Ondřej Votruba is the Executive Director of the Association for Foreign Investment (or AFI). He has worked in the investment environment in public administration, as Director General of CzechInvest and Deputy to two ministers, and in the private sector for a Japanese company. He wants to promote Czech investments abroad and make AFI more visible in the media.
Your association belatedly celebrated its 25th anniversary in June. What has it achieved in a quarter of a century, and what is its role today?
Indeed, it was delayed because of COVID-19. We were founded in 1996 and are 26 years old this year. A lot of things have been done in that time, and a short list of our clients (in alphabetical order) speaks for itself: ABB, AT&T, Dell, DHL, Foxconn, GE, Honeywell, Hyundai, IBM, Lonza, Novartis, Panasonic, TPCA, Zentiva, and many others. In addition to helping a long list of clients, we also put great emphasis on improving the investment environment, promoting the Czech Republic abroad, and helping mediate discussions between the public and private sectors, which sometimes do not understand each other very well.
Above all, we assist investors in the Czech Republic on a daily basis. All our members are market-tested and professional companies with many positive references (otherwise, they would not be able to become our members), who can guide the client through the entire process of an investment project from the first preliminary interest in the Czech Republic (i.e. even before the first visit) to the start of operations and beyond.
This year, you became the new Executive Director of the association. What goals and visions do you bring with you?
Firstly, we need to work on improving the investment environment, which has been poor in many aspects for a long time (e.g. permitting processes) and has only recently worsened in some aspects (especially investment incentives but also the lack of industrial zones). In addition, cooperation with the CzechInvest agency, which has stagnated in recent years due to COVID-19 and other factors, needs to be intensified again. As a long-time (and passionate!) employee of the agency in the past, I believe I am cut out for this position.
Secondly, we would like to support Czech investments abroad as no one is doing this on a state level. The Czech Republic needs such projects so that we can have globally stronger Czech companies and perhaps even get dividends back from abroad.
And thirdly – as the classic says, “You can be the best in the world, but it is no use if nobody knows about it” – I would like to make AFI more visible in the media space. We play quite an important role in the Czech investment environment, and we also act in the interest of the Czech Republic, and we want to be known for that.
The next annual conference of the association took place in early September. How are foreign investors doing business in the Czech Republic today?
I already hinted at this in my previous answer. Some areas have deteriorated recently (and it is necessary to work on them), but otherwise, we still have a lot of traditional advantages. This includes an exclusive geographic location, a strong industrial base and, on average, a technically well-educated workforce that can also improvise and find new solutions, which is good for IT fields as well. Many investors at the conference confirmed that they continue to do business well here. It could just be a lot better. And that is what we are working on and will continue to work on.
