Author: Martina
Chapter 1 – What is the financial market and how to trade on it
In today’s first chapter of our “Series for beginners – how to invest in stocks”, we’ll look at basic terminology about investing and trading on the stock exchange. We will also look at basic investment intruments. There is a bit of theory today, but only to the extent of explaining the basics, which you’ll need to understand the content in the following chapters thoroughly. What is the financial market? Let’s begin with a short explanation – what is the financial market? The most basic description is this: it’s a marketplace where those who have free money meet those who need money. In other words, it’s similar to other markets you know but specified to financial resources – money. It’s possible to find a lot of instruments on the financial markets that retail traders, like you and me, can trade with. We call these investment instruments or simply just instruments. Stock exchange Generally, the stock exchange is a place where it’s possible to trade with several instruments between buyers and sellers. Some instruments need to be traded on a specific exchange, for example, stocks on NYSE – New York Stock Exchange or commodities on Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The vast majority of exchanges are legally regulated, and they need to follow strict rules. Some instruments, for example, cryptocurrencies, are not traded on any specific exchange – the trades between buyers and sellers are intermediated by private subjects, for example, private company Coinbase. These private subjects provide platforms for trading cryptocurrencies. These companies are typically not regulated by any of the state authority. New York Stock Exchange on the famous Wall Street in New York What are the most commonly traded instruments and markets There are thousands of instruments traded on the stock exchange. As we mentioned above, some are traded on a specific exchange like stocks or commodities, and some, like cryptocurrencies, can be traded outside the exchange, in other words, on markets outside regulations. What are the most famous and most traded markets? Forex market Forex, or Foreign Exchange, is an international foreign exchange market with currencies. Buyers and sellers on the forex market are usually global banks, national banks, investment funds, brokerage companies or insurance companies. Thanks to the development of electronic trading in the last few years, forex market has become available also for retail investors as well and allows market participants to buy and sell foreign currencies worldwide. It’s a market with one of the highest liquidity in the world. This market operates 24 hours per day, five days a week. Stock exchange market A stock exchange market is a market where you can trade, i.e. buy and sell, stocks of listed companies. Stock exchange markets exist so that issuers (companies issuing stocks) can sell the stocks in favour of gaining profit and for investors to buy the stocks. What is STOCK? Stock is a Security which represents a share in a specific company. Specific rights are associated with each stock – the basis ones are the right of a company’s profit (in a form of a dividend) and the right to vote at the company’s general meeting. Bond market A bond is a debt obligation in the form of a Security. Therefore, a company issuing bonds gets capital from the buyers who buy the bonds. Bonds can be issued by the state (for example USA issues bonds called US Treasuries). Bonds can be issued also by private companies, these bonds are called corporate bonds. Commodity market There are many commodities traded on the market, from precious metals (such as gold or silver) to industrial metals (like allumnium or nickel). It is also typical to trade with agricultural commodities, like cacao, sugar, soy beans or wheat and energy, for example, natural gas or crude oil. Cryptocurrency market Everyone probably heard about bitcoin, ripple or ethereum. However, compared to the other markets, which are regulated by legislation, have their rules and are controlled and overseen by the government agency, the cryptocurrency market has no set of regulations or formal rules, and it’s not influenced by any governmental body. Thus, it is quite risky place for beginners. Market with different derivatives – like futures, options, CFD etc. Apart from commonly known instruments mentioned above, there are plenty of other specific instruments traded on the market. One of them are derivatives with their prices derived from other instruments. Moreover, it is also possible to trade with options (the right to buy a particular type of instrument). Conclusion There are tens of thousands of instruments that are traded on various markets, with billions of dollars of daily volume. Each instrument has its specifics and rules, and it’s easy for a person to feel overwhelmed by all of this. This series focuses on stocks trading for a good, concrete reason. In our next episode, we’ll examine why we think stocks are an ideal starting point for beginners.
