The Slovak Spectator wins Czech-Slovak Management Cup
A team of four managers from The Slovak Spectator won first prize at a management simulation game in Brno in the Czech Republic on December 4.
Organised by KNO Slovakia, a personnel consulting firm, the sixth annual Management Cup brought together 10 teams from across Slovakia and the Czech Republic for the final one-day round of a management strategy game. In the game, the various teams manufacture a similar product in a hypothetical market. They compete against each other, and must make decisions on marketing, client service, distribution, research, finance, production, labour relations and cooperation with other firms. The criteria used to decide the winners are profit per share, client satisfaction, market share and employee morale.
The Spectator team beat rivals such as McDonald's, Unilever and Chemes, having earlier dispatched teams from Pepsi and Tatra Banka. First prize, provided by Satur travel agency in Bratislava, was 60,000 Sk ($1,700) in travel vouchers.
The Czech firm Euronova came second, while Slovakia's Tercoplast finished third.
US Embassy announces Democracy Network Grantees
On December 4, US Ambassador to Slovakia Ralph Johnson announced the award of 2.8 million Sk ($79,000) to twelve Slovak non-governmental organizations (NGO's ) under the grant programme "Increasing Citizen Participation in Local Elections and Strengthening Civic Awareness." These grants were made available by the US Embassy Democracy Commission, which is partly funded by the USAID foundation. The grants will go towards supporting activities such as promoting philanthropy , creating more favourable conditions for giving, and monitoring current giving patterns in Slovakia.
Among nine foundations and associations selected is the Anti-Cancer League in Bratislava, whose project was designed to increase public awareness about the importance of prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, and research of oncological diseases.
The winning projects were selected in an open competition from 28 proposals submitted by NGO's from across Slovakia. Each demonstrated a high degree of project feasibility, a beneficial impact on society and a positive influence on the non-governmental sector as a whole. For more information call the Foundation for a Civil Society, Tel.: 07-5024-4198.
Slovak wins European small business person of the year
At a ceremony on December 7, Ingrid Kaczoreková of Modry Kamen, Slovakia, was crowned European small business person of the year.
Kaczoreková, 33, won with her company Inwex, which produces salted sticks as snacks. The company, which she started in 1995, now has 40 employees and 1997 pre-tax profits of 3.5 million Sk ($100,000). Inwex exports moe than 80%of its production, and is located in eastern Slovakia, an area with chronically high unemployment.
The competition, in its sixth year, was staged by Deloitte & Touche Tohmatsu, a leading audit and accounting, tax and management consulting firm. Kaczoreková was selected from among three Euroepan finalists (the other two from Belgium and Austria) by a panel of three judges.
Centre for European Politics holds discussion on culture
On December 15 at 17:00, the Centre for European Politics will be holiding a discussion group called "Multi -Cultures" at the Aréna Theatre in Petržalka. The seminar, which is part of the series "Talks on Europe," will feature Aréna dancers and will be followed by a Christmas reception.
