“The greatest success of 2017? Our team,” says Robert Chmelař at the fifth CEOday

Everyone was welcomed to the venue by Michaela Papežová, head of PR and communication at Rockaway, who briefly introduced individual guests and recapped the most interesting moments in the group’s history. “It would take a long time to show everything that our firms accomplished last year, so we have chosen only a few success stories that best illustrate the key achievements of 2017,” said Robert Chmelař, beginning his speech. “Even though it may sound like a cliché, it is necessary to recognise what a strong portfolio we have managed to build. Besides all of the financial indicators, this is nicely illustrated by the fact that our websites in aggregate received more than 1.2 billion visitors last year.”

“Our firms are progressively becoming true champions, examples of which are Invia Group and Heureka – both groups reached strong cashflow, superior growth and sustainable leading market positions,” said Andrea Lauren. “Last year we also successfully entered Western Europe with Invia Group expanding to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Of course, our start-ups operate globally, but thanks to the acquisitions in the DACH region, we are now present in more than 15 European countries.”

Rockaway CEO’s Day 2018

This is “Rockaway CEO’s Day 2018” by Rockaway Capital on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Another part of the afternoon programme was conducted in the spirit of looking to the future. Juraj Felix, who joined the group from Google in order to help launching Mall TV as the business director, spoke about the new channel, its strategy and content and specifically how all the group can benefit from it. Viktor Fischer, Investment Partner Rockaway, brought the issue of blockchain to the audience’s attention. Radko Sekerka, who manages R&D at Mall Group for Rockaway, then explained the dynamics and implications of increasing penetration of mobile devices in e-commerce. Inspiration is always useful, so we included in the programme Thomas Schumacher of McKinsey’s German office, who talked about successful company transformations.

Finally, the floor was taken in turns by Jaromír Švihovský, CFO Rockaway, and Boris Raoul, CEO Invia Group. Together, they pulled back the curtain on the origin story of the travel segment within Rockaway. “To be honest, I was one of those who bet against Rockaway when the opportunity came up to acquire the German travel assets. Today I’m pleased that it turned out the way it did and that I am standing here among you,” Raoul said to conclude his talk.

“We spoke at the beginning about the success stories that characterised 2017. But we left one out – Rockaway’s continued ability to attract great people. Across the whole portfolio, we have managed to attract enthusiastic, talented and experienced people, thanks to whom we are not just treading water. Some would say that this is a matter of course, but we don’t see it that way. Without such capable people, we would not have got so far in only five years,” said Robert Chmelař, concluding the afternoon part of the agenda.

CEOday was followed by the Rockaway Live party – and we would like to again thank everyone who attended.

Photographs from the event are available HERE.

Rockaway Live 2018

This is “Rockaway Live 2018” by Rockaway Capital on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.