The innovator

Sándor Demján, one of the most important Hungarian businessmen of the last 40 years died at the end of March. He wasn’t only a member of the financial elite, but also someone who established a new way of life: he was the first to build US-style malls, where people not only shop but also spend their free time. Mr Demján was there when the first self-service shops opened and in the second half of the 1980s he became the director of the first commercial bank of the socialist era.

After the political transformation he worked as an economic advisor in former socialist countries. Later he started real estate development projects in Hungary, for instance it was him who built giant mall WestEnd and the new National Theatre. He was an innovator who didn’t feel that he had a special mission to accomplish. Growing up as an orphan, he had to fight hard for everything, so he was able to appreciate the things he had and was always glad to give – he never forgot where he came from. //