Day 2: Making Business in Poland
Hello everyone, we had a huge contribution for today that's why we produced this video shortened down to the facts and we put the links of all single videos into our info-box for you. [Intro] Hello and a very warm welcome to the second day of the Baltic Sea Forum 2020. Our today's focus is on making business.
Now you will hear Dagmar Enste from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Neubrandenburg, and the House of Economy from Stettin, talking about the headline: "The economical relationships between Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Poland: Is there room for improvement?" Hello, we welcome you to our presentation at the Baltic Sea Forum 2020. This year with the country focus on Poland. We would like to thank Stralsund University for the invitation. A brief introduction, my name is Dagmar Enste, I'm at the Neubrandenburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce internationally active as a speaker for eastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Hello, my name is Krystian Stopa. I work as a business economist with a focus on corporate planning, organization and marketing, for now 17 years in the project supported by the IHK, House of Economy in Stettin.
And would like to give you the focus today on the region of West Pomerania and Poland. In our presentation we are concerned today with the economic relations between Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Poland. Poland is an important market with attractive sales opportunities for companies in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The country shows stable economic growth and has well-trained professionals.
Poland also has a large share of the export from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Here I want to go back a few years and start with 2017. Poland took first place as the most important foreign trade partner Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, with a foreign trade volume of around € 1.21.
This continued 2018, although you can see that the export and import for Poland only takes second place. But since Poland is in second place in both areas and thus far ahead, which is not the case with the other countries, it comes back to first place overall in terms of foreign trade volume. In 2018 with € 1.14 billion. In 2019, the total foreign trade volume is also € 1.23 billion, however, that is only
enough for second place in 2019, behind the Netherlands. This year (2020) there are only data for the first nine months. After that, Poland is back in second place with € 898 million.
Now if we take a look at the industries then in 2019 the automobile and automobile parts industry will be the leader in exports. And in imports, from Poland to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the products of agriculture and hunting are ahead. Overall, however, it is food and feed that are leading in the foreign trade boom.
This year food and feed, as leader, will be replaced by the machine production and trade sector. I would now like to turn my gaze from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to the metropolitan regions. Here we can clearly see that the metropolitan region of Szczecin is becoming interesting in the east, for the eastern part of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Within a radius of 100 kilometers from the metropolis of Szczecin we see that a large part of the chamber region of the IHK Neubrandenburg also plays a role. Also, on the German side of Brandenburg and on the Polish side of West Pomerania, as my colleague Mr Stopa already said. And the voivodship Lebus. Here we can also say that this is not new, that the cross-border metropolitan region of Szczecin is interesting for eastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
I would like to explain two main highlights. First of all, the joint declaration, from the year 2000, on cross-border cooperation between the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. In which both parties committed themselves to deepening the partnership, namely in the areas of economy, tourism, transport and technology, but also in the further training of managers, which has a decisive advantage for our region.
In the chamber district there are about 400 companies with Polish owners, partners or managers. They are mainly small traders, but they stimulate business in our chamber region enormously. The leading sectors here are trade, services and construction.
About 200 companies from eastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are looking in the direction of Poland and are involved in the neighbouring country. The services offered by the House of Business include the mediation of cross-border cooperation, advice on trade contacts and possible company start-ups in the respective neighboring country, the mediation of trade fair participation and the support, organization of thematic and sector-related events and consultation days, information on the business locations along the German-Polish border, information on the framework conditions for economic involvement in the neighboring country and the mediation of contacts with authorities and institutions. Another pillar of our activities in the “House of Business” in Szczecin is the service for German and Polish companies in the area of consulting and company research. Here we can report, purely statistically, that up to 1500 cases per year can be handled by us with a total of three employees.
