“There are no laws to support manufacturing, so if you want a clean manufacturing business today, that is impossible. What are our representative manufacturing sectors today?”
The entrepreneur, who sold Elmiplant to Greek-owned Sarantis in 2007, says that she is not considering development of a new business of her own. The statement comes shortly after Sarantis announced production relocation to Greece and plans to keep only research and distribution in Romania.
Elena Cremenescu is deputy general manager of Sarantis Romania, which now has cosmetics manufacturing, import and distribution operations. She is also involved in research.
According to Cremenescu, the company was at its peak when she sold it, generating EUR1 million net profit a year.
“I wanted to grow the brand myself, but if we were left alone (just her and her family i.e.) where would we have been today after five years of crisis? There were 15 small local producers in the early 2000s, but there is no legislation to support production. How many of them are left today?”
Sarantis made the decision to relocate production because the space Elmiplant has in Bucharest is too small for demand, Cremenescu says. It sought a suitable plot of land to expand in the city, but the crisis made it move production to Greece to cut costs.
Elmiplant is now making 600,000 products a month and has demand for 1 million. The company uses three brands, Elmiplant, sold in Romania only, and Bioten and Kolastina. Bioten and Kolastina products can be found on store shelves in Poland, Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus, not just Romania.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)