Andrej Kiska (President of Slovakia)

Jun 23, 2015, 4:00 – 6:00 PM

KPMG LLP, 15 Canada Square, London, E14 5GL

The entrepreneurial story of H. E. Andrej Kiska is truly inspirational. From a construction helper to a country president with unprecedented ratings of over 70%. After several unsuccessful attempts Mr. Kiska built a financial services giant that he later sold to Intessa Sanpaolo (VUB Bank). In 2005 he founded the country's biggest charity, before becaming President of Slovakia.

In-person event

About this event

The entrepreneurial journey of Mr. Kiska is without a doubt one of the most interesting stories we have heard at Startup Grind. After finishing his university degree Mr. Kiska went to the U.S. where he worked at a petrol station and later as a construction helper. When he returned to Slovakia, he started a business. It didn't work out. It took several failed attempts until the 4th attempt finally clicked. Financial companies Triangel and Quattro helped create a new market and quickly became market leaders, having served over 20% of the entire country population. After 10 years (in 2004) Mr. Kiska sold both companies to VUB Bank which is part of the Italian banking giant Intessa Sanpaolo for an unprecedented amount. In 2005 he decided to dedicate his time to charity and founded the biggest and most successful non-profit in the country: GOOD ANGEL. The charity helps families with terminally ill children. Its almost 200,000 donors (4% of the country's population) helped with donations of €30 million to date. In 2006 Mr. Kiska was awarded 'Manager of the Year' by Trend Magazine. Mr. Kiska won the Presidential elections in 2014 and today has unprecedented approval ratings of over 70% of the population. Mr. Kiska is an active promoter of entrepreneurship supporter of building effective startups eco-system with an active follower-base. His LIVE Q&A discussion from Facebook HQ in Silicon Valley last year was attended by over 200,000 followers online.   We have invited Mr. Kiska to a fireside chat panel to share with us his story and views on how to build successful startup eco-systems and tech clusters. Mr. Kiska will be joined by Eric van der Kleij, founder of Tech City UK and CEO at Europe’s largest fintech accelerator Level39.

Check out what happened

Speaker

  • Andrej Kiska

    President of Slovakia

When

When

Tuesday, June 23, 2015
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM UTC

Agenda

Networking and Food
Fireside Chat
Networking

Organizers

  • Prem Sangeet Petar Savic

    Supreme Factory

    London Director

  • James Lethem

    Nascence

    Co-Director

  • Sam Adekunle

    Grone Collective

    Head of Special Projects & Initiatives

  • Gabriel Pizzolante

    UK GAP Consulting

    Ambassador

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