Tescoma co-founder receives Czech Entrepreneur of the Year Award

The Czech Entrepreneur of the Year Award, organised by the accounting & consultancy agency firm Ernst & Young, has gone to Tescoma co-founder and co-owner Petr Chmela. The results of the competition for 2016 were announced on Tuesday. Tescoma is a well-known kitchenware company that was established in 1992 in Zlín. Last year the firm, which has hundreds of outlets worldwide, also clinched a number of prestigious awards first excellence in design, such as the Red Dot Award 2016, the Good Design Award and Solutions 2016.

Petr Chmela, photo: Czech Television

2017 will mark 25 years since the founding of Tescoma, a company with high-brand recognition not only in Czech households but around for its many kitchenware and food preparation products, from cutlery to other utensils, plastic containers and pots and non-stick pans. Tescoma, Czech Radio reported, is a world brand and the market leader in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The company has export centres around Europe including in Germany, Italy, and Russia.

In 2015, it set up an export centre in China. The most important markets for the firm currently are Italy, Russia, and Slovakia, but developing countries and China are also attractive and will play increased roles in the coming years. Already, Tescoma has a network of 1,000 outlets around the globe, making it one of the big Czech success stories since it was founded.

Tescoma’s Chgmela was, however, not the only business leader recognised: the title of Entrepreneur of the Year in the technology category was awarded to Martin Trtílek – the owner of a company called PSI. The firm produces measuring devices for research on plants, algae and cyanobacteria. PSI has existed for 20 years and seen a number of unique designs go into mass production.

The Start-up of the Year category was clinched by Josef Průša, the owner of Průša Research, producing 3D printers. The company featured its wares at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, held in January. The firm has already sold tens of thousands of printers worldwide and been recognized as one of the best printers of its kind in its price range. Amazingly, Průša was 27 when when he borrowed 200,000 crowns from his parents to get the firm off the ground: it now employs 90 people and produces around 3,000 printers a month. As Radio Prague reported, it has been able to maintain its rocketing growth record which has surged from a turnover of 2.5 million crowns in 2014 to 250 million crowns currently. At CES in January, Josef Průša said this:

“No-one believed that we could do it. At the start when you are developing it’s easy to go from 100,000 to 200,000. That’s 100 percent growth. But in the phase we’re in now it’s more difficult but we are still doing very well. From the turnover findings of the last few months it looks like we will be hitting the one billion crown mark.”