Bridge to the future
Albeit the conference takes place regularly, this time the occasion was absolutely unique. Inter Cars is just celebrating its quarter-century of activity. During this time, from a small business located on 300 square metres of its first warehouse, the company transformed into the fifth power in Europe, and tenth in the whole world and is just launching its biggest ever logistics project - construction of ILS European Logistics and Development Centre in Zakroczym.
This investment is the nearest future of the company, but as members of the management board emphasize, looking into the past, they always think about the future. That is why, this year's conference was called "Bridge to the future".
Hosts of the conference, taking place in Warsaw Hilton Hotel, were Robert Kierzek - President of the Management Board, Krzysztof Soszyński - Vice-President of the Management Board and Piotr Zamora - CFO of the Group.
"For me, as a CFO of the company, the most important business achievement of Inter Cars was a successful IPO on the stock-market - said Piotr Zamora. - Thanks to this, our company gained brand recognition, and on the other hand, confirmation of high business quality, what influenced our relations with business partners, as well as with customers. Adding to this the title of Stocks Exchange Company of the Year, it turns out that entering the stock market was a milestone, regarding the future development of our company. Especially, in terms of international expansion".
The company prepared tight schedule for the guests. Multimedia presentation took all the visitors through the world of values of Inter Cars, presenting the most important facts from the past and future plans. All managers of foreign divisions of Inter Cars presented themselves on the big screen. This was really impressive, and in the meantime, the hosts went smoothly to characteristics of the business model. "Our franchise system is based on fair and real share of profits with our branch owners - said Krzysztof Soszyński. - This has a lot of advantages. Imagine a difficult market situation, in which almost 350 business partners are not just waiting for orders from the headquarters, but they are taking active part in solving the problems".
Accompanied Robert Kierzek : We knew at that time, that we prefer to have 350 determined business partners, who want to achieve success, than 350 passive directors waiting for orders from the top. The time has proven that this plan was our biggest market advantage. Made us not only flexible, but resulted in a situation where every branch fights for our success as for their own, as in fact it is also about their success as business partners.
At the end of the event, the stage became very dynamic. First, Krzysztof Oleksowicz - founder of the company was welcomed with massive applause on the stage. "What I can feel right now, is mostly pride that we managed to build such a strong team, because only thanks to these people Inter Cars today has the form that we can see" - he said. These words could be the punch line for the whole meeting if it wasn't for the surprise that the hosts prepared for him. Sylwester Stępień, CEO of Corporation Department of Pekao SA Bank, Katarzyna Bajerowska - director of the Credit Centre of City Handlowy SA bank and Barbara Krakowiak - director of the Corporation Centre of mBanku went onto the stage and handed congratulatory letters to surprised Oleksowicz, on the occasion of 25-anniversary of Inter Cars. " 24 years ago we opened the first account of Inter Cars - said Sylwester Stępień. - We are proud that for such a long time we are participating in this ambitious, innovative project, which surely Inter Cars is".
The last part of the event was the cake and special guest, Krzysztof Hołowczyc himself, who has been a media ambassador of the projects of the Group for some years now. "We have heard lots of important words, but finally comes such a moment when one needs to start celebrating. And I want to take part in these celebrations. I am happy to have become the face of Inter Cars and Motointegrator. I love winning, and I want to win together with Inter Cars in this project too" - said our most well-known rally racer.
To sum up, we might say that Inter Cars has built a very effective and efficient bridge between the past and the future.
