ELITE Business Magazine - 9th Edition, April 2020

The question is simple: "I ASSUME ENTREPRENEURSHIP" in all its stages? Then you will find solutions, you will adapt and you will emerge from the crisis - interview by Bianca Tudor, for TheWoman.ro Bianca Tudor, Founder of Elite Business Women and Branding Consultant, describes herself as a beauty lover, passionate about sports and travel.

Bianca started her career from the first year of college, working for a multinational company. At the age of 22, the Director of Personal Training and Development for the Global Organization Junior Chamber International arrives, then advanced as a member of the management board.

In 2012 she joined a project of the European Commission - "Equality Pays Off" - carried out both in Bucharest and in Vienna.

With remarkable international results, Bianca Tudor has realized that she wants to inspire other women, to give them confidence and courage to enter the business world. This is how Elite Business Women was born - the community of women entrepreneurs, which develops from year to year, nationally and internationally, exceeding 11,000 Romanians from home and abroad, who run top businesses.

Today we talk about entrepreneurship in uncertain times, about business decisions and what it means, from its perspective, to reinvent in this period.

How have the priorities of the projects in which you are involved changed?

I think this crisis has brought us close to what matters, unity, respect and community involvement.

The team, the community, the health, the business - priorities have come since the outbreak of the pandemic.

At EBW, the priority was the TEAM, so on March 13-15, we had an online team building, 2 days of Leadership, Business etiquette and Continuity Plan with trained and budgeted trainers for the development of the EBW team.

Later, we created the Crisis Cell for SMEs, that is our contribution to the business environment, on March 16, we already had the Crisis Time Entrepreneurship webinars, which were running for free.

I also created in the Contribution area the Women4Impact Campaign affiliated to the project SHIELD FOR HOSPITALS, and on Thursdays, I offer Free Consultancy to the SMEs that have identified a Business Continuity Plan (between March and April). Also on the same day, MARCH 16, we created the MESSAGE of continuity with EBW actions for EBW members, EBW COMMUNITY 11,000+ entrepreneurs, suppliers, partners.

Subsequently, we created the business products, adapted to this period, to ensure minimum cash flow. Thus we have launched 2 new international strategic partnerships, which I hope to hear soon because we are working behind closed doors, to something GREAT! What financial and managerial decisions did you make during this period?

The first thing was a financial analysis of the recurring fixed expenses, of the customers with a subscription that brings income, to see how much we can resist if from this moment we sell nothing.

Subsequently, we renegotiated the contracts with the recurring suppliers, on a monthly basic subscription, our workload being smaller, canceling offline events.

But first of all, we paid our bills on what we already have. I had the surprise that invoices issued in February or March to receive payment cancellation ... from companies infinitely larger than business than us.

That was the moment of the realignment T0 - WHO deserves collaboration with EBW - we select our clients, members, partners, team and equally, we deserve their respect. I also applied for funding.

It is true, however, that during this period consulting companies respond very hard because, from the top companies in the market, we still have no answer! And then we complain that things are not going to Romania.

What actions did you launch with your team - as projects derived from your object of activity?

We created the Crisis Cell for SMEs, free weekly webinars every Monday, where I had over 200 registrations weekly, with 60-70 people, effectively as a participation rate for the webinar.

We launched the WOMEN4MPACT fundraising campaign with The Woman, thanks to Crina Ciocian and Melania Medeleanu, ZIDEBINE.RO Association.

We have launched a Continuity Plan - Free Consultancy, THURSDAY every week for SMEs that

understand the importance of continuity, even at these times.

We have created 2 free eBooks with Tax and Legal Measures created by lawyers for SMEs, but also MARKETING STRATEGIES for the affected SMEs, thanks to Corobană and Associations, Sorina Neagu - Law, Mihaela Lemnaru - Marketing.

We have also created ELITE Meet Up, business webinars for SMEs that continue to educate themselves, seek solutions, network online, and these have a fee equivalent to breakfast in the city. The webinars took place online and are addressed to the communities Elite Business Club Bucharest and SIBIU. You are, without a gift, a voice in your community. How did you use this voice to help people, businesses, initiatives?

My voice and EBW must be heard to represent the challenges of the business environment. We sent 13 rescue measures for SMEs to the press from EBW, in a statement taken in over 30 articles, from AGERPRES to Capital, or Antena1 Online.

I got involved online with the ideas of business continuity, free webinars, free consultancy, RADIO appearances, as well as many other thematic articles for the business environment.

In the fundraising category, in addition to SHIELD for HOSPITALS, we created awareness and donated to the KINETOBEBE Association that supports children with locomotor problems and who remained at home without this therapy during this period.

What would you say to women who are having difficulty keeping their business afloat? How can they be rescued or why should they be taken into account?

First of all, to identify the current situation, cash flow, expenses, and incomes. Then to do a market analysis to see to what extent their product is still relevant during this period. Then to decide if they want to continue and take on entrepreneurship.

I think for many entrepreneurs it is a sham or it is fashionable for them this entrepreneurship because it only assumes the freedom and independence to create and be its boss. When it comes time to be a leader and create a structure for the team, vision, strategy, financial plan, take losses, then it is no longer fun.

The question is simple: "DO I ASSUME ENTREPRENEURSHIP" in all its stages? Then you will find solutions, you will adapt, you will change and you will emerge from the crisis. I set out to grow my business during this period, for example, as an extension of the Business Clubs, because online communities can be created and hence the offline scale.

So if you consider yourself a determined entrepreneur, passionate about entrepreneurship and recruiting leaders, but especially a Business Club DRIVER, I invite you to write to us at bianca.tudor@ebw.business.

Who are you when you have time?

I am a person who loves life, I do daily sports, I love nature and to go out in nature, I love self-development and daily I do something to develop myself personally and professionally. I love people and networking and I meet new people daily (I maximize online).

I love brand communication and daily I create space for quality awareness on the activities for SMEs, female entrepreneurship, CSR. I love the sea and travel often and short to sunny destinations. I meditate and do qigong, listen to music and create the next steps daily.

I think that nothing in my life is accidental but created by me, both the good and the frustrating or sad. For this, for example, I write and analyze to improve them, we are work in progress and divine creation, we are here to shine and together we shine brighter!

I believe in unity and the power to leave something behind you for humanity! You're never too young to do a good thing, even if you lean over and take a piece of paper from the floor to move it to the trash, even though you didn't throw it away!

Dr Ruby Bakshi Khurdi Who is Ruby the human and the professional?

Dr. Ruby Bakshi Khurdi is a multi- Award Winner Inspirational Speaker, Vice President Women Empowerment for Global Chair board, Global Goodwill Ambassadors. She has been appointed as President India-Switzerland Business Council, of Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WICCI): India’s First National Business Chamber for Women. She is the Chairperson for All Ladies League, Ambassador Female Wave of Change and Innovative Educationist . She is invited to various international platforms as keynote Speaker, conduct workshops & podcasts on topics related to Communication, Human Values, Leadership, Women Empowerment & Emotional Intelligence. Ruby adores her loving parents; they have been her role models throughout life…She took life lessons from their successful careers and failures! Her amazing husband & beautiful kids have been strong pillars of support both personally & professionally! She is a Role Model and Mentor to various International students from Business and Hospitality Management Colleges.

