It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Ing. Josef Lébl, founder of CzechInvest and one of the most distinguished figures of Czech economic diplomacy in the 1990s, on 22 October 2025 at the age of 85.
Josef Lébl was the true forefather of our agency. In autumn 1992, then-Minister of Industry and Trade Vladimír Dlouhý entrusted him with the founding of the Czech Agency for Foreign Investment CzechInvest, which was later renamed as the Investment and Business Development Agency CzechInvest. Prior to that, Lébl served in the Federal Agency for Foreign Investment.
Josef Lébl served as an adviser to the agency’s CEOs from 1993 to 2018. He was present at the inception of most of the Japanese investments in the Czech Republic. These included the first major Japanese investment in the country, namely that of Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) involving the manufacturing of televisions in Plzeň in 1996. Lébl also played a significant role in the entry of Toyota, Denso, Daikin, Shimano, Toray, Hitachi and many other companies into the Czech Republic. In the 1990s, he spent long months in negotiations with investors in Japan and fundamentally contributed to the fact that Japan become one of the most important investors in the Czech Republic.
“Josef Lébl will forever rank among the persons indelibly written into the history of CzechInvest and the Czech business environment. Today we are carrying on his vision of connecting the Czech economy with the world. Last year, I had the opportunity meet with him personally and I remember his optimism and energy, as well as his interest in the agency’s activities. My sincere condolences to the family and all of his loved ones. His departure is a major loss also for us,” said Jan Michal, CEO of CzechInvest.
Lébl’s in-depth knowledge of the Japanese culture and economy and his fluent Japanese were beneficial non only to his colleagues at the agency, but also to presidents Václav Havel and Václav Klaus, whom he frequently accompanied as an advisor on their trips to Japan.
In 2018, the Japanese government awarded Lébl the Order of the Rising Sun for his extraordinary contribution to the strengthening of economic relations between Japan and Czechia.
In September of this year, the Association for Foreign Investment recognised him for his long-term contribution to the Czech investment environment as a member of the so-called CzechInvest Dream Team 1999–2007.
Lébl was also a long-standing member and president of the Prague Rotary Club, an organisation of businesspeople and public figures that supports humanitarian services, ethical standards in professional life and the building of good will and peace in the world.
His work at CzechInvest is being successfully continued by two of his grandchildren, Markéta Přenosilová as ambassador for the European startup platform ESNA and Zdeněk Havel in the role of director of the AI Hub of the Technology Incubation project.
Our sincere condolences to his family and honour to his memory.
Contact for the media:
Zdeněk Vesecký
PR Manager and spokesperson
+420 724 591 667
zdenek.vesecky@czechinvest.gov.cz