It’s the business success stories in the UK that interest us. 20% of UK businesses fail in their first year and, according to London & Zurich, a staggering 4 in 10 do not make it past 5 years. Of those that survive, many limp along, struggling to make a profit but the golden few flourish: they become stable, employ more staff, expand and return healthy accounts year on year. Many of those are run by people who have moved to the UK to build their life here
Business Success Stories UK: The ‘Immigrant Mindset’
- Secrets of the Best Polish Translator London
- Secrets of the Best Polish Kitchen Fitters in London
- Secrets of the Top Polish Mortgage Broker in London
- Secrets of the Best Polish Solicitors in London
- Secrets of the Best Polish Electrician in London
- Secrets of the Best Polish-language News Update in London
- Secrets of the Best Employee Engagement Professional in London
- Secrets of the Best Construction Employment Agency in London
- Secrets of the Best Polish Accountant in Yorkshire
- Secrets of Building a Business as a Migrant Entrepreneur
- Secrets of a Top Business Action Coach
- Secrets of UK/Polish Trade
- Secrets of Family Business Success
- Secrets of the UK Settlement Scheme
Immigrant Mindset, Diverse Entrepreneurs
Cuban-American business magnate Glenn Llopis talks of the ‘immigrant mindset’ as a significant factor in business success. Those who start a business in a new country are more motivated and have more to lose than the average business person, he claims, and work harder and smarter to achieve their goals.
To put this idea to the test, we sent English marketing copywriter, Bill Mair of PrecisionPresentation.com to personally conduct in-depth interviews with CEOs of 13 successful UK companies. All but one identified as an immigrant or from an immigrant family and as part of each interview, everyone was asked the same question: what is the secret of business? Not one mentioned cash flow, profits or hard-nosed negotiation. They all spoke about human values such as honesty and respect, as well as passion.
We wanted to find out, not just about the business, but the person behind each one. On top of that, we recorded each interview into a podcast and wrote it up in a blog so that you can see our research for yourself! So, here it is for your benefit, exclusive to PBLINK: the guide to Britain’s best diverse businesses and the secrets of Britain’s top entrepreneurs.
It’s the success stories that interest us. 20% of UK businesses fail in their first year and, according to London & Zurich, a staggering 4 in 10 do not make it past 5 years. Of those that survive, many limp along, struggling to make a profit but the golden few flourish: they become stable, employ more staff, expand and return healthy accounts year on year. Many of those are run by people who have moved to the UK to build their life here.
Cuban-American business magnate Glenn Llopis talks of the ‘immigrant mindset’ as a significant factor in business success. Those who start a business in a new country are more motivated and have more to lose than the average business person, he claims, and work harder and smarter to achieve their goals.
To put this idea to the test, we sent English marketing copywriter, Bill Mair of PrecisionPresentation.com to personally conduct in-depth interviews with CEOs of 13 successful UK companies. All but one identified as an immigrant or from an immigrant family and as part of each interview, everyone was asked the same question: what is the secret of business? Not one mentioned cash flow, profits or hard-nosed negotiation. They all spoke about human values such as honesty and respect, as well as passion.
We wanted to find out, not just about the business, but the person behind each one. On top of that, we recorded each interview into a podcast and wrote it up in a blog so that you can see our research for yourself!
So, here it is for your benefit, exclusive to PBLINK: the guide to Britain’s best diverse businesses and the secrets of Britain’s top entrepreneurs.
Secrets of the Best Polish Translator London
Iwona Lebiedowicz is the founder and CEO of PAB Translation, an award-winning, multi-accredited company with five bases across England, three in Poland and one each in Berlin and Portugal, but covering the globe. They offer translation, interpretation and localisation services in over 200 languages.
Their services cover face-to-face and conference interpretation, translation of documents of all kinds, including legal, commercial and medical, along with website re-creation services to make your website appeal to international visitors, The company is ISO 9001 Quality Management System accredited and all services are supplied by certified linguists, working in their mother tongue.
It’s All About People
Iwona has a strong sense of community spirit and is a Director/Trustee of Centrepoint, a charitable organisation working with and for homeless and vulnerable people.
During the Covid pandemic, she offered the services of the PAB free of charge, to ensure that key health messages were translated from English into foreign languages to protect non-English speaking individuals and those for whom English is a second language. This saved lives. The government has changed the guidelines frequently and any misunderstanding could have devastating effects.
