Economy

Extensive sectoral structure:

• Well-developed food and cement/limestone industry plants;
• Modern and developed furniture and timber industry;
• Employment in the private sector accounts for 79% of the total number of working in industry;
• The number of businesses in the region is around 93 thousand, and
• The second place in the country in terms of rate of growth of the number of operators;

Trends in the regional economy:

• Increase in average employment in the enterprise sector;
• Growth of average real gross wages;
• Decline in unemployment – increase in the number of completed dwellings;
• Increase in the number of national business entities;
• Growth of sales in construction industry, and
• Increase in revenues from total activity.

Number of businesses in the Opolskie Voivodeship between 1995 and 2005 doubled and now reaches 93 thousand. The majority are micro-enterprises (95.4%), employing up to 9 people. This reflects the enterprise and activity of the region’s inhabitants. Small and medium enterprises are one of the most important elements of the local economy. This sector reacts quickly and effectively to the changing market reality, recognises and meets the needs of customers and serves as the major competitive challenge for large companies, forcing them to change.
Natural resources, particularly deposits of marl and limestone, are very important for the region’s economy. The area of Strzelce and Górażdże, where the main enterprises of the cement/limestone industry operate, develops thanks to these mineral resources. The most important of these is Górażdże Group (owned by HeidelbergCement) and Lhoist Poland. The Opolskie Voivodeship is the region which attracts foreign investors. Index of foreign
businesses per 10 thousand residents is 4.0, which gives the region a high sixth place in the country.

The Opolskie Voivodeship develops in several industries, among which the most important ones are:

• Food industry;
• Energy industry;
• Chemical industry;
• Cement/limestone industry;
• Electromechanical industry;
• Iron and steel industry, and
• Furniture industry.

The Opolskie has excellent investment areas (especially along the A4 motorway) – e.g. Economic Activity Zone in Olszowa and areas in the Ujazd and Krapkowice Communes. Subzones of the following special economic zones operate here: Special Economic Zone of Wałbrzych “Invest-Park” in Nysa, Skarbmierz, Opole, Namysłów, Praszka and Kluczbork as well as Special Economic Zone of Starachowice in Tułowice.
The Skarbimierz Commune has one of the best investment areas in Poland. It has been awarded in the “Grunt na medal” (Medal Winning Plot) and is among the golden sixteen of the best-prepared plots in Poland. Cadbury Schweeps will build its factory here worth more than Euro100 million. The factory, which will manufacture chewing gum, is the largest investment to date in the food industry in Poland.

Programmes and competitions to promote the economy of the region

?Opolskie tu zostaję? (Opolskie, I stay here)
The aim of the programme is to promote employment opportunities and career development in the region, to reduce mass economic migration, to interest in the possibilities of taking up studies, to improve professional development in our region through the promotion of the voivodeship’s attractiveness and the conditions of education, and to encourage people working abroad to return to the voivodeship. Businesses of Opole, entrepreneurs, employment agencies, university colleges and schools in the region are the partners in the programme.

  “Opolska Marka” (The Brand of Opole)
The aim of this competition, organised for 5 years, is to promote regional entrepreneurship, to promote the best products and services, and to award those who gain foreign markets in times of fierce competition.

Every year, the operators of the region compete in four categories: Product, Service, Enterprise, Export, separately in the sector of small and medium businessesand large enterprises.

“Gmina atrakcyjna dla inwestora” (Investor-Friendly Commune)
The aim of the programme is to help the commune authorities in the creation of an environment conducive to investment and to motivate local authorities to prepare an attractive investment offer.
Employees, selected by the communes, learned the art of negotiations, techniques for preparing promotional materials and investor services. Then, both their communes and they were subjected to audit. Managers were evaluated in terms of their knowledge and competence, interpersonal communication and working style. The best local authorities, which, after the conducted verification, have received at least 80 points (100 possible), have three stars and a line “a very high level of qualifications in the area of procuring and servicing domestic and foreign investors” on their certificates. The three-star communes include: Namysłów, Kietrz, Kolonowskie, Opole, Gogolin, Zawadzkie, Rudniki, Prószków, Zębowice and Kluczbork.

The Opolskie Voivodeship is a region in which we invest in foreign capital and where there are very active local entrepreneurs.

source: www.opolskie.pl