BUSINESS

There are No Coincidences

a person for whom meaning is very important, who appreciates the freedom of independence,

loves a fun approach to life and accepts responsibility for everything she does, who is convinced

that very few things can be coincidences and that almost everything has a solution: we bring

you an interview with Hana Čmielová, CEO of Storybend, an expert on the Inpram platform

and a Barret Values Centre certified coach.

Mrs Čmielová, you are the co-founder and

director of the non-profit organization Zkuseni.

cz. What is the goal of the project and where

did the idea to establish such organization come

from?

That thought had its journey. I’ll relate it to my

childhood. Even back then I was fascinated by

old people – and I mean that in the best possible

way –because I had an amazing relationship with

my parents and grandparents. I got along with the

older people. So by the time my baby, so to speak,

flew the coop, I had fewer responsibilities. So the

question arose as to what to do with all this free

time. And, as they say, there are no coincidences –

at this time I was approached by my colleague, Milan

Lindovsky, who thought that we could come up

with something for active seniors, and it was done.

We started to operate the social portal Zkušení.cz

within the company Storybend s.r.o. Its main mission

was and is the possibility of a new, fully-fledged

involvement of the elderly in society via finding new

occasional job opportunities, thus enabling them

to pass on their talents, experience, products, etc.

The activities of Zkuseni.cz have gradually grown

since then. Originally, we did not intend to establish

a non-profit organization, but the circumstances

forced us to ‘enter’ the non-profit field and the

original social portal transformed into the registered

institute ZKUŠENÍ.CZ, z.ú. If you are curious about

other activities or events we offer, please visit www.

ZKUSENI.CZ.

Text: redakce

Foto: archiv

Hany Čmielové

You are a very active woman—CEO of the

Storybend company, an expert on the Inpram

platform and a Barret Values Centre certified

coach. Could you please describe these

institutions briefly? What do they do?

Oh yes, sometimes I surprise myself. The world is

colourful and offers a plethora of opportunities.

Storybend s.r.o., which celebrated its twentieth

anniversary this September, focuses on event

management, advertising and production. My

colleagues and I at Inpram are trying to help

companies increase employee engagement and

productivity by targeting their strengths and values.

Values are my ‘thing’. And it’s a big topic in today’s

society! I work with values on the basis of the unique

global methodology Barrett Values Centre. Even

though we don’t realise it, values govern our internal

settings that fundamentally influences what decisions

we make in specific life situations, regardless of

whether it’s work or personal life.

28 ǀ POSITIV 4/2021

What surprised you most about working with

elderly people?

I don’t know if there was something extremely

surprising. My expectations often meet with reality

and that is probably the basis of my entrepreneurship.

I have amazingly creative people around me,

understanding and supportive board members who

have original ideas. The elderly people, not only in

the Moravian-Silesian Region, appreciate that and

they enjoy the collaboration with Zkušení.cz. It is

a great impulse to do other activities for them. We

also manage to connect different generations and

‘break the dogma’ with the younger generation—

’old age = a dirty word’, because contemporary

society is focused on performance and the cult of

the young. The current two years with COVID are

a big challenge for all of us. For this reason, I am

very happy that, despite all the restrictions, we

managed to organize a series of seminars supported

by the Moravian-Silesian Region, ‘Senior Home

Alone or (Un)safe Senior 2021’, planned travel,

wanderings around the Czech Republic, and regular

meetings of the Jiřičky Club. We also didn’t interrupt

collaboration with the University of Ostrava Faculty

of Social Studies, the VŠB Technical University of

Ostrava Faculty of Safety Engineering, the Magnolia

Elderly Home, the Moravian-Silesian Region, the

Statutory City of Ostrava, other clubs, organizations,

supporters …

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?

The Czech-Moravian Association of Businesswomen

and Managers has a great potential for female

entrepreneurs and managers across professions,

even globally; I like to use it. We have common

projects with many colleagues, everything happens

on a win-win principle and in the context of the

vision of ‘women supporting women’. For me,

this is an extremely encouraging collaboration.

I appreciate exchanging experiences in resolving

various problematic situations in managing the

company; it gives me greater insight outside my

field. What makes me especially happy is the

professional growth of our young members. It

is a very nice feeling to watch and be part of

the beginning of their entrepreneurship leading to

their first successes!