After close to four years of rapid, acquisition-fueled expansion under former CEO Eric Franke, Volia became the leading pay TV provider and one of the biggest players on the internet market. The firm now services 3.5 million households, operating in 29 cities. The goal of conquest, however, eclipsed customer relations as a priority. As a result, the company became notorious for poor service, especially in Kyiv.
Gyorgy Zsembery
Age: 43
Citizenship: Hungarian
Position: CEO of Volia
In the country since: January 2013
Tips to succeed in Ukraine: “Don’t focus on liaising and socializing with other expats. It’s more interesting to do things with the local people.”
Speaking at the upscale Volkonsky cafe in the city center, Gyorgy Zsembery, the smooth-talking Hungarian CEO who took over the firm in January this year, says he wants to put service first.
“Volia is not a technology company,” says Gyorgy Zsembery, the new CEO of Volia. “It’s a service company which currently is serving TV and internet to basically provide entertainment.”
While he says he has already met a lot of friendly, hard-working people in Ukraine, a lot of work still needs to be done for consistent, individually targeted service to become part of the working culture.
Zsembery often compares Ukraine to Volia – both have huge potential they fail to live up to, he says, and both lack a sense of service culture. He gives the example of a cafe at which he regularly eats breakfast, picking the same set at least three times a week, but is still waiting to be recognized in the morning and offered the usual order, or hear some interesting suggestions.
Asked how he plans to reorient Volia’s service culture, Zsembery says he believes “in role models, and I have to be the best role model.”
When pressed on how simply setting a good example can work in a company the size of Volia, Zsembery does not give a clear answer. He emphasizes, though, that instead of brain-washing trainings he wants to pass the desired traits all the way down the chain of command.
“We are going to have people who can also demonstrate, and starting from managers… Then it can cascade down,” Zsembery argues. “Who cannot do it, can survive for a while, but only for a while.”
The emphasis on service, however, does not mean that Volia’s era of acquisitions is over. According to Zsembery, around 30 companies are being looked at as potential targets.
The question, however, is about price. Many companies overvalue themselves, living in a pre-2009 crisis world, though they are becoming more realistic. This is necessary given the nature of the business, which requires huge scale to make investments into new technologies pay off. Moreover, in a market of over 300 companies where most have less than a one percent market share, consolidation is inevitable as the market matures.
Zsembery, who spent the previous five years at leading Hungarian internet service provider Invitel, first in charge of sales and marketing, then as chief operating officer, says that Ukraine trails Western markets, but is catching up fast. He estimates the Ukrainian market is about two years behind Hungary in terms of technology and five to eight years in terms of market maturity.
Meanwhile, he is excited about bringing new products to the table, particularly High Definition TV on a paid-for basis. An avid viewer of U.S. sports, he says that on demand video will revolutionize the consumption model, even if half the potential customer base will stick to traditional TV. Even that leaves lots of room for growth, he adds, noting that some 100,000 people in Ukraine currently consume HD products, even though 2 million TV sets could support this solution.
Asked about life in Kyiv, Zsembery says he enjoys it, but cautions that expatriates should not seclude themselves in their comfort zone.
“Stepping out it will also cause the biggest surprises – walking around the central high-end streets with glamorous brands and pricey restaurants, you almost feel like in Paris or New York, he said. But step just 10 meters off the beaten path, and you will see holes in the sidewalks and rundown Soviet buildings. The inequality of it all, leaves me baffled.
“This coexistence in such a small place: I don’t get that,” Zsembery says.
Kyiv Post chief editor Jakub Parusinski can be reached at [email protected]
