Zsolt Antal was born on 18 April 1978 in Reghin, Romania. He completed his middle and high-school studies at “Székely Mikó” College in Sfantu Gheorghe. In 2001, he graduated from the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, where he obtained a diploma in agricultural engineering at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.
Following the academic years, his first employment was at Nutrisam Rt., where he worked in the grains trading department. His exceptional talent showed very early, and he was remarked by the owners and managers of the company. After merely one and a half years, at the age of 24, he was already working as the manager of the grains trading division of the company. After another six months, he was appointed deputy general manager, and later the general manager of Nutrisam SA/Abo Mix SA. From the beginning, Zsolt set the objective of building and operating an efficient and motivated organisation, and throughout his career, he always put a lot of emphasis on people – human resources and on teams. Under his management the group achieved remarkable financial results and developed at a dynamic pace each year.
From 2007, up until his tragic death at a very young age (before his 33 birthday) he worked on the construction of his own enterprise, East Consulting (later called East Group), which he developed from the bases, together with his partners, into a successful organisation, which continues to grow even today, at a dynamic pace.
Even from the start of his career, Zsolt was highly concerned about providing professional support to new talents. Numerous young businessmen and CEO’s, who have since become successful and well-known, started their career under Zsolt’s mentorate.
In 2008, he was an active participant of the process as a result of which a professional college (initially a club) aimed at the practice-oriented development of remarkably talented students, as known as GTK, was established in collaboration with the Hungarian department of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Cluj.
Ever since, the college has continuously grown as new talented members have joined GTK, who were also interested in international programmes, hence the need to provide a conscious and long-term plan for the funding and operation of the professional college.
The foundation established with this purpose has proudly taken up and bears the name of Zsolt Antal. Despite his young age, Zsolt became a true and eternal role model for the college thanks to his mentality, exceptional perseverance, stamina, efficiency, creativity and last but not least unequalled human values provide guidance even today to each GTK student and alumni.