What is Her Secret?
Iwona describes a 4-part secret of business:
- Have a genuine passion for what you do
- Clarity of purpose – why are you doing what you are doing?
- Honest and inclusive communication within your team and with the client
- Nurture your own physical, mental and emotional health
Awards
Iwona Lebiedowicz and her team at PAB Translation have been awarded:
Entrepreneur of the Year 2021- Finalist; Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 – Finalist; Outstanding Woman in Public Services 2017 – Finalist; East Midlands Director of the Year 2015 - Highly Commended; The Agri-food Sector Business Award 2013; Young Business Person of the Year 2013; Hardy & Collins Award for Cultural Training 2012; Best Contribution to Boston Award 2010.
Podcast and Blog post
Iwona was interviewed by Bill Mair of Precision Presentation. In a fascinating discussion, she talks about translation, compassion in business, the importance of people and her deep love of language and culture.
Listen to Iwona Lebiedowicz: It’s All About People to hear first-hand Iwona’s take on business, language and community.
Contact your nearest PAB Translation centre.
Secrets of the Best Polish Kitchen Fitters in London
Amberth Interior Design Studio is on the Essex Road in Islington, London.
It specialises in bespoke kitchen and bathroom design in the London area and enjoys a reputation for quality and reliability as well as an exclusive style. They welcome visitors at the studio or you can view their stunning portfolio of projects via the Social tab on their website.
Amberth was founded in 2006 by Inga Kopała as Managing Director, her husband Piotr Wojciechowski as Project Director and his brother who runs the furniture factory in Poland. This allows Amberth to control quality much more than companies that rely on third-party suppliers and allows for complete flexibility when it comes to custom design.
Each client’s kitchen or bathroom is treated as a unique project and is dispatched in a separate vehicle from the factory. So, instead of lorry loads of flat-pack units piling up at the design studio for onward delivery and assembly on site, the furniture arrives already built in a van and can be sent directly to the customer’s address for installation by the Amberth team. It also minimises delays at customs points along the journey, as a small load is quickly expedited by officials and can even be easily physically checked, if necessary.
Nearly all the customer-facing design team, being fully half of the directly-employed workforce are women and Inga firmly believes that this contributes directly to their success. This is especially true when they are dealing with female clients, who appreciate being able to discuss design and construction features with another woman.
Furthermore, Amberth employs Polish, English, Russian and Pakistani staff, meaning they can offer personalised customer service tuned to the nuances of London’s diverse communities.
What is Her Secret?
Inga was very clear on the most important aspect of business: its people.
“People: the people in the business; around the business (your network); and customers.
Without the customers, there is no business,
Without the workers, there is no business,
Without the managers, there is no business,
So, it’s all around people.”
Awards
Amberth’s awards include:
Best Luxury Bathroom Design Project 2019 & 2020 by BUILD Magazine; Best of Houzz for Best Design & Best Customer Service in 2020
Podcast
Learn more about Inga’s business and personal philosophy on the Inga Kopala: Making it Personal podcast from polish kitchen fitters.
Contact Amberth Studio on: +44 (0)207 354 8958 or via email at studio@amberth.co.uk
Secrets of Top Polish Mortgage Broker in London
City and Country Financial Services is a whole-of-market, multi-lingual financial advice service, authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, based in prestigious Fleet Street, central London, established in 2008.
It is run by two business partners: the founder, Lina Bourdon from Ukraine and co-director Sebastian Fuz, from Poland.
CCFS offers a comprehensive range of services, including mortgages, investments, savings, income and business protection, retirement planning and will writing.
We Speak Your Language
The company lives up to its motto, “We speak your language”.
They take pride in demystifying the intricacies of finance and the relevant legislation using language that
their customers can understand. In this fashion, they are like translators, liaising with the world of finance on your behalf.
But they embody their motto in a literal sense, too: CCFS serves clients in English, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Hindi, Gujarati and Swahili. With London boasting a very cosmopolitan population, that is excellent customer service.
