BUSINESS

You Live What

You Focus On

To seek agreement, be responsible and persistent, not to be afraid of change, to talk less, act more.

All this describes the professional and personal life of Dagmar Diatková, partner and investment

specialist at Finest Invest a.s. When did she start her business in the field of finance? What was her

original profession? You can find out all this in the following interview.

You are both a financial advisor and partner in

Finest Invest a.s. How did you come to this job?

I have been in finance for eighteen years. I started

as a lecturer and business network manager at ZFP

Academy, then developed my management and business

skills within Swiss Life Select Czech Republic where I also

managed the branch in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm for four

years. Three years ago, I was offered work with Finest

Invest a.s. and, since I knew both directors personally and

wanted to focus more on the investment area, I decided

to accept this offer and became part of the Finest team.

You take care of your clients‘ finances, focusing on

investments, mortgages and insurance. Who are the

clients that use your services?

80% of my client portfolio consists of clients for whom

I manage assets in the order of millions. They are business

owners, managers, doctors, businessmen and successful

people from various fields. I have been working with many

of them since the beginning of my career and, during that

time, we have developed very friendly relationships.

Do you work with a portfolio of your own clients that

you look after yourself, or is there a larger number of

advisors per client, each contributing their expertise in

some way?

I have been involved in complex consulting for many years.

Today, I provide this complexity together with my colleaguesspecialists, whom I use both for loans, mortgages and

insurance. My focus is on the aforementioned investments

and capital management, which is also the most common

topic I address with clients.

What are the general advantages and disadvantages of

this job? And what are the most important experiences

you have taken from this profession

into your personal life?

The financial advisory or brokerage industry is challenging. It

requires expertise, self-discipline, good time-management,

communication skills, confidence, drive, but also humility.

It is not always easy to mix all these skills and characteristics

correctly. But if you succeed, you are rewarded not only

with an interesting financial reward but, more importantly,

with interesting life experiences. This field will not let you

stagnate. In business, you are always learning something

new, dealing with unexpected situations; you have to be

able to make decisions. In one’s personal life it is the same.

You live what you focus on.

As part of the Marketing Applications course, you

lectured second-year students of VŠB-TUO not only

about the activities of Finest Invest but also about the

financial advisory market in general. Was it your first

lecturing experience? Do you plan to continue?

I took the opportunity to lecture on the topic of Marketing

in Finance for the students of VŠB as a challenge and

a bit of a return to my roots. My original profession is

a math teacher and, although I have taught at both

the elementary and high school levels, I have only

experienced college teaching from the classroom. Due

to the worsened COVID situation, the lecture was held

online. I was pleased that the students were interested in

how we work with clients in practice and what marketing

tools we use. So if there is another opportunity like this,

I will gladly accept it.

You are a member of the Czech-Moravian Association

of Businesswomen and Managers. What were the

reasons you joined the association and what does the

membership give you?

I became a member of the regional club in Ostrava three

years ago. Since then, I have had the opportunity to meet

many interesting women from business not only within

one region but across the whole Czech Republic. The

motto ‘We Grow Together’ encourages cooperation,

which is what I strive for within the association.

I appreciate the opportunity to promote me and my

business within the association. In fact, this interview

also happened thanks to the association.

You are a very active woman, and the dynamics of

this industry combined with the huge competition

can be stressful. How do you relax? Do you have any

favourite place in the Moravian-Silesian Region to

clear your head?

My favourite free time activity is travelling. Every year,

I travel with my partner or with my girlfriends to different

parts of Europe. I plan these sightseeing tours on my

own and just the preparation of where to go and what

to see is a lot of fun for me. I like mountains, the sea, old

cities and mainly time spent with my loved ones. When

I want to ‘clear my head’, I go cycling or hiking with

a book in my backpack to the hills around Rožnov pod

Radhoštěm. I love Wallachia. It is my home region and

my ‘heartland’.

Thank you for the interview and we wish you the best of luck.

Text: redakce

Foto:

Petr Holuša

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