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Francis Lapp

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Francis Lapp
Francis Lapp at the Sunreef Yachts shipyard
Francis Lapp at the Sunreef Yachts shipyard
Born1958
CitizenshipFrench / Polish
Occupations
  • Entrepreneur
  • engineer
  • owner and CEO of Sunreef Yachts and Sunreef Yachts Charter
  • owner of HTEP Polska
  • racing car driver
  • sailor

Francis Joseph Lapp (born 1958) is an Alsatian French[1] electrical engineer and entrepreneur active in France, Luxembourg and Poland.[2] Originally French, he obtained Polish citizenship in 2014. He is the owner and chief executive officer of Sunreef Yachts, a luxury catamaran shipyard located in the former Gdańsk Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Throughout his career he also led or owned numerous other companies.

Biography

Francis Lapp was born in a small town near Mulhouse in the French region of Alsace.[3] Initially working for France-based multinational corporations, he spent a couple of years in Saudi Arabia working on construction of hospitals there.[4][5] In the late 1980s Lapp quit his job and started a small company producing switchgear cubicles for Siemens and Coca-Cola, among other clients.[4][5] A race car driver in his free time, in 1991 Lapp visited Poland for the first time to take part in one of Polish Automobile and Motorcycle Association's "Off-Road Championship of Poland" rally raids.[6]

Soon afterwards he returned to Poland, this time looking for business opportunities.[6] At the time France was slowly recovering from decades of stagnation,[7][6] while economy of Poland was undergoing a shock therapy dubbed the Balcerowicz Plan, which would soon lead to GDP growth rates exceeding 6%.[8] This, coupled with lower wages and a skilled workforce, made Poland of the 1990s attract much foreign investment.[6] In 1992 Francis Lapp settled in Poland for good.[4] There he launched HTEP Polska, initially as a switchgear producer.[9] With time the company started designing and installing electrical, air-conditioning and sanitary systems for industrial facilities,[10] but also Castorama DIY shops,[1] Carrefour hypermarkets,[1] Grand Hotel in Sopot, BSH Hausgeräte facilities in Łódź and Emporio Armani boutique in Warsaw, among others.[11]

In the 1990s Lapp became an active sailor and took part in the 1996 Polish Hobie Cat Championships, finishing sixth in the Hobie 16 class.[1][10] In 1998[4] or 2000[12] he visited the Salon nautique international de Paris in order to buy a similar racing catamaran for himself, but instead bought three cruising catamarans, transported them to Madagascar and founded Sunreef Charter, a France-based yacht charter company[13][12][4] His son Nicolas also owned a travel agency specialising in luxurious yachts.[14]

In 2000 they decided to start building yachts themselves, instead of buying them from other shipyards.[13][14] Francis Lapp leased 6000 square metres of recently closed-down Gdańsk Shipyard and started Sunreef Yachts, the first shipyard in Poland specialising in catamaran construction.[12] The first vessel, a 22.5-metre catamaran designed by Van Peteghem Lauriot-Prévost,[13] was launched on 25 July 2003, its godmother was Anna Maria Jopek, a popular Polish singer.[12] It took roughly two years to find a buyer for the first vessel,[15] but eventually the business took off. The second vessel, a 70-footer in the Power 70 class, was bought by a renown Swiss sailor Laurent Bourgnon.[13] In 2005 the company had 130 employees,[16] by 2013 the number rose to 450.[17] Apart from selling yachts, the company also offers yacht chartering services.[18]

Despite the financial crisis of 2007–08 that forced many other luxury yachts producers into bankruptcy, Lapp's company continued to grow.[19] However, in January 2011 Sunreef's premises, along with three catamarans under construction, were destroyed by a fire caused most likely by a chemical reaction in a tank containing a mixture of industrial hardener with resin.[4][20] Eventually Lapp decided to rebuild the shipyard in Gdańsk, in spite of incentives to move the company elsewhere.[21]

In 2013 and 2014, Lapp organized the "Pomorskie Rendez–Vous"an event fostered by Mieczysław Struk – Marshal of the Pomeranian voivodship and Pawel Adamowicz – Mayor of Gdansk. The event was created in order to promote luxury brands in Poland.[22]

