AzÜzlet award: Female Business Leader of the Year: Zsanett Rózsahegyi, Project Manager of the Láng District

In our series presenting the winners of the AzÜzlet Awards, we first look at the achievements that led to each recipient receiving the honour. We then offer further insight into their thinking on success and the future through their answers to three questions posed by AzÜzlet.

Businesswoman of the Year: Zsanett Rózsahegyi, Project Director of Láng District.

Zsanett Rózsahegyi, Project Director of Láng District, is one of the most promising young leaders in Hungary’s real estate development sector. She is responsible for the operational management of one of the country’s largest and most complex urban regeneration projects. Her responsibilities include the strategic direction, business planning, financing structure and overall operation of Láng District, a development comprising more than 2,600 residential units, 68,000 square metres of office space and the new headquarters of World Aquatics.

Alongside this role, she also serves as Head of the International Relations Division at Magnet Bank and Acquisition Director at Nádor Group, where she combines high-level financial, legal and strategic expertise. Her talent, holistic perspective and exceptional work ethic represent a new generation of Hungarian business leaders—one that brings fresh thinking, professional excellence and genuine value creation.

From left: György Gonda, Certified Management Consultant and university professor; Gyula Pleschinger, President of the Hungarian Economic Association; Vince Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Deputy State Secretary for Social Relations at the Prime Minister’s Office;  Zsanett Rózsahegyi; and Zoltán M. Érsek, Editor-in-Chief of AzÜzlet.

– How did your career path evolve, and what did it take to build a successful career in construction—a sector that many still consider to be male-dominated?

– Originally, I had completely different plans. It all started as a summer job while I was completing my master’s degree. About a year and a half later, I reached an important crossroads: I had been accepted to the programme I had originally planned to pursue, and I had to decide whether to leave or stay.

I chose to stay—and I have never questioned that decision since. Even during the most demanding and stressful periods, I still feel that, if I closed my eyes, I couldn’t imagine a job I would rather do.

To me, success is built on three things: inner motivation, perseverance and conscious determination. If you fully commit yourself, take responsibility and see things through to the end, the results will eventually follow—regardless of whether you are a man or a woman. Confidence comes from those results; from proving yourself again and again through your performance.

– Láng District is one of Hungary’s most complex urban development projects. As Project Director, what is the greatest professional challenge in managing a development of this scale, both strategically and operationally?

– A development of this complexity requires a truly holistic approach—and that’s exactly what inspires me most. The greatest challenge is being able to see the entire system while also maintaining control over the smallest details: understanding how everything connects, building a model that works, and continuously refining it in response to changing market conditions.

It is a complex matrix of processes, people, interests, deadlines and professional expertise. The objective is not simply to complete a project, but to create lasting value—to deliver something that is economically sustainable while offering a level of quality that will stand the test of time.

– Láng District is not only a real estate development but also a city-shaping project. Which directions do you see as defining the future of urban development, and where do you believe the greatest opportunities for innovation lie?

Our ambition is for Láng District—as Budapest’s first large-scale brownfield regeneration project—to become a benchmark for transforming a former industrial site into a people-centred urban district: one that builds communities while representing stable, lasting quality. I firmly believe that the future of urban development revolves around two key elements: data and people.

Data is essential because, when used effectively, vast amounts of information can deliver unprecedented speed, efficiency and quality throughout planning and construction—from the digital twin city approach, where a virtual model reflects the physical city in real time, to advanced prefabrication technologies.

At the same time, the human aspect becomes even more valuable. The closer we move towards perfectly optimised, technology-assisted solutions, the more important truly human experiences become: meeting people, building relationships and being present. A coffee on the terrace, a conversation in the park, a morning run with friends—these are the small moments that make a neighbourhood feel alive and genuinely liveable.

Láng District brings these two worlds together. Data-driven planning and guaranteed quality create the framework that allows quality of life to become the true priority. Ultimately, that is what successful urban development is about: giving people more time for what truly matters—even if it is just five extra minutes each day with the people who matter most.

Zoltán M. Érsek