Dr. Ruby firmly believes Education & Communication are strong pillars in developing a progressive nation. Her objective for 2020 is to create more awareness about her social projects, create an army of humanitarians. She wants to provide a better platform for learning and performance to various people in her network, organize creative educational sessions with her team and train more like-minded people across the world! She was highly appreciated for her efforts in the field of Education as a Speaker at a conference in United Nations, Geneva. Some of her achievements: WAW Honorary Award, Hall of Fame 2019 on International Women’s Day, London. She is also finalist in Women in Business Category for Women Achievers Awards, UK. She has received Exceptional Woman of Excellence Award at Women Economic Forum, Lisbon 2017 & India 2019.

She has been nominated Most Inspirational Female Entrepreneur of 2017 by Swiss Entrepreneur Magazine. Ruby received a standing ovation for her first TEDx talk titled – “Learning Human Describe a day from your life.

My day begins with sipping warm glass of lime juice with honey and taking some sunshine with ‘surya Namaskar’ - praying to Sun God. Reading news on Social media while sipping coffee.

Morning telephone call with my parents, preparing kids for school and having breakfast with my husband. Preparing for my lectures and assignments for the day…Since I work 3 days only per week. Replying questions or messages of my friends and followers on LinkedIn, Facebook and Youtube. If there are special call for action messages, I act accordingly. Evenings we cook food together with my children while discussing their events during the day. Thereafter, watching some series on Netflix, listening to music or going for a walk late evening. Some days might be bit different when I have webinars, seminars or talk shows, social assignments like - going to old age home, women empowerment meet-ups, charity teaching or helping in the community events.

What style of leadership you approach to succeed?

Nothing succeeds like success..to be successful one needs to lead with example..I believe in Transformational leadership – setting standards and doing it yourself. “Practice what you preach” -

works best for me! As the Founder President of InterculturELLE Réseau Des Femmes, a socio-cultural network for women, Ruby has created this platform to empower women in her local community. A monthly meet-up to connect, share, support and discover each-other in sisterhood! I am working tirelessly to help women from diverse backgrounds globally. As a community leader, I actively organize cultural events to promote men, women and children from different ethnic backgrounds.

Name the hardest challenge and the solutions to overcome them, so far, in your life.

The hardest challenge in my life was – when I had to step down as the Academic Dean of a Women’s business College few years ago..I thought that’s the end of my successful career. I was feeling very low & demotivated after giving 11y of my life in building that up…I had worked very hard to establish myself in a male dominated business management teaching industry. Attimes, I even faced glass-ceiling effect when it was crucial educational projects. It was not easy to leave everything and start afresh… It took me almost 12 months to come back to terms with my situation then…I felt it was a sign from God to move-on and do something more significant in life. Ruby, the humanitarian Public Speaker was born – I started attending women empowerment seminars, helping in community building events, delivering free tutorials via my Youtube channel and teaching part-time in the Swiss Private University. “Education – A continuous mission of my life” since then, I never stopped! RAY Academy Swiss – Re-Invent the Awesome You, is my latest venture - a humble initiative to help people in personality development & make speaking fun! I want to help people build confidence, give them voice & create an Impact! It was like a turning point in my life – that moment when I thought I was a ‘nobody’ , I became a ‘somebody’.

How do you define succes? What about failure ?

“Success comes to those who work for it !

There is no pre-prepared success formula, we need to create one ourselves!” Success can be defined by number of people that follow you, that believe in you, that look forward to practice your words…By followers I don’t mean your social media followers, I mean the people who follow your advice and want to collaborate with you for a better future. One should keep working hard towards achieving their goals! At the same-time do not be afraid if you fail, as failure is a stepping stone to success… If you fail once, don’t think it’s the end of the world, try again and keep trying till you feel you gave your best shot…Its proven scientifically that we tend to perform better by trail and error…

Ruby’s success can be read in these features : • Featured in a special interview by local Swiss Radio Django as “Ruby Bakshi Khurdi, une Femme engage” • Business Insight series of World Radio Switzerland, where she talked about her journey as a successful Business Professor, International Inspirational Speaker & Social entrepreneur.

• ‘Remarkable you’ in a UK based prestigious magazine Sovereign.

• Ambassador of Peace by INSPAD • Peace Ambassador - Women Federation of World Peace & Universal Peace Federation (UPF) affiliation of United Nations promoting work particularly in the areas of interfaith peacebuilding, peace education and strengthening of marriage and family.

• “Candid & Charismatic” - NamasteSwitzerland.

• Women Empowerment leader – eYs magazine, Australia • “Education – A continuous mission of my Life” – Vivamost • “How a shy Indian girl became an Inspirational Educationist” - Suissepic An advice for women looking to juggle with her roles in society and her passions as well.

I would like to reach out to all fabulous people with my simple acronym of WOMEN Workout your personal & professional objectives everyday You will be Outstanding in your work Measure your performance – success as well as failures Empower others in your network – your kids, husband, parents, co-workers, friends etc Negotiate your own terms & conditions smartly Women are highly emotional, they want to balance their home and work efficiently in high heels!

Some are able to do, some struggle to do and some are unable to do, BUT actually everyone can do with bit of management skills. We all like wearing different hats – successful career women, smart mom, happening wife, cool girl-friend, best friend, dutiful daughter, all the time. Just as we keep changing colors of lipstick and make-up with our clothes at different occasions – keep changing your hats as you change locations. When at home try to spend quality time with your family, involve them in your daily routines, try to be with them 100% with no divided attention!

Same at work or any social commitments – give it your best shot, try to engage and involve others around you as much as possible.

My mantra in life – believe in yourself, you are your best critic & best friend!

CONNECT WITH DR RUBY: Facebook: www.facebook.com/RubyInspiresU/ Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ruby-bakshi-khurdi-0a387b/ Twitter: twitter.com/ruby_bakshi Instagram: www.instagram.com/rubybakshikhurdi/?hl=fr

It’s time to bring more hospitality to your business!

If you run a business, your main focus should be on your client, right? The client is the most important pillar for you, the person you pay attention the most, around whom you build your business strategy and so on.

And this is the point where a very good question arises: If the client is such value for your business, why don't you treat him with all the honors?

It is already known that many businesses lack Customer Care basic skills and the number of complaints about inappropriate behavior, grows each day. How is this possible and why is this situation perpetuated?

Here are some answers that I have gathered during my training on customer care, from people who work directly with the client and are responsible for pleasing them.

• Too many administrative tasks. For example, if you work in front office, the client expects you to smile, to be gentle, patient and to put his needs first. But if you are overwhelmed with others tasks or you haven’t been very good trained on how to prioritize each thing, you won’t be able to be present 100% for the person in front of you • Inappropriate people who come in direct contact with clients. Don’t give people jobs that are not suitable for (ex. Introverts can’t be as good salesmen as extroverts). Pay more attention to the recruitment process.

• Your people are not paid according to their duties and efforts. If you see some discontent, lack of enthusiasm, maybe laziness on your team, you must talk to your people and find out the real reason for their behavior. Don’t let this situation get worse, because the first person on whom all this will be poured, is the client - your client!

• You take for granted that the people you hire should know the basics on how to treat and deal with the client. Well, they don’t really know and you should put some effort and train them.

How about you take an overview and see how much good and money can bring you a team who really knows how to treat a client.

It’s time “to activate” the Hospitality Button. Here are some tips, that will make your business life easier and your clients happier: 1. Stop seeing the client as a simple client. Treat him with the same respect and courtesy as a VIP 2. Keep every little promise you make 3. Exceed the client’s expectations 4. Make the client feel special and important.