This means that we can conduct up to 450 counselling interviews in the office and on the phone, and we process more than 300 searches and written enquiries annually for both German and Polish companies. We also refer more than 750 individual companies through our cooperation exchange. I would be delighted if you would visit us again, soon in Szczecin! On my last slide you will find our contact details and the names of all the staff who are available for you at the “House of Economy”. Małgorzata Stopa; Adam Grendziak; Krystian Stopa We would be delighted to make new contacts, even as far as the Stralsund location! Thank you very much and now I will give back the attention to Mrs. Enste.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your attention! We are always available for you at the IHK. You can also see my contact details here. At the same time, we would be pleased if you would take part in our events. The Szczecin Metropolitan Region Business Circle is a good place to do this.
You will find the event announcements on our website, but you can also ask me directly and I will put you on the distribution list. Finally, I would like to say again that we are currently looking at how we can deal with the situation and therefore it is not always possible to offer face-to-face events, but we also did switch to virtual formats. This also applies to cooperation exchanges. Please inform yourself, we are looking forward to welcome you! Thank you very much! Well, I would also like to thank you for your attention. I'm looking forward to get in contact with you, get in touch with us, challenge us, we look forward hearing from you.
Thank you! Goodbye! Goodbye! Our next speaker is Konrad Klepacki. He is talking about business and project management in Poland. Good morning Mr. Klepacki, welcome to the Baltic Sea Forum 2020. My name is Thu Luu and I'm from content production. Today is our pleasure to have you here for the topic of business and project management in Poland. First of all, can you briefly introduce yourself? Right, I’m a 40 years old entrepreneur and environmentalists from Poland.
I’m working with energy sector to decarbonize it as quickly as possible due to the climate change issues. I’m also an entrepreneur who founded two start-ups and is dealing with project management in these areas. And are there any projects that you have worked on with German co-worker? Well yes, uh a few of those although, uh they haven't been recently uh well this was this is quite some time ago, well this was a quite quite technological project where we developed a digital television for a particular company And yes, we worked together with "DaimlerChrysler", ,the company and we worked in Wolfsburg for that. And during your working time with Germans, can you tell us a story when you experience a misunderstanding regarding culture? Yeah, and this was quite a funny event.
We were working on the digital television in a server room there were a few guys from Poland and a few people from German team who operated this centre and that's at a certain point this, the well, the signal, the tv signal was gone, I mean the signal that we provided that we broadcasted is, was dead. And okay, this is a major issue because you know the television should work right all the time. So, at this point it stopped and then well, all the people were doing something with the computers, so nobody knew what happened really, and, in this instance, the German people they rushed to the manuals place where they kept manuals and they started, you know, looking through the books, you know, for the error codes and this was the German approach. And I was looking, you know, a little bit from the side because I was not the technical guide there I was just managing the project, and the Polish engineers, they did something completely different. they rushed, and they started, you know, like poking things, I mean you know let's reset this server, okay no it doesn't work. Let's reset that server, okay it doesn't work.
It's a completely different approach to, you know, to this common problem. And besides your project manager roles can you tell us more about your start up? Well yeah there are two, both are dealing with kind of robotics and electronics and software. So, one is about the bartender robot, I mean a robot that can pour drinks.
It was a funny one yeah. The testing phase was especially funny. So, we uh yeah so, we developed this product and shipped it all around the world, or well different continents really, this was the one and the other is now in well in operation because the bartender robot is gone already. But the one which is in operation is about well, the product for oceanography support the scientists who deal with oceans.
Let me show you an example here. So, this is that kind of devices these are like remotely operated boats that are equipped with all kinds of scientific sensors equipment and they are, well, and they are suitable to work in harsh conditions especially, in the arctics and this particular boat is now working in Spitzbergen. So, in Norway and this is a glacier and it's surveying waters next to the glaciers, it's a very dangerous area to be in person because these huge tanks of ice are falling down and they create huge waves so, it's very dangerous for any people to be there. So, it's the remotely operated vehicles which do the studies there. I guess this is both, a profit for the company, such boats, but it's also important because there is the surveys that helps with the climate issues and it helps you to understand how the glaciers behave. That's a really interesting idea and really impressive as well.
