ROMANIA’S PREMIER BUSINESS WEEKLY APRIL 14 - 20, 2014 / VOLUME 18, NUMBER 13

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: CSR projects aregetting a longer-term focus, but initiatives are not alwayspublicized in an organized way as reporting non-finan-cial information is not mandatory locally »page 8

LOCAL R&D

ROMANIAN RESEARCHER RADU SILAGHI-DUMITRESCU IS WORKING ON TWO PARALLEL PROJECTS WHICH SHOULD MAKE ITPOSSIBLE TO ADMINISTER ARTIFICIAL BLOODIN EMERGENCYSITUATIONS»PAGE 7

NEWS

Hard currency Romania must getmore people into workbefore consideringEuro zone accession,says Valentin Lazea,BNR chief economist » page 4

The governmentwants to roll outadvance pricing

agreements withmultinationals

doing cross-borderdeals, in a bid to

provide taxpayerswith certainty andraise the tax take,

Ioana Petrescu,the minister of

finance, tells BR»page 6

TACKLINGTAX

TACKLINGTAX

NEW S 3www.business-review.eu Business Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

NEWS in briefNEW S 3

AUTODaimler starts EUR 300 mln local plant expansionStar Transmission, the local subsidiaryof German carmaker Daimler, has kicked off expansion works at itstransmission assembly plant in Sebes, in a move designed to meet in-creased demand on the internationalmarket.

The company is set to invest EUR300 million over the next two years inan 80,000 sqm production unit, andgradually start assembling Mercedes-Benz’s nine-speed automatic trans-mission, the 9G-Tronic.

The carmaker is aiming to use this transmission for almost all rear-wheel drive vehicles, accordingto Markus Schafer, a member of thedivisional board of Mercedes-Benzcars, production and supply chainmanagement. Star Transmission hasaccessed EUR 37.4 million in state aidfor this project, which is set to create500 new jobs in Alba County.

The new employees will take specialization courses in Germany.

ENERGYE.ON Romania 2013 consolidated sales down 10.5 pct to RON 4.65 blnE.ON Romania, a subsidiary of Germanutility firm E.ON, saw its consolidatedsales decline 10.5 percent on the yearbefore to RON 4.65 billion (EUR 1.05billion) in 2013, largely due to lowergas and power volumes.

Officials made the announcementlast Tuesday as E.ON provided several updates on its activity in Ro-mania.

The firm recorded gas and energysales of 29.4 TWh last year, down 13percent on the year before, accordingto general manager Frank Hajdinjak.Profit also came in under the 2012 total, but no further details were pro-vided.

E.ON Romania expects its businessto expand in 2014, as the liberalizationof the gas and energy market contin-ues.

In spite of the poorer performanceregistered last year, E.ON will increaseits investments in Romania in 2014.The company is planning to spend RON406 million (EUR 95 million) locally inthe next few months.

Last year it invested RON 396 million(EUR 83 million), primarily in mod-ernizing its networks.

INFRASTRUCTURESibiu-Nadlac motorway to becompleted in Q4 2015, saysSova Dan Sova, the minister of transport,has told BR the motorway linking Sibiuand Nadlac will be finished in the fourthquarter of 2015, after Prime MinisterVictor Ponta said the motorway wouldbe completed sometime next year, with-out mentioning a clear deadline.

The road, which will be around 350kilometers including bypasses, is partof the EU’s trans-European TransportNetwork (TEN-T) Priority Axis No7,which aims to link Nadlac to Constanta,via Bucharest. According to media re-ports, some 172 kilometers of the routehave been completed over the last twoyears.

ITABC Data opens distributionhub in OradeaABC Data Romania, the local branchof the IT product distribution firm withoperations in Central and Eastern Eu-rope, has established a distributionpoint in Oradea, two months after itmade its direct entrance on the Ro-manian market.

According to the company, fromnow on, the distributor will be able toensure delivery to its local partners in

Romania within 24 hours of when thegoods enter the country. ABC Data in-tends to set up a warehouse in Romania,so the 36,000 products in its portfoliowill be available more quickly.

ONLINEECJ rules Data Retention Directive invalidThe EU Court of Justice (ECJ) hasthrown out the Data Retention Directive,which compelled providers of publiclyavailable electronic communicationsservices or public communications net-works to store EU citizens’ data for upto two years, on the grounds that it vi-olates several fundamental rights.

The directive, which imposed a re-tention period of between six monthsand two years, did not state the objec-tive criteria on the basis of which theperiod must be determined in order toensure that it is limited to what isstrictly necessary, ruled the Court.

It also failed to provide sufficientsafeguards to ensure the effective pro-tection of the data against the risk ofabuse and against any unlawful accessand use, the ECJ added.The Court stated that the directive didnot require that the data be retainedwithin the EU. The Data Retention Di-rective aimed to ensure that data wereavailable for the purpose of the pre-vention, investigation, detection andprosecution of serious crime.

From catwalk to jailhouse walk: mayor arrested over suspectedbribe taking

The mayor of Constanta, Radu Mazare, who is suspected of taking bribes,was released from jail last week, after spending 24 hours in custody. Inves-tigations into his conduct will continue. A day before his arrest, Constanta’smayor had attended the fourth edition of a Romanian tourism gala, which in-cluded a fashion parade.

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2 Radu Mazare released from cus-tody. DNA: Elan Schwartzenbergwas his accomplice

3 Austrian S+B Gruppe to build EUR17.5 mln hotel next to Otopeni airport

4 FT: Bucharest heads for recoveryquicker than its neighbours

5 In honor of Labor Day: RomanianGovernment grants an extra dayoff on May 2

WEEK AHEAD

April 14

EU Foreign Affairs Council The European Union Foreign AffairsCouncil will meet in Luxembourg,with the situation in Ukraine beingone of the main topics of discussion.Poland, Sweden and the United King-dom have proposed the deploymentof an EU police mission in the formersoviet country, a proposal that willreceive a response from the Council.

April 15

Business BreakfastAmCham Romania invites membersto a Business Breakfast meeting withIoana-Maria Petrescu, the new min-ister of finance, from 9:00-11:00 am,at JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel,Constanta Ballroom. Petrescu willspeak about her vision for a modernfiscal strategy for Romania, the cur-rent status of ANAF’s modernizationprocess and the legislative projects ofthe ministry she is currently coordi-nating.

April 17

Upcoming legislationThe new EU public procurement di-rectives come into force. Memberstates have two years to implementthem, from this date. The directivesmodernize the existing tools and in-struments by making them simpler,more flexible and easier for compa-nies, particularly SMEs, to bid forpublic procurements, according to EUofficials. The rules on concessionsare intended to establish a clear legalframework to give public authoritiesthe necessary legal certainty to per-form their duties. They aim to guar-antee effective access to theconcessions market for all Europeanbusinesses.

Agerpres

4 NEWSwww.business-review.eu

Business Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

MONEY

NBR: Romania ‘needs at least decadeof growth before Euro zone accession’

policies in the sphere of the real economy,which can enhance the three mentionedfactors (e.n. capital, labor market andproductivity), are required. He said thatthe country’s current potential GDPgrowth stands at around 2 percent an-nually and is linked to agricultural output.Any EU member aiming to join the Eurozone has to meet the five criteria outlinedin the Treaty of Maastricht. They includea rate of inflation below 3 percent andnational budget deficit and nationalpublic debt of below 60 percent of GDP.

EU funds key for growthRomania is currently doing poorly in allthe fields that could help it increase itsGDP per capita. Foreign direct invest-

ments, which are the main componentof capital, grew by an average of EUR2.3 billion per year over 2009-2013, fromEUR 7.2 billion on average from 2004-2008. Lazea said that the absorption ofEU funds, which should have pluggedthis gap, only started to pick up lastyear.

The country is also dealing with ashrinking labor force due to falling birthrates, while the overall efficiency of theeconomy remains below that in the EU.For instance, Romania has to use doublethe amount of energy per unit of GDPcompared to the EU, despite progressin improving efficiency.

Electronic payments make up lessthan 10 percent of all payments against90 percent in Poland. Furthermore, Ro-manian pupils fare poorly on the Pisatest, which examines 15-year olds’ math,science and reading abilities. Out of 65countries that were analyzed in 2012,Romania came 45th in maths, 49th inscience and 50th in reading, far belowother states in CEE.

