The UK is strong in professional services. Not only are the big advisory firms such as PwC present in Poland, there are also many large UK law firms and real estate companies operating successfully here.

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Large British corporates have been significant investors in Poland since the 1990s

Interview with Paweł Siwecki and Michael Dembinski, British Polish Chamber of Commerce.

since the 1990s – the market is simply too big to have ignored. Nearly a third of the firms listed on the FTSE 100 index are present in Poland. British retailers like Tesco and Kingfisher (in Poland as Casto-rama), BP and Shell; manufacturers like Rolls-Royce, GKN or Johnson Matthey; healthcare firms like GSK, AstraZeneca or BUPA (in Poland as Lux Med); banking and financial services such as HSBC, Aviva, Provident or Prudential.

British firms have been a part of Poland's BPO/SSC boom over the past few years. However, there is now a recognition among businesses looking to locate some of their back-office activity to Poland as Kraków and Wrocław are overheating in terms of access to skilled employees. Warsaw remains popular because of its universities and its capital-city status.

Looking at food and FMGC, Poland is home to Associated British (AB) Food's exotic sauces plant in Nowa Sól and to Twining's Tea blending and packaging facility in Swarzędz. BAT and Imperial Brands both have factories in Poland.

The UK is strong in professional services. Not only are the big advisory firms such as PwC present in Poland, there are also many large UK law firms and real estate companies operating successfully here. And British professional bodies, such as the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, Chartered Institute of Manage-ment Accounts, Association of Chartered

Wiktor Doktór: BPCC is one of the big­gest chambers of commerce operating in Poland. What is the main role of the Chamber and what are the benefits for your members?

Paweł Siwecki: Investor support is at the heart of what we do. The BPCC ini-tiates activities across the industry sec-tors where our members are present, and across job functions – CEO, CFO, HR and Sales & Marketing. We are a bilateral chamber and we integrate Polish- and UK-based businesses through policy group meetings, macroeconomic analysis, one-to-one introductions and interaction through digital media.

When it comes to foreign investments in Poland – British capital is one of those who are on the top of the most frequent investors. What is the size of British investments in Poland and what industries are the biggest players? Is it FMCG, food, manufacturing, renewal energy or something else?

PS: In a world of international capital, it's difficult to say where a given invest-ment is from (Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling AG, for example, the Swiss-headquar-tered former Greek subsidiary of the US firm listed on the London Stock Exchange is a major player in Poland's soft-drinks market). It's nearly impossible to place a value on the inward investment out of one country into another.

Having said that, large British corporates have been significant investors in Poland

Certified Accountants or the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply all have qualified members in Poland. It’s worth mentioning the presence in Poland of the British Standards Institution (BSI Group), which is actively promoting best practice, certification and standards to Polish and international businesses.

Renewable energy has been a patchy story – the challenge is to have a predict-able legislative environment allowing for long-term investment plans, be it wind, solar, biogas, bio mass or waste-to-energy. Today, off-shore wind and small-scale hydroelectric projects are of interest, but larger commitment from UK investors is yet to happen.

Overall, British investment in Poland has tended to have been global corpora-tions rather than small- or medium-sized firms. Progress over the past ten years up the World Bank's Doing Business ranking – from 76th in the world to 27th

– has resulted in a noticeable increase in medium-sized firms from the UK setting up in Poland.

If we take a look at Poland are there any cities or regions where British in­vestors are more active or have strong­er presence?

PS, Michael Dembinski: Historically, British investment in Poland has focused on the south (Wrocław and Kraków in par-ticular) for manufacturing investments and for shared services/BPO (Aon, Shell,

British firms have been a part of Poland's BPO/SSC boom over the past few years. However, there is now a recognition among businesses looking to locate some of their back-office activity to Poland as Kraków and Wrocław are overheating in terms of access to skilled employees.

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businesses with global potential. We are seeing more and more of these, in particular in sectors such as FinTech.

It's too early to say how the new ZBH (foreign trade office) will support Polish exporters to the UK. The ZBH replaces the old WPHI (trade and investment promo-tion department) at the Polish Embassy in London on 1 April this year.

The BPCC has a different form of activity in the UK than in Poland (originally our chamber was set up in 1992 to integrate British investors into the Polish economy). Over the years, the BPCC has worked closely with the Polish Embassy in London to promote Poland as an inward invest-ment destination for UK firms. In terms of support for Polish entrepreneurs in the UK, there's the very active Pblink.co.uk network – more about that later!

Brexit is creating a number of uncer­tainties for nearly two years now; there are lots of questions concerning possi­ble opportunities. Do you think Brexit will help to grow business relations between Poland and UK or there won’t be significant difference comparing to current situation?