Because CCFS is independent, they can offer financial products (mortgages, insurance policies, investments, etc.) from any and all providers available in the UK. This is a significant advantage over restricted (sometimes called ‘targeted’) IFAs, who can only recommend products from a limited selection or product range. Given that there are well over 100 mortgage providers in the UK market, for example, each offering several mortgage products, with new deals and products emerging all the time, it makes sense to ensure that you can choose the best one for you from everything that is on offer. Of course, that principle applies equally across all financial products and services.
All the advisers at CCFS are fully qualified and follow a policy of continuously updating qualifications and knowledge to stay ahead of developments.
Unlike many IFAs and financial services companies, CCFS is equally at home dealing with commercial finance as personal. Indeed, they partially diversified during the first lockdowns to offer a free service to businesses seeking help to access Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans and government grants.
What is His Secret?
For Sebastian, the secret of business is two-fold:
- Make it easy for your customers to do business for you (they provide services in 7 languages, for example) – put yourself in your customer’s shoes.
- However, it is important to be authentic. Be yourself and put your values into the business: you are the business and the business is you.
Podcast
Sebastian Fuz, partner at City and Country Financial Services, spoke to us about business, family, positivity and paying it forward in the podcast we call The Positive Pole. Balancing the Books and Paying it Forward.
Contact Sebastian Fuz and his team on: 020 3137 0500 or info@ccfs.london
Secrets of the Best Polish Solicitors in London
Kate Bogusławska is from Radom in Poland. She is a partner at Carter Lemon Camerons Solicitors, a highly prestigious Magic Circle law firm in the Square Mile.
Kate talks about glass ceilings in the legal career: 50% of lawyers are women, yet only 30% of partners are women. Nevertheless, Kate was made partner just 7 years post-qualifying – that is very quick, especially for such a distinguished company. Hats off to Kate for breaking through and making partner, then, especially as, while she speaks excellent English, it is her second language.
How did she do it?
She found her passion. Kate never set out to be a solicitor. She moved to England to be a journalist and studied English Literature, Culture and Arts at Greenwich University. She took on some court translation work to help pay the bills and discovered her calling. She felt she was not doing enough for the people she worked with: she wanted to make a difference, empower them and lead them through the system. So, she switched career, started from the beginning again and studied law.
Turns out, she’s a legal star. She was made partner just 7 years after qualifying, and she did it in her second language.
Mindful of her journey, Kate has helped hundreds of Polish people in London with free legal advice and representation via the charity London Spark.
Not one to sit around, Kate is also co-founder of a new kind of business networking group, Women’s Business Link, which was launched during lockdown with A-lister BBC News presenter Kasia Madera as keynote speaker!
What is Her Secret?
For Kate, the secret of business is 3 things:
- Strong foundations, based on values
- The Golden Rule: treat people as you would like to be treated
- Provide such good service that your customers don’t want to go anywhere else.
Awards
CLC has been awarded the prestigious Modern Law Awards Innovation of the Year 2017/18 (Shortlisted); Legal Firm 500 UK Leading Firm award 2020 and the LexisNexis Legal Award 2019.
Podcast
Listen to Kate Boguslawska talks about diversity and diligence in her career to learn more about her journey to the top of the corporate world.
Contact
The Carter Lemon Cameron team on +44 (0)20 7406 1000 or at info@cartercamerons.com
Secrets of the Best Polish Electrician in London
Greg Kasprzak arrived in the UK in 2006. His Polish qualifications as an electrical engineer were not valid here, so he could not work in his trade. He had another problem, too: just £400 in cash in his pocket, so he needed to find a job, quickly.
With his wife, Tiba Al-Khalidy, he now runs GK Electrical Contractors, which operates across the South of England, London and into Wales, covering all aspects of domestic and commercial electrical and electronic installations, including wiring, alarms and home controls. They spotted the opportunities for electric vehicle recharging early on and are now specialists in commercial and residential charging-point installation.
How Did He Do it?
Greg spent thousands of hours hunched over the 17th Edition Electrical Wirings Regulations with a Polish-English dictionary, carefully translating all the technical jargon until he had a complete understanding. He gained his British qualifications and slowly built his reputation on London building sites.
He built the business he has today on hard work and long hours but he also came across golden opportunities through networking, such as at PBLINK events, that helped him leap to the next stage.
What is His Secret?
Greg believes in the personal touch. He trusts in doing work for every customer to the same standard as you would in your own home, with the same attention to detail.
He added that he is grateful for the support and advice he has had throughout from his wife, Tiba, who is a business adviser and action coach.
