Mikuláš Szapu sr., Chairman

A company is like a man: if it doesn't grow, it dies

Back in 1990, when you thought of where the company might get in 20 years, what did you see?

I must say that I can not imagine the future as far as twenty years and I could not do that at the time either, especially because of the changes that were taking place after the "velvet" revolution. In the beginning it was my plan to stabilise a company with around five employees, so that not all the work would be depending on me and devote my time to potential clients. The main aim was to provide correct geographic and technical information in the shortest time possible to people who needed them urgently for their work. What we now take as matter of course used to be science fiction 20 years ago.

What other ideas or visions you still keep in your mind that you would like to bring to fruition in the nearest future?

A company is like a man, if it doesn't grow, it dies. YMS Group must grow, otherwise the other part of the sentence will become relevant. When a company grows, requirements grow alongside with responsibility. Whether it is accountability for projects implemented for our clients, or responsibility for our employees. And it is there, in the inevitable race for numbers that feed us, I have a feeling that the client is sometimes forgotten. And it is here that I would like to add my bit.

Are there moments from your business beginnings that you remember often?

I like to have a laugh when I remember my wife's horror at my intention to buy a PC 386, on which I write with two fingers. Or when I imagine the flowery wallpaper in our first office. I also remember how we bought the first company car - Škoda Forman and proudly put in full tank paid with Slovak money, as opposite to the previous green Czechoslovak hundred crowns note :-).