Lazea outlined some measures thatcould boost growth, such as the en-hanced absorption of EU funds, and in-creasing the participation of the elderlyin the labor market. He added that morehigh school graduates in rural areas needto get into college and teachers’ payshould be connected to pupil perform-ance. ∫

Ovidiu Posirca

What will happen with E.ON’s plans

in the renewable sector following the

changes to the incentives system?

We have stopped all our investmentsin renewable. We had several windprojects in our distribution area and aproject portfolio of I think more than200MW and we wanted to invest inmore than 100MW but we’ve stoppedall these investments. We do not planto acquire any projects.

How does the group perceive Roma-

nia?

Romania’s reputation is generally verygood in the E.ON group. Of course, asin all the other countries across Eu-rope there are pros and cons, but gen-erally I think it is fair to say it is a goodone. Otherwise we would not have as-sumed this commitment of buyingmore shares – for example in Elec-trica – and continued and even in-creased our investment program.

This year the smart metering pro-gram will start and so we will havearound RON 210 million (e.n. of in-vestments) in electricity and RON 175million in gas. The rest (e.n. up to RON400 million) represents other invest-ments in building services, etc.

Are you planning any investments in

new conventional generating capac-

ities at the moment?

At this point in time we are of courseanalyzing all the upcoming opportuni-ties but I certainly cannot see any pos-sibility of large-scale investments. Theproblem is not Romania but the over-all development in the market Europewide, and this also has an impact inRomania. I cannot see that there willbe a huge investment project coming,at least from our side.

ovidiu.posirca@business-review.ro

3QFrank HajdinjakCEO, E.ON Romania

Valentin Lazea, chief economist of thecentral bank

Romania’s GDP per capita adjustedto purchasing power parityreached 50 percent of the EU av-

erage in 2012, and the local economywill have to outpace EU growth by 2percent in the next decade to reach 60percent, said Valentin Lazea, chief econ-omist at the National Bank of Romania(NBR), during a risk conference organizedlast week by credit insurer Coface andMediafax.

Lazea said that the poorest states tohave joined the Euro zone were Estoniain 2011 with a GDP per capita (adjustedto PPP) of 66 percent of the EU averageand Latvia in 2014 with 60 percent.

“It is less probable that the Euro zonewill open its gates to a candidate-statethat has a GDP per capita below theselevels, because it would create additionalproblems for itself and the respectivestate,” said Lazea, who added that thiswas his personal opinion, and not thatof the central bank.

Over recent years, Romania’s poli-cymakers have commented that Roma-nia should join the Euro zone by theend of this decade. Many prices in thelocal economy are already expressed ineuros and around 70 percent of Roman-ian exports go to the 18-nation Eurozone bloc.

The economist said that monetaryand fiscal policies can only “temporarilystimulate” GDP growth above potential.

“For long-lasting sustainable growth,C

ourtesy of E.ON

Rom

ania

Adrian Soltanhas been ap-pointed account-ing manager forthe local opera-tions of businessoutsourcing andconsultancy firmAccace. He has

eight years of experience in manag-ing corporate accounting and fi-nancing systems with local and in-ternational application. Soltanspent five years in executive posi-tions at companies such as PwC. Hegraduated from the Faculty of Fi-nance, Insurance, Banks and StockExchange within the Academy ofEconomic Studies in Bucharest.

Iulian Stefanhas been appointed head of PayPoint Romania’s IT department.He has a ten-year background in IT,

with experience ofmanagement, re-search, design, implementation, integration, mainte-nance and testingof software solu-tions and systems.

Most recently, he was business de-velopment manager at TotalSoft, acompany he joined in 2008.

Robert Uzunais the new corporate affairs director at Ursus

Breweries startingthis month. His previous posi-tion was externalrelations manager,

a position he had held since 2013. In2011 he was appointed public affairsmanager. Uzuna holds a PhD in eco-

nomics, a bachelor’s degree in in-ternational economic relations andmaster’s degree from CambridgeUniversity in the UK. Before joiningthe beer industry he worked indiplomacy.

Oana Vijialahas been ap-pointed leasingmanager in theretail departmentof CBRE startingthis month. Shehas over sevenyears of profes-

sional experience in real estate. Vijiala previously worked as leasingmanager for AFI Europe where she was responsible for the leaseof AFI Palace Cotroceni and AFIPalace Ploiesti. Between 2007 and 2010 she was a consultant with JLL.

WHO’S NEWSBR welcomes information for Who’s News. Submissions may be edited fo r length and clarity.

Get in touch at simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

NEWS 5www.business-review.euBusiness Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

CONSTRUCTION

Lafarge and Holcim‘must sell 43 pct of local production capacity’

French Lafarge and Swiss Holcim an-nounced last week that they had reachedan agreement to merge their global ac-tivities. Bruno Lafont, head of Lafargeand of the future LafargeHolcim giant,said in a press conference that no pro-duction facilities would be closed andthere would be only a small impact onthe number of employees. However, thecompanies will have to sell assets worth10-15 percent of their EBITDA to obtainregulatory approval for the merger. Abouttwo thirds of the divestitures will haveto take place in Europe. Deutsche Bankrepresentatives have identified eightcountries where, following the merger,LafargeHolcim would have more than50 percent of the market, including Ro-mania.

The Romanian cement market, whichis estimated at around EUR 600-700million, is already a concentrated one.Each of the local subsidiaries of the twocompanies covers about one third ofthe market. Carpatcement, part of Ger-man HeidelbergCement AG, the nextbiggest competitor of the future La-fargeHolcim, has a similar market shareof about 30 percent. The merger of thelocal subsidiaries of Lafarge and Holcimwould further hamper competition ona market which is already closely mon-itored because of this issue, said thehead of Romania’s Competition Council,Bogdan Chiritoiu, last week, accordingto local media reports.

Moreover, last year proved a chal-lenging one for the local cement marketwhich was estimated to have dropped

by between 3 and 5 percent as both res-idential and non-residential constructionstalled, said Daniel Bach, then CEO ofHolcim Romania, in November.

Holcim and Lafarge operate two ce-ment factories each in Romania – Holcimin Campulung and Alesd and Lafarge inMedgidia and Hoghiz. In addition to thecement business, the two companiesalso have divisions for aggregates, con-crete and additional services. Holcimfurther supplies road binders, limestonefiller and limestone. The two firms re-ported a combined local turnover ofover EUR 440 million in 2012, accordingto data from the Ministry of Finance.Lafarge Romania’s sales amounted toEUR 229 million while Holcim Romaniareported EUR 213 million in sales.

The global merger between the twocompanies is meant to reduce costs, im-prove access to markets and enable theresulting LafargeHolcim giant to bettercope with increasing energy prices. Themove will require the approval of Hol-cim’s shareholders as well as that of theEuropean Commission and competitionauthorities in the countries where bothplayers are present. It should be com-pleted in the first half of next year. Atglobal level Holcim and Lafarge havetotal sales of EUR 32 billion and a EUR6.5 billion EBITDA. The combined groupwill be present in 90 countries aroundthe world with a “balanced exposure toboth developed and high-growth markets”, according to a joint press re-lease. ∫

Simona Bazavan

Cement firms Lafarge and Holcim will have to sell 43percent of their combined production capacity in Ro-mania to obtain competition authority approval for amerger, according to Deutsche Bank cited by the WSJ.

In recent years, economic factorshave led to an increase in people’sinterest in establishing their ownbusiness as a means to generate ex-tra income. The unemployment ratehas sadly been growing, especiallyamong young people. According todata from the end of 2013, the un-employment rate for 18- to 30-year-olds reached 25 percent in Romania.High youth unemployment reflectsthe difficulties faced by young peo-ple in finding jobs, a worrying trendthat is visible in Romania and at EUlevel.

In countries with relatively lowGDP per capita, entrepreneurshipas a second source of income be-comes a main driver. According toa study carried out by Amway andGFK in 2013, almost two thirds (70percent) of respondents in Romaniahave a positive attitude towards self-employment. We can see an evenmore positive attitude towards en-trepreneurship among respondentsaged between 18 and 24 years (79percent). But despite this enthusi-asm, Romanian respondents feartheir enterprise failing and perceiveit as an obstacle to starting a busi-ness.

This fear of failure is basedmainly on two factors: “financialburdens up to bankruptcy” and the

“threat of the economic crisis”.

