Foto: Jan Blažíček

Student Agency has teamed up with French transport group Keolis to operate yellow trains on Czech rails but the regions did not hold a tender for long-term contracts worth an estimated Kč 150 billion (€5.826 billion).

By the end of the year Student Agency expects to spend up to Kč 5 million on the advertising campaign against regional governors of the Social Democratic Party (ČSSD). Student Agency is claiming in a nationwide advertising campaign that by failing to put up tenders, regional governors have robbed taxpayers of Kč 22 billion.

“We want to point out that the regional governors acted illegally,” Student Agency’s founder and owner Radim Jančura told CBW. “The goal is to win support of other entrepreneurs. It is my attempt for a kind of revolution. We must not be afraid to speak out.” The company plans to further invest in the campaign after the Christmas break, he said. He plans to lodge a complaint with the European Commission. “We are confident that we will win,” Jančura added.

Jančura’s friend and business partner Tomáš Cikán, director of travel agency ESO Travel, said he admires his courage. “What he’s doing, attacking the state and a political party, I would not be such a hero,” Cikán said. He is concerned that the power of political parties could harm Jančura’s business, he said.

Tomio Okamura, spokesman of the Association of Tour Operators and Travel Agencies of the Czech Republic (AČCKA) said Jančura’s success lies in hard work instead of friendship with powerful people. “He’s a person who’s close to me with his anti-bureacracy opinions,” Okamura said.

But others, particularly his rivals, can’t stand Jančura. The Litvins, owners of Asiana, said Jančura’s latest attack on politicians is his own company PR campaign and they are bitter that the media fell for his hoax, Asiana’s general manager Šárka Litvinová told CBW. “I don’t like his loutish business practices and arrogance,” Litvinová said.

Asiana is the second flight ticket provider in the Czech Republic after market leader Student Agency. Both firms also provide bus operations, but with Student Agency’s competitive price policy, Asiana said at the end of November that it would no longer provide regular bus service. Bus operation was a hobby for Litvin, his wife said, explaining that it contributed to less than 3 percent of Asiana’s total revenues.

“I think he [Litvin] is hurt that he lost [the bus service battle],” Cikán said. Cikán doesn’t agree that Jančura is arrogant but admits that his pub manners may hurt cultivated people like Litvin. “When he [Jančura] doesn’t like something, he’ll voice it openly,” Cikán said. Cikán, who is friends with both the Litvins and Jančura, said that the two businessmen have a tense releationship. “Radim is tough in business; when he wants, he achieves his goal but his business practices are fair,” Cikán said. “He accomplished a lot for someone who is under 40.”

Self-made man

Jančura started his business as a one man show in 1994 while he was still a student and for this reason he chose the name Student Agency. Two years later the company had two employees and was transformed into a limited liability. Over just a few years Student Agency became the largest firm on the Czech market arranging au-pair stays and language study programs abroad.

In 2005, Jančura received the “Entrepreneur of the Year” award, organized every year by international financial services group Ernst & Young. The company name Student Agency, although English, is pronounced with Czech pronounciation. The brand is so established that it would be too costly to invest into rebranding, Jančura said.

Student Agency has now grown into a multi-billion crown business with a current staff of 900 people, the vast majority of which, except for drivers, are young women. But Jančura continues to act as the company’s spokesman. Moreover, anyone can ask the staff for his mobile number if they want to complain about the service, he said. “I am in fact the collector of any complaints about my employees,” he said. Every month Student Agency hires about 100 mystery shoppers and students who travel on buses and evaluate the service. He avoids personal meetings unless necessary and solves issues over the phone or online in order to save time.

Pedantic manager?

In pedantic behavior, he takes after his mother, Jančura said. “I can only criticize but you have to praise your employees as well,” Jančura said. But Cikán doesn’t agree. “I don’t think he cannot praise people. He builds an image of a pedant but most of his employees—the girls in the company—are deeply fond of him,” Cikán said. And this liking is not based on Jančura being a sex idol as he started to go bald and has developed a small beerbelly, he suggested. Indeed, Jančura names work, beer and sleep as his hobbies, in that order.

Cikán was one of those who travelled through Student Agency years ago to England on a language course. He and Jančura have been friends for about a decade and spend holidays together. “He’s a little lazy for my taste,” Cikán said. When Jančura is on holiday, let’s say a beach resort, he likes to sleep in and take it easy. “He can waste the entire day when he doesn’t have to work,” Cikán said, adding that sport is not Jančura’s strong side.

Back in 2006, Jančura spoke about his plans to build a chain of cheap hotels or even provide telecommunication services as a virtual operator. “I’m glad that we didn’t go into the hotel business,” he said, adding that the hospitality industry is going through a challenging time. Yet, Jančura and Cikán plan to build a hotel with 500 beds in Zanzibar and they set up Beach Resorts Investment company for the purpose. It took two years to buy 13 hectares of land from more than 110 landowners, Cikán said, adding that the project is in early stages and the plan is to open the hotel in 2012.

Investors have approached Jančura, who remains the sole owner of Student Agency, about a possible stake sale, but he is determined not to sell his business. “I have built the company from scratch and want to pass it on to the next generation,” Jančura told CBW. Up to now Student Agency has focused on growing revenues but the company is currently aiming to drive profit growth. For this year, Student Agency expects revenues on par with last year, some Kč 4 billion. “In 2010 we will maintain revenues on the same levels but we plan some Kč 250 million in profit,” he said. In 2008, Student Agency posted a pre-tax profit of Kč 27.5 million and this year Jančura expects to pass the Kč 100 million mark. While the company was initially set up to arrange au-pair stays, this service currently contributes only marginally to Student Agency’s total turnover. The company wants to focus on the sale of flight tickets and holidays.