6 years seems like a good time to recapitulate, summarize some experiences and think about the future. Business books say that companies that exceed the fifth year of existence are those that “can rest assured” since they are considered established. Yes, it is true, it has been 20 years since I graduated in business and those terms have become, in my opinion, somewhat obsolete. Thinking about 2024 in terms like calm and settled sounds strange to say the least.
Do you know what Atland means? He is a mythological figure from the Aragonese Pyrenees, where my roots are on the Spanish side. Atland was the wise man of the mountain who gave advice to the rest of the mythological figures, maintaining harmony and peace in the Pyrenees.
At that time, 2018, I was living in Jaca, where my grandfather was serving and a city with which I have a special bond. After several years directing Konkordia and later the CIE together with Joanna Bochniarz, I decided that I wanted to do something that would fulfill me more than management. I sought to find high-impact projects, develop myself in the field of public relations and political analysis, and help find funds that would make these projects possible. I feel very fulfilled, advising and sharing experience, contacts and knowledge and I decided that the time had come to embark on the adventure on my own.
The first years were the most complicated. For those of you who are thinking about taking this path, I recommend patience and perseverance, there are many curves. At this point I’m still having trouble answering in two sentences the question my friend Juan from JM Kapital Partners likes to ask me most: Tell me in two sentences what you do? Public funds, team development, regional development, financial sustainability, impact generation… in my world all of this is interconnected. That’s why I think the best thing has been to be myself and face the various challenges naturally and with a lot of adaptation – it continues to be that way. Getting the first clients, preparing the first offers, knowing how to put a price on your time and knowing how to manage it to be able to offer quality are some of the difficulties that I have been encountering. Being a consultant is based on knowing how to share your knowledge and generate trust, the people who have been with me in this process have been my greatest marketing campaign.
I have had the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of European agencies and how technical Brussels works thanks to my cooperation with EIT Food, where I learned the fundamentals of financing the Knowledge and Innovation Centers created by the EU.
I have known the whim of the lottery that is European projects where, regardless of the quantity and quality of work you have put into it, you never know what the result will be. That moment when a letter arrives from a European fund with the information that you have not been chosen to be financed… it frustrates.
It was thanks to this experience that I decided to do a master’s degree in political analysis in sustainability at the University of Sussex. To obtain the maximum public funds, it is important to be able to interpret policies and offer solutions to complex social and political problems.
We have learned how to tender successfully and how important it is to have an international profile. Thanks to this, we are proud providers of financial sustainability knowledge to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, and we have even organized workshops in the former Palace of Sisi, the Empress, where the OSCE now has its headquarters. The similarities between European institutions and the OSCE allow us to create synergies between our projects.
We have also known the most grateful part of our work, creating positive impact. It is a joy to be able to work with disabled people, who show you time and time again that they are people with different abilities. Using the Outdoor Learning methodology for your personal development is being a success. Thanks to the Amica team in Spain, Tomás, Maria José, Irene, Marta or the Santis to name just a few of those who have made it possible. We work in Italy thanks to Lasco and our good friends Miriam (the best Project Manager I have ever met) and Gianluca, in Croatia with the entire Irmo team or in Spain where José and Patricia gave me my first opportunity as a consultant at Femxa.
New challenges are opening up, already this week in Berlin, where we begin to look for viability for an impressive project that will facilitate the reception of refugees. In addition, new alliances are opened with our British colleagues from Cambio led by Peter and our Polish colleagues with Adam and his Attention Marketing team. Thanks to this, Atland will be able to offer positive impact generation services for SMEs.
I leave the end for our team. The change from CIE to Atland was easy and productive thanks to Joanna who did everything to help and make things easier for me. We have no problems with the treasury, our invoices are correct, and the budgets arrive on time because Marzena and her incredible patience with my total lack of administrative talent, keeps the helm from the beginning. I can dedicate more time to large projects and direct relationships with our clients because Rubén makes sure that we are heard about and that we are up-to-date on technology, and because María takes away tons of operational work from me. Decision-making at Atland has also improved and thanks to this its growth because we have Sertac and its wise advice in addition to its support in key projects.
You can read this out of curiosity because you know us, as an example to take the step forward or for simple entertainment, in any of these cases thank you for being on the other side and for having helped us get here. Can you answer in two sentences what we do?
And I greet my parents who will be watching me
Jorge Gimeno Pawlowski