The Inspirational Women Forum & Awards
Los Angeles Times invites you to join the 2022 Inspirational Women: Trends, Updates, Forum, and Leadership Awards. The Inspirational Women Forum & Awards is the biggest event of the year and it’s not to be missed! The Inspirational Women Forum & Awards is a half-day event with 2 components. The Awards Luncheon will recognize accomplished female leaders from corporations or non-profit organizations throughout California who have demonstrated noteworthy success and accomplishments during the last 24 months in approximately 10 award categories. In the morning, prior to the Awards Luncheon, a series of dynamic panel discussions with top business leaders with versatile backgrounds will take place aiming to inspire, empower and enlighten the audience. AGENDA Inspirational Women Forum 8:00am – 8:45am: Registration and Networking, Breakfast Buffet 9:00am – 9:05: Welcome Remarks Panel Discussions Tentative Duration: 9:15am – 12:00pm Game Changers: Females who have broken barriers in predominantly male dominate industries Mentorship: They Key to Retention? Why having a mentorship program should be part of any organization’s business model and strategy in terms of retaining and nurturing talent. What are some best practices. Overcoming Entrepreneurship Pitfalls – Challenges entrepreneurs should expect when starting and scaling a business with insights on how to launch and scale a business from the ground up. Prioritizing Mental Health and Wellness – Given all post-pandemic challenges individuals are facing, what are some programs companies/leaders are adopting to address mental health issues Investing In Your Future – Insights on how best to manage finances and invest for long-term success. Additionally, since many of our attendees are entrepreneurs this panel will address what founders and CEOs need to be aware of when seeking to buy/sell businesses. Inspirational Women Awards Luncheon 12:00pm – 12:20pm: Registration & Networking 12:30pm – 1:00pm: Opening Remarks & Lunch 1:00pm – 2:30pm: Awards Presentation
Are women afraid of investing?
Current stock market turublent year became a forced but beneficial break from investing for me. I love summertime when one has time to read, study and think. One of the topics, which is very loud these days, is “Women and investing”. Typically you can read a lot about women not investing as much, not just in the Czech republic but elsewhere in the world. Today’s blog reflects on why this topic might be a reality. Plenty of interests and even more hurdles I have a lot of personal experiences with the following: whenever I tell another woman that I actively trade stocks, most of them show an active interest in it. They ask many questions – what am I buying or how much time do I spend by trading? Then, pretty much all of them sigh and talk about the need and interest in investing their money somehow, but… It’s a topic many women are dealing with, but it almost seems that an invisible force prevents most of them from doing the most crucial step – simply begin. Where is the problem? I often thought about the problem, not just me, but many others as well. And I think the problem is not the lack of education, knowledge or time. Instead, I believe women are overwhelmed with prejudices that discourage them from investing. During the last ten years, when I have been actively investing in stocks, I have experienced more than enough situations women have to deal with while investing. So let’s look at what can discourage women from investing – I named this list “The top prejudices discouraging women from investing” because I am confident those are indeed just prejudices we can overcome. Suppose you give yourself a point for every prejudice on this list that you find fitting. In that case, I bet especially very successful, educated women who are professionals in their respective fields would have the top score on the prejudice list. The top prejudices discouraging women from investing Self-confidence or “I need perfect knowledge or even better – a diploma from finances to actively and successfully invest”. I bet that for most women with full-time jobs or businesses in a different field than finances, this seems like a hurdle that is unbeatable. In their daily routines, most women can’t study finances and markets on top of everything. Education in finances can be an advantage but investing is possible without it. After all, we have not studied universities to raise children either, so that we can handle this without it as well. The need to be perfect and avoid mistakes Most professions (doctors, lawyers, accountants, tax advisors and others) are undeniably based on the principle that mistakes can mean and cause considerable complications. It can often mean financial loss, litigation, and problem with clients, and in the case of doctors, it can have fatal consequences. As women, we usually try to be perfect at our jobs, be perfect moms, have a perfectly organised home, and be good wives and partners. It’s also good to look stylish while doing it and care for ourselves. And if we are not perfect, we often feel a sense of guilt and often punish ourselves for it. But this approach doesn’t work when it comes to markets and investing in general. Markets are irrational, and you will make mistakes. But we can learn through mistakes and gain valuable experience. I often feel like a boxer when he got a brutal knockout, but after taking a step back, I realised those are important lessons, even though they can sometimes be very painful. I admit that there are many less painful ways on the way of investing… What’s critical is acknowledging that you don’t have to be perfect on the market, and it’s not necessary to be flawless. What’s important is to make money. The need to have every situation under control This is another stigma which we often carry due to multitasking which is an inevitable part of many women’s daily lives. We need to control our work/business, employees, kids and their schedule, and household, to name a few. Without control or a system, some aspects of our lives would collapse; at least, they would come in mine. This is another aspect that plays against women when investing. No one can control the market, the market does whatever it wants. The more control you want, the more frustration you’ll create for yourself. The best thing to do is to let the market flow; the moment you accept this, you will feel much better. And there will be plenty of control left after that. “I don’t have time.