The current climate leads to peo-ple seeking alternative sources ofrevenue with the direct selling in-dustry currently offering a viablebusiness opportunity with low start-up capital and virtually no risk (nologistics and stock burden, no rentor other fixed costs). Despite theeconomic crisis, Europe is the sec-ond largest direct selling market inthe world with USD 25.8 billion insales revenue.

The industry has developed andgrown also in countries with lower

purchasing power, such as Hungary,Poland and Greece.

Young people are increasinglyopen to entrepreneurship, forgingtheir own path to success, enjoyingmore flexibility with their time andcontrol over their revenues. In fact,young people can start their own di-rect selling business and benefitfrom specialized training for freealong with support from proven,reputable, trusted direct sellingcompanies. As with any other busi-nesses, it requires an investment oftime and dedication.

The direct selling industry offersa unique business and income op-portunity to those who aspire to abetter life, as either a temporary so-lution for a youngster looking to earnextra money or responding to along-term goal of supporting an en-tire household.

CEO CORNER

Ioana Enache

General manager Amway Romania

Empowering youngpeople to forge theirown future

Cementing their future: the two companies will have to divest European assets

6 INTERVIEWwww.business-review.eu

Business Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

Government seeks five-year agreementwith multinationals over transfer pricesIoana Petrescu, the minister of finance, says the government wants to reach consensus with multinationalsover transfer prices, using deals known as advance pricing agreements, to increase taxpayers’ certainty andraise the tax take. The fiscal authority ANAF is currently hiring the personnel that will be tasked with reachingagreements with multinationals on paying their taxes over the next five years.

∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA

She says no new taxes will be rolled outthis year and that reinvested profit isdue to be exempted from taxation fromJuly 1. Returning VAT to 19 percentwould reduce budget revenues by RON10 billion, while the potential 5 percent-age point cut in social insurance contri-butions would deprive state coffers ofanother RON 1.5 billion this quarter, ac-cording to the minister.

How does the Ministry of Finance intend

to increase the tax take?

We have several levers by which wewish to improve collection and producemore money for the budget with theaim of supporting fiscal easing and eco-nomic incentives, on the one hand, andensuring the funding of social protec-tion, on the other hand.

One of the goals embedded in mymandate as minister, which I have men-tioned before, consists of introducing aset of measures to support paymentcompliance. Several aspects will be in-volved, including the clarification andsimplification of the fiscal system, bymeans of revising the Fiscal Code andthe Fiscal Procedure Code. Additionally,we are pursuing a decrease in taxpayers’compliance costs by keeping them in-formed and facilitating the payment oftaxes and dues using bank cards andonline services.

We want to demonstrate trans-parency and respect for public financialresources. The public and the businesscommunity need to see that the moneythey return to the state is used in atransparent and sensible manner, that itis used to finance sustainable develop-ment projects or projects focused onstimulating the economy.

Last but not least, I am aware thatthe business environment expects pre-dictability from us and measures to betaken based on solid substantiations, re-lying on impact studies and thoroughanalysis.

How does the Ministry of Finance intend

to reduce tax evasion in Romania which,

according to certain statistics, accounts

for nearly one third of the country’s GDP?

Have you laid out any proposals to stiffen

sanctions for tax evasion?

First and foremost, I would like to notethe layers in your question. There areseparate estimates with regard to taxevasion, depending on the methodol-

ogy. This is, however, by the by. What I mean to say is that stiffening

sanctions for tax evasion could be onesolution – we are taking it under advise-ment – but I don’t believe this is enough.As I have previously stated, I want touse both measures to facilitate taxpay-ers’ co-operative compliance, as well asthose aiding the fight against tax eva-sion.

Naturally, there are measures thatcan be implemented on the short ormedium term (improving the pre-dictability and clarification of the fiscalsystem, decreasing the number of fiscaland non-fiscal taxes and dues, the intro-duction of cash registers with electroniclogs, tax audits and the enhancement ofrisk analysis methodology, the ex-change of good practices with othercountries, etc.), but there are also cer-tain measures that will require imple-mentation over a longer term – theconsolidation of the Transfer Pricing de-

partment within the MPF and the cross-linking of databases within local gov-ernment.

An important collection source forthe budget, still being used below its ca-pabilities but present on our radar, is theimplementation and encouragement ofprocedures allowing us to build a bridgebetween the state and multinationalcompanies as far as transfer pricingstrategy is concerned: “advance pricingagreements”. So far there have not beensufficient ANAF employees to handlethese procedures. What does thismean? Basically, one can come to anagreement with multinational compa-nies regarding the way in which they areto pay their taxes and dues over the fol-lowing five years. This is a co-operativecompliance method, an importantsource for collection enhancement.ANAF has already set in motion proce-dures for hiring the people to be taskedwith such duties.

We are also counting on concrete re-sults from the General Directorate forFiscal Anti-fraud, a body which, despitenot yet being three months old, hasbeen handling a constant volume oftasks.

Will VAT be cut again to 19 percent this

year or are you trying to specifically

lower VAT on basic products, similar to

the pattern of reducing VAT in the milling

and bakery sector?

VAT reduction is a long-term objective,included in the Budgetary and FiscalStrategy for the coming years.

On the one hand, it would cost thebudget quite a lot, around RON 10 bil-lion, against a background in which, in2013, VAT income accounted for RON51.8 billion (43.5 percent of fiscal in-come and 26 percent of global income)– budgetary resources which currentlycannot be covered by other means.

On the other hand, Romania has oneof the highest VAT rates in the EU afterthe increase in 2010, while VAT tax eva-sion is the highest, at almost RON 49 bil-lion in 2012, according to thecalculations of the Fiscal Council. Suchdata reveal the need for fiscal easingmeasures in this area or more stringentlimitation measures in order to combatevasion.

With regard to lowering VAT onother basic products, this is a measurewe are considering. However, it de-pends upon the data we obtain throughanalyzing the outcome of the reduced,9 percent, VAT on bakery products. Weneed to take into account the fact thatonly six or seven months have passedsince the VAT decrease on bakery prod-ucts, and the currently visible effectsare those related to price reductions(down 11 percent in January 2014against January 2013). The impact onlowering evasion or increasing the com-pliance/collection rate emerges over thelonger term. Therefore, performing thisanalysis is necessary for a longer periodof time, as a foundation for our futuredecisions.

Will SIC (social insurance contributions)

be lowered by 5 percentage points for

companies? What will be the impact upon

the labor market (will it diminish unem-

ployment, or working under the table,

and if so by what percentage)?

Reducing SIC would be a measure tosupport the business environment byalleviating the fiscal pressure on com-panies. The reduction of SIC by 5 per-

March 2014 – present minister of financeSeptember 2013 – March 2014

economic adviser to the RomanianPrime MinisterAugust 2010 – present (on leave) assistant professor, University ofMaryland, College Park, School ofPublic Policy2008 - PhD in Economics from Harvard University2007- MA in Economics from Harvard University2003 - BA in Mathematics and Economics from Wellesley College

CV Ioana Petrescu

INTERVIEW 7www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

centage points and exemption from thereturn of the reinvested tax are topicswe will debate with the IMF, the Euro-pean Commission and the World Bankdelegation.

According to our estimates, a 5 per-centage point cut in SIC could encour-age employment, in the short term,leading to the creation of around 25,000new jobs.

The cost of lowering SIC by 5 per-centage points is estimated at RON 2.6billion, which would be the income gapto emerge within the social insurancebudget. However, if we look at theglobal picture, the cost will be offsetagainst the background of corporate taxcollections, from how the companiesspend the extra funds, from the poten-tial growth in recruitment, as well asfrom the decrease in government costsof social insurance contributions. Insum, we predict that the net cost of theconsolidated general budget willamount to RON 1.52 billion (0.2 percentof the GDP) for the second semester ofthe year.

Impact studies are currently inprogress, to ensure the effects on thebudget are not too profound and, at thesame time, such studies should be of as-sistance to companies that have beenrequesting this measure for severalyears. To pay for this measure, as wellas the non-taxation of the reinvestedprofit, we are considering several op-tions. We are counting on develop-ments in the efforts to fight tax evasion,the collection of the special construc-tion tax, and, once the first five monthsof this year have been analyzed, we’lldecide whether a decrease in budgetaryexpenses is necessary or not.

This field, as with the VAT issue, issubject to extensive tax evasion, calcu-lated by the Fiscal Council at RON 19 bil-lion, RON 10 billion higher than the taxevasion figure for 2008.

Will reinvested profit from the current

year remain non-taxable?