Podcast
Greg gets ‘wired in’ to his story of building a business in Britain in: Closing Circuits, Building Networks. GK Electrical is Powering On
Contact GK Electrical on 0203 633 9123 / 0754 145 6280 or email at: info@gkelectricalcontractors.co.uk
Secrets of Best Polish-language News Update in London
Aleksandra (Ola) Fiddler runs a successful Polish-English translation business, Eurotext, and online courses for learners of English called Total English. However, it has had to take a back seat ever since she became an internet sensation through her twice-weekly Polish-language interactive news bulletins on Facebook. In her broadcasts for Aleksandra Fiddler Tłumaczenia24, she summarises all the latest developments and brings listeners up to date with the latest British government guidelines, including the variations for the different UK nations.
Attracting a listenership of around 45% of the Polish market in the UK, it is clearly popular. With savvy business sense, Ola has monetised the channel to make it a viable full-time endeavour.
How Did She Do It?
Ola is a Polish-English translator accredited by the Polish Ministry of Justice and had many years of translation experience before she tried out the Facebook news channel idea. So, she had the necessary skills in place, but what was her inspiration?
It started really as an experiment, around the time the first Covid lockdown was introduced. It was well received and became a bit of a hobby. Listener numbers grew rapidly, allowing Ola to make the decision to commit to it long term and full time.
Learn by Mistakes
Unfortunately, there was no ‘idiot’s guide’ to monetising a social media channel, so she had to learn as she went along. As Ola puts it:
“There’s no-one to ask, Bill, there’s absolutely no-one to ask. Because for one thing, no-one is bigger than me in the UK. And also, if there is someone who’s bigger, they wouldn’t tell you their secrets. So, I’ve learned by making mistakes.”
Seems like a good path to success!
Ola’s cheerful, cheeky approach on camera belies the solid hours of hard work and research behind the scenes. While she knows that she devotes a minimum of 3 hours in prep for each episode, it is hard to estimate quite how many hours she spends. She is her own researcher, make-up artist and social media expert.
What’s Her Secret?
Ola lists 3 key factors in her success:
- Drive, hunger and passion to make the change.
- Reliability and predictability. Ola has been late, by less than a minute, maybe 5 times in 18 months of programming. This shows respect to her audience and her customers.
- Relating back to the first point, this channel is a mission for Ola, not a job. So, she is driven. She gives it her total commitment. “If this was a job, I’d have quit by now. But because it’s my mission, I haven’t!”
Awards
Woman in the World Audience Award 2021 (with 89% of 12,000 votes)
Podcast
Want to hear more? You can, at Aleksandra (Ola) Fiddler: The Voice of the People
Contact Ola on 44 (0) 0333 0062 555 or at info@totalenglish.co.uk
Secrets of Best Employee Engagement Professional in London
Aistė Naujokaitytė is from Lithuania. Her family moved to the UK when she was 12 and she didn’t speak any English. However, she caught on quickly; just 3 years later she had a stint of work experience at an estate agency and caught the entrepreneurial bug.
Aistė is now Client Director at employee engagement company MIT Ventures and President of the Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce in the UK.
How Did She Do It?
Aistė was so taken with her work experience that she later went on to study Real Estate at Liverpool’s John Moore University and then to work in the industry. It was there that she realised the value of employee engagement. Real Estate typically has a high turnover of staff but Aistė reckoned that it shouldn’t have to be that way.
Surely it would work out better for everyone if employees stuck around for the long haul? She dreamed of a work environment that encouraged staff, made them feel recognised and even inspired staff loyalty. Low staff turnover would mean lower costs for the employer: a win-win.
Employee Engagement
When she came across MIT Ventures she realised it wasn’t just an idea. She had found her vocation.
MIT Ventures is all about boosting employee morale. They operate nationwide with over 160 employers on their books. A total of 100,000+ employees enjoy MIT Ventures perks and privileges via the MIT Ventures app (branded for each employer client). Aistė estimates that the average employee enjoys savings of around £2000 annually on groceries, gym membership, restaurants and shops. Other benefits include free 24/7 access to mental health support and GP appointments.
Little wonder that, while the average percentage uptake of competitors’ employee engagement apps is around 30%, MIT Ventures’ app has a 90% daily usage rate!
