The prestigious Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards title was awarded to an abrasive blasting equipment manufacturer drawing inspiration from Japanese management methods.

The 10th jubilee addition of the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards ceremony was held on 17 June 2014 on the floor of the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

A record number of 272 companies competed in the 10th edition of the competition. The Award Committee consisted of:

• Andrzej Arendarski - President of the National Chamber of Commerce,
• Jerzy Bartnik - President of the Polish Craft Association,
• Professor Andrzej Jacek Blikle - President of the Association of Family Business Initiative,
• Henryka Bochniarz - President of the Polish Confederation of Private Employers "Lewiatan",
• Grzegorz Galusek - Director of Microfinance Centre,
• Marek Goliszewski - President of Business Centre Club,
• Bożena Lublińska-Kasprzak - President of the Polish Agency for Entrepreneurship Development,
• Jacek Hanke - President of the Management Board of Digital Core Design, Microentrepreneur of the Year 2013,
• Professor Elżbieta Mączyńska - President of the Polish Economic Society,
• Andrzej Malinowski - President of Employers of Poland,
• Tomasz Pol - Head of Retail Products, Brokerage Services and Segments Management Division at Citi Handlowy,
• Piotr Szczepański - President of the Rural Development Foundation,
• Dariusz Żuk - President of the Academic Incubators of Entrepreneurship.

The Committee decided that the first award in the 10th jubilee edition will go to SANT-TECH, manufacturer of abrasive blasting equipment, including sand-sprayers and shot-blasters used in various industry branches. The company was established when the owner observed how Japanese companies are managed. Attention to detail and a holistic approach to business turned out to be the key to SANT-TECH's success. Since its establishment, the company has increased its revenue fivefold, recording an 80% growth year in and year out. In the near future, the winner is planning to create a franchising network across Europe and cooperate with machinery distributors in international markets. It already exports its products to such countries as England, France, Romania and Estonia.

Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards - SANT-TECH sp. z o.o.

The Award Committee also awarded three special prizes in three additional categories - START, PROGRESS and SENIOR, with a total value of PLN 45,000. They were awarded to: Centrum Monitorowania Opinii Internautów, an Internet polling company, RKPK, an innovative provider of interpreting services to the deaf and INTEXT Ośrodek Innowacji Technicznych i Kooperacji, a manufacturer of innovative electric tractors.

	START Centrum Monitorowania Opinii Internautów, which specializes in detailed Internet polling, was recognized as the best among the youngest businesses, set up after 1 January 2011. The company's experts monitor views expressed by Internet users from seven European countries, including the Czech Republic, Lithuania or Hungary.
	PROGRES PROGRES is the category which brings together companies founded between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2010. The winner here was RKPK, the only company in Poland to provide sign language interpreting services on such a scale. Thanks to the migam.pl website, deaf people can make an appointment at the doctor's or "call" a plumber with the assistance of a sign language interpreter. Moreover, RKPK is now working on an automatic interpreter to enable the deaf to communicate with people who do not know the sign language at all.
	SENIOR This year's award in the SENIOR category (for companies registered before 1 January 2007) went to INTEXT Ośrodek Innowacji Technicznych i Kooperacji, a manufacturer of special-purpose electric tractors and forklifts. The company supplies technology solutions to key global players operating in Poland, including Bridgestone, ABB, GlaxoSmithKline, NISSAN and Trelleborg. INTEX received an honorable mention in the Microentrepreneurship of the Year 2013 Awards.

The Awards Committee also awarded honorable mentions to:

• Anna Szkulmowska, Managing Director of AM2M, a biomedical imagining research company.
• Paulina Nowak, President of the Board of Spółdzielnia socjalna "Bajkolandia", a children's play center and the only parenting education center in the district.
• Dariusz Bułka, owner of CYBID - the only Polish developer of original IT solutions for road traffic and crime scene reconstruction.
• Bartłomiej Leśniewski and Karol Szufladowicz, owners of Good Looking Studio, a company operating at the interface of art and advertisement. It specializes in large-format wall paintings on buildings.
• Małgorzata and Dariusz Pucer, owners of Pasieka Pucer, a family-run business producing a variety of honey types.
• Andrzej Osysko, President of the Board of Pneumotechnika sp. z o.o., manufacturer of highly-specialized equipment for road surface friction testing.

The awards were presented to the winners by Tomasz Daniun, Director of the Client Acquisition and Portfolio Management Office at Citi Handlowy.

The Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards gala was preceded by a presentation of the results of a survey conducted by the Kronenberg Foundation at Citi Handlowy "The Expansion of Microenterprises" survey focused on the Polish sector of microenterprises. The survey was carried out by PBS Polska.

The results of the survey were the springboard for a panel discussion on the transformation of Polish microenterprises since the first edition of the competition ten years ago. The panelists included Professor Elżbieta Mączyńska, President of the Polish Economic Society, Marek Szczepanik, Deputy President of the Board of the Polish Agency for Entrepreneurship Development and Jacek Hanke, President of the Board of Digital Core Design, winner of last year's award. The debate was moderated by Cezary Szymanek, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg BusinessWeek Polska.

The Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards are intended to support microentrepreneurship, which is a fundamental form of conducting business activity in Poland. The 10th Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards were organized under the honorary patronage of President Bronisław Komorowski and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Economy, Janusz Piechociński. To run the competition, Citi Handlowy Kronenberg Foundation partners with the Microfinance Centre and the Coalition for Micro-Entrepreneurship, which includes: Business Centre Club, the Family Business Initiative, the National Chamber of Commerce, the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, Entrepreneurial Poland, the Polish Confederation of Private Entrepreneurs "Lewiatan", Employers of Poland and the Polish Craft Association.

Honorary Patronage of the Polish President Bronisław Komorowski

Honorary Patronage

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Janusz Piechociński

Partner of the Awards

Coalition for Microentrepreneurship

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