PL

E (and SG) equals MDC2

Small talk
MDC², a new player in the warehouse market, has only been up-and-running for a few months and has already made a few notable investment deals. It also has a new chief development officer, Maciej Madejak, who tells us all about it and why he has joined the company.

For the last few years your name has been associated with Panattoni. Why have you decided to move on to MDC2?

Maciej Madejak, the new chief development officer and founder of MDC2: There are many reasons, but the main one is that MDC2 is an exceptional company that’s been solidly built from the foundations up. On the one hand, it’s structured like a stock exchange listed company, with an independent board of directors to oversee the company, its activities and its management; and on the other, it’s really a startup, which means its structure has not yet been built up, since it’s been operating for less than a year. Here, I can use all of my 25 years of experience in the sector, since I’m both a co-founder and part of the management – and I can also set the direction for the firm’s future growth.

In the first eleven months of its operations, MDC² has launched projects for the construction of more than 260,000 sqm of warehousing. Any other startup could only dream of making an entrance with such a bang…

That’s true, but you also have to remember that at the beginning the company was operating with just a minimal staff and only over time did people start joining. This year we are also going to be building up our team with more professionals as MDC² continues to grow and increase its staffing levels.

How do you intend to attract new employees? Are you planning to provide them with additional fringe benefits?

Our business is based on the relationship we have with our clients, investors and suppliers. However, how well the employees of the company are going to work together is just as important. As well as the standard range of benefits, each employee gets an additional day off for their birthday; but what’s really revolutionary is that they also get an additional five days of paid holiday and everyone gets them at the same time, which is in the summer, We are the first company in our sector in Poland to have introduced such a benefit for all of our employees.

And during that week the whole company closes down?!

Of course not! The office does indeed close, but we prepare an investment schedule that ensures that none of our projects are disrupted. Moreover, we are assisted in all of our projects by external companies that coordinate the construction work. This just shows that MDC² is not only superbly organised and operates effectively, but it is also one that cares about its people and their work-life balance.

There’s a lot of talk in the sector about introducing ESG concepts. Your new company has also made such declarations.

It’s not just declarations that we make, we also put these ideas into practice – and we do so in a way that adds value. What I see is that when it comes to the ‘E’ issues, many developers just pick and choose, and they often concentrate purely on looking after the natural environment, which is a very noble undertaking but one that can also be turned into a very effective slogan that’s easy to brag about in order to improve your image. More often than not the other initials in the acronym get forgotten, especially the ‘G’. Corporate governance requires the entire company to be reoriented, with changes to its structure and greater transparency in its operations for both investors and clients as well as for the team itself. In every company, the employees want to be a part of the organisation, but in return they expect it to be well-organised and transparent in terms of how the internal structures operate. The reason for this is that each one of us is well aware that working in a chaotic environment without structure and transparency is simply difficult and tiring.

Which locations are you looking at?

All of them – as long as they are attractive to tenants and investors. This means both established markets and those that are just emerging. It’s difficult to point to a particular geographical region. We pay a lot of attention to local labour markets, because we know just how difficult it is to find and keep employees.

But surely staffing difficulties are the only issue industrial developers have to face during the current boom?

It’s not quite as simple as that. Indeed, the warehousing market has been booming since 2004, ever since Poland joined the EU and opened up its borders. You have to bear in mind that in 1998 there was around 50,000 sqm of modern warehousing space in Poland and now there’s over 22 mln sqm. But when you look at warehouse space per capita (in Poland it’s around 540 sqm per person), we’re still way behind Western Europe. For instance, in Germany the figure is about 1,000 sqm per capita, but we are also behind other countries in the CEE region (e.g. 850 sqm in the Czech Republic). This just goes to show that Poland still has a lot of ground to make up, but also how stable the sector is from an investor’s point of view. When you consider the changes to consumer behaviour and deliveries prompted by the pandemic, as well as the rapid expansion of e-commerce and of the new generation of young people that has grown up with doing its shopping over the internet, and throw in the advantages of Poland’s location, you can see that all of these factors together are stimulating the current growth. And these healthy foundations will be in place for a few decades.

With such a busy working life, do you find the time to indulge in any private pleasures and passions of your own?

Of course I do. I’ve already talked about how the work-life balance is important – and that’s also true for me in my own home. Fortunately, Covid has not prevented me from enjoying my favourite pastimes, which are tennis and sailing. Both allow me to spend more time with my family and recharge my batteries in a safe way while maintaining my balance, which is something we all want to achieve.

Interview: Tomasz Cudowski

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