Andrzej Golyga
Andrzej Golyga, 47, grew up during the time of the first semiconductors, inspiring a childhood fascination with solid-state physics. That fascination led him to a career in consumer electronics that eventually led to him being named manager of Europe's largest Philips-television factory. On returning to Poland after taking a course in semiconductor devices and microelectronics at the Leningrad Institute of Electronics, Golyga moved to Warsaw. His job as an engineer at the Research and Development Center for Television Technology (OBRTT) brought him into contact with the development of audio and visual systems for Polish television sets. In 1984 an entrepreneurial urge led him to start a private TV repair company that prospered for a couple years. But as competitors increasingly gnawed at his client base, he decided to transfer to the Warsaw Television Company (WZT) as head of research and development. There he designed and marketed professional TV production equipment. Four years later he was recruited to become the president of Brabork, the largest Philips dealer in Poland, and spearhead the company's new manufacturing project in Kwidzyn.
He negotiated the company's first licensing contract with Philips, and within a year had established a small factory employing 100 people who built 100 televisions a week. In 1991 the first TV sets rolled off the factory's production line. When the Polish market, Brabork's sole outlet, cooled in 1992, Golyga diversified the business into making components for the German market. Within a year Brabork had the capacity to produce 2 million TV tuners a year. In 1995 Philips Consumer Electronics bought the facility from Brabork, allowing the Kwidzyn plant to mushroom, increasing employment to 2,000 and producing some 3.5 million televisions a year.
Past notes:
1980 Graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Electronics
1984 Started his own TV-repair company.
1990 Hired by Brabork
Word of advice:
"The only good advice is to be better than everyone else there's no other way. This means having to constantly analyze the market and constantly learn."