PS, MD: It depends very much on the sector. Let's start with the fact that 2017 was the best ever year for

BP, HSBC, Capita all having large centres in Kraków), and Warsaw for corporate headquarters and development centres such as Sage and Hargreaves Lansdowne. As Poland's regions become more spe-cialised (automotive in Silesia, aerospace around Rzeszów), so British investors are tending to move there. Rzeszów is a good example, with recent aviation-sector investments there from Bodycote Inter-national, MacBraida and Rolls-Royce's joint venture, Aero Gearbox.

What would you recommend to compa­nies who’d like to start doing business in UK? Should they contact the BPCC, Polish Embassy in London? What steps they should follow to be successful in building business in UK?

MD: Polish entrepreneurs looking to scale up and go global should definitely consider the UK as the ideal springboard for expansion. Tech firms with IT solutions that can be sold around the world (rath-er than just for Poland) would do well to set up in London. Firstly, it has a world-class financial ecosystem – finding investors, be it business angels, ven-ture capitalists or private equity funds – is far easier than in Poland. Secondly, the 'Made in UK' label is recognised around the world and is a powerful brand. Third-ly, the informal personal links between Britain and the Americas, the Middle East

and the Far East, make entering those markets via the UK much easier than dir-ectly from Poland.

I mentioned that Poland is ranked 27th in the world in terms of ease of doing busi-ness. The UK is seventh. Polish entrepre-neurs who have set up in the UK marvel at how little bureaucracy hampers their activity, letting them focus on growing their business rather than dealing with paperwork.

Who to contact? The British Embassy in Warsaw can certainly help innovative scale-ups looking to go global via the UK. There are many ways in which the British government is supporting inward invest-ment from entrepreneurs with innovative

2017 was the best ever year for bilateral trade between the UK and Poland, the value of goods sold between

the two countries was over £15.9 billion.

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bilateral trade between the UK and Poland, the value of goods sold between the two countries was over £15.9 billion (£5.1 billion from UK to Poland, £10.8 bil-lion from Poland to UK). For the majority of Polish exporters, a Brexit that will see the UK leave the single European market and the Customs Union will be a chal-lenge. From today's frictionless borders, the reintroduction of country-of-origin certification, VAT issues, checking pa-perwork at port of entry, may slow down the just-in-time supply chains between our countries. This is critical in two of the biggest sectors of Polish exports to the UK – automotive and food. And the UK represents for Poland the third largest export market (after Germany and Czech Republic) and the second-biggest trade surplus (after Germany). A slow-down in trade with the UK could harm Poland's current account if that surplus falls.

And should the worst-case scenario occur, and World Trade Organisation tariffs are to be applied on all goods coming from the EU, Polish products will retain their competitive advantage over those from higher-cost western European sources. Many UK consumers would be forced to pick cheaper alternatives as a weaker pound and inflation hit their wallets.For IT firms from Poland, in particular those with global ambitions, the UK will

remain a springboard to global markets come what may, as we mentioned above. There are no tariffs nor border controls on zeros and ones. For Polish entrepreneurs interested in the 66 million consumers in the UK, the market will continue to be attractive. There will be restrictions on the freedom of movement of Polish workers to the UK, so the competitive advan-tage that Polish builders, for example, currently have will be limited to a certain degree as it will be harder to bring over skilled craftsmen from Poland.

So, it'll be a mixed picture – some may gain, some may lose.

As we know Polish business is very interested to get familiar with British business environment. What business events would you recommend to the companies who are interested to in­crease the business networking with British diaspora in Poland and British business in UK? What are the main BPCC business events or mixers in Poland and UK?

PS, MD: The BPCC began working with Polish entrepreneurs in the UK back in 2006, at first organising Polish-lan-guage events for them in London. But since 2012, with the formation of PBlink.co.uk, helped by the BPCC, there has been a strong support network for Polish

entrepreneurs right across the UK, from Scotland down to the south of England. Events are now held in English, and many of the speakers are other immigrant entre preneurs, from India, Africa or the Middle East, showing to Polish entre-preneurs that the UK is not just a market of a million Poles – it is a diverse market of 66 million consumers. PBlink.co.uk events offer business information, case studies and inspiration together with high-quality networking critical to busi-ness development. Thanks to PBlink.co.uk, a strong community of Polish entre preneurs has been established across the UK, which can help newcomers find potential business partners. Pblink.co.uk is now developing a sector focus; in March it will be holding the second British-Polish Construction Forum in London for Polish business owners – contractors, subcontractors, developers, architects and engineers.

Thank you. Just for the end of our conversation – if you were to give just one tip what to avoid when talking to British businessmen, what would it be?

PS, MD: Brexit is a touchy subject. Emotions run high on both sides of the fence – like religion and politics – steer well clear, unless you can get a sense of what your interlocutor really thinks about it! •

"Polish entrepreneurs looking to scale up and go global should definitely consider the UK as the ideal springboard for expansion." – Michael Dembinski, Chief Advisor, BPCC

"British investment in Poland has tended to have been global corporations rather than small- or medium-sized firms." – Paweł Siwecki, CEO, BPCC

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