Adam Daniel Mezei

23. 05.

Expat businessmen don't need to revinvent the wheel

Adam Daniel Mezei Přečteno 2680 krát

Microsoft honcho Steve Ballmer's visit to the Czech lands yesterday and his much-heralded speech at Prague's Economics University just goes to show you that it doesn't take Einstein-like ingenuity to (still) make a killing in Cesko.

Erik Best said it, um...best, this morning in his resounding Final Word "...that CEE countries are 'much more open to modern technologies' than the U.S. or W. Europe...because they still play by the rules that Microsoft understands." Translated into Crass, my second-strongest language, it means that whatever no longer passes muster on the other side of the Pond -- for reasons of antitrust, corporate malfeasance, or other fishy business practices -- can successfully be pressed into speedy service over here in the Developing World. Note to all carpetbagging foreign investors...Cesko's still open for business.

But there's a silver lining to all of this: to succeed in Emerging Europe's small- and medium-sized business milieu isn't any big shakes.

Have a close look at some of the business models firing on all cylinders in more established economies, for example, and just press it into service here. Presto! Tweak for local variables, linguistic differences, cultural sensitivities, and the like, and your likelihood of making a mini-killing is highly likely.

As for me, I walk around the city and keep a small blue journal of several opportunity areas which have yet to be fully examined...dare I say, exploited. I'm talking about businesses that can still deliver sizable benefits to our local population -- especially in urban areas. To implement these with any degree of success would require the enterprising individual in question to do the following:

** bring a local sherpa on board to assist during the implementation and rollout phases of the project only -- not during product or service development.

The reason you don't want to bring in a local during the development or drafting phases is because you'll only encounter negative responses of the "that simply can't be done here," or "we don't do things like that here" variety. At the outset, this can only slay your forward thrust, and we all know how much energy it takes to bust through the stratosphere. My personal experience with this in connection with my own businesses has proven to be true.

Proof of concept, by the way, is in the tens of other firms now thriving beyond the most conservative of expectations in the Czech Republic -- just mosey on down Prague's Na Prikope street and see for yourself. This, despite the most strident of protestations shortly after Wall Fall.

** delivery mechanisms will kill you; not your business model or your overall conceptualization.

Take, for instance, the DVD-by-mail business in the Czech Republic. Notwithstanding the torrent-teeefing that's only slated to rise in synch with the proliferation of broadband connections in Czech homes and businesses, think about how the postal service here, Ceska posta, can put a quick damper on such a business.

Without a suitable standard-sized postage-paid envelope -- a la Netflix in the US -- sent along with each and every mailed DVD, the distribution channel for the "Czech Netflix" comes to a screeching halt. If C.P. is unwilling to collaborate closely and effectively with the DVD-by-mail entrepreneur in the design of a customized mail product for clients, it doesn't matter how reliable is your source of supply for DVD product. The whole effort is for naught.

** the spread of credit cards (not debit!) in most post-communist countries makes online shopping for products and services radically simpler.

I've keep a growing short list of potentially lucrative business ideas which I'd seen working well abroad, and whose time has come for Cesko. What's more, the local culture here is such that Czechs pay their various obligations in a timely fashion (compare to Romanians, for example), not to mention having become increasingly familiar with the time value of money, delayed payments, and card loyalty programs. Baiscally, if you've got a sound business model which involves payment processing, PayPal, credit clearance, a tzv., the future looks bright for you.

In short, why reinvent the wheel when we still haven't yet laid the asphalt it's going to roll on?

Wishing you the best of things for the weekend,
ADM

21. 05.

A Senator who finally knows how to leverge social media

Adam Daniel Mezei Přečteno 2904 krát

<<< UPDATE: Photos added >>>

If you hadn't heard as yet, Martin Jan Stransky will be running as an independent candidate under the Veci verejne banner sometime around October 2008, when a Czech General Election is expected to be called.

