That’s The Way to Go Do Business in Romania

Do you think the Romanian market is too crowded? Is competition too tough? Not so, say managers who already made it in their respective lines of business.

The opinions were heard by this reporter at the Biz Days conference. "The Romanian market provides tremendous opportunities and some extraordinary ones are still to follow in the next couple of years," said Dan Ostahie, president & CEO of Altex.

For his part, Florentin Banu, general manager of Artima, is even more emphatic. He thinks that the Romanian market is practically void of competitors. One way to foster success is to look around and see what Western type of businesses did not yet spring up here and start them, Banu explains. It’s like taking a trip to the future: instead of waiting for the market to evolve to a certain point, you bring it there. You cannot fail with this approach.

"Still, when you start a business you have to have some contingency plan for the case things do not work well," advises Banu. "I met countless people in the company who were so much better professional than I was, but they were out of luck," admits Banu.

One other problem he sees in things going too well for you: "A person who does not have to work for the money may run into problems," he thinks.

After he sold "Joe" [waffles maker to Nestle], Banu started a new business in what he calls "his retail in businesses" as he noticed that potential Western buyers of companies are really with no supply here, were they to come to Romania.

Another step successful managers may take is to opt out of executive leadership altogether. When caught in solving daily routine tasks, one does not have the ability to observe trends and put up strategies. "You already took one step forward when you realize that it’s best to leave others run the business," thinks Radu Georgescu, president of Gecad Software, the man who invented and marketed a product for which Microsoft paid 10 million dollars.