Business Tigers – an interview with Agnieszka Szewczyk
The December issue of Business Tigers magazine features an extensive interview with Agnieszka Szewczyk, Owner and President of the Board of Kedarix – Centrum Uszczelnień.
We, women, can also be good at men’s jobs and sometimes we can surprise men with our knowledge and creativity…
Agnieszka Szewczyk, President and Owner of KedariX
For almost 20 years you have successfully managed KEDARIX, a company specialising in the production of technical seals. What made you choose a typically male industry?
The company was founded in 2002 thanks to the acquaintance of a man who was an important person connected with the maintenance section, technical seals in the former Sendzimir Steelworks. The engineer introduced me to the world of sealing, taught me the basics and introduced me to people in the industry, which is how my adventure with sealants began. Thanks to my curiosity, determination and continuous education in this area, I learned more and more, which gave me great pleasure and satisfaction. Work became my passion, with time new ideas appeared, the desire for continuous development, new technologies, improved production solutions, new customers, which caused the company to grow more and more every year. I have always liked technology and masculine professions, almost from the beginning of my career I have worked in masculine industries such as a construction materials warehouse, where I learned all about construction materials, and in the production of stairs, sitting in the carpentry shop and learning the entire cycle of their creation, from design to production. So working in men’s industries, among men, has been part of my life for a long time.
As a woman, did you face any difficulties taking your first steps in this business?
All in all, the fact that I was a woman in such an industry was unheard of at the time and aroused a lot of curiosity among the men who worked with me. I had to study a lot to prove that women can also be technical and know these issues very well. By entering the production hall and breaking stereotypes I showed that we, women, can also be good at men’s jobs and sometimes we can surprise men with our knowledge and creativity… I had to prove this more than once at the beginning, but then it only got better. This earned me great clients and their high respect. A challenge was contractors outside Poland who treated me, as a woman, very disrespectfully, but after years of working together we managed to develop a respectful relationship which has resulted in long-term contracts between us. I remember a situation when I was invited to an interview for a partnership. It was a meeting with a company from Silesia, where highly educated engineers, directors and technologists were present. The men asked me many stressful questions, but I, being a determined and strong woman, didn’t let it show.
The entire interview is available in print and online: Business Tigers nr 4 2021
See also: MADE IN POLAND Congress – Berlin 2022