I had an opportunity to recently sit with the famous Czech neurologist, who hails from a long line of prominent Czechs -- dating all the way back to the late Imperial period, when his great-grandfather Adolf Stransky founded popular Czech daily Lidove noviny -- owns up to a staunch dissident background, with a father who served in the RFE/RL ranks during the worst of the "normalization" years, in addition to being a practicing neurologist at Prague' Narodni Poliklinika. Said introduction was for the benefit of my international English-language readership...to my Czech interlocutors, you already know the story...

Here were some choice quotables emanating form our morning's meeting:

"Never before has there been a Czech Senator was also an American citizen. This is a unique opportunity for Czech politics, 19 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain."

"I understand the needs of the constituents of the Prague 1 District because I've been working for more than a decade and a half within it. When a local resident's power suddenly goes off, they're not the only ones who face this problem -- it plagues our offices as well. When traffic snarls cause noise decibels to use in our district, they affect the Clinic's offices as well. But there are solutions to these problems which I've been thinking about, and I'll commit to working together with our Constituents to drill down to these problems' core."

"Jednicka is a melange of different sorts -- pensioners, retirees, assertive young Czech businesspeople wishing to live closer to their workplaces...even immigrants to Cesko who vote in our elections -- I understand the various sorts because I dwell here."

"My offices are open...if anyone would like to visit me, please stop by our offices for Open House any Wednesday. I and my staff will personally greet you, we will all listen intently to your concerns, and I commit to showing you my professional world."

For more information on Martin Jan Stransky, click here, here, and/or here

Martin Jan Stransky meets former President Havel

Martin Jan Stransky meets former President Havel

Dr. Martin Jan Stransky at the Narodni Polilkinka

20. 05.

Josef Fritzl and our lack of sea access

Adam Daniel Mezei Přečteno 3181 krát

For readers from across the Pond who don't already know, Josef Fritzl is presently being held in custody in Amsetten, Austria after keeping his daughter captive in his Amsetten windowless cellar for 24 years, siring 7 children with her at the same time. There are even reports emanating from the Czech press in this morning's papers that Fritzl may also be connected to several missing persons cases with prostitutes canvassing towns for johns on the Austria-Czech border.

Reading through such sensationalistic accounts, it makes one wonder just how exactly things like this can happen in our otherwise placid Central European region.

Indeed, such perversions are possible in any country of the globe, though allow me to kindly share a theory which was posited last night courtesy of one of my Czech contacts. It concerns our absence of a sea coast in this nation, nor access to large bodies of water.

According to my colleague -- a Bohemian, born and raised, who observed the great wide sea for the first time somewhere in her early '20s -- looking out across the vast expanse of a seaside affords one a sense of awe and majesty. You look out across the hugeness of the water to realize just how small you are on the planet, forcing you to cease being so (damned!) inward-looking and self-absorbed. Breathing in the salty-tinged sea air and hearing the gulls cry is like healing balm. The experience, say those who have seen snow or the sea for the first time in their lives, is endlessly liberating.

The incidence of suicides in our part of the world, similar to dark Scandinavia -- albeit for entirely different reasons -- is higher than the EU average. My colleague believes much of this has to do with the dour greyness of our Czech cities, and the fact we aren't able to make the quasi-spiritual connection with the ocean that would otherwise give us a sense of inner calm.

In defence of her/my claim, I'll admit that our European Mediterranean confreres are plagued by their own share of problems, equally as societally-destructive. A raging summer sun which beats down merciless 40-degree heat on its inhabitants, packed like sardines in their metal coffins during peak afternoon rush-hour traffic, leading to slapfests and kerfuffles in the street (which I've witnessed in Bucharest, for example) isn't exactly what I'd call la dolce vita. Moreover, having spoiled fruit and tomatoes, not to mention other assorted tschotschkes and gewgaws, forcibly chucked your way because you said something that didn't accord with societal norms (egs. Italy, Greece, Croatia) isn't what I'd call "normal" living either.

Living in a landlocked country is hardly a picnic.

