“Komárom is a city with weight” – Adrián Marcinkó is building the community of Hungarian entrepreneurs in Slovakia

How did Wado get started and what exactly do you do?

Wado is a digital agency that I created in 2012. The core of our work is the implementation of marketing campaigns and the development of corporate websites and webshops, but we also do graphic design. Currently we have ten people actively working in our team, all of them are Hungarian. We are already present in five countries: in addition to Slovakia, we offer marketing services to small and medium-sized enterprises in Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany. 

According to your website, your partners are very diverse: you've designed a website for a florist, a winery, a tattoo artist, and the Highland Travel Cradle. Which project has been the most memorable in the company's life so far?

I wouldn't single one out, because for me, each client is equally important. But when, for example, we were able to build a start-up webshop in a specialised field up to four million sales from zero, that was huge.

If we do our job well, our partners can be successful in the market, which is great for us too, especially if they thus create new jobs.

What challenges does someone who starts a business as a Hungarian living abroad have to face?

The Slovak government's unpredictable economic policies, the rise in energy prices, Covid, and the war in the neighbouring country have all made the situation for entrepreneurs in Slovakia uncertain; in the past year, we have not known what to expect in a month or even a week. Another problem is the high emigration rate among young people. The motherland is always attractive to young Hungarians living outside of Hungary, many take jobs in Budapest and Győr. This is understandable because as minority Hungarians, they are not only unable to assert their language and culture but also their self-esteem.

What can keep young people here?

I think most people don't want to leave, but they won't swim against the tide. At Wado, I put a lot of emphasis on giving opportunities to trainees. I love working with them, it's great to see their dedication and how they become professionals. The marketing profession is also attractive to them because it can be done locally, and you can keep in touch with foreign companies online. Obviously, you also have to pay attention to wages, as salaries in Hungary are perhaps the biggest drain. Another important thing for young people is a family atmosphere, so that they’d feel valued not only financially but also as people.

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Photo: Csongor Bartók

Despite your international success, you also stayed in Komárom. Why do you like living here?

On the one hand, my family is here. On the other hand, it is very well located, close to both Bratislava and Budapest. Thirdly, Komárom is a beautiful historical city - György Klapka lived here and Mór Jókai was born here. It is a city with weight.

How does this family-friendly approach apply at Wado?

We are currently working in a family house, which by default creates a more direct atmosphere: once we made some cookies in the house and then ate them together. We're celebrating Advent together, lighting advent candles, and on 6 December, Santa Claus came and left some presents on the table for colleagues.

In 2016, you were one of the founding members of the Association of Hungarian Entrepreneurs in Slovakia, whose mission is to build a community to unite young Hungarian entrepreneurs in Slovakia. How did you start to do so?
I believe that the biggest help is not to have fish put on our table, but to teach us how to fish. In our case, it is the transfer of knowledge and the support to increase our networking capital. 
This is why we organized the Slovakia Entrepreneurs Expo and launched our mentoring program with the support of the Hungarian State Secretariat for National Policy. Those who participate in these programs can meet a lot of other entrepreneurs. They can see that others might be struggling with the same problems, and they can draw strength from others and return home with new ideas and solutions.

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Photo: Csongor Bartók

I myself have benefited a lot from the contacts I've made here over the past six years, and we've gained a lot of new clients. It's often said that an entrepreneur is a lonely man, but that's not so - their work impact the lives of their employees and their families. But the burden of responsibility is not easy to carry alone. That is why I think it is important for entrepreneurs to reach out to each other and to the outside world, to get involved in community life.