FDI Commitee

Committee Members:

Accenture (Marek Gešo); Allen & Overy (Hugh Owen, Matej Krkoška, Vojtech Pálinkáš); Aspiro (Miroslav Kučera); Capgemini Slovensko (Tomáš Pavlík); CEERM (Jiří Suremka); Cushman & Wakefield (AndrewThompson); Emerson Network Power (Martin Staples);     Faculty of Management UK (Jozef Komorník); FIPRA (Rastislav Káčer); Grafton Recruitment Slovakia (Natália Šegedová); Hewlett-Packard (Martin Kubala); HSBC Bank (Patrik Mozola); IBM (Eva Megová); Immorent (Peter Malík); ING Commercial Banking (Ana Lucas); Kingfisher (Pavol Tóth); KPMG (Kenneth Ryan, Jed Ballard); Medea Profi Consulting (Michele Gallo); PwC (Todd Bradshaw, Lenka Bartoňová, Miloš Kozmoň); SARIO (Róbert Šimončič, Andrea Gulová, Glen Farrell); Squire Sanders (Guido Panzera); Sykora & Sykorova (Matej Sýkora); The Brooks Group Slovakia (Michael Close); The Carlton Hotel & Offices (Eric Assimakopoulos); U. S. Steel Košice (Michal Pinter, Matej Stuška); VGD (Bart Waterloos); Volksbank Slovensko (Vladimír Vaňo); White & Case (Juraj Fuska); Forbes (Juraj Porubský), Peter Weber

Approved Leadership of the Committee:

• Executive Sponsor at the AmCham Board of Directors: Todd Bradshaw, PwC
• Chairman: Róbert Šimončič, SARIO
  
• Deputy Chairs: Kenneth Ryan, KPMG; Martin Kubala, Hewlett-Packard Slovakia

Main Goals:

AmCham strongly believes that Foreign Direct Investment is – and will continue to be – one of the core drivers of economic development in Slovakia. Therefore, it is imperative that the country is vigorously pro-active in its strategy to attract foreign investors to all regions of Slovakia.

We have been able to identify 10 steps to include in Slovakia’s FDI road map for becoming the FDI location of choice by 2020:

1. Create FDI Team Slovakia:  Bring together key stakeholders from both state and commercial circles who can lead the effort to implement the 2020 FDI vision.

2. Create Brand Slovakia:  Assertively sell Brand Slovakia to foreign investors

3. Create next-generation FDI investor ambassadors: Invest and build ‘best in class’ business hubs which, in addition to the basic components, include innovation, an indigenous supply chain and university engagement.

4. Invest in education: The future needs of business must be aligned with the future education our children will receive.

5. Be customer centric: A customer-centric approach – in which value-adding propositions are proactively brought to customers through a key accounts program.

6. Win with incentives: There should be a “clear, quick and transparent process for incentives.” Investment incentives are a critical factor in companies´ choice of FDI locations.

7. Win new forms of FDI:  Need to secure high-value supply chain components, such as in the field of Research &Development.

8. Reach out to the Slovak business “diaspora”: A forum of Slovak expats in senior positions with multinationals should be created to garner their support in attracting FDI.

9. Recruit talent abroad:  In sectors where Slovakia is currently not able to demonstrate this ability from the local workforce, the solution is to recruit the required talent from abroad.

10. Make FDI “apolitical”: The driving force of FDI in Slovakia should come from the commercial leaders of Slovakia; it is therefore essential for FDI to be separated from the political and governmental sphere as much as possible.