Monika Cupial-Zgryzek is the daughter of Boguslaw Cupial, who founded TELE-FONIKA Kable in 1992. It is now one of the largest cable and wire manufacturers, with customers in over 80 countries. Foreign expansion and numerous acquisitions almost ended in bankruptcy. Only Monika Cupiał-Zgryzek led it out of deep debt, becoming CEO in 2016. And she is doing no worse in this position than her father. According to Forbes, TELE-FONIKA Kable is now the 12th largest private company in Poland. And Monika Cupiał-Zgryzek is one of the wealthiest Polish women.
She was well prepared to take the helm of the company. Monika is a Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Management graduate at the Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu National-Louis University in Nowy Sącz, Poland. She also completed numerous courses and postgraduate studies in enterprise quality management and strategic management.
Beginnings of cable career
She became involved with the cable market in 2001, working at the Management Office of TELE-FONIKA Kable, her father’s company. In March 2004, she became deputy director of the Internal Audit Department, and in 2008, she became director of Organization and Administration. At the time, she was responsible for introducing an integrated information management system at the company. She was co-opted to the company’s board of directors in 2012. First as vice president for organization and administration, and since 2016, as board chairman. A year earlier, due to her activities in the Polish and foreign markets, Eurocable appointed her as vice president. It is an association of the largest cable and wire manufacturers in Europe. Its main goal is to strive for sustainable technological development in the European industry market.
As president of the family business
Her first significant achievement was to lead the family company out of deep debt. After all, deteriorating results combined with a large loan forced the company to restructure. It was so successful that it acquired British submarine cable manufacturer JDR Cable Systems one year later. The decision turned out to be a shot in the arm, as this is one of the fastest-growing segments in the industry, thanks to the boom in offshore wind farm construction. In October 2023, the two companies were entrusted with the Baltic Power wind farm project in Poland. As part of it, they will design, manufacture, and install 340 kilometers of onshore and offshore cables.
To JDR Cable’s order, TELE-FONIKA Kable’s Bydgoszcz branch has also begun producing single-core cables that are 15 km long and weigh 90 tons. Once they reach the UK, they will be combined into three-conductor submarine power cables. And only in this form will they be used to connect offshore substations in the UK’s massive wind farm project. Once operational, it will supply electricity to more than 1.3 million households in the UK. Offshore wind power projects are significant to TELE-FONIKA Kable. That’s why the company has followed suit by launching a massive investment program in the UK. It is about to build a new £130 million manufacturing plant in Blyth, Northumberland. Construction of the factory, which the British government backs, will start later this year, becoming the group’s center for submarine cables.
You can read more about TELE-FONIKA Kable here.
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