In times past, the womb-like protection of the Bohemian and Moravian crater served our people in good stead. It ensured protection against invading hordes -- especially from the mongrel Magyars and other assorted Huns (save for March 1939's infamy, when Czechoslovak Armed Forces grunts were clearly ready and willing to take on the Nazis, armed with hedgehog fortifications no less, a Czechoslovak military innovation) -- to keep our racial pool intact and our unique language a going concern, sustaining and nourishing ourselves to this day.

Yet it somehow also harms us.

It creates an unnecessary despondency in an otherwise open society and globe. It causes us to peer far too often inwardly, focussing on our infinitessimally small foibles at the expense of far more vital priorities as 21st-century global citizens.

I can't really determine how the following mental connection was made, but as I watched Ousmane Sembene's Moolaade two nights ago on DVD -- a shocking fictionalized expose on female genital mutilation in Burkina Faso -- I somehow got to thinking how there are much bigger problems plaguing the world than our sometimes petty silliness, what I tell one of my completely underachieving Czech colleagues -- despite talents to the contrary -- questioning your "smysl existence," your meaning of life, as it were.

Our tendency towards self-absorption can be said to be borne of comments like President Klaus' which go along the lines of Cesko being dissolved into the European collective "...like a teaspoon of sugar in the European coffee."

So what's the uniquely Czech remedy?

More travel.

More exposure to things taking place abroad.

More study of foreign languages. And spend your money, folks! Join the world, despite your strong reluctance to do so or the Czech preponderance to remain home, ostrich-like.

We cannot do anything about our geography -- a dual-edged sword, as described above -- yet there's heaps we can do to modify our attitudes towards it.

--ADM

19. 05.

GUI --> Gross Unity Index

Adam Daniel Mezei Přečteno 2583 krát

In honour of the upcoming 18th-annual Prague Writer's Festival (PWF) and in keeping with the event's overall theme, I thought I'd hearken back to the spirit of that amazing experiment -- short-lived as it was -- known as the "Prague Spring."

::: cue Age of Aquarius music, or a track from Dee-Lite, perhaps "Groove Is In the Heart"? :::

I've been thinking a lot about this lately -- the creation of something known as a "Gross Unity Index," or GUI, for the Czech Republic.

I believe I've been living in the nation long enough to comment upon the unity issue with a fair degree of competence. I've signed enough work contracts, rented enough property, had enough meetings with bank officers, purchased enough supplies, done enough runs to the corner potraviny (grocery store), not to mention having had more than enough interactions with co-workers on various freelance projects, to know precisely what I'm on about.

Being entirely unsubtle about this, as is my habit, it's painfully clear to this here non-Czech resident that Czechs -- at least here in Prague -- harbour a genuine disdain for one another. When this is connected to the recent Communist past, or whether this is something more deep-seated and innate is up for discussion (in the comments below).

Frankly, it's an animus quite heart-rending to observe; a schadenfreunde that goes on hiatus during particular Czech(oslovak) crises, such as the above-mentioned vertiginous 1968 heights, when Czechs and Slovaks banded together with a unity of purpose stronger than adamantium to resist the straightjacketing incursions of the Medved, the Soviet Bear.

We all know what become of August 1968...

The Warsaw Pact invaded, the USSR parked their vodka-soused bums here for more than 20 years, we were forced to learn the rudiments of the Russian tongue -- with such gems as a Czech colleague once recounted to me over Moravian red, at the time taught by a Russian pedagogue in high school: "...so now class we'll be reading from Les Miserables, a classic by Frenchman Victor GUGO..." what with the absence of the letter "h" in the Russian tongue -- and our Neo-Communist quislings took helm in launching the two decades' long chill known as Normalization. They stuck their greasy sausage fingers into the occupationist's goulash pot, enriching themselves on the backs of our nation. Shameful that they still walk among us, with impunity, no less.

Drifting down and to the right of the map onto the Middle East for a moment, I present the clear case of several of its nations rent by daily internal strife, with such differences only to be bridged in the face of superior threats.

