The most important thing these entrepreneurs want is unity, having a single voice – something they are only beginning to realize now, since foreign companies have gained ground and they have a much stronger voice when dealing with the authorities.
Oltenia (Gorj, Dolj, Mehedinti, Olt and Teleorman Counties), a region where the foreign capital has a significant share of the total revenue of the companies, has seen the gap between foreign and local companies widen in the past few years. The number of local businesses has dropped by as much as 40% in some counties in the past seven years, while the total number of companies increased.
The entrepreneurs found that the most important issue dragging the Romanian capital down is the lack of communication and cooperation.
“We, the entrepreneurs, can change something only if we stand united and help each other. For instance, in Targu-Jiu, where we bought the Star Glass plant and want to start a EUR3 million project, we will only work with Gorj-based goods suppliers and service providers,” said Lelius Stanusoiu, manager of Crilelmar, one of the largest plastic manufacturers.
The entrepreneur made this statement at the `Capitalul privat romanesc – o sansa pentru dezvoltarea economica a Romaniei’ (‘Romanian capital – a chance for Romania’s economic development’) conference organized by ZF and Banca Transilvania in Craiova on Tuesday and attended by 300 local businesspeople. This is sixth stop of the ZF Antreprenorii Romaniei (ZF Romania’s Entrepreneurs) project, which will continue in the biggest cities of the country. The next stop will be in Alba Iulia on June 7.
Omer Tetik, chief executive officer of Banca Transilvania, the largest Romanian-owned bank, agrees.
“Businesspeople should join forces and stand united (…). Banks, government, the central bank, the politicians everyone should provide support to entrepreneurship (…),” Tetik said at the conference in Craiova.
Oltenia, unlike the west of the country, has not attracted massive foreign or Romanian investments that would result in plants with thousands of employees and that shows in a breakdown of company revenue per county. Companies in Gorj see a little more than 7 billion lei (EUR1.55 billion) revenue a year, those in Olt more than RON11 billion and those in Dolj more than RON19 billion in Dolj (2014 figures, the latest available). Businesses in Mehedinti, on the other hand, posted RON2.5 billion revenue in 2014, the lowest level in the entire country.
Under the circumstances, entrepreneurs propose manufacturing support by differentiated taxation compared with trade companies, so the sector would attract more investments and create more jobs.
“I think the authorities should use differentiated taxation for manufacturing and retail. I’m not saying the government should give us everything, just that it should encourage manufacturing and distinguish between this sector and trade, which most often means imports,” said Catalin Stroe, manager of farm equipment manufacturer Ruris in Dolj.
Entrepreneurs used Turkey as an example, a country that supports local manufacturing and levies higher taxes on those that import products. The businesspeople in the southwestern Romania also believe that curbing red tape could help the manufacturing sector, which is a sector that generates value added.
When it comes to education, the entrepreneurs in Oltenia agree with those in Banat (western Romania, a region whose most important city is Timisoara), saying that the educational system does not meet the demands of the market. As a result, companies are unable to find employees, despite the high unemployment rate.
“Workforce is a problem in this county. Dolj has the highest unemployment rate in the country after Vaslui (Moldavia, NE Romania) but finding a worker is a really tiresome process. No one wants to work for a little more than the minimum wage, everyone wants a high wage when they hear what the average wage in the country is, but when you ask them to do something or ask them why they want this wage, they reply they don’t have the skill for the job but will learn it,” said Virgil Fira, manager of packaging manufacturer Moviplast Dolj.
We need to invest in education to have good doctors, good builders and good bankers, Banca Transilvania’s Omer Tetik says. (EUR1=RON4.5114)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)