Before WW2 the then Czechoslovakia belonged to a group of countries with the highest GDP. The socialist regime turned the country into a developing market. According to Michal Nebeský, CEO of the Czech branch of City Bank and the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic, the Czech Republic has been gradually gaining back its position. Nevertheless, we are a “country of assembly lines” attractive for investors due to qualified and cheap labor force. Knowing this we should use flexibility, creativity and innovations, he says in an interview for Radio Zet.

We are a curious nation. I am very optimistic - we will fare well in this new, fast era overloaded with data and information. We do not have vast mineral resources, we still do not have strong enough capital base that other countries had time to build up for centuries. But we have managed to erase the differences within one hundred years. Our chance is in our capability to be more flexible, more innovative and better and smarter than those around us.

Looking closer at the developments in the Czech business environment and the coexistence of generations X, Y and Z, M. Nebeský said that businesses have adopted the principle of corporate governance and a more professional management systems, for example. The generations Y, Z prefer high rate of autonomy and it is easy to waste your life with procrastination because there is always a way to make a living, especially in large cities. These generations are not aware yet of what the world is giving them and what the consequences would be if they are not able to take responsibility for their lives. What we should learn from them is their openness to new things, their world is much more complex and gives them much more opportunities...One cannot stagnate, once you spend most of your time looking back, you are lost. So look ahead, let inspiration come, concentrate. To succeed, you need to have the right idea in the right time, go ahead with that idea and work hard, be responsible and concentrate.  

Listen to the full interview here (in Czech).