Take Israel, for example. It bears mentioning that some of the best things for the State of Israel's economy and society -- to use a blunt example -- came about following its victories in various regional conflicts with its Arab neighbours. Wartime successes bridged the umpteen divides perennially separating the Israeli collective: right versus left, religious versus secular, Arab versus Jew, city versus rural, etc. War -- according to several influential Israeli historians of time -- had been a creative-destructive force for the nation's people, a right boon.

Now, hold those koni (horses) there a moment, Cowboy! I'm hardly suggesting what the CR needs is (even more) war.

However, what I am indeed suggesting, and also what I indicated during a recent AST Thought of the Day, is that a Czech crisis would be just the thing to bolt us back together. A uniquely Czech crisis would put the kibosh -- at least for a decade -- on one of the most pernicious of our country's bugaboos, what former President Havel refers to as "our classic Czech egoism."

Therefore, I propose a GUI: our new Gross Unity Index.

Some think tank, some benevolent individual, or some specialist held in very high regard might wish to monitor the state of our Czech social cohesion. I mean, someone might actually want to quantify this GUI dynamic somehow. To supply a publicly-observable, concrete, and verifiable metric (subjective as it may be at its outset) that could tell a story to a 3rd-party about the state of unity in our Middle European nation.

As a student of history with a focus on post-war Czechoslovak history in particular (having done my Master's thesis on the 1967 Pilar Commission that looked into the regime crimes and show trials of the Czechoslovak 1950s), I can't help but observe how a national crisis -- achieving high levels of national unity -- followed by decades-long lulls -- achieving apathy, listlessness, and a sense of lugubrious helplessness -- has been nothing short of the Czech lands' destiny.

It's time to change this. Right now, in other words.

What precisely this crisis I refer to may materialize to be, or when it's exactly supposed to arrive, no one genuinely knows. Cesko seems totally immune to most of the global indicators, especially in the economic sphere, and most Praguers continue to live the (consumerist) Life of Riley. Worse is that a subset of Czech nouveaux-riche are only too pleased to pay exorbitant retail for certain luxury products, indicative of their newfound wealthy status.

In the meantime, I hold tightly onto the gunnels of my Canadian canoe, bracing for the storm yet to slam into us.

