You Can’t Build a Community by Email
72 ǀ POSITIV 3/2026
LÍDR
You Can’t Build a Community by Email
Lukáš Petřík, Director of the District Chamber of Commerce Opava (Okresní hospodářská komora
Opava – OHK Opava), holds around 500 meengs with businesspeople every year. Perhaps
that is why the Chamber now has more than 250 members, whose companies employ nearly
15,000 people, with 25 new members joining in the rst quarter alone. In this interview, he
explains what is driving this growth, how the Chamber genuinely helps businesses today, why he
does not consider personal contact a thing of the past – and what, by contrast, he does.
Moravskoslezský kraj má přitom silný základ – kvalitní
firmy, úspěšné podnikatele, technické know–how a prů-
myslovou tradici. U nových investic ale nerozhoduje
jen cena pozemku nebo práce. Investor potřebuje při-
pravenou lokalitu, kapacitu energií a sítí, dopravní napo-
jení, pracovní sílu a předvídatelný povolovací proces.
Musíme proto lépe využívat brownfieldy, připravovat
podnikatelské zóny a zkracovat cestu od investiční-
ho záměru k realizaci. Potenciál tady máme, teď jde
o podmínky, aby firmy měly důvod růst právě tady
a schopní lidé důvod zůstávat nebo se vracet.
Kam chcete komoru posunout v následujících letech?
Za poslední roky jsme výrazně rozšířili členskou
základnu, dnes pořádáme přes čtyřicet akcí ročně
a jen za první pololetí jimi prošlo více než 1 100 lidí.
Na tom chceme stavět dál.
Chci, aby byla OHK Opava vnímána jako silný partner
pro podnikání – pro cílené propojování firem, sdílení
know–how, otevírání důležitých témat i hledání kon-
krétních řešení. Jsme otevření novým spolupracím,
pokud dávají smysl firmám a regionu.
Osobně si ale přeji, aby opavská komora při dalším
růstu neztratila svou tvář. Aby zůstala místem, kam
se podnikatelé nebudou bát zavolat o radu, kde se bu-
dou rádi potkávat a kde budou vědět, že na své problé-
my nemusí být sami.
How exceptional is this rate of membership growth?
In recent years, we have been one of the most dynami-
cally developing chambers of commerce in the Czech
Republic. At the same time, we are building on more
than thirty years of history. We do not want to throw
everything old away and start again, but rather preser-
ve what has value while adding greater momentum,
new formats and services that reflect the way business
is done today.
For me, the number of members itself is not the fi-
nishing line. Above all, it is an indicator of whether what
we do genuinely makes sense to businesses.
Why are companies from outside the Opava region
also choosing to join your chamber?
Companies today are not concerned solely with dist-
rict boundaries. What matters to them is the environ-
ment they are entering, the people they will meet there
and, above all, the tangible benefits of membership.
Membership is voluntary, although several business
owners have told me, with some surprise, that they
thought being a member of the Chamber was a requi-
rement for running a business. From the perspective
of growing our membership base, I would of course
quite like such a model, but that is not how it works
in the Czech Republic.
That makes it all the more important for us to de-
monstrate the value of membership every single
day. Business owners expect contacts, business op-
portunities, help with specific problems, training or
an introduction to the right person. We also pay con-
siderable attention to sole traders and smaller compa-
nies. They often do not have their own in–house speci-
alists, and this is precisely where individual mentoring,
practical advice or a quick introduction can make a sig-
nificant difference.
What I do consider a thing of the past, however,
is the idea of a chamber as a formal institution that
operates the same way it did twenty years ago.
What do you do differently that makes companies
come knocking on your door?
One of the most important decisions was to spend
much more time out meeting businesspeople. I perso-
nally attend around 500 business meetings and other
professional gatherings a year. In my view, there is no
substitute for this – if you want to understand compa-
nies, you need to sit down regularly with their owners,
managing directors and managers.
It is precisely these conversations that give rise to new
formats, company visits and expert discussions. One
example is our Summer Business Gathering, which
attracts more than 300 guests and was created
through our excellent cooperation with the Statutory
City of Opava. The city is a genuine partner for us,
and I believe this kind of connection between the city
and the business community should not be taken
for granted. In our case, it is one of the things that other
regions may quite rightly envy us for.
The second change was to make greater use
| Text: MonikaŠevčíková, foto: Okresníhospodářskákomora