“ This is a comment I hear often, and I completely understand it. In a busy schedule, there isn’t any time for “nice to have” things like investments. Women often think that investing needs a lot of time, but in my opinion, it aligns with everything I mentioned above. Of course, you can spend plenty of hours per day on the market, but you don’t have to. It all depends on a person’s investment style and expectations about profits. If you spend by investing and control of your portfolio just a few hours a month because you don’t have more time, it’s clear you won’t be able to beat the market. But even a short amount of time (even an hour per month) is enough to be good investor…and to be honest, less can often be more. Checking the market once a month can save you a lot of nerves you would get if you see the markets’ ups and downs daily. Relationship to money Generally, the relationship to money is a big topic, not just among women. Many economically active women grew up during the communist period, where just a few things were available. Many women (often single mothers) have deeply rooted harmful money-related boycotting programs in their minds. Most women manage ordinary family budgets for shopping, holidays, and other regular household items. Many women don’t know any models from their own families, where a woman would make investment decisions. Those decisions are typically the male domain. It demands self-reflection and honesty to bring the root of these programmes to the light. People often find out that their minds carry many things which may not be very beneficial for them. The only thing that can help is to realise all those negative programes because after that, it’s much easier to start finding solutions. Women are brilliant investors, and we have the data!!! To support all the women about the fact that investing is unequivocally a field with enough space for them, we can look at the countless studies showing that women are better investors than men. To name all the reasons, we’d have to do another blog. Maybe next time. Conclusion The article’s conclusion is clear – all the prejudices I mentioned above exist only in our minds. If you think you need to start doing something before inflation eats up all your savings, it’s good to realise that those looking for a way will find it. The only limitations are those which exist in our minds. Marika Čupa
Three Days of Inspiration Await at the Fifth Annual Women|Future Conference
Hundreds of women professionals will gather virtually at the fifth annual Women|Future Conference from November 8-10. The Women|Future Conference is a professional and personal development, learning, and networking conference hosted by The Stevie® Awards, the world’s premier business awards. Attendees return to the conference year after year to be inspired, build resilience, and share insights into changes that impact their industries, their careers, and their lives. The agenda features over 20 panels, workshops, and breakout sessions hosted by 80 women CEOs, founders, small business owners, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, coaches, and executives from organizations such as Accenture, Goldman Sachs, Hilton, HUGO BOSS, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Nestle, T-Mobile, and others. Each session falls within one of seven tracks: Leadership Entrepreneurship Future of Work Marketing Personal Development Technology Workplace Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) The sessions are designed for professionals in all stages of their careers to learn and share what’s working in their organizations, troubleshoot the challenges they collectively face, and make meaningful connections. Below is a partial list of the 2022 Women|Future Conference panels, sessions, and workshops. KEYNOTE: Dream Big & Chase It, by Rashmi Verma, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at HUGO BOSS Building Your Community of Mentors Cultivating an Inclusive Workplace: How Diversity Creates Opportunity FearLESS: Facing Adversity Generational Work Styles: Understanding the Old and the New ‘Shark Tank’ style pitch competition for newly founded woman-owned businesses Silencing Self Doubt: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Strategic Storytelling: Advertising and PR Tactics for Your Business The Balancing Act: Self-Care and a Sustainable Work Life The Next Generation of Tech The Ever-changing World of Social Media The Evolution of Connection: In-person vs Virtual Networking The Snowball Effect: How Women-Led Businesses Create an Impact Think Like an Investor: How to Get the Funding You Deserve Turning Passion into Profit …and many more Browse the full agenda to explore the sessions occurring each day, including pre-conference sessions on November 7. The Women|Future Conference Senior Manager of Events, Ruslana Milikhiker, remarked on the transformation since the first annual Women|Future Conference; “In 2018, the Women|Future Conference was created to complement the highly successful Stevie® Awards for Women in Business competition to give high-achieving women professionals, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs a place to come together, share ideas, and network.” Nina Moore, the Director of Marketing & Communications, added: “Today, the Women|Future Conference serves women on a larger scale. Our conference tagline Cultivate Your Tomorrow was added in 2020. We chose this phrase because the conference encourages attendees to not only embrace their tomorrow, but to tackle career, personal, and life goals. The Women|Future Conference goes beyond the changing business landscape and focuses on current issues we all face as working women.” Conference Registration Tickets for the 2022 Women|Future Conference are available on the conference registration page. Groups of three (3) or more who register together get 10% savings with our group discount Student tickets are $39, with proof of a valid student ID To learn more about the conference, keynote, other speakers, and registration, visit www.womenfuturconference.com.
