Simona Kijonková and her incredible journey from scraped knees on the hills of Karlovy Vary to billions from Zásilkovna and open horizons.
Hunter S. Thompson wrote of a similar Caribbean island that looks half like Tampa, Florida and half like a medieval asylum. Even after several decades, it can be stated that he came incredibly close to the truth. The thermometer shows 31 degrees, the air humidity reaches 85 percent.
Sometimes, like a gift from the heavens, a fresh wind blows and the stirred-up dust falls on the old sanitary equipment, a rusty trailer and a pile of other junk that once may have served someone well, but today looks more like the film sets of the Rum Diary.
Stray dogs only underline the absurd scenery, which, knowing that this is where we will begin to tell the strongest female business story in Czech history, one does not even want to believe.
In the same way, one does not want to believe that when Simona Kijonková, the protagonist of this story, sees two plastic chairs by the rusty lift, she immediately goes in their direction.
He climbs onto the trailer and waves his arms in triumph. Just. She is about as interested in the fact that she is wearing a white silk dress and Hermès sandals as she is in the limping rooster waddling around.
The relaxed and slowed-down atmosphere of the Caribbean island of Aruba, which calls itself “one happy island”, is the complete opposite of how one of the most prominent figures in Czech business has lived until now.
For thirteen years, she intensively and with incredible commitment built Zásilkovna – the largest Czech logistics company, which she just sold.
The value of the transaction has not been published, but according to Forbes, Simona Kijonková and her husband Jaromír will receive between four and five billion crowns from the deal, on the other side of which is the CVC gigafund and Jiří Šmejc’s Emma Capital.
As we have already indicated, the Czech Republic has not experienced a stronger and bigger business story behind which a woman stands. A woman who didn’t start from zero, but rather from minus three. A woman who, at the age of thirteen, had to watch a bus full of classmates looking forward to ski training disappear over the horizon while she remained sitting on the bollard.
A woman who, when she sees any challenge, jumps at it with vigor, and for whom “no” is just a signal that she needs to ask another question. With billions on her back and open horizons, Simona Kijonková is now drawing her future in the sand. And it’s colorful out of place.
Why are we in Aruba?
I was thinking about where to start the sabbatical, which I simply need after the year of intensive work on the sale of the company. It was as if I was doing statesmanship every fortnight. I’m not in the best health, I’m like a wrung out piece of rag. I used to take a sabbatical once a year with the whole family, now I need more time.
Here I am now starting a long journey around the world. And Aruba is the first destination on this trip. Traveling always recharges my batteries, and this dream was in the fog, but now, at forty-six, it is coming true. And my husband supported me in this. So now we are waiting for Easter Islands, Brazil or Bora-Bora.
Traveling helps me overcome the most difficult moments of my life, and so it is now. Even two years ago, when I was thinking about whether to sell and let it go, I flew to Mexico and it was there that I decided to give priority to my family over business. That’s how I’ve been all my life. I am a Christian and I put my family first.
You are forty-six, you are in Aruba, you have billions in sales… What next?
I am a person who never leaves anything to chance in life. When we signed the sale, that huge pile of papers, on December 22nd, I knew that my next step would be helping other entrepreneurs. From the position of an investor. That’s ultimately the ultimate meta for me. Employee, entrepreneur, investor.
I already drew plans in the sand in the aforementioned Mexico. And she thought of our children. We have a lot of businesses, real estate, investments, and it was a bit of a mess. In its current form, I do not want to hand over the management of our family property to the children.
The most important thing I want to pass on to children is to do what they enjoy in life. Each of our three children is completely different. And my responsibility is not only to support them in their dreams, but also to teach them how to manage their property like the noble families did. That’s a good inspiration, even if we’re not a noble family.
How will you invest? Like private equity? Or maybe a capitalist?
There will be more. My primary target will not be early stage companies, nor will I venture into venture capital on my own. For example, I respect Ondřej Bartoš (partner in Credo Ventures, editor’s note) as an investor, so some joint investments may come.
But personally, I want to focus on private equity. Specifically for medium and small businesses that may be so-called distressed – they may have a problem with finances, management or perhaps with growth. I went through all this myself. And I believe I can help them with that.
So you don’t want to build anything new yourself?
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