And can you tell us what are the main steps to form a start-up? How many main steps did you have? This is always a different story, you know each company startup is a different story. I would say that first you have to find your business model, because many people have ideas like you know "okay let's do this let's do that" but the domain, the most important thing here is to find a business model that will fuel this invention, because you know, you can invent pretty much anything, just give me a bunch of engineers and any problem and we'll figure out some kind of solutions. But whether the solutions will be applicable to real life, I mean will the economics work, for that? And this is a different story. You know in my first startup I didn't know that. I just started you know, well, the bartender robot is a cool idea, yeah, let's do this because you know it, it's so cool. People will buy it and yeah sure people did buy it, but uh but then, then the uh servicing came and you know and it was very, very hard for a small company to, to provide servicing, well, services and maintenance for, uh, tens or that, well, even hundreds of, of robots all around the world and this is what really killed it.
So, the second time we concentrated on local markets and local customers I mean the scientists are mostly from Poland and this is a very niche market, very small market. So, it's important to find your market your business model and and try to stick it, with it as much as possible. And then you know, just develop the idea gradually. Let me, show you, uh, you were asking about the steps, let me show you these, the steps to to create this, this very boat.
This is actually, an interesting, um, an interesting one. It was the middle of, uh, of december uh, a few years ago, when these scientists from the Polish academy of sciences, they came to us and they asked us to provide some kind of equipment that will allow them to, to study those glaciers because, in previous years they were doing these studies themselves and they were surveying these waters and they, they used up all their luck. I mean they were lucky not to be crushed by by those ice pieces falling down so, they wanted to have something to allow them to study those glaciers. So, we quickly figure out this that it should be a boat. And alright, but there was a very one catch because, uh, there is only one ship going from Poland to Spitzbergen each year and it's providing supplies for the, for the base there so, it was only one opportunity to move to deliver this, uh, device this boat from Poland to to Spitsbergen. and it was, uh, setting sail, it was leaving Poland in middle of may So, we had like six months to, to develop this, uh, solution this, this boat from the ground up from completely zero, right.
So, uh, so, we decided to do this in iteration, in steps so, not to try to, uh, you know to, uh, create the whole boat uh, as it is but just to to do this in increments, in small pieces. like in sprints so, that's what it's called in software words. uh, so, after the first step, one it was four weeks each time so, after the first uh, the first uh iteration this is our boat. It doesn't look like one, right? It doesn't look like a boat.
Alright, so, uh, on left hand side it's me and my par... my colleague, business partner is on the right and I'm, I'm holding in my backpack there is a whole bunch of electronics with like, uh, antennas, GPS, cameras and so on. And this is a beach in Poland and, and we are trying to establish long-range wireless high bandwidth communication because in each project, in like research and development project, there is some kind of, something is the most important; most, uh well, difficult one and because of our experience and knowledge, we decided that the most the most difficult part is the wireless communication. So, we started this with this part because if you succeed with the most difficult parts in your project, then you're quite confident that it could continue right if you fail with this one then you can as well say: "Okay stop that's it's, we are not going to deliver the product, anyway" So, we started with the most difficult and it was successful. And this was the first iteration after four weeks of development.
Then after another four weeks our boat uh looked like that. Oh yes, this is a really cute model. Yeah, this is a bath tub, really, that we bought because we didn't have a whole, you know the body of the ship, ready yet so but we wanted to test propulsion and navigation. So, we just bought a bath tub, we just plugged the holes, you know, and added this floaters from the cola bottles and we just, you know, put it into the water. And then we asked those guys from, our clients
to join us and they were really surprised by this bath tub thing, you know. You can imagine. But then we handed them the steering parts and they steered the boat and they said: "Okay, it's quite easy to handle, it could be a little bit faster. But then the turning radius and navigation is fine."