Empower Women: From financial independence to sustainable future
In the EU, women earn on average 14.1% per hour less than their male counterparts, which equals to almost two monthly salaries. This is why the European Commission marks November 10 as the symbolic day after which women basically work for free until the end of the year. Not only do women earn less, they receive lower pensions but tend to live 5 years longer than men on average. Let’s discuss the factors behind the gender pay gap, what must be done to achieve equal pay and how can women achieve financial independence and plan for life-changing events such as maternity leave, divorce, and retirement. Women Investing and Investing in Women Global crises disproportionately affect women and highlight their need for passive income and financial independence. Investing protects women’s savings from inflation and prepares them for retirement and unexpected life events like loss of work, divorce, or health complications. Female entrepreneurs account for 37% of global GDP. Support of women owned businesses has been linked to inclusive economic growth and it is a prerequisite of reaching the 2030 UN Sustainable development goals. How can we support female investors, empower female founders and how should wealth managers adapt to more women playing the game? Women, Value–Based Investing, and the Future of ESG Did you know that women prefer value and impact-based investment, with 52% of women opting to invest in companies that have a positive social or environmental impact compared to 44% of men, according to a study carried out by Cerulli Associates? Women care more about the values of the companies they invest in than the returns, often choosing to invest in the fields of health, education, and sustainability. How can we utilize women’s preference for value and impact-based investing to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future and why is this transition not possible without them? Save the date: 10. november 2022. Registration form here.
Facebook’s downfall: Only 32% of U.S. teens use it
Internet use has increased massively in the past two decades and today, there are more active users than ever. Social media websites, in particular, have become extremely popular, with Facebook being the third most visited site in 2021. Despite the recent rise of Instagram businesses and influencers, Facebook remains the most popular marketing platform – in 2021, 78% of its users said they have found new products and services on the platform according to data published by BroadbandSearch. TikTok, on the other hand, was the most downloaded app last year after launching internationally back in 2017. Social media is a big part of teenagers’ lives – new generations are now being born in a digital world where texting and sharing videos have largely replaced real-life (or irl, as gen z’s would say) communication. Tracking what interests young people and, particularly teenagers, when accessing the Internet is a fascinating, useful tool for spotting larger trends and even peeking into the future. Which social media platform will dominate in five or ten years? Where will people search for news, entertainment, and products? How will businesses adapt to the ever-changing digital landscape? Striving for answers, the team at TradingPedia examines a new report called Teens, Social Media and Technology by the Pew Research Center. It uncovers some interesting tendencies in young people’s preferences such as the fact that nearly all teens right now use YouTube whereas only 32% say they use Facebook. The biggest social media platforms among teens Before diving into the teen social media landscape we must understand the relevance of the Internet in today’s life. With a world population of 7.93 billion, 5.47 billion are Internet users according to data by Nielsen Online. This means that currently, 69% of all people on Earth have access to and use the Internet and from 2000 to 2022, the penetration rate increased by 1,416%. As of 2021, 4.48 billion people were on social media, with Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp each having more than 2 billion monthly active users. And while Facebook remains the top platform of choice among all age groups in the U.S. and worldwide, American teens prefer to spend their time mostly on YouTube. The website which launched in 2005 as a video streaming platform is now the most popular social media site among teenagers in the U.S., with 95% saying they ever used it and 19% admitting they visit it almost constantly. Next in popularity is TikTok (and its original Chinese version Douyin) which was released in 2016 but did not become globally available until 2018 when it merged with the Chinese social media platform Musical.ly. Of those surveyed by Pew Research Center, 67% say they have used the app and 16% say they use it almost constantly. The third most popular social media platform among U.S. teens is the video-sharing service Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms (known until recently as Facebook, Inc.). 