“We built our company without spending the money, without buying expensive cars or homes after a year or two. We’ve constantly made investments in the past 25 years. We posted 16% growth in the first half,” Ilie Echim, pharmacist and founder of the business, told ZF.
Farmacia Ardealul’s 11 stores continue to operate as compounding pharmacies, because the entrepreneur believes this is what a pharmacy should do. “A real pharmacy does pharmaceutical compounding. No chain pharmacy does that. In my opinion those are not pharmacies, they are points of sale.”
Ilie Echim is the majority shareholder of the business and wants to pass it on to his son, who is also a pharmacist. Last year’s growth came from the rise in the number of customers in the 11 pharmacies, one of which in a rural area. (EUR1=RON4.5906)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)