As we have previously announced,reinvested profit will probably be madetax exempt from July 1, considering theexpectations and the benefits thismeasures will have for the business en-vironment. As I said earlier, this will bea topic of discussion with the IMF, theEuropean Commission and the WorldBank.

In comparison with the VAT and SICdecrease, making reinvested profit non-taxable will cost the least and will mostlikely be implemented this year. The es-timated impact amounts to approxi-mately RON 28 million in 2014, if themeasure comes into force on July 1.

Will these new tax reductions involve

new taxes and dues for the business en-

vironment, considering that the tax take

will fall in the short term?

Given the current budget structure, wedo not intend to introduce new taxesand dues for business players. Addition-ally, we intend to implement, as far asbudget-related expenses are concerned,

a better prioritization of investments,with the help of the Public InvestmentEvaluation Unit. We also want to see afall in public spending.

What arguments on the subject of tax re-

duction will you make to the new IMF as-

sessment mission?

We have and can find even more eco-nomic arguments in favor of tax reduc-tion.

We need to remember that fiscal eas-ing measures must not be detrimentalto the budget deficit targets and, re-spectively, the structural budget deficittargets. This is worth mentioning because, since discretionary measuresare in focus, these will also be reflectedin the structural budget deficit, forwhich Romania has a timetable it mustfollow.

The arguments we can bring relateto an increase in recruitment and a hikein the employment rate, boosting exter-nal competitiveness, the stimulation ofmore taxpayers’ contributions to thepension scheme, the limitation of taxevasion through SIC and, we hope, theenhancement of budget income collec-tion.

Will the 7 eurocent additional excise duty

diminish domestic consumption?

I do not believe that the introduction ofthe 7 eurocent excise duty for fuels willreduce domestic consumption to agreat extent. This will depend upon thevalue within the excise duty reflected inthe final price.

Following consultations with repre-sentatives of road carriers and given theexistence of a provision on excise dutiesin the text of a European directive, weagreed to return 4 eurocents from thisexcise duty in the case of certain vehiclecategories. This measure is intended tohelp licensed carriers whose activity islegitimately carried out on Romanianterritory. Factoring in that these trans-portation expenses are included in theprice of goods and services, we will seethe public promptly benefit from thismeasure stipulating the reimbursementof a portion of the excise duty.

During our forthcoming meetingswith representatives of road carriers wewill set forth the procedure for this re-imbursement.

What is the implementation status of the

ordinance providing tax breaks for low-

income borrowers?

We are currently working on finalizingthe draft bill on the subject, aboutwhich we will commence large-scaleconsultations with banks and academ-ics, whose opinions I am certain willcount a lot in the matter.

We are conducting analyses and im-pact studies as we want to cover all theeffects that might occur both in theshort term, as well as in the long term,and after 2016, when taxpayers willstart benefiting from these fiscal facili-ties. We hope to see this measureadopted this year.

ovidiu.posirca@business-review.ro

8 FOCUSwww.business-review.eu

Business Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

∫ OTILIA HARAGA

Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu and his teamare working simultaneously on twoprojects that, if successful, will con-clude a research chapter that has beenfascinating scientists for decades: syn-thesizing blood.

“Experiments in this area have beengoing on for decades. In the interna-tional scientific community, there is nodoubt that eventually such a productwill be successfully introduced intomedical practice. The main obstaclesare eliminating the side effects, but withevery round of clinical tests – of whichthe first took place in the 80s – there arefewer and fewer negative results,”Silaghi-Dumitrescu told BR.

One of the projects he and his teamare working on involves hemoglobin,while the other involves hemerythrin, arare protein prelevated from sea worms.

“We do not actually work with theworms, because we have already ex-tracted their DNA. We inserted it intobacteria and now we are only growingthe bacteria in the laboratory. The bac-teria are available commercially, pre-cisely for this type of purpose,” saidSilaghi-Dumitrescu. “We are also opento the possibility of having a worm farmand have received a collaboration offerfrom a foreign partner for this.”

Lab tests for both projects are beingconducted in parallel. The raw matterfor the tests is the bacterial culture en-vironment. “If you leave your food onthe table and it goes bad, this is whathappens, bacteria grow there. It is veryeasy to grow bacteria; you need water,salts, glucose… After that, all you needis a big receptacle in which to let thebacteria grow. It is not that complicatedto apply this technique at industriallevel,” explained Silaghi-Dumitrescu.

To comply with medical standards,the final product will look like a regularblood transfusion bag. However, the ad-vantage of artificial blood is that, unlikehuman blood, the water can be takenout and the blood can be stored as pow-der. “If need be, one can add sterilewater to the powder. If for instance,there is no cooler to keep the bloodfresh, it can be kept at room tempera-ture in the form of powder,” said the sci-entist.

In 2010, Silaghi-Dumitrescu and histeam started tests on animals and cellcultures, which are expected to con-tinue for another two years.

“I should say that we do not have adefinite result yet, only a very clearworking hypothesis, and the outlook ispromising,” the researcher told BR.

The team working under Prof.Silaghi-Dumitrescu has very diversecompetencies, with five people fromthe Faculty of Chemistry, some ofwhom have a background in biology.

However, this is only the centralknot of the project, where the team pro-duces and analyzes the substances froma physical and chemical perspective.

“We are also collaborating with a re-searcher at the Institute of Oncology forcultures of human cells, with the Insti-tute of Biological Research for testing onanimals, and we have carried out exper-iments at the University of Medicineand Pharmacy, and also with colleaguesfrom the Faculty of Biology at theBabes-Bolyai University. We have col-laborators at the Faculty of Physics andat the National Institute for Researchand Development of Isotopic and Mo-lecular Technologies in Cluj-Napoca.The network is pretty big,” he outlined.

Apart from the team of scientists,since the start of the projects in 2006,students and graduates pursuing mas-

ter’s degrees have also contributed.At European level, there is a network

called Euro Blood Substitutes, whereSilaghi- Dumitrescu used to work be-tween 2004 and 2006. To this day, he isstill collaborating with the organization.

On the hemoglobin project, Silaghi-Dumitrescu is working with Essex Uni-versity, and on the hemerythrin project,with a university in the United States. Ifthe invention is successful and patented,the patent will belong to the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, butalso must include the foreign partners.

A great deal has been published andpatented in this field. The discovery ofartificial blood has been like the questfor the Holy Grail for scientists for sometime. However, Silaghi-Dumitrescu isnot worried that other scientists mightwake up to his ideas and patent his in-ventions themselves.

“First of all, hemerythrin is not thateasy to get. Secondly, there are certainprocedural points that are rather deli-cate, so it’s not like anybody can readthe works and start making the blood.Thirdly, they would also need somevery advanced labs, which we have inCluj. On the other hand, if we were ex-posed, what is the risk?” asked Silaghi-Dumitrescu, adding that the patientwins either way.

“The number of patients who stand to

gain from this will probably be higherthan the Romanian population. This isone of the projects in which the patientmust come first. Anyhow, Romania can-not lose the credit for this, becausethese things have already appeared inthe press, so everyone knows where itstarted. As for the prizes and the money,anyone can have them as long as theyare able to get the product to the patientfaster,” said the scientist.

So far, approximately RON 1 millionwas spent on the research between2007 and 2010, and less between 2010and 2013, “because we worked with re-mains from other projects and a lot ofvolunteering from students.”

“I estimate that another RON 1 millionwill be necessary for lab tests on humancells and animals,” said Silaghi-Du-mitrescu.

At the end of 2013, the Ministry ofEducation allocated RON 200,000 to ar-tificial blood research. This March, dur-ing the Cluj Innovation Days, MihneaCostoiu, minister for research, an-nounced that an additional RON400,000 will be granted for 2014.

“We are considering applying for Eu-ropean funds this year. My lab has beenvery well financed from competitionsfor national funds for other projects. Itjust so happened that the artificialblood project did not obtain additionalfinancing after the first three years, butwe got financing for other projects. Wenow plan to do this,” he said.

No precise calculations have beendone regarding the price of the artificialblood. “A few years ago, the price ofhuman blood in England was about GBP1,000. The blood is donated free ofcharge, but this is the cost of collecting,storing and treating it. So, any productthat you procure must be cheaper thanthis, and it certainly can be. We hope itwill be less than half the cost,” he said.