--ADM

~~~~

ps Prominent US-Czech neurologist Dr. Martin Jan Stransky -- scion of the founder of the Lidove noviny daily and publisher of sister publications Pritomnost and The New Presence -- will be seeking election to the Czech Senate during the next general election under the Veci vejrene banner. His official announcement will be made at the Narodni kavarna, Narodni 11, on 21.05.08 in Prague at 14h.

12. 05.

The "rights" of divorced women in the CR

Adam Daniel Mezei Přečteno 3638 krát

>>> UPDATE: Ms. T. would like to point out that the so-called "financial assistance" to certain legal and judicial representatives is merely rumoured and speculative in nature, not confirmed. <<<

Watch this space friends, because a new expatriate-lead project's coming to town. In incubation for the past three months as I'd come to learn from its founders, the sneak preview has it that it's got a catchy little title -- WAHOOA.COM -- and it's public advocacy-cum-citizen-journalism, writ large.

A propos to the social activism front, I had a full weekend of "story intake." I had a very disturbing Sunday meeting which was the impetus for my morning post.

I sat with a Czech lady -- Ms. T. -- undergoing a rather acrimonious divorce at present with her Czech husband, the both of them former exiles from Canada.

Story goes that after Wall Fall, Mr. and Ms. T returned from Toronto to launch a new business initiative in the former Czechoslovakia, in the construction industry. Mr. T., who was first into the market especially in rural Czech towns and villages, swiftly made a name for himself. Meanwhile, Ms. T. was back in Toronto wrapping up their family business affairs, preparing for the move back to Europe. In addition, Ms. T. attended to the needs of her two adolescent children, who at the time were just entering university.

The nightmare thickens...

While the cat was away, the mouse played.

Mr. T. found himself a new Czech wife -- younger, unilingual, a gold-digger, you know the story, who herself was already married to another hapless nesikovny Czech blunderbuss -- as he proceeded the careful manipulative campaign of transferring all of Mr. and Ms. T.'s joint property from their names to both the names of his newly-formed Czech company and that of said younger wife.

Mr. T. proceeds to knock up said younger Czech wife, files for an illegal divorce with Ms. T., and alienated himself from his existing children.

Although Ms. T. doesn't consent to this divorce, the zadost -- the request -- is nevertheless filed with the relevant Czech marriage authority. When Ms. T. contests said divorce, the relevant authority informs her that "it's too late...even though it was us that originally made the error." Meanwhile, with the apparent legal authority as sole custodian of the joint family property, Mr. T. continues salting away his and Ms. T.'s collective property and earnings, the fruit of over two decades of concerted work together as newcomers to Canada during the '70s and '80s, in hidden places, planning for the upcoming war.

Long story short, Ms. T. has been fighting a 3-year court battle in regional courts outside of Prague -- where her ex-husband, um, holds court. Mr. T. has greased the palms of the local authorities through local construction handouts, if not overt cash exchanges, while the judges hearing Ms. T.'s strident protestations are caricatures of the former communist era. Rather than acting as impartial adjudicators, they -- for the most part older and female -- sit atop their podiums in the sway of Ms. T.'s former husband.

A journalist who recently interviewed Ms. T. for Czech Radio told her in no uncertain terms: "You think 50% of the common marriage property is your due? Where do you think you're living? You've been in Canada for far too long, Ms. T. It doesn't work that way here."

Yes, here in the Czech Republic, our women are door mats, must remain for the most part subservient to their men, and should keep their place. And in the case of a certain rotund, mole-faced Leader of the Czech Opposition, with his Splendid Slovakian gold-digger, allow their husband's mistresses to trample dead bodies in their relentless attempts to get at the, ahem...booty.

Listening to Ms. T.'s story -- which for me was the second time -- you've got to wonder what other Czech women in her situation are forced to undergo.

Here are some discussion questions for you, friends:

** Is a Czech woman involved in a 20-year+ marriage, with two grown children, obligated to start her work life anew, or is she entitled to 50% of the common property which at present is not codified into Czech law?

** Does "emotional support" throughout the course of a marriage have monetary value? In other words, wWere it not for the emotional backing, support, and due care a wife -- whether working outside the home or non-working -- provides her husband, would such a husband even have been as successful?

** The judge in the T.'s case is set to decide Ms. T.'s ultimate financial settlement without relying upon the available evidence (aka "the books"), but this is totally contrary to more enlightened ways of settling irreconcilable divorces in Western Europe and Canada, for example. Why does this arcane practice persist in the Czech Republic?

WAHOOA will be featuring Ms. T.'s case soon in their feature section. I'll let you know where to find it as soon as it goes live.

Wishing you many good things,
ADM

07. 05.

We beat the East, in every possible way

Adam Daniel Mezei Přečteno 2742 krát

In the immortal words of actor Robert De Niro from the 2001 Hollywood film 15 Minutes, "sometimes you gotta go away to come back..."

Prateli, I have been quite absent these past three weeks, gone AWOL on blog posts and clueless on replies to your always astute observant comments. Though I return bearing news!

