They thought Financial Times email was spam. Their garage business is a European leader
Choleva brothers started by selling bicycles and doughnuts.
The Gardeon company has been nominated for the FéliX Business Award in the category of Exceptional Family Business.
At the beginning of the year, The Financial Times compiled a list of the thousand fastest-growing companies in Europe, based on average annual growth between 2019 and 2022.
With a revenue growth of over 800 percent, the Czech photovoltaic company Raylyst Solar placed first; but the family-owned Gardeon, based in the village of Turčiansky Ďur, northern Slovakia, placed 510th with a 60 percent growth.
"They sent us an email. I thought it was spam, but I forwarded it to my brother. Luckily, we filled out the details, and you can see how it turned out," recalls Marek Choleva.
Marek and his brother Martin are behind Gardeon, which sells prefabricated garages, garden sheds, and carports. "We didn't invent rocket science. We sell useful products. People will need them today, tomorrow, even a hundred years from now," says Martin Choleva.
Trade fair in Germany
The Choleva family's business dates back to 1994. Their father, Marián Choleva, started a car repair shop in a small home garage in the village of Kláštor pod Znievom, northern Slovakia. At the time, his sons Marek and Martin were six and 11 years old, respectively, and they regularly helped out in the workshop.
As a self-employed person, their father did whatever he could to make ends meet. He even tried selling books and vegetables, but without much success. This phase of life left a lasting impression on his sons as they grew up, eventually starting their own ventures.
In 2007, they began their own business under their father's trade license. At first, they bought a doughnut-making machine with money they earned from picking apples in Italy, and sold the doughnuts at fairs.
They also launched a bike online shop. However, the idea quickly encountered reality; bicycles need to be ordered well in advance of the cycling season, and without capital, they could not stock inventory, which is hard to estimate. No one was willing to offer them a business loan.
Their father, however, supported them and guided their business journey. "Our father was skilled, he could solve many things via common sense, and he helped us bring our ideas to life," recalls Marek Choleva.
The turning point came in the summer of 2010 when they visited a trade fair in Germany with their father. The Choleva family was impressed by a simple prefabricated plastered garage. An unknown item in Slovakia, but they saw its potential.
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