Humpolec named best town for business

The town of Humpolec, in the Czech-Moravian highlands, has come first in an annual competition called Město Pro Byznys (Best Town for Business) organized by the weekly Ekonom, published by Economia. This year, the eighth inception saw 205 towns and cities take part. The data, the Czech News Agency reported was processed by the firm Datank.

Humpolec, photo: Jitka Erbenová, CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported

Humpolec can pride itself on a first place finish in the best Town for Business 2015, a competition run by the weekly Ekonom which takes into account numerous factors important in business and trade. Traditionally, a growing presence of local businesses, companies, and large-scale employers plays a role, as do population growth, low unemployment, local specialization, and successful management at City Hall. Humpolec, located in the Czech-Moravian Highlands (Vysočina), has over the years gotten used to good results: the town also came first in the competition in 2008 and 2013 and finished second a total of four times. Humpolec has become synonymous with business… and business is good. Second in the competition this year was Dobruška and Nova Paka (last year’s winner) was third.

The Czech News Agency wrote that Dobruška had improved conditions for business, which included the offer of favourable prices for land suited for development and low unemployment. The town also rated well when it came to capital expenditure and spending on debt servicing. In terms of services, the town boasts long opening hours at public offices, and has also been successful in testing electronic communications. Nová Paka’s drop to third place this year from first, is not being seen as overly negative, the Czech News Agency noted: the town rated positively in numerous areas, including its approach to public administration as well as maintaining property taxes for businesses at the lowest possible rate.

In all municipalities were rated according to a total of 34 criteria divided into two main areas: the overall business environment and the approach of the state sector. Other towns to make it into the top 10 were Pardubice (4), Pelhřimov (6) and Pacov (10), the latter two both in the Vysočina region, like Humpolec.