What’s Her Secret?
Aistė maintains that the secret of business is to genuinely care about what you do in business more than about the money it makes. People will respond to genuine passion.
Podcast
Listen to The Burning Eyes of a Business Visionary: Aistė Naujokaitytė to learn more about Aistė and her journey to success.
Contact MIT Ventures at ee@mitventures.co.uk or on 0800 211 8709.
Secrets of the Best Construction Employment Agency in London
Cristina Irimie got her big break when she acted on her impulse to help others.
She is founder of Happy People Learning Centre, which provides Health and Safety training courses for Eastern European Construction tradesmen in the UK and is the only centre in the UK approved to deliver the GQA CSCS Labourer Card 100% online. She also runs HPL Recruitment, which matches people from Eastern Europe with construction jobs in the UK.
Cristina also runs Romani in UK Media Group, publishing Romȃni ȋn UK Newsletter, with over 50,000 subscribers. She speaks in the UK, Romanian and EU Parliaments about issues faced by Romanians and other EU nationals living in Britain and her opinion is regularly sought by news outlets.
How did it all come about?
In short, Cristina was fuelled by a sense of injustice.
When she was a hotel housekeeper in London, she was disturbed by the poor conditions faced by her fellow Romanian workers, who were exploited by employers because they had limited employment options due to their work visas at that time. Determined to do something, she started her own employment agency, specialising in matching Romanians to work with decent pay and conditions. She went on to start an English-Romanian translation agency before founding Happy People Learning Centre and HPL Recruitment, which offer training and employment opportunities in construction to Central and Eastern Europeans. Both companies operate Britain-wide.
What’s Her Secret?
For Cristina, if you have the courage to bring changes for the better to society, to actually make a difference through what you do and if you have the perseverance to make it happen, you will break through to success.
Podcast
In our podcast, Cristina Irimie: A Nuclear-Powered Entity? , we investigate just how Cristina manages it all!
Contact HPL on 020 3488 5582, 074 1831 1198 or on hello@hplcentre.com
Secrets of the Best Polish Accountant in Yorkshire
Jan Szczepański did not set out to become an accountant, but a job interview with a blinkered and arrogant law firm saw him turn his back on the legal career he had trained and studied for. He retrained, starting from the bottom again and working his way up until he gained Chartered Accountant status. He is now unusual as an accountant who also completed his studies as a lawyer.
It turned out to be the best decision he ever made, as the family accountancy practice he now runs is thriving and at the forefront of developments in the sector.
When the government mandated that all businesses work from home during the first Covid lockdown, Jan’s company was ahead of the curve. They were already operating on the cloud, with full security, and were able to transition seamlessly to working remotely with laptops.
No wonder: Jan had blazed a trail in online accountancy as far back as 2005, when he had a vision to develop online bookkeeping and accountancy, so his clients could have continuous access to their accounts.
He actually worked on a program to do just that in collaboration with Leeds Met University Business Incubator but, he says, its time had not arrived. Later, in 2010, Jan’s company was the first accountancy company in Yorkshire to offer clients access to their accounts via the new accountancy program Xero.
Now, the Sanders Partnership is a family business, employing 9 people. This includes 4 family members, each a fully-qualified Chartered Accountant.
They offer a full range of services and Jan’s background legal expertise has come in particularly useful ever since 2014, when the law changed to allow accountants to offer probate services, if they would undertake the additional legal training.
What is His Secret?
Jan revealed his four-part formula for business success:
- Don’t get complacent - take calculated risks to stay ahead of the game
- Be true to yourself – do the right thing
- Resilience – the ability to keep bouncing back
- Never stop learning – build your knowledge base
Awards
Business of the Year, 2018, Wakefield Business Awards.
Podcast and Blog
Jan expands on his story in Jan Szczepanski: The Techno-Dancing Accountant Entrepreneur
Contact Jan Szczepański on 01924 254802
Secrets of Building a Business as a Migrant Entrepreneur
Bart Kowalczyk has been running Polish Business Link (PBLINK) since 2013 and offers networking events and business seminars in London, across the UK and online to bring together Polish professionals and non-Poles to do business. His online events regularly attract an international audience and delegates have been known to travel from Poland to attend his annual Congress of Polish Entrepreneurs in London. The organisation has a remarkably high membership renewal rate, demonstrating that members feel comfortable and can see good returns on the annual subscription fee investment.