5. It is not about what you do, it is about how you do it.

6. Keep it simple. Nobody likes complicated things 7. Focus on solution, not guilt.

8. Listen more, speak less.

9. Use a common language. The client does not feel comfortable when he doesn’t understand and you are more likely to lose him. Is it worth it?

10. Focus on excellent service. Good service isn’t enough anymore.

Train your team to be the best host and you will see a very big difference.

And who will be the first one letting you know that something good has happened? Your client. He will thank you by paying more, recommend your business and return. This is the ideal client every entrepreneur dream of.

Invest in your people and focus on hospitality!

Alina Nițu Customer Care Trainer www.spaplsu.ro contact@spaplus.ro

I belived I could, so I did Membru Carmen Brașovean

I am a female entrepreneur and I am divided between two different fields. During the week, in the first part of the day, I am a Recruitment Consultant at a company that offers HR services, and in my spare time, I bring smiles to people`s faces through the arrangements.

I decided to start on the path of entrepreneurship when I realize that my passion for silk flowers can be shared with clients and I came to create flower arrangements for different events.

The vision of the business as a concept is to continue to focus a lot on quality, this being from the beginning a target from which we did not discount. However, the experience has brought new ideas of creation, we have added new components to the events we attend (table cards, graphic design, glasses, etc.), all coming as a request from our clients who want to offer a complete service.

As a marketing strategy, I can say that it is very important for me that the future customers will be satisfied with our services, and as a result, I have decided to allow them to choose their color theme. They do impose a certain type of arrangement on them but let them put their mark on their event.

This is why Flori de Poveste Sibiu, does not have standard arrangements, it just has a lot of passion, patience, and goodwill to create arrangements according to the clients' wishes.

Carmen Brașovean Tel: 0743821016 Email: floridepovestesibiu@gmail.com Facebook floridepovestesibiu/

Event Planning in Pandemic Times My name is Ella Gheorghioiu, I am the Founder of Sibiu Events an offline event planning agency that is forced by the pandemic situation to move online. I will tell you my story and how I can help you.

Context - from offline to online, fast!

For Sibiu Events - offline event organizing agency - this time is a great challenge! The challenge is to get out of the comfort zone, to find quick solutions and especially to adapt fast to a new context - designing of online events.

What does this ”free time” bring us?

It brings time for us. Time to focus on ourselves and our business. For gathering insight and for our personal development. But it is important that we now prioritize the information that appears daily in our attention and make the most of it.

Let's just choose what we feel that it fits for us - choose the best courses, webinars, movies, books and avoid the overwhelming feeling by taking it one at a time.

In the event planning industry, and also in other industries, it’s ok to take a little break and first analyse the situation - what can I do? How can I adapt? What resources do I have? What do I need?

Do you have alternatives? Convert them into your solutions and integrate technology into your day by day routine. In our days, you can organise a great event just online, using special tools and great marketing. Virtual is better these days and you can connect better than ever with people from all across the globe!

It’s also important to remain in touch with your community - continue to post on Social Media, to make online meetups and to create a support group for those in need - promote best practices, local CSR initiatives and encourage small businesses.

Check on your sponsors, partners, suppliers - explain them the situation and assure them that when this period will pass, you certainly will collaborate again.

Don’t forget to take care of your team and also use this time to learn new things or to rebrand your business - make changes on the website, logo, online communication, think a new marketing campaign, maybe launching a new product. Make it worth it!

What can I offer you in these days / weeks of isolation?

Useful recommendations to get better from this period, recommendations from the trainers I worked with offline and the specialists that I admire.

I want to stay true to the words below and bring to your attention the most inspiring resources, for the moment online. All these to make you feel that you are growing and learning, even if you stay at home.

The most important thing that you should know is that every entrepreneur is going through hard times, but the most important thing is to ADAPT - go online and keep your community engaged.

So if you need a community, I can help most of my friends tell me that I am a Human LinkedIN :) Let’s keep in touch!

More about me, Ella - the Event Planner I am passionate about organizing, planning, research work, Spa & wellness, complementary therapies, beauty, online marketing, reading and travel.

I like to create communities and get actively involved in them. I like to bring people together and connect them.

You can find me on the Facebook page Sibiu Events, where I will come with recommandations from trainers, new partnerships and new trends in the online event organizing industry. https://www.facebook.com/SibiuEvents/ Education, change, decision making, personal development - Sibiu Events will bring to your city the events that will help you become who you want!

With confidence in better times, Ella Gheorghioiu, Sibiu Events

CRISIS MANAGEMENT Ioana Arsenie, Trusted Advisor Strategy & Finance Based on the Study regarding the relation between entrepreneurs and the Financial-Accounting Department carried out by our company, it is very clear that entrepreneurs understand the importance of analytical decisions, but, due to lack of business-oriented reports instead of fiscal-accounting-oriented ones, they follow their intuition.

What do we do when a crisis stage materializes? What is the action plan?

Crisis management - Damage plan I describe how one can do it, from a technical point of view. My firm invitation for SMEs is to determine in a fast and agile manner, if/how they will carry on.

Stage 1: Clarification - We answer the following questions and reach a firm decision in what concerns the next period, in order to get the best out of this context: • what kind of capital are you deploying for this “breakdown period” • what is the biggest loss that you can take on?

• what are the B options? C? - partnerships, sales, business remodelling, new opportunities.

Stage 2: Who are your partners during this breakdown period? We refer to the closest partners with whom your business has worked so far and with whom you must identify the best options in order to overcome the breakdown period as well as possible.

• employees - at this stage, it is easier to see who the key employees are, and what back-up schemes need to be implemented. In addition to this, the commitment component is obviously added to the values and objectives of the company, as well, at this moment of crisis that we are all going through.

• clients - an immediate analysis of the continuity portfolio is required: cash flow/inflows and business/volumes for the next period. I recommend transparent discussions and flexibility.

• suppliers - I recommend maximum attention to the impact we generate throughout chain, by means of payment delays. It is an extremely sensitive topic and the maturity based on which we manage this aspect is the foundation of continuation, at individual and global level.

• banks and other creditors - there is a favourable legal framework for payment phasing. I recommend maximum capacity in terms of cash-flow, without any relaxation, because the deferred payment means that you will have to generate cash flows by the end of the crisis period, in order to re-enter the status quo.

• investors - new discussions with investors are complicated at the moment, if we already have a crisis and there are decreases showing. The value of the business is adjusted with a risk coefficient, depending on both the general and the internal context.

Processes within companies need to be re-evaluated and streamlined. I recommend mapping processes and roles and creating a back-up diagram. Also, adjustment on the "crisis pattern" and steps for continuation/resumption.

Stage 3: Risk table: Score = Probability * Impact. During this period, the probability that certain risks will materialize is higher, as such, the impact (the value of the losses) will be greater than in a normal economic context.

- Commercial loan management: discuss with your partners and if you have the opportunity to support a re-phasing, you can do so, with or without interest, but adding additional guarantees and signing the necessary documents.

- The risk of dependency in terms of low number of clients, especially if they are experiencing decreases in activity during this period

- Dependency on certain industries affected during this period - Risk of foreign exchange losses - Absenteeism: quarantine leave or possible situations in which employees do not want to expose themselves and work.

Stage 4: The worst case scenario • Budget & Cash Flow Recalculation: The Business Simulator - the tool for agile budget tracking activities.

What is the available cash flow you have at the moment?

What is the short-term cash flow available from one week to another?

