Olga Girstlová — entrepreneur, start-up consultant, and founder of the Summer Entrepreneurship Camp and Regional Entrepreneurship Camps for young people from children’s homes. She is guided by he life motto “Cooperation — participation — co-responsibility — co-entrepreneurship”, which she considers the basis for successful activity in all areas of life. Since November 2022, she has been the President of the Czech Management Association.
In November 2022, you assumed the position of the President of the Czech Management Association. What are your visions?
In my role as the President of the CMA, I would like to focus primarily on strengthening the support of the Association’s members. We will offer them interesting professional meetings where managers can exchange their experiences, share knowledge, enrich each other and have the opportunity to establish new relationships for cooperation.
I would like to focus on regular meetings with important personalities from the economic, business and public world who can provide managers with up-to-date information and thus create a regular communication platform. The first such meeting will be a debate with Štěpán Křeček, advisor to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, on 16 January 2023. At the same time, we are preparing the 30th anniversary edition of the Manager of the Year, which all of us in the Presidium consider to be a significant event of the year.
How do you define the term “manager”? Would it not be worth considering redefining it in light of the changing business environment?
The managers influence the prosperity of the company they manage through their decisions. They have a great responsibility not only to their shareholders, but also to their employees. An entrepreneur has a business vision and a purpose. In order to bring them successfully to life, they need to work with experts,
employees and managers. Everyone is important to success, and everyone has their proper place to fulfi l the business plan.
The manager is a key element to achieving success, and his or her quality work deserves recognition and respect. Through their decisions, the managers influence the prosperity of the company, the employment rate of the company, and thus the families of their employees.
The prosperity of a business has a major impact on the prosperity of the region and its economy, as well as on the quality of life of the region’s residents.
Managing a company or an institution is one side of the manager’s position. His or her efforts should include a willingness to pass on the experience to those in need and those just starting. Tell us about the mission of the business camps you organise.
The main goal of the Summer and Regional Entrepreneurship Camps is to introduce young people to what it means to be a good employee, to show them how to become a professional in their field or how to start a business. Successful managers and entrepreneurs from different professions and business areas share their experience and knowledge with the young participants; they are also available for consultations and discussions and act as mentors throughout the year.
The long-term mission of the camp is to prepare the young participants for successful integration into everyday life after leaving the children’s home or reception centre. We help them to set a good start in life and accept the values they could not acquire in their families. We teach them to think like entrepreneurs, to see opportunities around them, to keep their eyes open, and to find their place in society. We help them to formulate their dreams and believe they can achieve what they want if they work for it.
Thank you for the interview.
