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In a relatively short space of time Czech Republic manufacturer, Robe has made a significant impact in the lighting world. The company’s owners Josef Valchar and Ladislav Petrek took a leap of faith in 2002, transitioning from an OEM partner into a fully-fledged independent manufacturer and it seems the duo haven’t looked back since.


ROBE CZECH REPUBLIC


Josef Valcharand Ladislav Petrek began dabbling in the lighting market more than 20 years ago, when in the early ‘90s they formed Robe Show Lighting as an OEM company that manufactured products for various established brands on the market at that time. As the millennium year passed by, Josef and Ladislav began to consider the future of the company. During Prolight+Sound, Frankfurt in 2002, Robe Show Light- ing was still an OEM partner for a number of lighting brands. “We held back at Frankfurt because we want-


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ed to conduct meetings with our customers to assess if we were going in the right direction. During those meetings we saw the signs and decided we could not delay our plans any longer,” said Josef. Two weeks later at SIB in Rimini - a show which no longer exists but at the time was thriving - the Robe brand that we know today was launched. Josef continued: “Our first goal was to be independent from the OEM customers and I think we did a great job on that front. In less than two years we turned from


being 100% OEM to 100% manufacturing, selling and distributing products to the worldwide market. That’s quite an achievement.”


The next plan of action was to set up a worldwide distribution network. Josef truly believes in the concept and said: “You can have the best product in the world but if you don’t have a good distribution network to promote it, the product might not succeed.” In just over 11 years, Robe has set up distributorships in 90 countries worldwide, as well as as 100% owned sub-


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