What are the available resources that you can rely on, in order to keep your business going? What time period do these resources cover?

Some observations: • we assume this plan as long as we do not put at risk the personal/family budget • the financing capital of the breakdown period - what is the opportunity cost? what alternatives do I have?

• flexibility within contracts, which must be carefully regulated - for example, as a supplier you can support the activity of a client in difficulty, based on guarantees. ØPoint of interest: the client; after this period of breakdown, it is highly possible that you have to adapt your business model. ØPositive point: reassessment of salary budgets, opportunity to develop employee loyalty, but also to test employee fidelity and commitment - orientation towards productivity and transparency!

Crisis Management - Business Continuation Plan – insides: • limited resources => opportunities for streamlining • NEW BUSINESS MODEL - value proposition + manner of doing things / processes and roles • pay attention to the dynamic / growth upon resumption of normal activity • a Trap and Opportunity: attention outside, approach based on figures • What do I learn? -> to create an emergency fund in the company's own equity.

Ioana Arsenie – owner Trusted Advisor Strategy & Finance - is an expert in business strategies, with expertise in financial, fiscal and management consulting, who offers, by means of her company, integrated services related to financial strategy and accounting for Romanian entrepreneurs.

Getting Ahead in Business through Foreign Languages:

4 Advantages of the A_BEST Online Courses While not new to the field of language learning, online courses are nevertheless a challenge for students, especially if they have not had contact with this method before. For those who are interested in an alternative option for the classic course taught in a classroom, they can opt for an online foreign language course organized by A_BEST Foreign Languages Center (https://abest.ro/ro/), on the Zoom platform. The online courses are organized for the following language courses: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Romanian for Foreigners.

Here are 4 of the advantages of our online courses: 1) Interactivity: Interactivity is synonymous with the virtual environment which makes the A_BEST online courses ideal for those who are interested in a modern learning method. The courses are interactive, with up-to-date study materials, making the courses more efficient and the target language easier to assimilate. Our trainers prepare daily, with care and dedication, all the sequences of the interactive courses that they will teach. This ensures that the time spent in the foreign language course by all our students will be extremely well invested.

2) Efficiency The A_BEST foreign language courses are organized in such way as to ensure that the time spent by the student in class is quickly monetized. As such, during the course, the students’ needs come first and the structure, content and course objectives are in line with the students’ expectations.

In the case of the on-demand courses – 1-2-1, 2-2-1 or mini-groups (3 students) – the courses are customized depending on the linguistic needs of the course participants and the department in which they work, for instance.

The A_BEST trainers are well known for their excellent academic studies and the fact that they are adaptable and always connected to the pulse of a world which is constantly transforming and improving.

3) Ease in communication By participating at the A_BEST online course, you will find it easier to express yourself in a foreign language, and the topics discussed will be useful to you when you travel, in your personal or professional life. The method used is a communicative one (Communicative Language Teaching) which brings up discussions, debates and language games. This helps students develop their fluency, ensuring they will be able to communicate more easily with their business partners or in their day-to-day life.

4) Schedule flexibility The course participants can study a foreign languageeven from …home. Furthermore, they can opt for either an on-demand course, which will allow they to attend classes individually (1-2-1) or with a life partner/ colleague/ friend (2-2-1) or in a mini-group (3 people), with a schedule and curriculum that is adapted to their needs.

In the following period,25March – 10 April 2020, the online courses organized by A_BEST, on the Zoom platform, will have a special price. If interested, please contact us at office@abest.ro 0762 274 914.

For more details please follow the link www,abest.ro/ro.

IT HAPPENED FOR ME: LR Health & Beauty BACK-UP OCCUPATION IN A CRISIS PERIOD Adelina Iorgulescu For those who do not know me, my name is Adelina Iorgulescu, I am a dentist for 15 years andalongside that, for 8 years I have a strong and fruitfully collaborate with a top German company, LR Health & Beauty,currently having the OrgaLeader position.

I have been asked over time why I am in charge of this business and how do I handle both the OrgaLeader position and the dental laboratory. Every time my answer is the same: my HOBBY comes from the passion to help other people and both occupations meet this criteria.

In my quest to find out what my purpose here on Earth is, I did an astogram last month and what do you think I found out?

Leader is the word that characterizes me, together with the desire to help people. For me this was a confirmation for why this two occupations of mine fit me perfectly.

However, it seems that what I have done so far as a hobby, being an OrgaLeader In LR Health and Beauty company, will be the back-up job for me, as the heavy period that we go through worldwide came with consequences regarding the dental office, respectively it was closed for a period of time according to the laws in force (as many, many other businesses did). So this period, fortunately, my position in LR will be my main job and that of my family.

If anything has changed in this period? The answer is YES, a lot of things. First of all and most important everything went online,a field I'm not entirely familiar with, but I saw it as an opportunity to overcome my obstacles and learn and practice new things such as: • organizing online events, which I now enjoy very much having; • I dedicate my time showing people that it is good to have a back-up plan, even if your business is successful, because life in general has many surprises for us.

My luck is that we deal with health and people appreciate this more than ever during this period of global pandemic.

When you say made in Germany you think directly about QUALITY and SERIOUSNESS, attributes that are rare nowadays.

Why Quality? Due to certifications.

The most important quality certification of our health products from LR is SGS INSTITUT FRESENIUS, which ensures the control of the ingredients, of each step in the production process, the bottling and all the procedures performed until the final result.

The crisis has surprised us all, making us appreciate life differently, to appreciate more the people around us. Everyone is now giving priority to health and this is our main objective and what we preach: "More quality for your life", whatever that means to each and one of us.

Stay optimistic and stay healthy!

Almaj, Iordache law firm: is it within our willpower to rethink and organize our activity adapting to the new reality At Almaj, Iordache law firm we walk the talk; we are experienced lawyers who follow a structured approach, designed to deliver results for business.

The state of emergency declared by the Romanian president sowed the seeds of numerous challenges for all social and professional categories and the lawyers who are part of the Almaj, Iordache team are in no circumstances spared to face these challenges.

During this critic period whereby the economy and business activity have been seriously affected, we keep our creativeness in solving our client`s problems and finding the most sustainable solutions for them and we continue to provide unconditional support for our clients understanding that maybe it is much more difficult for them to overcome this context and to fight against the harmful consequences generated by the pandemic over their business and beyond.

Our IT, Technology & Fintech experience permitted us to be on our partners side whenever they need our advice, being able to fully develop our activities by electronic means.

Our professionals` goal still remained“to be better every day� and therefore even in this uncertain period our assistance is at the same quality standards as always.

One of Almaj, Iordache lawyers` advantage is our multi-disciplinary approach, being able to see the full picture of each situation and providing adequate legal support.

Thus, even though we stepped on an unknown road we considered that is it within our willpower to rethink and organize our activity adapting to the new reality from an organisational point of view and we can say that so far we have found bright and quick-witted solutions for every situation we have faced and will definitely do so in the future.

Almaj, Iordache offers a full range of legal services in industries like Power, Oil & Gas, IT, Technology & Fintech, Real Estate, Education, Healthcare & Leisure.