62% of respondents are Instagram users, while 10% open or use it almost constantly. Photo sharing app Snapchat is following closely, with 59% of teens using it. 15% say they are constantly on it. Meanwhile, less than a third (32%) of all teens in the survey visit Facebook and only 2% are almost constantly on it. Note that researchers did not include Facebook’s Messenger as a separate platform in the survey, so it is likely that these percentages reflect the use of both Facebook and Messenger. Teens were also asked about several other social media platforms and the results show that 23% used Twitter, 20% used Twitch, 17% were on WhatsApp, 14% used Reddit and a mere 5% say they ever used Tumblr. Shift in popularity for social media platforms Things change quickly in the world of social media, even more so when it comes to young people and their preferences. Facebook was once the most used social media website among teenagers in the U.S. with 71% of them being on it in 2014. Data from a similar survey by Pew Research Center shows that in 2014-2015, Instagram was the second most popular after Facebook with 52% using it, while Snapchat was used by 41% of respondents. By 2018, when researchers conducted yet another survey, there was a significant shift in the social media landscape. Facebook’s popularity dropped and it had become the fourth most used platform with only 51% of teens using it. YouTube had replaced it – 85% of teenagers in the U.S. said they used the website. Another interesting fact is that two platforms from the 2014-2015 survey were not present in the 2018 statistics – Vine and Google+, which were discontinued. Boys vs Girls and other demographics There are several noticeable differences in the use of platforms between boys and girls, between white, black, and Hispanic. For instance, teen boys are more likely to use Twitch and Reddit. The video game live streaming service Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, is used by 26% of teen boys in the survey compared to only 13% of girls. 20% of boys used Reddit, a news aggregation and discussion website, and only 8% of girls said they ever used it. Teen girls, on the other hand, are more likely to use TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat – 73%, 69%, and 64% respectively, compared to 60%, 55%, and 54% of boys. Interestingly, 81% of black teens were on TikTok, compared to 71% of Hispanic teens and only 62% of white teens. Black respondents were also the least likely to use Reddit – the website was used by 16% of white teens, 14% of Hispanic teens, and only 9% of black youngsters. For Hispanic teens, WhatsApp followed Facebook closely – 29% said they used it versus 19% of black and 10% of white teenagers. When looking at use by age, the most notable differences are for Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit – younger teens ages 13-14 were less likely to visit and use these platforms than teens ages 15-17. In the list below, there are three groups of teens divided by household income – low income (less than $30,000), middle income ($30,000-$74,999), and high income ($75,000 and up). How frequently do teens use social media? Since TikTok exploded in popularity in 2018 and 2019, there have been concerns that the app and the short video form of the content, may affect users’ attention spans and cause addiction. However, findings from the Pew Research Center report show that YouTube is used more frequently than TikTok, at least at first glance. Nearly three-quarters or 77% of teens visit YouTube at least once a day compared to 57% who say they are daily TikTok users. Daily (or more frequent) use of platforms drops to 51% for Snapchat, 49% for Instagram, and 18% for Facebook. Michaela Kralikova: I don’t like when people or brands play games But when we look at how many use TikTok and Snapchat at all, we can see that a larger share of users log in daily or more frequently. Around 86% of those who use the two platforms open them every day. And a quarter of users are on the apps almost constantly. This brings us to the next question – is it hard for teens to stop using social media? Unsurprisingly, the short answer is “Yes”, at least for half of the youngsters that took part in the survey. More than a third of teens or 36% say they spend too much time on social media, while 55% think they spend just the right time on these platforms. Another 8% believe their time on social media is “too little”. Researchers also asked them how hard it would be for them to quit social media and 54% of respondents said it would be hard – that would be “very hard” for 18% of teens and “somewhat hard” for 35%. For 20% of teens, this task would be “very easy”, while 26% found it “somewhat easy”. Moreover, 78% of teens who say they spend too much time on social media admit it would be hard for them to quit it, with 29% describing it as “very hard”. Methodology The analysis of teens’ social media use was published by Pew Research Center in August 2022 and focused on U.S. youngsters aged 13 to 17. The survey was conducted online by Ipsos from April 14 to May 4, 2022, and included 1,316 U.S. teens and their parents. The respondents were divided by age, gender, race/ethnicity, household income, metropolitan status, and more. Of the total unweighted sample size of 1,316, 686 were boys versus 596 girls, 504 were ages 13-14, and 812 were ages 15-17. 599 were white, 407 were Hispanic, and 138 were black. Most teens (702) lived in suburban areas, 321 lived in rural regions of the country, and another 287 teens lived in urban surroundings. Find out full report here.