If the artificial blood is successful,this will be a product with limited appli-cability, for emergencies, because afterbeing treated with it, the patient wouldstill need human blood. “On the longterm, the most interesting thing wouldbe to produce blood from stem cells.Unfortunately, the technology to dothat in tons and tons is not available”concluded Silaghi-Dumitrescu.

otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

Vein hope: Cluj team pioneers artificial blood Romanian researcher Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu, Assoc. Prof. at the Babes-Bolyai University’s Faculty of Chem-istry and Chemical Engineering, is one step closer to realizing what currently exists only in vampire series likeTrue Blood: synthesizing artificial blood. The scientist is working on two parallel projects which should make itpossible to administer artificial blood to patients in emergency situations.

CSR 9www.business-review.euBusiness Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

∫ ANDA SEBESI

At present, leading companies, espe-cially international ones, present inRomania are investing in buildingstakeholder trust and simultaneouslyimproving their business perform-ance. “These organizations under-stand that to retain the confidence ofthe general public they need to ‘winhearts and minds’ as well as deliver-

ing on the bottom line. They are re-sponding to a new set of societal val-ues based around the evolving role ofcompanies in society,” says Geta Dia-conu, director, sustainability advisoryand CSR, at KPMG Romania.

Elsewhere, as part of the eighthKPMG Survey of CSR Reporting in2013, the top 100 companies by rev-enue (N100) operating in Romaniawere analyzed from a CSR perspective,based on public information. The fig-

ures show an increase in the totalnumber of N100 Romanian compa-nies involved in CSR issues as well asreporting on such matters, eitherthrough a local report or providingdata for the group report, comparedwith the survey conducted in 2011.The previous set of results indicateda total of 53 reporting companies (CSRlocal reports or input for the group re-port). The latest data reveal that 69 ofthe N100 published this information.

The results of the survey also point toa difference between multinationalcompanies operating in Romania,which are more actively involved inCSR, and local players.

Diaconu says the trends in thelocal CSR market continue to be set bymultinationals active in Romania,which have a strategic approach andclear plans for action at group level.Related policies, procedures and proj-ects are implemented locally, in line

Local CSR market makesstrides towards maturityThe Romanian corporate social responsibility (CSR) market has changed steadily over recent years, with compa-nies aiming to develop long-term projects with a greater impact on the communities in which they operate. Al-though firms in Romania are getting more involved in CSR actions and supporting their local communities, notmany of them make these initiatives public in an organized way, as reporting non-financial information is not aregulatory requirement in Romania, specialists told Business Review.

10 CSRwww.business-review.ro

Business Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

with the group’s strategies. “On theother hand, Romanian-owned com-panies tend to focus their efforts andactivities mostly on social involve-ment, without an organizationalframework,” she adds.

“A significant difference can be observed between the level of involvement in CSR activities by gov-ernments and companies in devel-oped countries, where there is ahistory of several decades of such ac-tivities, and the position in Romania.However, during the last few years,progress has been made in our coun-try and hopefully in the near futureCSR will rank high on the agenda ofboth public institutions and privatecompanies,” says the KPMG represen-tative.

Companies focus on community projectsMany multinational companies focuson the community they operate in,developing long-term CSR programswith a greater impact on as many ben-eficiaries as possible. Heineken pen-tru Comunitati is one such example,developed by Heineken Romania inpartnership with CSR Nest Associa-tion. The program started four yearsago and is implemented in the fourcities where Heineken has breweries:Craiova, Constanta, Miercurea Ciucand Targu Mures. The company hasinvested over RON 1 million in 20community projects throughHeineken pentru Comunitati so farand has reached more than 280,000beneficiaries. The program is part ofthe company’s Agenda of Sustainabil-ity, entitled “Brewing a Better Future”,and aims to support local communi-ties where Heineken has breweries byinvesting in relevant projects forthem.

The company’s approach to sus-tainability is characterized by an inte-grated vision that covers all of itsareas of activity and helps it to de-velop its activity in Romania on thelong term in an efficient and respon-sible manner.

A similar initiative is “FondulMega Image pentru Comunitate”. Theproject is financed by Delhaize Groupand managed by Fundatia Comuni-tara Bucuresti, and supports initia-tives that increase social cohesion inlocal communities in Bucharest. Thefund was launched in Romania inSeptember last year and has a maxi-mum value of RON 100,000. The sumis split between ten winning projectsthat receive a grant of about RON10,000 each.

The project targets a wide range ofthemes from civic spirit, ecology andhealthy food, and the social integra-tion of vulnerable groups to educa-tion and hobbies.

“The reason we decided to get in-volved in this project is simple: we arepart of the community. We develop byour customers and we attend to theirneeds in all we do. The way we inter-act and relate to the communities weoperate in represents our engagementto contribute to improving the lives ofdifferent communities and makingpositive changes,” say representativesof Mega Image. They add that thecompany’s goal is to participate ac-tively in the making of a sustainablefuture, both for its customers and em-ployees and the whole community itis part of.

“Mega Image’s involvement in CSRactions has increased steadily overthe years with each project or pro-gram we have developed. We willcontinue to be an active participant inthe community,” they say.

Last but not least, Asociatia pentruRelatii Comunitare (ARC), with thesupport of Raiffeisen Bank, an-nounced recently that it is offeringRON 42,500 to each of the three com-munity foundations that will be setup nationwide. Arad, Brasov, Con-stanta, Craiova, Deva, Galati, Hune-doara, Pitesti, Suceava and Timisoaraare the main cities targeted by thisproject but initiatives in other areaswhere there is a lack of such founda-tions are also expected. “Through ourcontribution to the setting up of threenew community foundations wewant to promote a model of active cit-izenship and contribute to the devel-opment of a capable, involved andresponsible society,” says CorinaVasile, communication and PR direc-tor at Raiffeisen Bank. The lender alsolaunched the third edition of its “Raif-feisen Comunitati” grant program lastyear, to finance local small andmedium projects.

Social economy is the futureSocial entrepreneurship is increas-ingly seen as a real alternative to tra-ditional business as the currenteconomic environment becomesmore and more challenging. Severalcompanies on the Romanian markethave decided to support social econ-omy projects as they have a signifi-cant impact on local communities.

“Fabricat in Tara lui Andrei”, a projectdeveloped by Petrom, is the largestcompetition for social businesses inRomania at present. The company an-nounced the ten winners of the 2013contest in November last year. In ad-dition to a grant of up to EUR 32,000for setting up a business, each winnergot specialized consultancy for itsfirst years of activity in fields such asfinancial management, legal, market-ing and distribution. The ideas of theten social entrepreneurs that wongrants from Petrom came from differ-ent fields: agriculture (farms), the tex-tile industry, wood processing,manufacturing of construction mate-rials and furniture, food and herbs.

“Through the project ‘Fabricat in Taralui Andrei’ we wanted to encouragethe entrepreneurial spirit of Romani-ans and to create independent andsustainable communities. The resultsof this project prove that Romanianshave a real entrepreneurial spirit andwant to contribute to Romania’s de-velopment,” said Mariana Gheorghe,CEO of Petrom.

Elsewhere, UniCredit Business In-tegrated Solutions and UniCreditFoundation in partnership withNESsT selected the three winningprojects of the 2013 “Your Choice,Your Project” social enterprise com-petition last July. The winning socialenterprises got financial support ofEUR 7,000.

The local market needs educational projects...Both the private and public sectors inRomania have seen the need for edu-cational projects for different targetgroups. Banking, IT&C, pharmaceuti-cals, energy, and oil & gas are amongthe industries currently involved insuch projects.

Enel describes social responsibilityas one of the company’s core values.With the projects it supports or devel-ops, the company aims to contributeto the creation of a sustainable worldfor future generations.

continued on page 12

Geta Diaconu, director, sustainabilityadvisory and CSR, KPMG Romania

Radu Cosarca, director of external relations, Enel

What can influence local CSRdevelopment and sustainabilityl The need for long-term capital and favorable financing conditions will encourage

the positive development of the CSR market, as a growing number of investorsand financing bodies include non-financial considerations (CSR/sustainability)in their decision-making processes.

l Competitive positioning, market differentiation and reputation enhancementare essential. In response to growing awareness of the importance of CSR andsustainable development issues, the related performance attributes are in-creasingly being used by companies to differentiate their brand, productsand/or services to consumers and competitors and enhance their reputation.

l A clear demonstration that a company is involved in CSR/sustainability projectsis often appealing to existing and prospective employees, so this can encouragethe development of talent and enhance the company’s position as an “employerof choice.”

l CSR reporting is mandatory in ten of Europe’s most significant economies andit is expected that regulatory frameworks will continue to develop. An increasingnumber of stock exchanges also have listings requirements that include dis-closure on companies’ environmental impact and governance.