Alright so, we get this, got those ideas and then the next iteration looked like this. So, it was really, it was really on the final whole body, but still the inside was quite a mess. You know, the software and electronics was still not really up to the standards.
And then the next version went to Spitzbergen and was working there, quite well, with all the sensors everything else inside. Then the final version ,when it came back, we did a few more iterations and the final version looks like this, and it's finalized and it's production ready. I mean we produced a few of those it's not really a mass production. It's just a few pieces but we are producing these boats right now. So, this step-by-step approach is, it's really something that a lot of startups could use and, and actually a lot of startups are using this this kind of approach. And most of your projects focus on climate-change.
Since when and how did you come up with the idea to fight against climate change? Alright, so, this is my major concern now and i'm focusing my efforts on this topic. So, it's like, uh well, everybody heard about the climate change issues but I'm like I’m a scientist in mind. I'm not a scientist - I don't work for a scientific institution but I like science, I'm reading papers and I'm doing a little bit of my science on my site. At some point I just got interested in this and I started...
well, I have this habit for like I don't know 15 years now. Every year I'm preparing a new lecture that I give on some kind of scientific topic and I cover all kind of topics from quantum computers, to space battles, to genetic modifications. Of course, this is like a popular popular level, it's not not really a scientific level, it's just more like a general public level. I prepare such a presentations and then I present it on different kinds of events, like scientific days or science-fiction conventions or places like this.
And just like two years ago I came up with the idea that "Okay, the next topic could be climate change, because everybody's talking about it" and then I delve into the science of climate change and this is really terrifying. I mean, when you look into the numbers it's like "Oh my god we are screwed", I mean we are, screwed. It's much worse than people understand.
So, then I got the climate depression. I really did. I mean like ... for a month or two I was like, you know, sleepwalking. But I have an eight years old son and it's really a motivation for you to, to do something about it, because well, me personally I'm 40 years old now, and i guess it's like eight- or maybe ten thousand days ahead of me and then I'll die. But my son will live on this planet and I would really like to look him into the eyes, like 20 years from now, and I'll say: "Okay maybe we are really screwed up but, you know, at least I tried to do something."
That's the story. That's a really nice idea of you fighting for them, also for the next generation, as well. And as a speaker and activist who fights against climate change, what are the difficulties to attract the polish youth attention about climate change topic? Well, in Poland it is that the educational system is really not up to the challenge. I mean if we're talking about education and young people, well, they learn about the climate, well, they they learn more about the climate from the internet and from the, say, Greta Thunberg or "Extinction Rebellion" and so on, then from their schools, really. There is a lot of education about ecology but there is very little mention, uh, about climate issues in the current curriculum of, in the schools. So in fact, we established an initiative and we are now, uh, preparing the climate academy for the school children from secondary schools.
And we are preparing climate educators or ambassadors. I mean young people who who learn about the climate's system and, you know, how it affects economy and politics and society and so on. And we educate those people and they are going back to their schools and they are educating their fellow students, you know, like a little bit like outside of the educational, official educational system. So, we are circumventing or no, making like a kind of work around the, the educational system as such, just to deliver the climate's issue - message.
And also decarbonization is one of your projects related to climate change. Can you tell us more about this project? Well it's basically, I'm working with a major energy producing company, uh, here in Poland, and it's actually the district heating so, this is the one that heats the cities, right. And we are trying to figure out how to move away from the coal and gas and towards renewables and heat pumps.
And I'm really down into the engineering level here, and it's really difficult I mean, okay you can do, you can only do so much, with the renewables with the windmill and solar power and heat pumps And at some point, for example you you want the most energy to be used in winter because it's cold, right, and then in winter there is also the least of sun to work with. So, it's really difficult to store the energy and to balance all the, uh, all the issues on engineering level. And then you have economics on all of that you know and you have to find cheap solutions for that because, know, it's always about the price.
