“Romania is a top market for Avon in terms of sales and is also a talent pool that produces top executives,” Razvan Diratian, the Romanian executive in charge of Avon’s operations in Romania and in the Republic of Moldova, has recently said.
He named Andreea Moldovan and Romulus Sarbu as examples. Moldovan is in charge of the Czech Republic and Slovakia operations, while Sarbu is the managing director of Avon India and also regional sales manager Asia Pacific, a region that contributes more than $700 million to Avon’s total revenue.
The two are not the only Romanian expats working in top management positions for Avon. Orlando Andrei has been working for Avon for more than 14 years and is now general manager of Avon Turkey, a position he was appointed to three and a half years ago. The most powerful and also most famous Romanian expat at Avon is Angela Cretu, who supervises the operations on 17 developing markets, which include Turkey, Africa and Middle East. Judging from the value of the business she runs, more than EUR1 billion, Angela Cretu is the most powerful Romanian female expat executive, according to ZF data.
Although the four hold top management positions in various parts of the world, they do have something in common. They have all been working for Avon for ten to fifteen years, having actually built their entire career at the US cosmetics manufacturer. They all started working for it in Romania, where Avon is market leader thanks to its 474 million lei (EUR108 million) revenue in 2014, an increase of about 5% on the previous year. (EUR1=RON4.4075)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)