Source: KPMG

“Romanian-owned

companies tend to

focus their efforts and

activities mostly on

social involvement,

without an

organizational

framework”

Geta Diaconu, KPMG Romania

CSR 11www.business-review.euBusiness Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

A pioneer on the Romanian CSR sceneThe Vodafone Romania Foundationwas set up in 1998, since when it hasfinanced over 768 programs for chil-dren, seniors, disadvantaged groups,individuals with disabilities and vic-tims of natural disasters. It has alsoinvested over EUR 17 million so farin projects developed with 600 NGOpartners, reaching 300,000 benefici-aries.

The Vodafone Romania Foundationwas also a pioneer on the local CSRmarket, becoming the first corporatefoundation in Romania. And the trail-blazing didn’t stop there, as Vodafonewas the first company in Romania tolaunch a program for salary donationsback in December 1998. This allowsits employees to donate voluntarily apercentage of their salary everymonth to fund the foundation’s activi-ties. “Today 700 individuals donateevery month to support the projectsof the Vodafone Foundation,” says Flo-rina Tanase, Director Legal & ExternalAffairs, member of the VodafoneFoundation Board.

In addition, in 2006 the foundationlaunched for the first time in Romaniaa corporate volunteering program forits employees. It now has over 3,800volunteers who have put in more than25,000 hours of volunteering. “Noweach employee can spend two days ayear volunteering on the foundation’sprojects. We have about 1,000 volun-teers a year in our company. Thereare also other employees that partic-ipate as volunteers in their spare time.If you send an internal e-mail sayingthat you need 10 volunteers you get50, while if you need 300 you get 400,”says Tanase.

Two major projects: Mobile for Good

and Voluntar de profesie

Mobile for Good, the Vodafone Foun-dation’s largest project in Romania,was launched in 2012. It uses mobiletechnology to improve the lives of

physically disabled and/or socially dis-advantaged individuals. With an initialinvestment of EUR 475,000 from theVodafone Foundation and benefiting fromaccess to the Vodafone service network,Mobile for Good started with special pro-grams for diabetics, seniors in need ofhome care and learning-disabled ath-letes. The number of beneficiaries in-creased last year when the program wasextended to include three projects fi-nanced by the Vodafone Romania Foun-dation: the 4G telemedicine solution inthe new intensive care unit for newbornsat the Marie Curie hospital, a pediatriccall centre in Cluj county and the exten-sion of the telemedicine solution to an-other 80 SMURD ambulances.

Since 2012, the Vodafone RomaniaFoundation has invested over EUR 1.1million in six projects with more than5,800 beneficiaries. The projects weredeveloped in partnership with React As-sociation, Inima Copiilor Association,Caritas Association, the Foundation forSMURD, Special Olympics Foundationand Parinti din Romania Foundation.

In Romania, “Voluntar de profesie”was implemented for the first time in2010, and the first three editions in-cluded 16,000 hours of volunteering, with47 non-profit projects and 10,000 bene-ficiaries. Last year, the Vodafone Foun-dation launched the fourth edition,through which 17 individuals had thechance to work from October 2013 toApril 2014 for beneficiaries of an NGO inone of the following fields: health, edu-cation, preventing family and schoolabandonment, programs for youngsterswith disabilities and seniors. “We intendto extend the duration of the Voluntar deprofesie program this year because itwill provide greater support for organi-zations,” adds Tanase.

2013: a successful year for the Voda-

fone Romania Foundation

The foundation had a budget of EUR 2.5million last year and, with the supportof its partners, helped 5,300 individuals

through 68 projects:l It worked in partnership with Inima

Copiilor Association to launch a new in-tensive care unit for newborns at theMarie Curie hospital. The financing pro-vide by the foundation was EUR 1.4 mil-lion, the biggest individual financing thatthe Foundation had for one project. lThe foundation built four houses fordisadvantaged people in Cristian village,Brasov County, in partnership with Diaconia Ajutor International Associa-

tion. l“With the Motivation Foundation wehave many projects as it is one of ourtraditional partners. One project involvedthe distribution of wheelchairs all overthe country. They select beneficiarieswith low incomes who need such chairs,children or adults,” says the Director ofthe Vodafone Romania Foundation.lTogether with Chance for Life Associa-tion “we developed the Bursa Vodafoneproject in Bucharest and Sulina. Throughthis project, gifted, but poor children withchaotic backgrounds or from poor fam-ilies are helped by teachers in a day cen-ter to fulfill their educational potential,”adds Tanase.lLast year the Vodafone Foundation or-ganized two open calls for proposals :one for its partners and the other for or-ganizations that had not previously ben-efited from the foundation’s support.

“Through this call for proposals we hopeto reach as many smaller organizationsas possible nationwide. Some 384 ap-plications were received in one month,out of which 222 were eligible. At theend ten projects were selected for the

next year, worth EUR 310,000,” saysTanase. This year the Vodafone Ro-mania Foundation will organize atleast one new “call for proposals” fi-nancing program.

Vodafone Romania – a community

involvement in saving lives

Vodafone has supported SMURD andthe Foundation for SMURD since 2004.This partnership has taken differentforms, from fitting ambulances withequipment for data and video trans-missions to the acquisition of inter-vention vehicles and the renovation ofthe National Center for Training inMedical Emergency Assistance inTargu Mures. Furthermore, the com-pany is a traditional partner of Salva-mont with which it launched a mobileapplication intended to help rescueteams locate stricken individuals inmountain areas.

But the CSR actions of VodafoneRomania don’t stop here. The com-pany runs annual blood donationdrives, organizes first aid training withReact Association and supports thedonation platform through SMS.

Vodafone Romania Foundation in

facts....

....and figures

PARTNER CONTENT

lThe first corporate foundationin Romania;lFirst system of salary donationsin Romania;l First corporate volunteeringprogram for employees;lFields of involvement: health,education, preventing family andschool abandonment, socialservices, sport for individualswith special needs, volunteering,emergency help during naturaldisasters;l Beneficiaries: children andyoung people, seniors, disabledindividuals, socially, economi-cally and physically disadvan-taged people.

lEUR 17 million invested over 16years of activity;lOver 3,800 corporate volunteersfor Vodafone Romania Founda-tion programs and over 25,000volunteering hours;l EUR 3.5 million invested inhealth programs;l768 programs supported by theVodafone Romania Foundation;l600 partner NGOs;lEUR 1,350,000 – the largest in-vestment in a single project;lAbout 300,000 beneficiaries

Florina Tanase, Director Legal & External Affairs, Vodafone Romania,member of the Vodafone FoundationBoard

“We truly believe in our Foundation’smission: to improve people’s lives bysupporting the NGO’s, communities andindividuals who strive for the better”

12 CSRwww.business-review.ro

Business Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

Be Social in Social MediaIn today’s hectic world, an avalancheof causes arises in our newsfeed.We are invited to fight for the poor,the sick, the diseased, the helpless,for animals and humans alike, forour rights and against fraud and il-legalities. More often than not, somecauses tickle our concern and cu-riosity, fewer make us click on a linkand even fewer urge us to put onour warrior costumes and engagein the fight.

But then, we end up on an ex-hausting internet page, are askedto complete 3 pages of forms, singon the page, log in, subscribe to anewsletter, meanwhile asking our-selves: Is this even legitimate?!

We have to keep in mind thoughthat compassion is not the upperhand of those with free time to spareon endless forms. We have to keepin mind that doubt is not exclusivelythe palladium of those with no freetime . We have the right to know thata cause is certified and we have theright to spend less than 5 minutesto make a donation.

Thankfully, begining with April14th, our compassionate hearts andbusy minds have a special place toinvest their care and finances: OnApril 14th, we launch the first crowd-funding Avon platform across theglobe! Through www.doneaza-cuavon.ro we can actively supportthe women around us, NGOs thatwe admire and the communities welive in, alongside their fight againstdomestic violence and breast can-cer, either by donating or volunteer-ing. You have our guarantee thateach and every project that appearson the platform is authentic. Our 6specialists make sure of it.

Each donation is due in 3 quicksteps: first, enter the platform andpick the case closest to your heart,then order a social product from anAvon Representative or fromavon.ro and, finally, enter the dona-

tion code marked on the product in the special section on the page of the case you chose. Simpleas that!