PIETRO FILIPI: RISE AND FALL OF THE TOP CZECH BRAND
Interview with Lenka O’Neill about the last years and fate of Pietro Filipi, about fashion brands in Czech market, and the impact of Brexit. Lenka, you are very active in the fashion market in the Czech Republic, and during the last year you and your business partner Lukas Uhl also took in your hands management of the insolvency process of Pietro Filipi. Please tell us how that happened and why you decided to take over such a complex mandate? Following the collapse of business due to the pandemic, it was very disappointing to say that Pietro Filipi had got into a trouble and fell into liquidation. My colleague Lukas Uhl had been approached by the creditor bank to come up with a plan of how to sell the recovered assets to obtain as high an amount as possible to pay the creditors. This is what he agreed to, and he prepared a proposal to recover 1,4 Mil Euro against the secured claim (pledge) of 2 Mil Euro. In the end we succeeded in achieving a total of 2,5 Mil Euro. Usually, you can only obtain around 8 – 10% of the value of the asset which in this instance would be 800 000 Euro therefore not enough to cover the pledge. I had previously met my colleague when we were negotiating a marketplace co-operation at Zoot. My colleague Lukas Uhl had been the Zoot CEO at that time and he was managing the Zoot business through the insolvency and re-structuring that was forced upon the business at that time. At the time we did not conclude a deal with Tamsin and Zoot as we could not agree terms on the margin. Some time later, my colleague has approached me to see if I would like to get involved with Pietro Filipi sell out of secured assets. How did the year of your work on Pietro Filipi insolvency look for you? What were your major challenges? When we have overtaken the inventory for a total value of over 4 million Euros under the sales based contract, it was overwhelming. We had to relocate the inventories of 130 000 items of 18 stores including the central warehouse in Trutnov. The collections in the stores were at the time a winter season. The stores were showcasing beautiful wool coats, jackets, jumpers or blazers and it had happened that we were in hot July 2021. We have initially drawn a matrix on how to separate the inventories seasonally and then by the category. What has made the difference while we were doing the inventory was that we have designed a scheme where we have collated boxes from the stores into the rows and categories by mono-category. Then into the columns and using mathematical formulas (matrix) that enabled us to get through in such a high-speed project that we could replenish the stores afterwards. The strategy of the pricing, dynamic sales, hiring ex Pietro staff, opening three stores in the original locations and regular events have proved to be right for this business case. Could you please share with us what has initially led to the collapse of such a successful local fashion brand? Was it past years due to COVID or were there any major strategical faults prior to it? I would split the collapse into 5 pillars. Pietro Filipi had established a flawed business model at the very beginning. You cannot possibly design and manufacture fashion within Czech and Slovak Republic. The demand from these two countries is not great enough. The whole set up was a high cost. When the original owner sold the business to the new owner of Pietro Filipi, had already shown a loss that time. You cannot lead a team of high profile designers to design the collection from a paper at the table in the Czech Republic and fulfill the local demand. Second Pietro Filipi had got heavily over indebted. The company has used bank loans, investment money and in the end they released bonds. The value of the debt was around 52 Mil Euro. The assets could not support such a level of debt. Third Pietro Filipi wanted to expand to Baltic countries which in the end proved to be the wrong strategy and again it has burned the investors’ money. A far better option would have been to instead find a franchise partner who would look after the stores over there rather than making the expansion remotely. At the last but not very least, another business hurdle was the overproduction of the men’s collection. The product offering historically was split by 70/30 women and men. There was a massive overproduction of men’s formal jackets and suits. Men’s fashion is rather expensive with all Italian exclusive materials, for instance each button would costs 4 Euro and to make one formal men’s jacket is very time consuming and requires specialized labour. We have seen huge overproduction when we have overtaken the inventories. We were rolling our eyes at the extent of the over stocking. At very last the Covid pandemic came in 2020 and this closed all the stores. In January 2021 all the employees have been made redundant by letter. Were there still any possibilities to save it from bankruptcy if there were any actions taken on time? If so, what could that be? In my opinion the company could not be saved as the total debt was too high. What could have been done was to change the entire set up of the production of the collections. Instead of having a local design team and the local manufacture I would find a factory where they could