So yeah, that's, that's a very challenging project for me now. And do you think it's possible to reach down to zero? Well, if you look into the spreadsheets and excel then not, not with the current technology I mean we can go lower and lower but we have to, have to get the new inventions, because current technology is just not capable of reaching that zero goal, in a foreseeable future, I guess. And how do you think, the polish companies deal with sustainability? Well it's a widespread topic now, I mean, people are waking up so yeah, about the, uh, where we have, we've introduced, you know, advanced recycling policies a few years ago and that's good, although still the, it's not like a major force right now, it's more like an emerging trend still so, but I guess the next five or ten years we'll, during this time, we'll see a huge spread of this kind of technique. Hopefully! Do you think polish people also apply sustainability in their everyday life, now? Well frankly speaking: "No." I mean if you look into the, well, there are a few people who does this but most people I guess are indifferent or they just heard about it but then, you know, you've heard about this sustainability idea on one side and then you have all kind of advertisement, like black friday, on the other hand, right and okay and which is stronger? Of course, the you know, all the marketing people who are you know, developing their advertisement and commercials to: buy buy buy buy more. are well they have more money, more equipment, more power so, yeah well, if you're talking about the consumer level, I guess we are losing the battle.
That's unfortunate, but yeah between the idea and the action is really hard because sometimes you just have a really nice idea but when it comes to harvest then nothing changed. Yeah, I mean you know the COVID doesn't help right, with all the ideas. So here in Poland we have this I'm living in Gdynia and we are having this science center I mean this like public place where you can go and do experiments you know mostly for young people but also you know the adults are going there. And I'm, uh, I just had an idea and I went to this, to the center and we worked together, to propose, to pro... to create a project to change this science center from the general science, into the like climate or sustainability science.
Well, we developed this idea, we went to the city officials and they were really delighted with it and they said, okay we'll provide you with like like two million euros for, to just over do this, the science center and change it. Transform it, and then the COVID came. So, you know all the, all the city finances in mess, nobody really knows what the future will bring. So, this this project is on hold at the moment, so yeah this doesn't help. And how do you implement sustainability into your project? Well uh, by education mostly I mean, I guess this is, I feel myself as an educator.
I'm spreading the word and I'm opening eyes about the climate, how it works and when people realize how it works, it's I guess that's the best thing to do about, you know, people behavior because when you really understand why you should be sustainable then you're much more, you know, keen to be like that. And lastly as a project manager and a co-founder of a start-up. Do you have any advice for the ones who want to make business in Poland or who want to start up a company? I'm not sure if this is really Poland oriented, but well definitely you've got to have best people you can.
I mean whatever you do just don't pick the, you know, your friends don't pick your, you know, acquaintances or family, just pick the best people you have. Aim high and you know if you have one brilliant person in your team it's worth five people, you know, five average people, so to say. So aim from for the best. This question also leads us to the end of our interview today, thank you very much for your time Mr. Klepacki! Alright thank you very much. Our last speaker for today is an alumnus of the HOST Dawid Daniszewsk who is giving us a student statement. Okay, for the beginning could you briefly introduce yourself? Hi, my name is Dawid Daniszewski, I'm from Poland.
I'm 21, 29 sorry, but it was the time when I started to study in Germany actually. And yes, I'm living in the Gdansk, i came back to poland I have a house here and I'm married and yes, this is me. And for how long have you been living in Germany? Actually it's difficult to answer because I'm still with one leg in Germany and with the second in Poland because when I started my journey with Germany I never finished this journey. I am still there because I'm working all the time for German companies after I finished my studies in Stralsund.
And for what company do you work? Now I'm working for a fashion brand and this is Karlowsky Fashion, located in Magdeburg, Saxony Anhalt and I'm responsible for the export. Especially with focus on Polish market but my region is from Finland to Croatia, so it's like Central and Eastern Europe. So regarding your time in Germany, are there any difficulties during your time living in Germany regarding the difference in culture? Yes, that was at the beginning I started my journey in Germany during my Erasmus exchange program from Gdansk to Stralsund.
