User:Bernard Marconi/sandbox

KingsBox (official name KingsBox d.o.o.) is a Slovenian company, engaged in production and sale of sports equipment for Cross training, functional training and fitness industry.

The company manufactures products such as rigs and racks, equipment for Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting, functional fitness equipment and small sports equipment. The gear is intended for both professional sports centers and home gyms.

History

The history of the company began with two friends, Luka Železnik and Dejan Kobal, who founded the company in 2015 as students in Luka’s garage. Both were active athletes, and Dejan's brother had his own Cross training gym, for which he had difficulty finding suitable equipment. First, they first helped him with the equipment, then set up an Instagram profile and through that sold the equipment further, initially to the Italian market, chosen because of its proximity and knowledge of the language. The company soon began to expand - both in terms of number of employees and market coverage; today, the KingsBox brand is one of the largest providers of sports equipment in Europe.

The company has its own R&D; most of the equipment is manufactured in Slovenia, some subcontracted in other European Union countries, the smallest share comes from Asian countries. This policy of the company proved to be efficient during the Corona virus epidemic, as the company had no problems supplying products when routes between Europe and Asia almost closed due to excessive demand in Western markets for a variety of goods.

Due to space constraints, the company is currently located in several locations in Sežana, and in 2023 it plans to move to new premises, which will combine the warehouse, assembly spaces and the administrative building.

Company policy

The company has a vision to help create a world where everyone can reach their full potential: be it athletes using KingsBox equipment, company employees or the wider community.

Their mission is to give people a playground where they can develop into the best version of themselves, and they also want to lounch products that will impress the masses in the fitness industry.

The values that the company follows are also related to the vision and mission:


 * They are driven by innovation, as they want to impress with ever new solutions available.
 * They are committed to growth and encourage each member of the team to expand their knowledge, gain new experience and build their career.
 * They exceed expectations by putting people at the forefront of every decision.the company is inspired by its customers, treats suppliers and distributors as a source of valuable feedback, while employees are the key to business growth. They want to offer everyone involved the best experience.

KingsBox, has grown from a start-up. As is typical for such companies, they did not have an organizational framework in place at the beginning, but when they started familiarizing with various systems that could be introduced in the company in 2019, they knew they wanted to upgrade the elements that were organically formed among employees and incorporate concepts that were most important to the founders: learning, transparency, compatibility and sport.

They wanted employees to grow and educate themselves, make company's goals clear and known to everyone, grow a positive culture and bring the KingsBox philosophy closer to each member. Of course, building potential in the field of sports was again one of company’s goals. The business owners were also willing to pay for the company and its employees to live by these principles.

To do so, they built a four-pillar system that replaced pay for performance. The four pillars of KingsBox are: OKRs, learning plans, company compatibility and sports participation. If employees meet these requirements, they are rewarded with a salary promotion at the annual interview at the end of the year.

Collaborations

The company works with a variety of athletes who share the company’s values, mission and vision and are present in the various markets covered by the KingsBox brand.

They first started working with athletes in Italy because this was also their primary market. They are currently working in this market with Jessica Rubino, Emanuel Biviano , Enrico Santamaria , Nicholas Rubini , Lorenzo Constantini [1] and others.

Of course, they also support athletes in Slovenia, such as Rok Drnikovič and Špela Vidic.

In Spain, they collaborate with well-known functional sports athletes such as Elena Carratala, Gabi Castro , Alba Estrada , Javier Gomez and Maribel Gallardo , and Lara Fernandez , world champion in the WBC Muaythai discipline.

In France, they support athletes such as Célia Gabiani, Louise Czurka , Marie Javaloyes , Madeline Rayer and others.

In German-speaking markets, the company works with athletes in various disciplines, personal trainers and professional athletes such as Adrian Mundwiler, Dag Magnus Bloch , Emanuel Pescari and Julie Klenkler.

In an effort to enter new markets, the company has also started working with athletes in Sweden, including Ella Wunger, Hanna Karlsson and Simon Mäntyläsa.

Olympian Yazmin Zammit Stevens, a Maltese weightlifter, deserves special mention.

The company also participates in various student competitions, such as the all-Slovenian HR heckaton Kadrovski šprint.

Mentions and awards

Already in 2017, the founders were among the ten semi-finalists of the Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition in Slovenia.

The developer in the company, Denis Štajdohar, received the Slovenian Design Award in 2020 in the category "Perspective - Industrial Design".

The company won the Best Entrepreneurial Idea 2020/21 award from the Finance newspaper. They received the award because they responded quickly to the Covid pandemic and adapted their development, advertising and sales to the new situation.

In 2021, the company received a special award, awarded by the Regional Chamber of Crafts and Entrepreneurship Sežana. Category:Strength and conditioning equipment