“We are the only Romanian product that made it in Western Europe. Five years ago I went to my Italian partners and told them I wanted to become a leader on their market. Now we are number two on the PVC window market in Italy with the QFort brand; one in ten PVC windows sold there is a QFort,” said Stefan Cherciu, majority owner and chairman of the business in Craiova.
The entrepreneur who runs a business with more than 1,100 employees attended 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. This was the 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.
The rise of the QFort brand comes at a time when many Romanian entrepreneurs are trying their luck with exports, and some only succeed in the neighboring countries. The 20 largest Romanian-held exporters include furniture, automotive component, apparel companies and grain traders but no manufacturer has developed a brand that can compete for a spot among the top three in its industry in a Western European country. The top 50 Romanian exporters shipped EUR8 billion worth of products abroad last year or 15% of the country’s total exports, according to ZF estimates.
There are also Romanian IT brands like Bitdefender developed by Romanians but not included in statistics and known worldwide. The biggest Romanian brand known abroad is Dacia, held by Renault.
Casa Noastra started in 1995 and has since become one of the leading PVC trim manufacturers in the region, which posted 186.5 million lei (EUR41.4 million) revenue last year.
The manufacturer is among the top 20 Romanian-held private sector exporters in the economy and the second largest Romanian exporter in the Dolj County, after Cerealcom. (EUR1=RON4.5074)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)