And I faced many, many cultural problems but it was for like two years. The Erasmus program is very specific because you hang out only with international students. So, you really, you are not able to 100 percently hang out with Germans, with German culture. Okay - And yes, like the biggest difference is that in Germany everything is like, almost everything is "nothing amiss", so it means everything is well organized. In Poland it's a little bit not well organized but people are more flexible. So, that's the biggest difference and you can see it almost in every kind of life like job, studies, daily life.
And what did you study? BMS - Baltic Management Studies. Okay, so the same we are doing right now. And why did you chose Stralsund? This is an interesting story because I was studying the first year in Gdansk. Gdansk is strongly coorporating with Stralsund, then it was the "Technical College Stralsund," now it is the "University of Applied Sciences Stralsund." And I was taking part in Erasmus as a tutor. So, I could choose whatever I want so it could be Spain, France, or Germany so, we had the list, five universities and in my case, there was four from Spain and one from Germany from Stralsund.
Because I liked, I liked the journey I like Spanish culture; Spanish culture is more similar to Polish one but then I said to myself that I need to bring something from Erasmus not just have of course, fun as well and some experience but, as I see how German companies going deeply into Poland, I saw a big opportunity to study in Germany in Stralsund. That way, also after Erasmus I changed my status to a full-time student in Stralsund. I finished the Gdansk, the studies in Gdansk and I also finished in Stralsund as a full-time student after after the Erasmus - program. Yeah, and how did you manage to learn German? That was, uh, okay, if I say everything is interesting story it would be boring it was difficult for me because lessons of german we in poland, we learn English and after it the second language is German. So do you still speak german sometimes or do you speak German at your work when you work in Germany? This is my second company, a German company, that I'm working with and in this German company I'm the only Polish guy.
So, I'm forced to speak German which is very helpful for me because in those last two years I really improved my German. It's very nice and I'm happy to speak German between the company colleagues. Regarding your time in Germany. What did you miss most about Poland during that time when you were here? Honestly I was thinking about this question and I was thinking about the answer of this question and I think nothing because the polish border was just one hour away. so I could never miss Poland because I could just go to the car or take a train and in one hour I was in Szczecin. For example ... -yeah- and I think nothing,
maybe some drinks or some food. that was the one. But there were many Polish people, as workers and as students. So you always saw this, these people Yeah. - And we have internet nowadays so, it's also like no problem with this. -Yeah Right, so can you briefly compare your experience with studying in Poland and Germany? Are there any differences regarding the education? Maybe is the education free of charge? Free of charge; this is the advantage of both countries ...
- Okay. - ... Germany and Poland this is. Of course, you can look for some private universities in Poland but those are as well as in Germany. But the system is the same. So, I didn't have any problems with that.
And some advantages you could see in Germany is that you have more support for students: Getting some scholarships and small jobs and what else... In Germany you would have more practice lessons, classes, so like some excursion for example to Bangladesh, to Frankfurt. So, you could really face these companies. You could see and practice. You know, you could get some more experience from the practice side than from theory. And what is similar? The team workshop so yes. And flexibility. - Yeah.
So it's not a problem if you are, I don't know, sick or you need to go somewhere you could clarify everything with your professor. Both sides, I mean I just can compare to Gdansk. Gdansk is also specific. It's not like whole Poland, so Gdansk is also flexible like Stralsund. So, the professors they also visit each other so, I think, yes there are not so many differences. And are there any difference in the work life between Poland and Germany? Uhm, salary.
Salary? Okay, it's better in Germany? Yes salary, but in Poland you can reach a higher position in a shorter time, if you speak German and you work for a German company of course. In Germany it's a process and the differences if you work in Germany, I see it between my colleagues because we still hang out on LinkedIn portals and so on so I see that they are a longer time in one company and in Poland you can skip from one company to another company getting more experience and of course I think it's also about the salaries. - Yeah So, this is the the differences. In Poland you can reach a higher position faster. Okay. So, in which country do you prefer to work?
