time to bring in an outside perspective in the form of a business Action Coach. Effective leadership means admitting when you don’t have all the answers.
What’s behind the success of Amberth, the high-end kitchens and bathrooms design studio in London, which enjoys a great reputation for quality and reliability as well as style?
Amberth is a family firm, run by Inga, with her husband as Project Director, and his brother in Poland manufacturing the furniture.
Stuart Mason had it all and more: a national chain of print shops, a business property portfolio worth £1.4 million and £500K in the bank. He travelled his business empire in his helicopter or his hand-built Aston Martin.
Then, one day, he lost it all.
What did he do right? What did he do wrong?
Stuart Mason had it all and more: a national chain of print shops, a business property portfolio worth £1.4 million and £500K in the bank. He travelled his business empire in his helicopter or his hand-built Aston Martin.
Then, one day, he lost it all.
What did he do right? What did he do wrong?
Jan Stepek was the Polish entrepreneur, war hero and philanthropist who survived a Soviet gulag and built a multi-million-pound family business in the West of Scotland from literally nothing, only for it to come crashing down.
How did he achieve stellar success as an immigrant entrepreneur, who barely spoke English when he came to the UK? Jan was driven by the determination that his family would never suffer the fear, disease, poverty and starvation that he lived through before arriving in Scotland. He took every conceivable precaution against business failure. But the driving force behind his stellar business success was ultimately the reason for its eventual spectacular collapse.
Jan Stepek was the Polish entrepreneur, war hero and philanthropist who survived a Soviet gulag and built a multi-million-pound family business in the West of Scotland from literally nothing, only for it to come crashing down.
Full Episode on Wednesday 26th May.
Dorota Peszkowska joined PBLINK Stories for a special settled status edition and delved into the detail of what support is available for European (EU, EEA and Swiss) citizens in the UK.
Dorota is a journalist, a campaigner and an activist. She moved to Scotland in 2015 from Warsaw and has worked as Editor in Chief at Emito.net in Edinburgh; Project Coordinator for EU Citizens’ Rights Project; a Human Testing Technician for the University of Edinburgh; and now works as EU Settlement Scheme Project Officer with Feniks Counselling, Personal Development and Support Services.
Dorota’s role involves both advising and assisting European citizens with the paperwork involved in securing pre-settled or settled status in the UK.
Dorota Peszkowska joined PBLINK Stories for a special settled status edition and delved into the detail of what support is available for European (EU, EEA and Swiss) citizens in the UK.
Twenty years ago, Cristina was a rising star. She had overcome obstacles through pure determination, and achieved an offer to study at Oxford University. But the obstacles kept coming as circumstances conspired to block her every step.
Diversity and Diversification
Determined that others should not suffer the setbacks that she encountered, she has built a diverse business empire with the common aim of offering pathways to success to Eastern and Central Europeans in the UK.
Among her other concerns, today Cristina runs:
- Romani in UK Media Group, publishing Romȃni ȋn UK Newsletter, with over 50,000 subscribers
- Happy People Learning Centre, which specializes in providing health and safety training courses for Eastern European Construction tradesmen in the UK, the only centre in the UK approved to deliver the GQA CSCS Labourer Card 100% online.
- HPL Recruitment, which places Eastern European people into construction work in the UK
- A business delivering translations, advice and accountancy services for Romanians living in the UK
Cristina arrived in the UK in 1999, long before Romania joined the EU, at the age of 16 on a scholarship, one of 3,000 applicants for seven places.
Determined that others should not suffer the setbacks that she encountered, she has built a diverse business empire with the common aim of offering pathways to success to Eastern and Central Europeans in the UK.
Aistė talks about the multi-layered advantages of contented, engaged employees, Staff turnover is drastically reduced, while happy employees deliver a far better service to clients.
Aistė arrived in the UK from Lithuania aged 12, when her parents relocated. She had little say in the matter at the time but now says she is grateful to her parents for the opportunities available to her now.
Sebastian Fuz came to the UK in 1996 fresh out of school, well ahead of the latest wave of young people from Central Europe and long before Poland became a member of the EU in 2004. He came just for fun, because communist Poland at the time was bleak and uninspiring. Now he runs City and Country Financial Services (CCFS), a flourishing multi-lingual, whole of market company from offices in prestigious Fleet Street, London, with his business partner, Lina Bourdon.
CCFS’s comprehensive range of services includes mortgages, protection, savings, business protection, will writing, investments and retirement planning.
“I started with the dishwashing at the back of the kitchen. Saying that, I always say that I was not dishwashing, I was actually drying them, so somehow I was upgraded straight away… so I was well happy with that!”
Bill Mair of precisionpresentation.com interviewed Kate for PBLink Stories.
Carter Lemon Camerons, have long eschewed a traditional USP in favour of a UCP: a Unique Caring Proposition. The culture of the company is to build a long-term relationship with each customer. All very on-trend. But that practice was established long before Customer Experience was born, and has been responsible for the success of the law firm ever since.
Kate Bogusławska is a partner at Carter Lemon Camerons, a City of London law firm in the square mile. The firm was established 105 years ago.
Kate talks about diversity and diligence in her career: being a partner as a woman, and as a foreigner, as well. Women often face barriers such as career breaks to have children or care for relatives.
As an electrical engineer, Greg Kasprzak knows the importance of circuits and networks. Thus it was that a single introduction at his first PBLink business event was all it took for him to land the new-build electrical installation contract for his company, GK Electrical, with prestigious house builder Dan-Wood House.
“I believe, as a Polish person, our work ethic, that’s what helps us to stand out a little bit from the market… Attention to detail, and things like that, it’s important. And that’s what we pride ourselves on"
As an electrical engineer, Greg Kasprzak knows the importance of circuits and networks. Thus it was that a single introduction at his first PBLink business event was all it took for him to land the new-build electrical installation contract for his company, GK Electrical, with prestigious house builder Dan-Wood House.
Bart revealed that, for him, the secret of success in business has four pillars:
1. Love what you do. It means you will be authentic. And you will be prepared for long hours:
2. Hard work – prepare for minimum 12-hour days for the next 5 years or so.
3. Surround yourself with the right people. Try to meet and get to know those who inspire you.
4. Continuous improvement and flexibility – Listen to feedback from your customers and adapt accordingly.
Interview with Bart Kowalczyk, Listen to Podcast Trailer: Full Episode live on 26th November 2020