Do you want to do even more?Subscribe a case or project on ourplatform! If you happen to knowsomeone diagnosed with cancer, inthe process of recovery, or a bat-tleing victim of domestic violence,subscribe her case on the platformand help her raise funds. Speakloudly of her case, post photos,

give a detailed description and then be social on social media, promoting the case. Be her brandambassador. You can do the samefor a striving NGO or dedicatedFoundation. Just be sure to read thelegal terms before subscribing theproject/case.

In our ultimate goal to make thelives of women from Romania better,we lead a fight with breast cancerfor over 12 years , through ourBreast Cancer Campaign (Campa-nia pentru Sănătatea Sânilor), thatbrought 2,7 million dollars worth ofequipment for oncology centers inBucharest, Iaşi, Timişioara, TârguMureş, Alba Iulia, Galaţi and Craiova,we carried national information andeducation campaigns and offeredfree screening programs for womenover forty.

4 years ago, we felt strongenough to also engage in a fight withdomestic violence, through our Do-mestic Violence Campaign (Campa-nia Respectului), raising awarenessupon this delicate problem andstriving to educate feminine public.

We invest nerve and passion inwhat we hope will be the biggestand most flourishing crowdfundingplatform across the entire world.We invest the belief of hundreds tohelp save one.

This is our call to arms: help support www.doneazacuavon.ro!

PARTNER CONTENT Humanity Romania and Petrom inpartnership with the General Inspec-torate for Emergency Situations(IGSU), over 2,500 citizens from 13vulnerable communities in Bacau,Braila, Dambovita, Gorj, Ialomita, Val-cea and Prahova benefited from a pro-gram for participatory managementof risks relating to disasters. The pro-gram was implemented during Au-gust 2013 and February 2014 andaimed to involve directly families, au-thorities, employees of Petrom andlocal IGSU services.

Orange Romania describes educa-tion and the professional training ofyoung people starting their career asa big step in building a better future.The company has developed manysuch activities, including internshipsat Orange and mentoring sessions inhigh schools. “We invest in trainingfuture specialists, facilitating throughOrange Educational Program their ac-cess to educational resources adaptedto the current technological needsand encouraging scientific researchactivities and experiences of alterna-tive learning,” say representatives ofOrange Romania. The Orange Educational Program (with Engineer-ing, Business Administration andFirst Step sections), Orange Job Shadowing Day, Orange 4G Tour and Atelierul de Responsabilitate Sociala are among the company’s educational projects.

Public institutions are also in-volved in educational projects. Forexample, the National Bank of Roma-nia (BNR) develops such projects aspart of its strategy for external com-munication.

The Open Gates Days for Econom-ics Students, Let’s Talk about Moneyand Banks, and “Academica” areamong BNR’s educational ventures.In addition, last year the Central Banksigned a partnership with the Min-istry of National Education to initiateor implement activities supporting fi-nancial education.

... and support for humanitarian causes Fighting for a good cause is often ahighly effective way to help the com-munity in which you live, and manycompanies on the Romanian marketare now involved in supporting hu-manitarian causes.

Regardless of whether they sup-port an NGO that works for a goodcause or develop their own CSR proj-ects to support humanitarian aims,companies invest a lot in this kind ofcommunity involvement.

For example, in March Plaza Romania hosted the biggest fashion show of the year, donatingEUR 10,000 to Hospice Casa Sperantei,thereby supporting efforts to raisemoney and promote the services provided by the hospice. IlincaVandici, Diana Dumitrescu, CrinaAbrudan and Roxana Ciuhulescu lent their support to the cause while fashion designers Catalin

continued from page 10

“Enel has launched various pro-grams that encourage and educatethe public about rational energy con-sumption in Romanian communities,with direct benefits on householdbudgets: campaigns in villages orareas that include replacing incandes-cent bulbs with energy-saving bulbs,and the City of Energy project, whichincludes elements of modern, urban art,” says Radu Cosarca, direc-tor of external relations at Enel. Headds that in the area of programs fo-cusing on education and awareness ofenergy and energy efficiency, thecompany has set up the Play Energyprogram, which also presents useful information on the complex field of energy. Play Energy is a competition organized by Enel Group internationally, for secondaryand high schools.

Many companies are now focusingmore on long-term CSR projects aim-ing to achieve a high impact on spe-cific target groups. “Actavis SustinePerformanta”, which was started in1992, is one such example. Throughthis program, the company supportsthe Romanian Chemistry Olympicsteam and covers the expenses of par-ticipating in the International Chem-istry Olympiad.

“Those who get medals are re-warded with scholarships and intern-ships at our company. In 22 yearssince the launch of this project weand Romania are proud of the coun-try’s 10 gold, 42 silver and 30 bronzemedals at the International ChemistryOlympiad,” says Ana Maria Draganica,communication manager at ActavisRomania.

Educational programs can have asignificant impact on local communi-ties faced with specific problems. Forexample, through the project “Prote-jeaza-ti caminul, pregateste-ti comu-nitatea!” developed by Habitat for

“Corporate

volunteering is

growing and I think

that the involvement

of many companies in

communities is

leading gradually

to an increase in

corporate

volunteering

initiatives”

Carmen Marcu, Pro Vobis, the NationalCentre for VolunteeringResources

CSR 13www.business-review.ro Business Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

Orange Romania: a360 degree approachto CSR projects Orange Romania is currently one ofthe most active companies in Roma-nia in the corporate social responsi-bility field, having been a pioneer ofCSR projects on the local market.Fo-cusing on long-term and high-im-pact CSR projects, Orange intends tomake a significant contribution bothto local communities and the wholeof society.

The company’s CSR strategy has fourmain components: involvement in thecommunity through education and vol-unteering; digital inclusion, ensuringthe wide reach of its products and serv-ices, focusing on underprivileged com-munities; protecting the environmentand reducing the company’s impact onthe environment; and the safe, respon-sible use of its products and services,focusing on child protection on the in-ternet.

“IT&C nowadays has a great impacton the sustainable development of oursociety. Therefore, at Orange, being so-cially responsible involves more thaneconomic performance, protecting theenvironment or social contributions.We strive to innovate, to develop re-sponsible products and services anduse technology to improve our day today life,” says Veronica Dogaru, Cor-porate Communication Manager.

As education is one of the most im-portant parts of its CSR strategy, Or-ange Romania pays great attention toyoung specialists and their potential forprofessional development. The com-pany’s main programs in education arethose under the Orange Education plat-form: Orange Education for the Poly-technic University of Bucharest, OrangeEducation for ASE and Orange FirstStep.

Orange Education for the Polytech-nic University of Bucharest started in1998 and offers students at the Facultyof Electronic Telecommunications andIT training modules for IT&C with Or-ange experts, specialized internshipsin the company’s technical depart-ments and scholarships for excellence,for the top students that undergo theOrange training modules. “Moreover,we established a Training, Researchand Innovation Center within the facultyand there has been an ongoing collab-oration between Orange Romania andthe faculty for research and innovationprojects. So far, over 220 students havebenefited from this program,” addsVeronica Dogaru.

In 2011 the company launched Or-ange Educational program for ASE, aprogram that facilitates students’ ac-

cess to specialized know-how in eco-nomic fields through workshops pro-vided by business specialists from Or-ange ( Marketing,Finance, HR, ProjectManagement, Financial, Sales). “Or-ange employees offer students dedi-cated interactive presentations& work-shops on specific areas of economicsand we run knowledge and creativitydevelopment competitions for them. Inthe past three years, over 1,000 stu-dents have taken part in at least one ofthe activities Orange has organized atASE,” says Veronica Dogaru.

Last but not least, Orange First Stepis an internship program for students,which gives them the opportunity todevelop practical skills for their in-tended careers. There have been nineinternship sessions since 2011 andover 750 beneficiaries nationwide.

Orange Romania’s CSR strategy isguided by a strong belief that socialresponsibility can be achieved only ifit is supported by each individual, fromconsumers to a company’s employees.

“That is why we would like to have a360 degree approach to this field. Inorder to do so, we organized a CSRprogram for high school students,

‘Atelierul de responsabilitate sociala’.Three high schools in Bucharest par-ticipated in our program and studentslearned about responsible consump-tion, recycling, volunteering and safeinternet use,” adds Veronica Dogaru.