Our team is deeply familiar with the specific challenges clients face in the Romanian markets; we have strong industries awareness. That`s why we can provide the full spectrum of legal advice tailored to the specific level of each business, respectively: (i) Business start and outline – full range of advice need for entering the Romanian markets, by outlining the main market rules and customs; acquiring the Romanian licenses/au-

thorizations/permits/certificates; providing support in managing the relationships with the regulator; due to our multidisciplinary approach, we also provide assistance in solving challenges referring to employment, complex litigations, corporate governance, financial agreements, etc.; (ii) Business Growth and Sustainment – from merges and acquisitions advice, providing the legal base for developing new products, to the protection of intellectual property rights and competition market rules; (iii) Business Protection and Preserving – whether addressing tax measures or adverse regulatory changes & controls, our team works with clients to help them maintain market share, preserve their patrimony, collect unpaid receivables and manage relationships with regulators and other industry bodies. We also help our clients have their voice hear during public consultations on specific project regulations which may affect their business; thus, we protect their interest from the start, during incipient stages of possibly adverse regulations, while getting to improve the regulatory environment.

You can find more details about us at www.almaj.eu.

MEDICAL TRANSLATIONS how to choose the translation office to meet your requirement Sometimes we don’t have the time it takes to thoroughly look and do our own research before deciding which translation office to go to. There are also the times when time is pressing us, we have tight deadlines to meet or need yet another translation of a document, because we are not happy or even disappointed with the outcome of a previous translation request. Let us see, therefore, what a translation office should offer when asked to meet a demand.

Background in medical translations In order for a translation office to claim having a medical translation background, it should have dealt with a series of big challenges. When it comes to numbers of pages and diversity, the translation office’s background should be able to prove such medical translation skills as the following: medical records, prescriptions and medical tests, medicine and parapharmaceutical products package leaflets, user manuals for various medical equipment, clinical studies, scientific works or PhD dissertations. When such translations are not backed up by a sense of responsibility, clients will start looking for another office to have their translations proofread, which implies additional costs – in terms of finance, time, or even one’s public image.

All these issues can be avoided if your first choice is that of working with a sworn translation office with a background in medical translations, such as our translation office, Traduce.re. (www.traduce.re) Specialized translators Traduce.re made sure that its team of translators is comprised only of experienced translators specializing in the medical field. Medical documents requiring translation cannot allow any error to occur, as this would put people’s lives at risk.

In other words, our translators have perfect knowledge of medical terms, which they acquired as a result of specialized studies, of a rich background in medical translations, and particularly as a result of an ongoing self-development practice aiming at pushing their limits.

Impeccable reputation Working with a translation office you know will deliver on their promise will save you a lot of money and, most definitely, time. Sometimes we are in a hurry and we make random choices, by thinking they are all the same or simply hoping we get lucky and our documents will

be properly translated.

Of course, being in luck is not unheard of, but, judging from the experience of most clients, it is always best to know who you are working with, particularly when the stakes are high and the documents are really important to you.

Always check the reputation of the translation office you choose or, better yet, ask for recommendations from people you can trust.

Another way of checking a translation office’s reputation is by checking out the testimonials on its website (you’ll know the difference between the ones that are true and those which are visibly “fabricated”).

Guaranteed data privacy The privacy of your personal data is more than sensitive; when it comes to medical data, safety measures are all the more rigorous. All documents we receive, the translation of which we deliver, are treated with the utmost respect. In fact, we could not possibly do it otherwise, as this would be a violation of our own standards. Scientific works resulting from years of hard work, medical tests which most often are indicative of bad things happening to you – they are all treated with the utmost discretion and confidentiality. In other words, we treat our clients the same way we like to be treated.

www.traduce.re www.facebook.com/traduce.eu www.linkedin.com/in/traducerebucuresti

ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION -

when is it mandatory, how to get it and what documents you need to have it awarded Georgiana VOINEA, Environmental Services and Waste Management Expert, founder of Geoffan Expert Consult The purpose of today’s article is to assist all owners of businesses requiring compliance with the environmental protection regulations and provide accurate data on the environmental permit application and awarding process. Below, I shall present everything you need to know about environmental authorisations, so that you can save the time you need to gather the necessary information, What is an environmental authorisation?

An environmental authorisation is an administrative deed establishing the operational conditions and parameters applying to businesses which may significantly impact the environment. An environmental authorisation is issued to include special requirements of the business owner, the incompliance with which may result in the suspension of the authorisation (during which time carrying out the activity is forbidden). Environmental authorisations are applied for and awarded for both current business activities, and to start new ones.

What is the purpose of environmental authorisations?

Unless controlled, the operation of businesses may harm the environment or human health.

Therefore, environmental authorisations are key to mitigating the negative impact of economic activities and they set out to facilitate compliance with the environmental requirements by ongoing monitoring carried out by relevant authorities. Their aim is to protect the environment by setting up the operational framework and legal requirements.

When is it mandatory for businesses to have environmental authorisations awarded?

A business’s obligation to have an environmental authorisation is directly related to the NACE codes registered with the Trade Register Office. Therefore, it is very important for the economic activities performed to be accurately classified. Also, to this end, as far as places of business are concerned, I recommend registering solely those activities you actually carry out, instead of registering also activities you intend to carry out in the future.

Since not all business owners are bound to apply for environmental authorisations, it is important that you check whether your activities – i.e. he NACE codes registered with the Trade Register Office – are included in Annex 1 to Order 1798/2007 of the Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development. Please make sure you carefully carry out such verification, because the NACE codes in the annex are those included in the Rev. 1 release, not the ones currently applicable (Rev.2). For instance, the corresponding version of NACE 5610 “Restaurants and mobile food service activities” (Rev.2) is NACE 5530 “Camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks” (Rev.1). Thus, upon carrying out the verification, refer to NACE 5530.

Three scenarios result from such a verification: – activities performed are included in Annex 1 to Order 1798/2007 of the Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development and the aspects shown in the Comments section are met, in which case you are bound to file for an environmental authorisation; – activities performed are included in Annex 1 to Order 1798/2007 of the Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, however, without meeting the aspects shown in the Comments section, in which case you are not bound to file for an environmental authorisation, instead operate your business based on an affidavit under which you take it upon yourself to meet the applicable environment protection laws; – activities performed are not included in Annex 1 to Order 1798/2007 of the Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, in which case you are not bound to file for an environmental authorisation, instead operate your business based on an affidavit under which you take it upon yourself to meet the applicable environment protection laws; How is one awarded an environmental authorisation and what documents do they need for this purpose?

Launch of the environmental authorisation awarding process is by filing the application file with the governing Environmental Protection Agency in the county where the place of business operates. The file will include the following documents on a minimum basis: application, registration certificate, confirmation of company details, area layout plan, site development plan, technical documentation (presentation sheet and statement), property deed/title, proof of payment of the authorisation fee, advertisement. Based on how complex the activity is and the site conditions, other documents may be required, such as: utility-service provision contracts, contract for the collection of waste generated by the business operations, further licences and permits (wastewater take over agreement, ISU* approval, water management authorisation, etc.).

The submittal of the file is followed by a visit on location by the EPA* counsellor, for the latter to check the activity performance conditions, the equipment, the adjoining areas, etc. (which should be the same as shown in the filed documentation).

In the case of new activities, when the aforementioned stages have been completed, the EPA publishes the licence awarding decision, by posting it at its premises and uploading it on the webpage. Unless challenged, the licence is then issued within 90 business days as of the submittal of the full documentation.

In the case of already operated activities, the procedure may be slightly different, as there is the possibility for the EPA to carry out an Environmental Audit (i.e. an assessment study of the environmental impact, which can be drawn up solely by Ministry of the Environment licenced individuals or legal entities, such as myself).

What to do once the environmental authorisation is awarded?

