Czech Branch Gearing Up for Commercial Operations

As part of its long-term strategy of international expansion, Begoma is about to strengthen its presence in the Czech Republic by relaunching the commercial operations of its Czech branch that was established in 2008.

Initially, Begoma’s office in the Czech Republic focused on traffic management, working as an independent traffic group with its own customer stock and an annual turnover of about MSEK 15-20. During the last 5-6 years, however, the office has primarily supported the other branches with back office services. Still, Begoma is well-positioned in the Czech Republic and sees great potential for further development in the region.

”We see a strong potential of contracting customers in many of Europe’s industrial clusters, not least in the Czech Republic,” says Henrik Malmberg, Managing Director of Begoma Spedition.

”There are many manufacturing sites in Czechia, distributing their goods all over Europe. We’ll try to cover all destinations and can combine our efforts with Begoma’s branches in Sweden and Poland,” comments Iva Brič, who is the Team Leader at the company’s office in Týniště nad Orlicí and who has had a pivotal role in building up the Czech branch since the start in 2008.

She’s in charge of all activities at the office and heads the reconstruction of the revived commercial functions that will be relaunched after the summer.

”Right now, we’re focusing on freight and ferry sales and advertising, finding new customers and establishing a web portal for quotations and tenders. We’re also building up a network of hauliers to handle freights all over Europe, both in east and west markets. On behalf of supporting the other branches with transportation tasks we freight many loads to Germany, Belgium and France. And we have backload volumes from Italy to Czechia,” says Iva Brič and continues:

”These days, with the coronavirus pandemic, the situation is of course very uncertain and we have to follow the steps of the manufacturers closely. Hence, I’m in regular contact with them, checking their situation, adjusting price levels, consulting customs etc. to supply them with good offers. We of course also have the same dialogue with hauliers.”

Today, four people work at the Czech office.

”Currently, it’s only I who work with commercial operations here. However, as we re-establish the branch as an independent traffic group, we’ll recruit more sales people and forwarders. We will also move to a new, bigger, office on September 1^st,” she adds.

Even with the enhanced focus on commercial activities, the Czech branch will maintain its function as Begoma’s back office, supporting the other branches with invoicing, accounting and transportation tasks.