Awards

  • Entrepreneur of the Year – World Yacht Trophies 2013[23]
  • Best Exporter in the Awards "Ambasador Polskiej Gospodarki" – Business Centre Club[24]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d Trégouët 2014, p. 20.
  2. ^ Katka 2013, ¶ 12.
  3. ^ Abramowicz 2012, ¶ 2.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Verdon 2012, p. 78.
  5. ^ a b Abramowicz 2012, ¶ 3.
  6. ^ a b c d Abramowicz 2012, ¶ 3–4.
  7. ^ Forsé et al. 1993, p. 17.
  8. ^ Rapacki 2001, p. 108.
  9. ^ Abramowicz 2012, ¶ 5.
  10. ^ a b Verdon 2012, p. 80.
  11. ^ Abramowicz 2012, ¶ 6.
  12. ^ a b c d Machocki 2005, pp. 40–43.
  13. ^ a b c d Trégouët 2014, p. 21.
  14. ^ a b Abramowicz 2012, p. 3.
  15. ^ Jóźwik 2015, p. 2.
  16. ^ Machocki 2005, p. 41.
  17. ^ es 2013, ¶ 2.
  18. ^ Jóźwik 2015, p. 1.
  19. ^ Abramowicz 2012, p. 6.
  20. ^ Abramowicz 2012, p. 5.
  21. ^ Abramowicz 2012, p. 4.
  22. ^ http://www.superyachtnews.com/events/19512/sunreef-stages-hainan-style-pomorskie-rendezvous-in-poland.html
  23. ^ http://bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=122796
  24. ^ http://www.bcc.org.pl/uploads/media/Laureaci_APG_2013_01.pdf

Bibliography

  • Abramowicz, Dorota (27 January 2012), Marian Szmidka (ed.), "Łuna nad Rafą Słońca. Sunreef Yachts dźwiga się z popiołów" [Glow over the Sunreef: Sunreef Yachts is rising from the ashes], Dziennik Bałtycki (in Polish), ISSN 1898-3103 {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • es (5 August 2013). "Luksusowe jachty z Polski światowym przebojem" [Luxurious yachts from Poland are a wow]. Forbes Life (in Polish). Warszawa: Axel Springer Polska. ISSN 1733-7291. Retrieved 29 September 2015. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Michel, Forsé; Jaslin, Jean-Pierre; Lemel, Yannick; Mendras, Henri; Stoclet, Denis; Déchaux, Jean-Hugues (1993), Recent Social Trends in France, 1960–1990, Comparative charting of social change, translated by Gavin, Liam, Buffalo: McGill-Queen's University Press, ISBN 978-0-7735-0887-3, ISSN 1183–1952, retrieved 14 October 2015 {{citation}}: Check |issn= value (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • GM (10 December 2013). "Sunreef Yachts – Made in Poland". Gospodarka Morska. Retrieved 1 October 2015. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Jedliński, Karol (17 February 2010). "Sunreef Yachts płynie na fali". Puls Biznesu. ISSN 1427-6852. Retrieved 30 September 2015. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Jóźwik, Tomasz (9 August 2015). "Polacy zakup jachtu wciąż mają przed sobą" [Poles are yet to start buying yachts]. Forbes. Warszawa. ISSN 1733-7291. Retrieved 1 October 2015. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Katka, Krzysztof (28 October 2013). "Jak to jest być pracodawcą Lecha Wałęsy? Producent luksusowych jachtów: 'Jego nazwisko działa jak magnes'" [How cool is it to be Lech Wałęsa's employer? A producer of luxurious yachts: 'His name is a magnet']. Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish). Retrieved 30 September 2015. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Machocki, Krzysztof (1 June 2005). Romański, Wojciech (ed.). "Z kamerą wśród firm: Skąd się biorą jachty: Stocznia HTEP Polska – Sunreef Yachts" [Where do yachts come from? HTEP Polska – Sunreef Yachts shipyard]. Businessman Magazine (in Polish) (06/2005): 40–43. ISSN 0867-1389. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Rapacki, Ryszard (2001), "Economic performance 1989–99 and prospects for the future", in Rapacki, Ryszard; Blazyca, George (eds.), Poland into the New Millennium, Economies and Societies in Transition, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, p. 107, ISBN 978-1-84064-639-9 {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Trégouët, François (2014), Manchon, André (ed.), "Citizen Lapp", Multihulls World (133), Port Saint-Pierre: Hyères: 20–21, ISSN 1161-3904, OCLC 473282059 {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Verdon, Michael (31 October 2012). Slack, Ed (ed.). "Insider: Francis Lapp" (PDF). International Boat Industry: 78–84. ISSN 0020-6172. OCLC 1787700. Retrieved 28 September 2015. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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