Know this: "We beat the East, in every possible way."

If anyone were ever in need of due convincing as to the might of our Czech nation compared to our former Bloc confreres, I suggest a weeklong spin through the lands our eastern neighbours to imbue yourself with a stiff shot of "cultural religion."

My past week here in the Romanian capital of Bucharest was endlessly enlightening. As you'll very shortly see, I've fallen back in love again -- deeply -- with the Czech nation and Praguers, never again to be lead astray. While this might have something to do with my resurgent love life (Miluju te, IV!), I'll permit you be the judge of that.

** Bucharest has some of the most atrocious traffic I've ever witnessed in a European capital. Sure, sure. You'll tell me how London's or Paris' gridlock is enough to try even the most zen-like of souls. But, babies, you ain't seen nothing yet until you've ambled about (Nicolae) Ceausescu's Former Playground. Have a listen here to a day in the life (cca 17h) of Bucharest...at 21C on the temperature dial.

** Petty thieving from friends, colleagues, partners, lovers, co-workers, and shopkeepers -- while immoral -- is all the rage in Bucharest. You can chuck this rule out the window in the case of large Western corporations (egs. Orange, Radisson SAS, Porsche, etc.), though a few rungs down on the totem pole I suggest you keep your hands flush on your pockets and your eyes wide open. Bucharesters avail themselves of the "five-fingered discount" with zero shame.

** Emotional outbursts, road rage, idiotic soccer hooliganism, and arrogant machismo are par for the Romanian course. I travel down here often, though each time during my ride into downtown Bucharest from the city's Otopeni Airport (OTP), I just can't get over how much the city reminds me of a Middle Eastern-cum-European metropole. My first impression of Bucharest when I touched down many months ago was: welcome to the Gaza Strip...North.

** Bucharest's restaurant/bar servers are surly, flippant, and hopelessly jammed in a post-communist time warp. Shall I tell you how many times I've taken a seat in a trendy Bucharest cafe only to be left stranded without a clue for 10 minutes (and more!) without a single staffperson asking me if I needed anything?! (Indeed, I'd only stayed the first time as a test...now I just walk out). Then, when you're done that drink or meal, you'd think someone would ask you "jestli date si jeste neco?" Knock, knock, Sherlock. Maybe I'm Prague-spoiled, but I just can't wait to get home...

Bucharest has the people (3 million citizen officially, 6 million unofficially!), the investment, and -- admittedly -- its young people are a great deal more linguistically talented than our Czech and Slovak youngsters. Head practically anywhere in the Romanian capital and you'll invariably find people who speak English, French, and Italian rolled up into one! Given that both Romania and the Czech Republic maintain all their imported films and television programs in their original languages with subtitles, it's a wonder why Romania is beating us on the language sweepstakes. That, my friends, is fodder for another post.

But if Czechs needed any more convincing as to the greatness of their national story and potentials, take a trip to Romania.

I have missed you these weeks, my friends. I can't wait to get home.

--ADM

06. 05.

Don't change the world...change your world

Adam Daniel Mezei Přečteno 2562 krát

Ike Pigott writes today at the splendid Occam's Razr about the common youth fallacy of "world-beating" behaviour.

In his post, he posits whether young people recently graduating from college and university really should set out along the path of life to fashion the world at large according to their own image. Or, rather, should they instead work to wrangle down their own world according to a more manageable, measured idea of change?

As is Ike's habit, there's always a little creative wrinkle to things, and his post today was fashioned into a sort of mock "graduation speech" he might one day deliver to an expectant class of university hopefuls.

I couldn't help but notice the mainly US-centric bent of his article, a framing for which the talented Mr. Ike can't be faulted.

For one, Ike's based in Birmingham, Alabama and has spent the bulk of his career in television journalism. The daily fare of American news perhaps doesn't afford the average US Southerner the chance to get to know our part of the world more intimately, let alone the delicate nuances of the post-communist mindset. For two, post-communist Eastern Europe as a centre of excellence isn't something frequently commented about in the mainstream media. Outside of the business press, not much is said about the inner-nuances of the countries which have become home to millions of dollars and euros in foreign direct investment.

I was prompted to comment at his blog on how such a "speech" -- even if delivered in jest -- would often be just enough to snip the thin threads from which many of our young Czech people dangle. Threads which are very often their lifeline.

Have a squizz at Ike's post and once done, I'd be curious to know your thoughts on the following things in the comments section:

** Would a focus on "improving your own world, and not the world at large" as Ike writes, reinforce Czech society's tendency towards insularity and occasional self-centredness?

** Isn't what we could use here in this country the very thing Ike claims is anathema to US youth?

** Does Ike's post have any relevance, per se, for our Czech society, given that we haven't had enough of a baseline to determine one way or the other? It hasn't even been 20 years yet, in other words.

Wishing you the best of things,
ADM

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