The British-Polish Chamber of Commerce (BPCC) is Patron of the organisation and BPCC Chief Adviser Michał Dembiński is a regular at PBLINK major events.
Bart’s ambition is to grow the most diverse business networking organisation in the UK. Membership stands at over 120 businesses at the moment, covering around 60 business sectors. The network has developed greatly from its initial composition of Poles and Brits. A range of nationalities are now represented and this is set to diversify greatly as a result of a recent partnership with a number of national and international networking groups to form Global Network UK.
This brings together the UK Confederation by Confassociazioni, the British Argentine Chamber of Commerce, the Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce, London Connector and PBLINK.
But that’s not all. He also runs Automate Now, a HubSpot consultancy to automate inbound marketing, sales, and customer service: and Edinburgh Connections, a business networking organisation covering Central Scotland.
So, great things achieved and even better to come. Not bad from a man who arrived in the UK in 2006 with little English language skills.
What is His Secret?
Bart disclosed his 4-part formula for success:
- Love what you do
- Be prepared for 12-hour days (or longer) for the first few years
- Surround yourself with inspiring, positive people
- Listen to your customers and make changes accordingly
Podcast
Bart revealed more about How to Build a Business as a Migrant Entrepreneur in our podcast.
Contact Bart on +44 208 432 6965 or at: info@pblink.co.uk
Secrets of a Top Business Action Coach
Stuart Mason, author of How to Wreck Your Business, was winning. He ran a national chain of 8 print shops across Scotland with plans to expand south of the border. In total, his business properties alone were worth in excess of £1.4 million.
He was enjoying the fruits of his labour, too. He flew around the country in his own helicopter or drove in his custom-built Aston Martin.
To cap it all, his staff were loyal, happy and committed to the success of the business. Life was good. Until it wasn’t.
After 20 years of growth, the bank suddenly refused to extend any more credit and called in all existing loans, repayable immediately. The administrators were called in and suggested Stuart start a “phoenix” company: shut down the company on Friday, cancelling all debt, and then restart it on Monday under a different name, with a clean slate. None of his creditors would receive a penny of the money owed to them. He refused, on principle.
How Did it Happen?
Now, he works as an Action Coach, advising businesses on how to avoid the mistakes he made and how to hold onto the success they create.
He tells his clients that all it took was 8 mistakes to destroy everything he had built, personally, from a market stall in Glasgow in 1993 to a national chain of shops in 2013.
What is His Secret?
Stuart says the secret to NOT wrecking your business is simple:
Do what you love and love what you do. He advises we should not spend our relatively short life trapped in a job or a business that we hate.
Podcast
Stuart goes into depth on some aspects of how his business failed and, importantly, how businesses can avoid making the same mistakes in his podcast, How to Wreck Your Business.
Contact
Get in touch with Stuart via the Contact form on his website.
Secrets of UK/Polish Trade
Michał Dembiński is the most Polish of Englishmen, born in England but raised as a Pole. He is the Chief Adviser to the British-Polish Chamber of Commerce (BPCC) and is an acknowledged expert on the economy of Poland and the nuances of Polish-British relations, especially relating to post-Brexit trade.
His background in journalism, along with his aptitude for economics, suits him perfectly for his role at BPCC. He is in high demand to comment for news outlets in Poland and the UK on matters concerning Britain and Poland, and sought after to speak at business conferences about trade and business opportunities.
He was awarded the Order Zasługi by President Lech Wałęsa in 1993 for his part in campaigning with the Federation of Poles in the UK to bring about visa-free travel between UK and Poland.
How Did He Do It?
Polish Roots, English Soil
Michał was born in Ealing of parents Bohdan Dembiński, hero of the Warsaw Uprising and Marysia Dembińska, survivor of a brutal Soviet gulag. Michał’s father was famous in Poland and people would gather in crowds to meet him every August 1st, when he travelled to Warsaw to visit the grave of his brother, Józef, who died in the Uprising.
Bohdan died in Ealing in October 2009.
Michał went to Polish Saturday school, was a member of Polish Boy Scouts in Ealing and grew up bilingual and very aware of his Polish heritage. In fact, until he started at the local primary school, he was completely unaware that there were other children who spoke only English!
