“At present we have 913 employees. We have software development projects with the European Commission, very difficult ones, with a complex development methodology and the offer in itself is extremely challenging. We have a four-year framework-contract with the European Commission worth EUR12 million,” said Irina Socol, 53, president and general manager of Siveco Romania.
Siveco has developed or is involved in projects in countries including Morocco, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey or the United Arab Emirates.
Last year, the company’s turnover reached EUR60 million, up 20% from 2009 and net profit stood at EUR2.5 million.
“We’re highly selective in employee recruiting and this is one of our problems as out of 100 interviews we hire just three people,” Socol added.
She has run Siveco, a company she founded in 1991, for 20 years after having worked as a programmer engineer with the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Siveco estimates its turnover at EUR72 million in 2011, 20% higher on the year, a growth objective set by Socol.
“We rely on international projects and expect to boost turnover by 20% this year,” she said.
This year, 28%-30% of the company’s turnover will come from contracts signed with public authorities.
“The value of contracts inked with the public sector has never exceeded 50% of the total turnover. And in the public sector we include projects with the European Commission or those with ministries of other countries,” said Socol.
In her opinion, the projects contracted with the state are the more challenging as they are highly complex and the success is measured depending on how the client works with the system after the software producer finalized it.