guarantee being able to make the volume in efficient time and required quality. Look to embrace the catalogue manufacturers instead of hand detailed attention to each garment which resulted in high expense which was not recoverable in sales. What are the main lessons that you think Czech fashion brands should learn from the Pietro Filipi situation? You must understand where each penny goes in your company. It doesn’t mean you have to be penny-pinching all the time though. Optimalization of all the manufacturing operations. Be as efficient and cost effective as possible within the processes. Count on the margin which is the fundamental objective of running a healthy business. To always be aware of how much the company can comfortably borrow, especially about bonds issued to the market/investors. Bonds didn’t appear suitable to a loss making company. Lenka, you are also a Founder of the Tamsin. Please tell us about it? Yes I am the founder of Tamsin which is a platform offering British fashion. We have been focusing on a virtual catalogue with a vast choice and a few days delivery from England. At some point we had over 10 K styles. We have been collaborating with the big players on the UK high street and online such as Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing, Little Mistress, Closet London or River Island. Our main USP was to sell dresses. We have created an online dress manual to make it as easy as possible to buy a dress in one click. Our customer could choose what body silhouette she wears, her favorite sleeve or neckline, her favorite length, or the other details. This concept was fun but very difficult on the logistical processes within an international field. I have started the company in Chelsea in London where I was living at that time and the company was remote based from the start. I had employees working in Czech while I was living in London flying to Czechia every month. This was the start of remote working on Skype 10 years ago. How was your business affected by Brexit? Brexit and Covid pandemic has transformed the business rapidly. Brexit has limited International business entirely. Before Brexit we could ship inventories within 4 working days as part of the EU. After January 2021 everything has changed: long delivery leads, admin paperwork overload that you almost need to hire a person to do just this job, custom duty 12%, admin and courier fees and VAT duty for B2C. I remember the very first days when all these changes have been implemented and the chaos that people at the border or the courier companies had no idea what to do. We were waiting for shipments for a month. We also hear now about other brands exiting Czech market or largely reducing their presence, such as Italian Caprisa, French Promod, British Next, now also German Orsay. Why is it happening? The Covid pandemic has changed a great deal about the fashion market. First of all prior to the pandemic the market went through the consolidation of the fashion market with the big players in general. One of the highly respected investor and founder Martin Rozhoň said a very interesting sentence a few years ago about what was coming. I remembered his comment which appeared to be right that big players were buying SMEs e.g. Mall bought Vivantis, Zoot merged with Bibloo, Urbanstore and Different and Fashiondays, Modissimo and Bigbrands have gone. Then e-commerce started to feel the strain with the cost of refunds. Zalando and Zoot regularly reported over 50%. That is a life threat to the core business. Personalization, automatization, and the algorithms play a big role in an e-commerce business which involves investments. And last but not very least the coming Amazon to the online fashion market. Online sales cover a 16% share of total retail market according APEK. Therefore, the core of retail are still the bricks and mortar sector which had suffered with the closing of stores during the pandemic. Unfortunately, listed brands above such as Promod or Next didn’t make it through for several reasons and my last information about Orsay is that HQ in Germany got into liquidation and the shops in the Czech Republic have gone under the wing of EMEA acquisitions and will be sold online. The fashion market has changed rapidly and it is heartbreaking to see the damage. And what are you major plans for the next year? What will be your next big project? We have kept the Pietro Filipi Collection store on Narodni, with my colleague Lukas Uhl as we could have not closed it. We have hired ex Pietro employees who were such a great support during the insolvency that we have decided to keep it and open a multi-brand concept. We have managed to open contracts with International brands such Gerry Weber, Olymp, Selected femme, Carl Gross for suits, Seidensticker for shirts, cashmere scarves from Fraas and Czech brands for handbags Hein or Mr. Junk for hand made gloves etc. We are very excited to bring to our customers such similar as possible brands to that of Pietro Filipi that we can satisfy them in their expected high customer service standard. Our mission is the creation of a multi-brand concept where the customer gets served in the best possible way with our Pietro team. The aim is for the best sustainable fashion which will be everlasting. Please come and visit us.