Corporate volunteering is one ofthe main trends on the Romanianmarket that Orange Romania is proudto follow. It launched the volunteeringprogram “tu pentru comunitate” backin 2012 as a celebration of Orange’s10th anniversary on the Romanianmarket. On top of that, this year thecompany won first prize in the CSRAwards 2014 for the Internal CSRCampaigns category, for its program

“Luna Voluntariatului”.

PARTNER CONTENTBotezatu, Doina Levintza and RheaCosta contributed pieces for the fashion show.

“We decided to support this noblecause in order to improve the qualityof life of those in need, and also en-courage others to follow this example.We want to be near our fellows and we think we can improve thingsdirectly or indirectly. This attitudevery much reflects the internal values of our company,” says RazvanGaita, general manager at AnchorGroup.

Elsewhere, Avon is known interna-tionally for its fight against breastcancer and domestic abuse, runningsocial campaigns in over 58 countrieswhere it is present. On the local mar-ket, the company launched its cam-paign against breast cancer in 2002,while in 2008 it launched CampaniaRespectului.

“We chose these two causes be-cause they are the most frequentproblems women face around theworld. Breast cancer is the most com-mon form of cancer for women andalso claims the most victims,” saysDenisa Mihai, CSR specialist at AvonCosmetics Romania.

She adds that the impact of thecompany’s programs is measuredthrough donations made (over USD 2million invested in medical equip-ment in eight oncology centers in Ro-mania), free screenings (the companyhas conducted 4,500 free breastechograms/mammograms since 2012)and educational campaigns. Mihaialso points out that there is a hugeneed for education in Romania whenit comes to breast cancer.

“From our perspective and the ex-perience of years of social campaignsin Romania, we need to educateyoung people and family doctors.These two segments are very impor-tant for the success of the ’Campaniapentru Sanatatea Sanilor’,” she adds.As for the most recent program fromCampania Respectului, “Licee Albas-tre” is being rolled out in ten cities inRomania in partnership with Funda-tia Sensiblu.

“Together with Cornel Ilie, our ambassador, we tell students fromhigh schools about healthy relation-ships in teenage couples,” adds Mihai.

Another company that is very ac-tive in community involvement isVodafone Romania. It was the firstfirm to launch a program of salary do-nations, back in 1998.

This allows its employees to do-nate voluntarily a percentage of theirsalary every month to fund the activ-ities of the Vodafone Romania Foun-dation.

In addition, the company is a longterm-partner of SMURD and theFoundation for SMURD, with projectsincluding fitting ambulances withequipment for data and video trans-missions, the acquisition of interven-tion vehicles and the renovation ofthe National Center for Training in

Medical Emergency Assistance inTargu Mures.

Last but not least, Vodafone imple-mented the “Voluntar de profesie”program for the first time in Romaniain 2010. Under the name of World ofDifference, it was set up by the Voda-fone Foundation worldwide in 2002.Over 2,100 volunteers from 22 coun-tries have been involved in projectsdeveloped by NGOs around the world.The program is dedicated to employ-ees who always have wanted to workfor an NGO and support a specificcause directly.

Corporate volunteering gainsgroundMany companies active on the Ro-manian CSR market are starting to in-volve their employees more involunteering. The need to be closer totheir customers, create a better workenvironment and incentivize and re-tain employees has made firms moreopen to volunteering programs whereemployees get in touch with commu-nities.

“Corporate volunteering is growingand I think that the involvement ofmany companies in communities isleading gradually to an increase incorporate volunteering initiatives,”says Carmen Marcu, communicationdirector at Pro Vobis, the NationalCentre for Volunteering Resources.She adds that there are also more oc-casional initiatives coming from SMEs that propose one action a year or a series of actions in which all the employees of the firm are involved.

“The role of this type of volunteer-ing is to involve individuals with spe-cialist skills that are very useful toboth the beneficiaries they serve andthe NGOs,” adds Marcu.

Raiffeisen Bank, Orange, Vodafoneand BRD-Groupe Societe Generale are among the companies that use corporate volunteering as a CSRtool.

For Orange Romania, the involve-ment of its employees in corporatevolunteering activities is a way to in-crease the positive impact of the so-cial responsibility or charitableactivities that Orange undertakes.

“Through the shared know-how, timeand efforts of volunteers, communi-ties get consistent support while vol-unteers offer positive examples fortheir families, friends and communi-ties,” say representatives of Orange.They add that encouraging volunteer-ing can lead to an improved quality oflife for local communities and play asignificant role in educating the pub-lic.

Vodafone also launched a corpo-rate volunteering program in 2006. Asa result, the company now has over3,800 volunteers and more than25,000 volunteering hours, whileevery year about 1,000 workers vol-unteer.

anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

14 CITY www.business-review.eu

Business Review | April 14 - 20, 2014

FOUNDING EDITOR Bill AveryPUBLISHER Anca IonitaEDITOR-IN-CHIEF Simona Fodor JOURNALISTS Otilia Haraga - seniorjournalist, Simona Bazavan, Ovidiu Posirca, Oana Vasiliu COPY EDITOR Debbie Stowe PHOTO EDITOR: Mihai ConstantineanuLAYOUT Beatric e Gheorghiu ART DIRECTOR Alexandru Oriean

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ISSN No. 1453 - 729X

DEBBIE STOWE

Director: Jaume Collet-SerraStarring: Liam Neeson, JulianneMoore, Michelle Dockery, Lupita Ny-ong'o, Scoot McNairOn at: Cinema City Cotroceni, CinemaCity Sun Plaza, Movieplex Cinema

You wouldn’t want to be Liam Neeson’stravel insurer. In Unknown, he flewinto Berlin for a conference, only tonearly drown following a car crash andhave his identity stolen. In The Grey, hisplane crash landed in Alaska and thesurvivors were hunted down by wolves.And in the Taken franchise he flies frequently to Europe to rescue variouskidnapped family members. Let’s noteven go there with The A-Team movie.

So you could forgive fellow passen-

gers on British Aqualantic Flight 10from New York to London for being alittle apprehensive as Liam (or BillMarks as he is here) shuffles forward inthe security line. Bill is not in fact a pas-senger but an air marshal, a troubled,alcoholic one – exactly the type of per-son you want to have your life in theirhands at 35,000 feet.

Just as the captain has turned off thefasten seatbelt sign and the passengersare getting stuck into the drinks trolley,Bill receives an anonymous SMS fromsomeone on the plane: unless USD 150million is deposited in a certain bankaccount, a passenger is going to dieevery 20 minutes. And murderousmayhem is soon afoot over the Atlantic.

So whodunit? Could it be Jen (Ju-lianne Moore), Bill’s apparently friendlyneighbor from business class? Shouldsuspicion fall on the second, sweating,air marshal (Anson Mount) – in which

case something has clearly gone badlyawry in the Department of HomelandSecurity’s recruitment processes? Iscabin crewmember Nancy (MichelleDockery) asking more than “beef orchicken”? Or is it any one of about 12angry men back in cattle class? It’s up toBill to solve the clues before the nerv-ous flyers get too alarmed by the in-flight slayings.

A murder mystery with the poten-tial culprits gathered in one locationand the sleuth turning his attention toeach in turn has strong overtones ofAgatha Christie, and the solutionshamelessly borrows from her 1935Hercule Poirot novel Death in theClouds. Non-Stop is a mile-high mash-up: Christie crossed with Air Force One,Passenger 57 or Flight Plan. The deci-sion to imperil a British airliner – in Hol-lywood terms more dispensable thanan American jet – also recalls Die Hard

2. Yippee-ki-yay, Liam Neeson!It all makes for high jinks, although

recent events render it impossible towatch a movie about a plane poten-tially crashing into the ocean as suspi-cion for its plight switches betweencrew and passengers without the sadspecter of missing MH370 coming tomind.

As with Christie, the fun is mainly inthe setting out of the premise and theunfolding mystery, rather than the de-nouement, which is ludicrous. ButLiam Neeson action vehicles rest notupon their plausibility, but on the élanwith which he hunts down and dis-patches bad guys. So when he grand-stands, “I’m not a good father! I’m nota good man! But I want to save thisplane!” you know it’s time to sit back,relax and enjoy the flick.

debbie.stowe@business-review.ro

On a wing and a prayer: Liam Neeson hunts a killer at 35,000 feet in this implausible but enjoyable plane-based thriller

FILM REVIEW

Non-Stop