Do not delude yourself into believing that once the environmental authorisation is awarded you have no more obligations to meet. You still need to operate your business in compliance with the authorisation provisions, for which reason I recommend that you read it carefully and find out what further monitoring you need to complete (e.g. water/air/ground quality) and how often you need to do so, the management operations you need to carry out (e.g. waste management, hazardous substances and mixtures management, packaging management, etc.), as well as the kind of reporting you need to do. May I remind you that failure to meet the authorisation provisions may lead to your authorisation being suspended (during which time you are not allowed to operate your business).

Beware also the occurring activity changes once the environmental authorisation has been issued, as you are bound to notify the relevant authority prior to operating such changes.

Reviewing the environmental authorisation is necessary when changes in the scope of activity or changes of data underlying its issuance occur.

What are the legally provided sanctions?

Failure of legal entities to meet the obligation to apply for and acquire regulatory deeds pursuant to legal provisions within the set timelines is fined by charging a RON 30,000 to 60,000 penalty.

My expertise in the field of environmental regulations allows me to help facilitate the awarding of the environmental authorisation, by making all the steps and taking all endeavours required to this end, which implies no effort on your part. *ISU: The Inspectorate for Emergency Situations * EPA: The Environmental Protection Agency For consultancy and services in the field, do not hesitate to contact me!

Phone number: 0745.195.744, E-mail: hello@georgianavoinea.ro 8 years as an Environmental and Waste Management Expert, over 250 happy customers, 100% success rate in avoiding fines and having environmental authorisations, permits and licences awarded in record time.

You too can take advantage of my expertise to have your environmental authorisation awarded and meet all obligations set out in the authorisation: hazardous/non-hazardous waste management, management of packaging waste released to the domestic market, hazardous substances management, monitoring of environmental factors, quarterly and/or annual reporting. Feel free to check out my full list of services on www.georgianavoinea.ro

WHAT WE WEAR WHEN WE WORK FROM HOME (REMOTE WORK)?

Given this context from nowadays, remote work is the first option for a lot of us.

Therefore the topic I want to detail with you today, is the following question: "How we dress when we work from home?"

When I opened this topic, most of you answered that you have the freedom to choose a comfortable version and you don¢t waste too much time with this ...

When you work from home, my recommendation for you is to choose something comfortable but to pay attention to what materials your clothes have.

It is better to choose the natural material because when you spend a few hours in front of the laptop, you don¢t need to sweat, and a T-shirt made with synthetic material will not help you to be comfortable.

I don't know about you, but I felt a need for a refresh of my style, from a glam style to a natural style, especially now when I worked" from home " for some weeks, I have returned to the basic clothes.

I am a city chic style as a fashion lover, but now in this context, when I stay a lot in the house, I have adopted a natural style.

If you are curious about my choice when I '' work from home '', my first option is a cotton T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

I have another proposal for you, to have more energy and good condition, I recommend you to use when you work from home, for each day of the week, a different color for your T-shirt.

Consequently, I choose Monday a blue color, for Tuesday I wear green, for Wednesday, a red T-shirt, for Thursday I choose purple, and Friday is dedicated to beige.

For me, each color has a meaning and sends me well-being and also gives me extra energy, so I encourage you to wear a different color every day when you work from home I still have a secret for you. When I work from home, I like to play with accessories. For me, accessories play a very important role. Before I turn on my laptop, I put on my favorite earrings or an oversized headband (I'm a real collection of the headband).

In this period I advise you to take good care of your skin.

For example, when I work remotely before I answer my emails, I like to take care of my skin following the 3 steps, cleaning, toning, and care.

During this time, when we will stay in the house, I will miss my monthly cosmetic session.

Therefore, I have to apply my mask that I make in the house, for my skin.

I am passionate about face masks home-made (I am also a Pharmacist, so I proud to know some DETAILS about this topic).

I will try in the next days to make also a few exercises for my body with some online applications, I will choose a yoga online program.

I will miss the exercises in the gym and the ballet class, but I will replace them with the exercis es done in my yard, with my dogs.

In the next period, I promise myself that I will try to make my days beautiful and enjoy simple things, that I forgot to enjoy them because I lived a life with a lot of repetitive tasks.

If you are curious about how you can choose to clothe when you work from home, and if you have any questions about this topic, I expect you to write me an e-mail to my email address andreeadetails@yahoo.com and I promise that we will talk about this topic in detail.

Andreea Details - a style agency specialized to provide styling consultancy for professionals and people from the company that sustain presentations/ speeches.

If you want a piece of style advice, when You are a speaker on a Webinar or online presentation write me an email at andreeadetails@yahoo.com You can find me on Facebook (Andreea Details), Instagram (@andreeadetails).

You can also find my work on my site https://andreeadetails.ro/

See you soon!

EMPOWERED WOMEN EMPOWER WOMEN It is 2020,and we are used to living in a world of ”never enough time”....

That is of course untill now,as we venture through a period of time that will effect every person differently.An indefinite period of time in quarantine and self-isolation…

We are all experiencing social distancing,working from home and finding ways to keep motivated,whilst confronting our lack of determination to use this time productively and so on.However the good news is that we are not alone in this.

This extraodinary period will allow us time to reflect on who we really are and what our needs and priorities are.

After completing some field research, questioning a group of people of varying ages,it appeared that the majority of them missed human interaction during this time and I must admit I have been feeling the same.

My name is Adina Stiuca and I am a women who thrives on relationships and connections with people, because at the end of the day this is human instinct.

I have always considered myself to be at the service of people which I believe can be highlighted through all the products and services that my business has to offer.

I am positive that we, the business owners,will overcome this obstacle especially those who have a proven consistancy,earthnessess and those who resonate and are passionate about the field of business they are leading.

My team and I are passionate about maps.

One of the reasons we started producing maps was to cater for goal-orientated people who needed to have the real, precise information relating to the areas that they were interested in.

We are constantly improving our database in close cooperation with specialised companies and institutions whilst implementing all of the latest technologies. We do itstep-by-step, using the newest pieces of high precision information in such a way that benefits everyone, taking advantage of all the up-to-date source material.

Together with a team of professionals,we are working on meeting the personal requirements of each client by highlighting their individual objectives such as the road network, the hydrographic network, the rail netwok etc., along with the identification dates of the company which can be a very good marketing idea or any other needs that the client may have can be discussed and agreed.

For every company or public institution it is important to have reliable maps enabling people to use them for a variety of purposes: orientation, planning routes for logistic companies, travel agencies or simply for decorating the office walls.

We do produce accurate and reliable maps that are extremely efficient for all performance tasks. Our wallmaps are printed on high-quality durable paper and can be printed in any other material that meets your demands.

Last, but not least, we like to produce maps that awaken two of the five senses: the visual and the kinesthetic. Looking at a map of interest often brings back feelings and memories, because we are human afterall…

For more information please visit: www.expertharti.ro

Phone: 0787/370 850 E-mail: eliteprintingstudio3@gmail.com

Adina Stiuca ELITE PRINTING STUDIO Founder

THE TRUE, THE GOOD AND THE BEAUTIFUL - an integrative look at your environment via Arkia Design- Arch. Andra Raluca Tautu “To understand the whole, it is necessary to understand the parts. To understand the parts, it is necessary to understand the whole. Such is the circle of understanding. We move from part to whole and back again, and in that dance of comprehension, in that amazing circle of understanding, we come alive to meaning, to value, and to vision” Ken Wilber “The Eye of Spirit” After 20 twenty years of experience and collaboration with high-end partners on the national and international market doing architecture, interior design, planning and budgeting from start to finish, Ame Studio has a new branch: Arkia. At Arkia we act as consultants for high end interior design projects, we can suggest major verified dealers on the market for furnishing, and we can also work with you directly to make your dream environment come true.

