The Ark: A Novel From an Industry Entrepreneur

Many may have met John Lynch, CEO and founder of Lynka at Merchandise World. John is an American born entrepreneur, who resides in Poland running his company, Lynka which was founded over 30 years ago. They are now one of Europe’s leading suppliers of corporate apparel. Their range includes many of the brands familiar in the UK, and the branding is done within impressive in-house facilities and distributed across the EU. He is also a TEDx speaker.

What people may not know is that John is also an author, and his first novel, the Ark was the culmination of seven years of weekend work. The Ark is a story about a young, aspiring, yet visionary designer who is building a successful fashion house only to have it stolen by an unscrupulous and dangerous investor. Though fiction, parts of the story was inspired by real events.

The Ark was read by David Long, and he commented:

“I was gripped right from the very beginning, and finished reading the entire novel in a couple of days of a short break. I simply found it too hard to put down.

The storyline was fastmoving, relatable and exciting. The plot twisted and turned as it quickly developed, and the colourful characters held clear in the mind. The intriguing business and legal aspects were thoroughly thought out, with complex financial issues clearly explained. The writing was fluid, expressive and totally engaging. The novel also strongly demonstrated the power of honesty, loyalty, team culture, and core values.

I laughed out loud at the ‘Yoda’ incident, and surprisingly, ‘The Letter’ chapter bought a lump to my throat. Ultimately, Truman is the leader we all seek to be.”

To view John Lynch Interview, please click here.

To buy a copy of The Ark, please click here.

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About John

John Lynch is an American entrepreneur, writer, and speaker who lives in Krakow, Poland. He was one of the first expatriates to launch a start-up in Poland in the aftermath of the fall of communism. Over thirty years since he founded it, his company is now a European leader in corporate apparel. John has travelled the former East Bloc countries extensively, and knows the region and its peoples intimately. John has Polish roots – his grandmother was from Białystok. He is fluent in Polish.

In 2014, John was awarded the highest civilian honour in Poland, the Presidential Order of the Gold Cross from the President of Poland, for his contributions to building Poland’s free market economy. John was voted Central & Eastern Europe’s CEO of the Year and is former Entrepreneur of the Year in Poland. He was named one of the 10 American Pioneers who made the most profound contributions to the successful transformation of Poland. He is former Chairman of YPO Poland, and a Board Member of the American Chamber of Commerce since 2004, and currently serves as Treasurer.

John has a degree in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University and an MBA from The Wharton School. As a writer, John was a regular columnist for The Warsaw Business Journal and Images – a UK apparel magazine. John was former Marketing Director for US-based publisher The Easton Press, the world-leader in the design and development of fine leather-bound books.

In 2016, John was featured in a Financial Times full page article entitled “More Warsaw than Wharton”, and was interviewed for the FT Start-Up Stories podcast series which drew more than 200,000 listeners.

He lives with his wife Kasia, an English teacher, and two children Jake and Sophia outside Krakow.

The Ark is his first novel.