AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL seen him expelled from no fewer than four university courses . He laughs : “ I was studying because my parents wanted me to , but I wasn ’ t attending classes . I was busy running my own businesses . The problem is that I ’ m not very good at anything , but I know a little about everything . And although I liked all the subjects at school I never wanted to be an expert in any of those topics . I am the guy who understands a bit of everything but doesn ’ t want to focus too closely on any one topic .”
But Dlouhý credits most of the company ’ s success to the team he has around him . “ For some reason people trust me and believe my vision ,” he says . “ I was very lucky in the beginning to find great people to work with . The whole management team are superstars , experts in their own areas and that has helped the company grow .”
And grow it will . With almost 1,400 people around the world working for Kiwi . com , there are , says Dlouhý , many new developments afoot . The company has just signed an important deal with tech provider Amadeus , which will be supplying it with more data . The new Amadeus technology means around 750mn more pre-calculated flight combinations and one more step in Dlouhý ’ s plans to multiply his company ’ s market footprint by 10 . Kiwi . com also plans to open more offices in Manila , Barcelona , Durban , Dalian and Prague , in addition to the existing ones in the Czech Republic , Kiev , Fiji and Belgrade . The company has also acquired a share in a small Slovene startup that focuses on ground transportation , so there are plans to integrate that into the Kiwi . com offer . This can only be good news for the airlines who , says Dlouhý , “ will be able to get even more information on their customer ”.
Throughout his company ’ s rapid growth , the biggest challenge has been maintaining relationships with investors , says Dlouhý . “ They are all based in the Czech Republic and they don ’ t have experience with highgrowth companies so this is all new to them . Because they don ’ t have experience of similar projects it can be hard to persuade them that we need to raise money here and there . Finding a common language has been the most challenging part .”
A challenge this may have been , but it is not one that has deterred Kiwi . com on its flight path to huge growth .
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