Arkia (Hebrew: ‫עיקרא‬, because we are always up for a challenge. We never imagined, however, that will deal with a world epidemic. But a measure of an intelligent business is its power to adapt, the capacity of being in constant transformation attuned to the world. We’re now ready to help you on-line. As the whole world shifted to the digital realm, so did we.

If you read this, your home may be now your office. Having the right environment to shift from relaxing to focusing is crucial, and it’s not an easy task. Versatility, is our expertise.

The paradox of the challenge given by this world pandemic is that, although in isolation, we’re now more than ever internationally connected. There is no lockdown on being plugged into ideas and cultures of the world, collaborating and inspiring each other from all corners of the earth. Arkia is determined and able to continue to make a difference this way, and we’re here to help you do the same: stay connected with the outer world but also with yourself. More than ever we are experiencing now how strong our environment has an impact on your performance and overall well-being.

From Bhagavad Gita, Plato and Aristotle, we know that to function well in the word we need the good (morals), the true (science/rationality) and the beautiful (art). Most of us are focused on what’s good and true, as these two aspects of life are more palpable and productive. Arkia’s primary focus in on the beautiful, a necessary part of the whole to support your vision and help you soar to your own highest potential. Why is Beauty important?

To keep a calm and creative mind one needs structure and rest but also beauty. When stressed, we often tend to focus on the negatives. It is known however that in the mist of agitation, when we shift our attention to a flower, a sunset or simply a nice picture on the wall, we can shift our whole mood. Small details are crucial. In time of stress, the mind gets obsessed by details. Arkia’s expertise is that we understand how space works - from the bigger picture of your overall

ergonomic set up to the smallest right photograph or drawing hanged on the wall. We are working with you so beauty will beam at you from every corner, from every detail. Sitting for ten minutes on your favorite armchair set up in the right corner and gazing at your favorite photograph of nature or your loved ones can make the whole difference in the world.

Although we cannot serve you a welcoming hot coffee as we used to in our physical office, we can still host you remotely. There is no lockdown to good humor or passion and we have plenty of that via Zoom, WhatsApp or Messenger. You can send us pictures of your space that needs a change, and we’re more than happy to advise what changes should be made. Deliveries of furniture and appliances are still happening and we can guide you where and what to buy from our trusted sources. We’re happy to consult you on the sources you prefer as well.

We are looking forward to meeting you on our Facebook page (please, search for Arkia Design), and please, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call us directly, the old fashion way as well. We are fun and friendly, and virtually here for you.

Arch. Andra Raluca Tăutu

www.instagram.com/arkia_design/ 0040 766 072 123 office@amestudio.ro www.amestudio.ro

“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.�

Albert Einstein My name is Ofelia Neagu, I am a psychologist/ psychological counsellor, coach and trainer, a person with over 13 years of expertise in communication area (business and non-profit), and 8 years of expertise in coaching and training, and more recent axperience in psychology.

Coaching, training and psychological coounselling are the main directions defining me now from the professional perspective. I have the chance to combine the communication expertise with the training and coaching epertise and subsequently with psychology in my private practice. In my entire activity I am focused on results and bringing added value to the client- individual or corporate clients.

I set up my own training and consulting company- Strategic Solutions- implementing teambuilding and training programs focused on different themes and skills- sales, communication, stress management, leadership and management, change management, time management, coaching abilities for managers, etc. In the same time, I am involved in HR consulting. The training approach is a flexible one, very adapted on the customer needs vfor every project- online and classroom training, or blended learning.

In coaching, my role is to support clients in (re)descovering their own resorces and to find the best way they can use them to achieve personal and business goals. In coaching I use a complex approach, using different techniques from NLP and family constellations, so that every client approach is unique and adapted to his needs.

I believe in human potential and this is the phylosophy I use in training and coaching to help people develop new skills in order to be more satisfied with themselves on a personal and professional level. In training and coaching I use a systemic approach, so that the solutions are fit in the entire business and personal context and sustainable.

Contact info: www.ofelianeagu.ro www.facebook.com/ofelianeagu.coach www.linkedin.com/in/ofelianeagu 0744 361 314/ 0733 148 807 oneagu@gmail.com

TRAIL TRIPS a family business beliefs Integrity, compassion, determination and commitment will prevail.

I’m writing this article about Trail Trips Romania while sitting in my yard and counting my blessings.

I’m Gio, the voice of this family business built up with soul. Trail Trips is the unique brainchild of two kindred spirits, my husband, Alex and I. We have created this Travel Agency because it’s our kind of life and what we love to do.

We never thought of the future when we started this. We just wanted to make some people happy: those that already knew Alex or I, and they kept insisting we should go out on our own. So, we did. We started this before we were even living together, and worked to transform it into a brand with our amazing baby in our laps.

Our motivation was helping others in the first place, along with keeping Alex productive and his passion alive. You see, we truly believe, as a nice person once told us, only those businesses driven by passion will survive and prosper. We had great ideas, but the big brains never gave credit to them, so that was the moment we decided to do it by ourselves. We wanted to build up a family business for our happiness and for helping the Romanian local industry to prosper. So, we buy local produce, we cook traditional food, eat local, have local partners, use local inns, checking in into rural guest houses or hotels. From the very beginning, we wanted to make this happen so we could support other family’s local businesses and to maintain the community wealth. Everyone sustained us, so we felt like we should give something back.

We are unique because 100% of our clients become our friends. To this day, we have 5 years of enduro guidance activity and almost one year of Incoming Travel Agency. We have met more than 100 happy clients. More than 50% returned, and most of them wanted to visit our home and, in turn, invited us to their own. Most of them are keen in helping us with nice ideas for keeping this business with a heart and soul to prosper and be better and better from one year to the next. They know our focus is on themselves!

“Keep it small and keep it happy” is what we have learned from a Nordic group we had last year, and they simply put into words what has always been in our minds.

We truly believe that small family businesses are the future. We’re not saying small as being insignificant, but as being personal, accessible and sensitive to clients’ needs. We believe that partnerships help to keep a small business a successful one, so that’s what we try do to.

We try to find as many quality partnerships as possible to help the local economy and, with the support of their experience and knowledge, this allows us to do what we do best and focus on our clients.

We are driven by a passion for family, friends and community and a passion for life. Our passion is based on our core values and principles. This is the very foundation of our family and through integrity, compassion, determination and commitment we will prevail.

COVID19 GETS US OUT OF OUR COMFORT ZONE - be smart, embrace the change!

My name is Tora Miklosi and I am founder and owner of Kitchen Tailors – Sibiu.

Kitchen Tailors is a concept showroom for German kitchen furniture, the place where those who arrange or rearrange their home get to live a totally different experience in making choices for the kitchen.

What does a totally different experience mean from our point of view? Things are easy: you come to us with the house plan, we make ourselves comfortable and have a coffee (during this times we have a phone call) and you tell us about your family’s lifestyle, what’s enchanting your senses, what gives you that cosy feeling that means Home, and us, guided by the information we get, we make sure that we tailor your kitchen accordingly to your very own values.

I strongly believe that the heart of the home can be designed only from the heart, and all we do for this, starting with the first contact, ending with the last adjustments, it’s done soulful and fully involved.

