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10 Questions

with Vít Bárta
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By František Bouc
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 14th, 2007 issue

Jan Přerovský/The Prague Post
ABL General Director Vít Bárta will launch the first Czech-owned security company in the United Kingdom.
Back in 1992, Vít Bárta and a group of fellow university students launched an agency that was tailored to help mediate student activities and events. From its humble beginnings, the firm has developed into a leading security services company in the Czech Republic. This year should become a landmark for the company as it eyes expansion to the United Kingdom, where it would be sending young Czechs to work as security guards in shopping centers. Bárta, now the company’s general director, talks with The Prague Post about the British project. He also reveals whether it’s more difficult to guard Miss World or David Copperfield.
➊  It’s hard to believe that a student activity group was at the roots of ABL. Could you explain the transformation?
In the early 1990s, I was a student of medicine and had nothing to do with security issues. Fellow students and I were associated within the Students’ Union, and we had the ambition to develop businesses that students could take up while studying. Apart from teaching or some other classic activities that help students make ends meet, assisting with event organizers is attractive to students because it offers some entertainment. One of our first clients was the State Opera in Prague, where we began taking tickets. The State Opera is still our client. Gradually, a small students’ assistance agency developed into an independent security services company.
The Bárta File
  • Job title: General director, ABL security services company
  • Age: 33
  • Nationality: Czech
  • Education: Master's degrees from the police academies in Prague and Bratislava
  • Previous job: Founded ABL in 1992, has worked there since
  • Family: Single
 
➋ ABL has just announced its expansion to the United Kingdom. You’ll be the very first Czech security services company to enter the British market. What made you eye the United Kingdom?
Over the past four years, we’ve expanded our network to Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine and Poland. The British appeal became apparent for us in the early days of our company after we transformed in 1998 from a student agency into a professional security services provider. At that time, we teamed up with a British partner, Ian Bird. Now, having a British shareholder and knowledge of the British market, we decided to capitalize on the fact that no work permits or visas are required in the UK from citizens of EU member states.
 
➌ What is the key step in moving to the United Kingdom?
Finding an appropriate leader for our British affiliation was truly essential. Through a recruitment agency, we got in touch with Paul Williams, a professional who has worked in the security sector for 25 years, and he also has 15 years of experience as a member of the British corps and police under his belt. He aspires to build up a new security agency in the UK, and so we hired him.
 
➍ Will it be more difficult for a security company to succeed in the United Kingdom after the July 2005 terrorist attacks in London?
The terrorist attacks were followed by a change in legislation. There’s now a bigger push on quality of the services provided, and this is where we see our opportunity. Nowadays, British guards are required to possess certificates from the Security Industry Association (SIA). Many guards in Britain lack this certificate, so it opened the doors to others. We therefore lecture our guards so that they can pass the SIA tests and receive the particular certificates. Czech candidates must undergo the tests and then spend six weeks in England so that they are eligible to receive the certificate.
 
➎ Is it really less expensive to hire Czech people here, to pay for their training and later for their transportation and accommodation in the United Kingdom than to hire local personnel?
No. We do not intend to be an exclusively Czech company. We’d like to see a mixture of nationalities in our British company, so there is about half Czechs and half British. Our employees’ qualifications are not just about language skills. It’s also about their enthusiasm, because we aim to work at shopping centers where providing information is very important. At the hourly wage of £5.35 ($10.40/225 Kč), the British will never be as motivated as the Czechs. We plan to start hiring young graduates out of high school, for whom this will be their first job experience and also a great opportunity to learn English. They should remain working in the UK for about a year, and it could be a great challenge for them.
 
➏ How does the hiring develop?
We began recruiting people at the beginning of this month. Dozens of candidates sent in their résumés in the first week. We hope to stage the biggest recruitment wave in May and June, when high schoolers graduate and will be looking for a job.
 
➐ Do you have any work assignments yet?
Not yet. We aspire to develop our business in shopping malls and retail centers around our British base in Manchester and in the north of England, and an office building in London.
We hope that our cooperation with major British firms such as Tesco and Cushman & Wakefield in the Czech Republic could stand as a reliable reference.
 
➑ Your expansion to the United Kingdom has been enabled by liberal UK policies that led to the government’s decision not to close the labor market to foreigners. Do you think other European Union member states that still protect their labor markets will open them soon?
Of course. Liberalization does pay off in this field. Opening the labor markets is profitable for everyone, especially for the country where new workers are going, because it expands the sources of a well-qualified work force. As a result, I’m glad the Czech Republic decided to leave the labor market open for workers from the newest EU member states, Bulgaria and Romania. I’m already keen on seeing the influx of well-qualified workers from the Balkans.
 
➒ ABL’s business portfolio features a wide selection of services, ranging from guarding particular premises to screening job candidates for companies. Which services are most in demand on the security market nowadays?
The most in demand are clearly complex security solutions, when customers want to shift all responsibilities for security onto an outsourced security agent. Today, outsourcing is not only for legal or tax agents but also security companies.
 
➓ Your company worked as a guard for the famous American illusionist David Copperfield during his last show in Prague and you also guarded Czech Miss World Taťána Kuchařová last year. Which was more difficult?
It’s certainly much more difficult to guard David Copperfield. He is quite active and creative and always on the move. We weren’t worried that he would disappear, but rather he appeared in places we weren’t expecting him.

František Bouc can be reached at fbouc@praguepost.com


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