A degree in history, followed by a post-graduate diploma in journalism set him up for a career in business journalism before starting at the BPCC, almost 20 years ago.
Awards
Order Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), 1993 by President Lech Wałęsa in 1993 for his part in campaigning with the Federation of Poles in the UK to bring about visa-free travel between the UK and Poland.
Podcast
In our interview, Michael Dembinksi, England’s Most Polish Son, Michał talks about his father’s heroism, growing up Polish in the UK and delves into the psychology and economics of Brexit and Polish trade.
Email Michał at michael.dembinski@bpcc.org.pl or call him at the Warsaw office of BPCC on +48 660 761 500
Secrets of Family Business Success
Martin Stepek is a son of Jan Stepek, who came to the UK as a refugee and war hero after WW2. He made millions by building a chain of electrical appliance stores and a chain of travel agents in the West of Scotland. At their peak, the chains employed over 300 people.
He frequently embarrassed his children by driving them to the local state school in one his 2 Rolls Royces. He was very well known both in his local community for helping people down on their luck as well as across Scotland and in Poland for his generous philanthropy. He poured funds into the football club, Hamilton Academicals, just to support the local community.
How Did He Do It?
Jan came close to death during 18 months in a Soviet gulag. When the Soviets switched sides in WW2 he was released and started an arduous journey to Persia (modern-day Iran), barefoot, to enlist in the Polish Army. When he arrived he was so emaciated that he could encircle his thigh between his thumb and finger.
Jan enrolled as a radio operator with the Polish Navy and fought in a number of campaigns, including the liberation of Italy and the Greek Dodecanese islands as well as the Normandy landings and the North Sea landings in Germany.
When he was demobbed he resettled in the UK to start a new life. He enrolled to study electronics at college and started a radio repair business from his small flat. He met and married Teresa, a Scottish girl and they had 10 children.
Determined that his family would never suffer the harrowing hardship that he had endured, he threw himself into building a business. He started with one electrical appliance shop, but worried that a competitor would open up nearby and put him out of business. He opened more and more before entering the travel agency market to provide additional cash flow in the summer months.
Family Shares
Once the company had over 20 stores, Jan gave shares to each his children and handed over control of the business. Unfortunately, some friction arose. All the members had shares but not all worked in the business - some had outside jobs, which was a source of disagreement. Further disputes down the line contributed to the company eventually closing down in 2002.
The important take-away from this story is that it led to Martin founding the Scottish Family Business Association, and touring the country to talk to family businesses about the perils of success!
Podcast
In The Incredible Story of Stepek Electronics by Martin Stepek , you can hear Martin tell his story first-hand and learn that there is more to business success than healthy cash flow and fat profits.
Contact
Email Martin at: mstepek@hotmail.co.uk
Secrets of a UK Settlement Scheme Advisor
Dorota Peszkowska agreed to join PBLINK Stories to do a special podcast ahead of the deadline for European (EU, EEA and Swiss) citizens to apply for Settled or Pre-Settled Status in the UK (30 June 2021).
(Although that deadline has now passed, it is still possible to make a late application and Dorota and her team at Feniks can offer free assistance to people in Scotland in the process. They can assist in English, Polish or Romanian. Elsewhere in the UK, Citizens Advice EU Citizens Rights can help.)
Dorota is a journalist, a campaigner and an activist from Warsaw who moved to Scotland in 2015. She has been Editor-in-chief at Emito.net, a Polish-language magazine with its HQ in Edinburgh; Project Coordinator for EU Citizens’ Rights Project; a Human Testing Technician for the University of Edinburgh; and is now EU Settlement Scheme Project Officer with Feniks Counselling, Personal Development and Support Services.
She advises and assists European citizens with applications for citizenship, settled or pre-settled status in the UK.
Podcast
Listen to Dorota Peszkowska: Settled Status for European Citizens for interesting insights to the EU Settlement Scheme process.
Contact
Email Feniks at euss@feniks.org.uk or visit https://www.feniks.org.uk/project/eu-settlement-scheme-support-en/ if you are in Scotland
Contact Citizens Advice EU Citizens Rights on 0300 3309 059 or go to https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/immigration/applying-for-settled-status/ if you are in England.
Apply for pre-settled or settled status via the government website: https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/applying-for-settled-status
Read more interesting articles you can find on our PBLINK blog.