Poland. Poland? - Poland, yes. But it is not a problem for me to work in Germany but I prefer to work in Poland because in my opinion after Baltic Management Studies and with the German language I'm more valued in the Polish region than in Germany. Its like, there are not as many people like you here than in Germany. So this is why I choose Poland. Okay, can you briefly explain what differences there are between maybe the hierarchy in a business or in companies between Poland and Germany? Yes, but I have experiences from two German companies and those are two different companies. But
what I liked in the first company was that I was a project coordinator in the in the company "Chefs Culinar". So, the hierarchy was very structured. The structure was very big and I liked this distance between the owner or the operative manager and the rest. So, everything was allocated and there was a distance, professionally and so on. In Poland, it is more "easy going" and I think it depends where you work and which structure is more comfortable for the company. Yeah. - Now, in the fashion, where I am working
I'm the area service manager and I'm responsible for export it's more easy going. So I could say it's like a Polish style but it's very helpful because we have a lot of marketing. We need to speak with the customer, we need to go with the fashion. So, this is the new
generation, the young generation. So, it's like as I said it depends which products you have and where you work. Okay. So, do you think nowadays having a German degree is beneficial when you apply for a job, especially in Poland? Of course. And I think it's not only for Poland but it's also the case for other countries because Germany is like a sign of quality and professionality.
And can you think of any other industries which might need additional assistance from foreigners in Poland? Yes and this is the management field because I realized, as I had many job interviews between those two employers, that people have problems with management. It's all about communication and trust. So, many german companies they really want to go to Poland and in other countries, especially to Poland because it's a big market But they have problems to find a trust people and to with the people that understand two cultures. Okay, so that's what they need to bring to work in Poland? Yeah, first of all communication, then build the trust, and understand intercultural management. Yeah.
So, why did you decide to move back to Poland instead of being here in Germany? Uh, as I said actually it was not my idea I started to work for "Chefs Culinar" as I said, there was a, in Neubrandenburg it was a big subsidiary this is a big part of this company -yeah- from this city was all the export to polish market. So, I started there I made my internship from "Technical College" now "University of Applied Sciences," Stralsund, and they told me: "Okay David you could have this, this, this but you need to move to Poland" and I said, and I say: "What if I say no?" "Then you, then we need to say goodbye" I said: "Okay." So, then I started, I saw the potential how the polish market is growing and many contacts I catch many contact and yes, and I think I'm I will stay in Poland. Maybe, I don't know if I will find a better job in Germany, then I will move to Germany it's not a problem for me. because at the beginning of our conversation I told you I'm with one leg in Poland and with the second one in Germany so it's like for me, the borders are not existing anymore between Poland and Germany. But it's only for me,
many, also for many people, but it's to cross this border you need to spend a lot of time in both countries. Yeah, that's right. So, do you miss anything specific about Germany? Uh, yes, I miss this, I know if I say less stress, because I know in Germany people have also many stress job, at work but I miss this easy life style going, this clean streets, buildings, the opportunity to travel many airports, the center of Europe so, you could travel many, in many directions and actually, I finished my studies in Germany so, I have only unstressful life experience. So, maybe this is the difference why I miss Germany because I, I studied there it was a wonderful time, wonderful experience, many people met and in Poland I will just work here. So, it's like I miss; and especially Stralsund is an amazing place it's a small city with an amazing campus for the students, that was like uh amazing that's why I prolonged my Erasmus stay for three semesters and then I said: "Okay, I'm staying here," because like it's really a nice place, and nice people, nice students coming there from all the countries/ federal sates so you could see from Munich, from Bavaria, and every place and also from all the Europe.
Well, maybe one day you will be coming back and live in Germany instead. We will see. Okay, so thank you for this interview. Thank you very much.
2020-12-22 09:20
