Selena Group has been selected as a New European Champion, a title awarded by the European Forum for Entrepreneurship Research (EFER) in collaboration with IESE Business School (Barcelona) and the Warsaw School of Economics (Warsaw). The recognitions have been awarded to entrepreneurs from the Central and Eastern Europe who have built innovative growth companies that successfully expanded into international markets. The award gala took place on 21 July in Warsaw during the European Entrepreneurship Colloquium 2011.
The idea behind the New European Champion award is to honour the companies from the Central and Eastern Europe that achieved an international success and can be an example for other companies from the region. According to the European Forum for Entrepreneurship Research, the operations of Selena can be seen as an example of successful transformation of a local company into a business with global presence. Selena Group, which started trading in international markets in late 90s, has established operations in 18 countries and generates most of its sales outside Poland – in 2010, exports accounted for 67% of its revenue.
“Promoting tried-and-tested business models is an essential element of increasing competitiveness of companies from the Central and Eastern Europe. This is why Selena willingly shares its competence and experience gained from its global activities. The New European Champion title is of special significance for us as it demonstrates to Polish companies that international success is not reserved for large organisations” – said Krzysztof Domarecki, the CEO of Selena FM SA – the Group’s holding company.
The EFER initiative is also designed to facilitate experience sharing between the awarded entrepreneurs, experts and lecturers in the area of entrepreneurship and business. On 21 July, as part of the European Entrepreneurship Colloquium, panel discussions took place on different aspects on international expansion: strategy-shaping, teambuilding, developing strong brands and raising finance in international markets.
Selena Group is one of the three Polish companies selected as the New European Champion in this year’s edition of the project. Other award-winners include representatives from IT, FMCG, cosmetics, pharmaceutical or automotive sectors, coming from 13 countries. New European Champion is an initiative by the European Forum for Entrepreneurship Research (EFER) in collaboration with the Warsaw School of Economics (Warsaw) and IESE Business School (Barcelona). The mission of the EFER foundation established in 1987 is to promote innovative teaching methods in the field of entrepreneurship and management at colleges and universities across Europe. For this reason, the cases of the awarded companies will be used to develop teaching materials and courses for economic schools.