Warsaw Voice - Mazovia Lures Investors

By Michal Jeziorski
14 marzec 2007

Mazovia is winning the race to attract foreign investors. The region is the leader in terms of work force standards, it conducts many information and promotion campaigns aimed at investors, and it is easily accessible thanks to the road network and Poland's largest airport in Warsaw.

For many entrepreneurs, investing in Mazovia is the easiest way to launch operations in Poland and Central Europe. Mazovia already has over 20,000 registered companies with foreign capital involvement. That means that one in three investors chooses Mazovia. More than 1,000 firms have invested over $1 million each here. They include such giants as France Telecom, LG Electronics, Citigroup, Intercell, Inter Cars, Danfoss and IKEA. Capital is being invested in practically all sectors of the economy, from food processing, the automotive and chemical, mainly pharmaceutical industry, to telecommunications and banking services.

Mazovia attracts investors mainly because of its large market of more than 5 million residents, and its strategic location for production and services. Its other assets include good transport infrastructure and a well-educated and relatively cheap work force. The Mazovia province boasts the largest proportion of residents with higher education. More than 370,000 students are studying at Mazovia's 19 public and 81 private higher education institutions. The province has the largest university and university of technology in Poland.

Mazovia's economic leader is Warsaw, which topped the European city ranking conducted by the European Cities Monitor in the labor cost and office price categories. That is reflected by the figures: Warsaw accounts for as much as 82 percent of all foreign investment in Mazovia. The province outskirts fail to attract so many investors. European Union funds are expected to change this though. "The local government of the Mazovia province is creating foundations for the economic development of our region. But that development will not materialize without help from local governments. I mean here activity that attracts capital for investments in the region. In the coming years, the Mazovia province will have 3 billion euros from the EU at its disposal. That might seem a lot. But considering Mazovia's opportunities and its intellectual and technological potential, I am sure that all of these funds will be used," said Mazovia Province Deputy Chairman Jacek Kozłowski.

Mazovia has communes that can serve as examples of how to attract investors. The leaders include the Mszczonów and Grodzisk Mazowiecki communes. The success of Mszczonów is a personal success for Mayor Józef Kurek, who has held the post for many years. "At the beginning of the 1990s, we treated the motto of deciding our own matters for ourselves very seriously. Earlier, I traveled a lot around the world and I saw small localities that changed into thriving industrial centers over a short time. We followed in their footsteps. When the first major foreign investor, FM Logistic, entered the area in 1994, people saw that we had been heading in the right direction," said Kurek.

Mszczonów has attracted many large foreign firms. Huge warehouses have been built here, including those for the automotive, cosmetic, food and textile sectors. At the end of the 1990s, the British developer Europa Distribution Center bought 150 hectares near Mszczonów and built Poland's largest distribution center-Europa Park.

In Grodzisk Mazowiecki, another leading commune, 50 firms have already invested more than zl.400 million. The mayor of Grodzisk Mazowiecki is Grzegorz Benedykciński. The most recent investor is Eurinpro, which is building a warehouse for zl.40 million. Douriez Bataille will launch its first printing house outside France here. The German candy producer Haribo is about to launch the investment process in Grodzisk Mazowiecki. The company has already purchased 23 hectares of land.

The success of Grodzisk Mazowiecki has been largely due to the Grodzisk Mazowiecki Warsaw Environs Industrial Park investment zone, established near the A2 freeway exit about 4 km north of the city. The zone of 150 hectares has been divided by a planned network of roads into 13 investment areas covering between 2 and 25 hectares. The leading investors in the commune, who have created nearly 3,000 jobs altogether, include Frito Lay, the American potato chip and snack producer; Danfoss, the Danish investor that makes refrigerating and heating equipment and control systems; Raben Mazovia, the international freight forwarding firm with Dutch capital involvement; Swiss firms Hiestand and Firmenich; Dutch company Trouw Nutrition, Finnish firm Suominen, French company Gefco, Czech firm Ravak and Italian company Rabugino.