Prime Minister Tusk at awards ceremony, Wednesday night: photo - Tomasz Gzell/PAP
“The nominees show that in today's Poland, you can make money and you can have your own ideas, temperament and creativity,” he said.
The awards, which are dedicated to the late businessmen Jan Wejchert, were chosen by a panel that included former national Bank of Poland governor Leszek Balcerowicz, architect of the economic “shock treatment” that Poland underwent after the fall of communism.
The three winners were chosen in the categories of Success, Vision and Innovation, and Social Activity.
Wojciech Inglot, owner of Inglot Cosmetics, won the award in the Success category, He established his company in the mid-1980s, and he now has 250 stores around the world.
“This prize is for all the wonderful team of people that I'm fortunate to work with,” he said.
Meanwhile, the award in the Vision and Innovation category went to Adam Kicinski, CEO of computer game design company CD Projekt RED.
The company is famed internationally as the creator of popular computer game series The Witcher.
The Warsaw-based firm shifted 1.1 million copies of the The Witcher 2 last year, and such has been the success of the two titles that President Bronislaw Komorowski decided to give a copy of the sequel to President Barack Obama when the American leader visited Warsaw last May.
“We have to be innovative, we have to have a vision, because the business we are working is very changeable,” Kicinski reflected.
Finally, the award for Social Activity went to Father Jacek Stryczek, initiator of the non-profit Szlachetna Paczka (Worthy Parcel) project.
Founded in 2001, the enterprise provides material assistance to the needy at Christmas, via private donors.
“Helping is an art in which I was able to connect not only spirituality and intellect, but also the thinking of many business partners,” Father Stryczek commented.
Jan Wejchert, in whose name the awards are given, died in 2009, was a co-founder of ITI Group, one of Poland's largest media groups. He also co-founded the TVN television network. (nh/pg)