When some of the biggest Romanian entrepreneurs started their businesses, the notion of brand or branding was as foreign to them as those of business and capitalism.
Many of them say they learned everything as they went along and that business is like a mountain that you can’t stop climbing once you’ve started.
“Once you are halfway up, you never stop. It’s normal to think that if you could start over with the information you now know, you would do a million things differently,” says businessman Dan Sucu, the entrepreneur who set up the Mobexpert business in 1993. The furniture company’s turnover has now reached EUR114.5 million.
He explains that although one could now avoid making some of the past mistakes, one could definitely make new ones. “I think our advantage in this business has been that we struggled on, while others gave up.”
Dan Sucu recalls he established Mobexpert in 1993, when the brand was chosen at random. Originally he had opted for the Expert name, but one of his employees from the legal department told him it was too short and he would not be able to register it. Moreover, the name needed to include something from the company’s activity, so the name chosen was Mobexpert.
“The name was chosen at random, but we built the brand together with an advertising agency. The first agencies were emerging at the time and although we were all hesitant, we did not give up,” the entrepreneur recalls.
The advantage of a Romanian name
Only one year later, Radu Timis together with his wife set up the CrisTim business, which has now reached a turnover of EUR60 million.
“What was the beginning like? Well, it was fabulous… I was 15 years younger, had a lot of dreams, fabulous opportunities, it was a time when everything seemed possible.”
The entrepreneur says he doesn’t know if his journey in business has been smooth or difficult, but he believes his consistency and inspiration helped.
Romanian companies don’t have the experience of several markets, as multinationals do, nor do they have a decades-long history, but they managed to create brands that have stood the test of time, Timis believes.
“Romanian brands are young, they have 15-20 years of history, but each brought something different to the market.” The name CrisTim was chosen by the Timis family from the very start. The entrepreneur recalls there were several proposals, but that this “sounded best”. The fact that he opted for a Romanian name that promotes local values such as family helped.
The brand in crisis
Although most entrepreneurs built their business in the early ‘90s after the fall of the iron curtain, Marcel Barbut of construction materials producer AdePlast said his company performed best during the crisis. The AdePlast brand appeared on the market in 1996, when the entrepreneur set the business up together with other shareholders. In 2007 he became majority shareholder and subsequently sole shareholder of the firm and started massive investments in developing the brand, in advertising and in developing production.
“We developed better during the crisis period. We opted for a different strategy than that of all foreign brands that relied on cost cuts and on savings. We grew because we took risks.”
The entrepreneur recalls that the strategy has proved to be a winning one given that the business went up by 23.5% last year and by over 36% in the first ten months of this year. “We were a bit mad,” he says.
From second-hand TVs to luxury home appliances
Romanian entrepreneur Dan Ostahie in turn managed to Altex’s turnover last year from EUR208 million to EUR254 million. The rise came after a difficult period when the financial crisis dealt a blow to the electronics & IT market. The entrepreneur, who owns the largest electronics & IT retailer in Romania, went into business in 1991, straight out of college, by importing second-hand TVs from Switzerland. He needed $10,000 to start the business, which he borrowed from the bank, pledging his parents’ home.
“Altex has been a bet on Romania. The business reaped the rewards when the market was growing, but unfortunately stood to suffer when the market fell, however we did not give up. The leader position we have on the market shows the trust we have in the Romanian economy,” Dan Ostahie says.
The entrepreneur says his company’s strong point is that it understands what the market needs. “Let’s evaluate all these years. We started back in 1992 with second-hand TVs, this is what the market was like back then. The company went through a transformation along with the market and Altex is today an accurate reflection of current Romanian realities.”
From second-hand TVs the company moved to new household appliances and to a national chain. Ostahie says when consumer lending came about, Altex was the first company “to understand it” and that it based its growth around it. Subsequently the Altex opened its first large-area stores.
“In other words, we have always adjusted to the market and today we are implementing what modern retail calls the omni-channel – the connection between the traditional store and the virtual store, between customer and product through multiple channels.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)