New study reveals all the best countries for paid parental leave: Slovakia ranks 4th
A new study reveals the best (& the worst) countries in the world for paid parental leave, with Slovakia ranking 4th best. The study carried out by Lensa looked at the total number of paid leave weeks for both parents and at the average payment rate for paid leave, to find where in the world parents are offered the most paid parental leave. The top 10 best countries for paid parental leave: Rank Country Length of paid leave for mothers (weeks) Average payment rate for mothers (%) Full-rate equivalent pay for mothers (weeks) Length of paid leave for fathers (weeks) Average payment rate for fathers (%) Full-rate equivalent pay for fathers (weeks) Full-rate equivalent for both parents combined (weeks) 1 Romania 108.7 85 92.4 5.3 87.8 4.7 97.1 2 Estonia 82 100 82 2 100 2 84 3 Bulgaria 110.4 61.1 67.5 2.1 90 1.9 69.4 4 Slovakia 164 42.2 69.2 0 0 0 69.2 5 Japan 58 61.6 35.8 52 60.3 31.4 67.2 6 Hungary 160 41.1 65.8 1 100 1 66.8 7 Luxembourg 46 85.2 39.2 28 75.7 21.2 60.4 8 Slovenia 52.1 100 52.1 4.3 100 4.3 56.4 9 Czech Republic 75.1 73.8 55.4 1 59.4 0.6 56 10 Norway 86 46.4 39.9 15 95.5 14.3 54.2 Romania is officially the country that offers the most paid parental leave, with Romanian parents being able to take over 97 weeks of paid leave. Romania offers fathers 100 fewer weeks of paid leave compared to the time offered to mothers. Estonia ranks second in our list, offering 84 weeks of paid parental leave to both parents combined. Estonia is the only country in the top 5 places that provides 100% pay for paid leave for both mothers and fathers. Bulgaria is the third best country in the world for paid parental leave, with over 69 weeks of combined leave for mothers and fathers. While offering a generous 90% pay for paid leave to fathers, Bulgaria only allows fathers to take 2.1 weeks of paid leave to take care of their child. The top 10 worst countries for paid parental leave: Rank Country Length of paid leave for mothers (weeks) Average payment rate for mothers (%) Full-rate equivalent pay for mothers (weeks) Length of paid leave for fathers (weeks) Average payment rate for fathers (%) Full-rate equivalent pay for fathers (weeks) Full-rate equivalent for both parents combined (weeks) 1 Ireland 28 27.3 7.6 4 13.6 0.5 8.1 2 Switzerland 14 58.3 8.2 0 0 0 8.2 3 Australia 18 42.4 7.6 2 42.4 0.8 8.4 4 New Zealand 22 47.5 10.4 0 0 0 10.4 5 United Kingdom 39 29.8 11.6 2 18.8 0.4 12 The study also looked at the worst countries in the world for paid parental leave, and found that Ireland is the one offering the least paid parental leave for both parents combined – 8.1 weeks in total. Switzerland and Austria rank second and third as the worst countries for paid parental leave, and are the only ones, other than Ireland, to offer under 10 weeks for both parents combined (respectively: 8.2 and 8.4). Further findings: The study also revealed the most childcare-friendly careers: Physician assistants, speech-language pathologists and web developers all have a median salary of over $60,000 and allow great flexibility when it comes to hours and vacations. Working as a delivery driver is also a good way for parents to earn money outside of their family commitments. Evenings and weekends are often peak times but drivers can pick and choose where and when they work. The full findings are available to view here.