2018 EY Entrepreneur of the Year of the Czech Republic

After a couple of years the main jury had once again decided to award a special prize, this time for business inspiration of the decade, for Gevorg Avetisyan, the founder and owner of MARLENKA international s.r.o. In 2013 and 2014 Gevorg Avetisyan had won the title of the regional winner and EY Best Businessman of the Moravian-Silesian Region, this year he made it to the finals.

”The award means a lot to me. It gives me a sense of an even greater responsibility and a motivation to continue in our work and to make more products through which we can continue to promote Frýdek-Místek and the Czech Republic”, said Gevorg Avetisyan from MARLENKA international s.r.o., winner of the Jury Award for Business Inspiration of the Decade.

The nineteenth year of the EY Businessman of the Year had presented a number of leading business individuals who are inspirational for the people around them as well as to other budding or established businesses. Thanks to hard work and effort, courage to take up risks and innovate, social responsibility, and also thanks to their approach to their employees they are inspiring to all of us. “The main jury of the competition awarded six regional titles and one special prize this year,” saysMagdalena Souček, leading partner of EY in the Czech Republic and in a part of the Central and South-Eastern Europe region.

The main jury decided to award a special prize this year, it goes to Gevorg Avetisyan, the owner and founder of MARLENKA international s.r.o. for a business inspiration of the decade. The life story of Gevorg Avetisyan documents that everyone has an opportunity to change their life – to take root in a foreign country, find a second home, but most of all to believe in their ideas, to start a business from scratch, and to build a successful and internationally recognised company. The idea for his award-winning business came to Gevorg Avetisyan’s mind by lucky accident, when his sister came to visit him from Armenia and baked a honey cake based on an old family recipe. The honey dessert, which Gevorg named after his mother and daughter, quickly became popular among all his friends, and his sister was suddenly busy baking all the time. He bought second-hand equipment, rented out a small space, and in 2003 Marlenka international was born.

Today, Gevorg’s Marlenka employs 265 people and reaches an annual turnover of almost 600 million CZK. The flagship of the company is still the Marlenka honey cake, which gets produced in about 50 thousand pieces each week. The full range covers more than 30 products. The entire production process takes place in a factory based in Frýdek-Místek. Marlenka exports to 43 countries worldwide, including China, USA, or the entire Arabian Peninsula. One third of the produce gets consumed in the Czech Republic. The secret of the honey cakes made with an old family recipe is their exceptional taste, quality, and an almost unbelievable shelf life, while the only preservative is honey of the highest quality. In 2018 the company made 8 million products. For the future, Avetisyan plans to hire more staff and launch new products, but also to open a large production hall and a chain of coffee shops – the success of his own visitor centre at the Marlenka factory inspired him to do so. As he continues producing desserts based on the old Armenian family recipes, Marlenka is much more than just business for him. Gevorg is proud of the opportunity that he got in the Czech Republic, and also of the fact that his quality Czech-Armenian product has gained worldwide popularity. He believes that one day, his son will take over the company and will continue running it in the same spirit.