Because we live challenging times, we adapt to changes. Launching the website became number one priority and we brainstorm ourselves for new procedures, working at distance and having a good digital communication – a beautiful perspective for us, that to be able to work with customers from distance.

An economical crisis is nothing more that a challenge to inspiration and growth, and us, the Kitchen Tailors, we believe this is a good moment to get out of the comfort zone and reinvent ourselves! Digital tools like WhatsApp Video Call, Google Hangouts, Skype, Zoom, even Team Viewer are few of the little help we all need now, no matter the domain we activate in.

A well defined online image, a mission expressed and a marketing position according to the context, are the things every entrepreneur should have in mind during these hard times.

The avatar of the customer helps you find a strategic communication and marketing should come in front of sales, during times when getting in contact with the customer is more difficult than closing the sale.

The message I want to send to all entrepreneurs is that during these times, there are three most important things: slow down in order to protect yourself and the community; don’t stop, because if you stop now, it will be harder to relaunch your business afterwards and stay focused on reinventing yourself!

You can find us on Facebook.com/KitchenTailors, email: hello@kitchentailors.ro or by phone: +40 724 769 744!

Stay safe! Stay connected! Stay positive!

BEAUTY AS THE FABRIC OF LIFE FROM ONE ARTIST TO ANOTHER Marinela Niculae, owner Green Day Spa I write this as an entrepreneur and owner of Green Day Spa salons, wishing this would find you healthy, joyful, beautiful, immersed in light and touched by balance.

Because our motto is “For a healthy life, enjoy your daily intake of Green Day Spa”, now, that we are undergoing an extraordinary time which requires extraordinary measures, implying social distancing, our beauty specialists (hair care, cosmetics, nail care, facial and body spa treatments) remain available to provide you with useful tips on how to remain the most beautiful version of yourself during this time. Do not hesitate to contact us should you encounter any issues with completing your beauty rituals at home. Bad times can be mitigated by beauty, and so, we encourage you to be your own personal artists; do not forget that beauty awakens your soul and feeling good about your body impacts everything you do. Our bodies are our enablers, so let’s give them love.

Often times we hear about the importance of hydration, both to the body, and to the hands and face. Let me remind you of the efficacy ofcoffee grounds - in case you’ve forgotten.

Instead of throwing them away, keep them for the sake of benefits them can offer your body. They work like a scrub, a toning agent, invigorating blood circulation in those orange peel-looking areas. What you need to do is mix them with olive oil and brown sugar if you have it around the house, apply the mixture on your skin in the shower, massage for several minutes with circular movements and then rinse it with plenty of water.

Natural masks efficiently clean and moisturize the skin; however, in order for you to get the much-desired effect, you need also apply the proper ingredients, i.e. while oat and honey are good for acne skin, for dry skin you should use yogurt and cucumber. Always apply face masks on thoroughly cleaned skin, preferably after a scrub.

In what concernscaring for your manicure, do not forget cuticle oil for hydration. For the ladies who have not purchased professional care products – do not forget you can rely on olive or coconut oil in this case, too. The ladies in the Green community asked how they should care for the semi-permanent nail polish that has been on their nails for too long; we recommend wrapping each individual nail with a cotton pad immersed in acetone, until the nail polish starts giving in; avoid using sharp objects, lest you should injure your nail.

For ladies with eyelash extensions which have not been cared for anymore, our advice to you is not to pluck them under any circumstances; what you should do is apply fat (not water-based) oil or cream on cotton pads, then place the pads on your eyelash extensions to have the adhesive dissolved, so as not to ruin your natural eyelashes.

Another unpleasant situation our lady clients have come across – I myself being one of

them - is the growth of grey hair. You’ll find your solution one phone call away; as I was saying before, you can contact us; we will put you in touch with our Green team specialists, who will correctly diagnose the respective hair, to help you determine the right base and purchase the right product. As for the work itself, as decided, we shall be our own artists.

I for one am not a lover of disheveled hair, in which case I can choose from the numerous solutions available, from rotating hair brushes to hair straighteners, to aluminum foil curls or screwdriver or pencil curls (you can find numerous tutorials to this end).

As far as beauty rituals are concerned, whether we are among those who have invested in high quality professional products or of those who resort to miracle-working homemade solutions(such as olive oil, maize flower, coconut oil, citrus, vegetables, etc.), we owe it to ourselves to love and care for own bodies.

As forthe removal of unwanted hair– things are getting a little complicated here, where those of you who have had permanent laser hair removal at Green Day Spa or with the help of our colleagues in the market are the lucky ones. That’s our kind of girl!

There are so many other things we could talk about; however, since every beginning has an end, so do hard times not last forever – there is a cure for everything. Let me assure you that we shall see each other again soon or get to know each other at one of our locations as soon as the opportunity arises. Until then, let us stay healthy and beautiful!

Yours, Marinela Niculae, Owner Green Day Spa www.greendayspa.ro

ARKETING STRATEGY AS AWARENESS RISING TOOL – Madalina Cotorogea - SAFETYFIRST 1. Good practices in marketing and sales – mission, vision and marketing and sales strategy for 2020 Dear readers of EBW Newsletter I am glad to meet you again. The subject of mission, vision and marketing&sales strategy is dear to me because of my background in Marketing and, recently, also in Digital Marketing.

SafetyFirst, our brand, is offering consultancy on Work Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) - a vital field in work management but not very well understood and implemented in Romania. The organisational culture it is still not well developed here and nor does it have a longer history in order to allow the companies to fully understand how to consistently and thoroughly implement the HSE measures at the workplace. The bigger companies have working procedures on HSE and they implement them. We regretfully have to admit that this happens most of the times, because of the requirements imposed by the management of the parent company which has a foreign major shareholder. We are confident that Romanian little and medium sized companies will gradually start to understand the importance of a safe workplace and put more efforts in ensuring a safer workplace for their employees, as they put to their own financial profit. We would like to see this process develop and the company owners to respect their workforce in Romania also.

This is the reason we work our mission into two directions: consultancy and education.

• The consultancy consists of providing HSE services to ensure the companies HSE procedures and documentation and training for their employees.

• The education is targeted to the company managers and owners, to those who make decisions regarding cost efficiency.

I would like to develop a little bit this topic. Maybe you are asking yourself which is the connection between HSE and cost efficiency. It is a direct cause-effect connection that becomes visible when an employee is injured and cannot fulfil his work tasks. In this case there are costs with injured employee replacement, time costs, accident investigation costs, trips to territorial labour inspectorates, to police for making statements. And here the manager/company owner faces a lot of financial costs, time consuming activities and above all a stress burden.

If the lack of HSE internal procedures and documentation is added to the previous ones the employer would face additional costs with penalties. Someone may say that the accidents occur in any case. From our experience of 16 years in HSE field, we ensure them that most accidents have been avoided due to a correct understanding and implementation of HSE measures and procedures. The employees’ safety is a measure of the business safety. If a business owner does not care about the staff, what happens when it is not there at work?

Besides, the measures that ITMs (the Territorial Labour Inspectorates) impose and the controls carried out help to raise awareness on a large scale of the need for the workplace safety.

In Romania, we are pleased to find out that many companies acting in the social domain understands the vital importance of this topic. Is this because of the sensitivity they have by the nature of the domain in which they are active? Maybe.

Starting from the above ideas, I would like to stress that our mission is the awareness rising regarding the importance of HSE. This is done by disseminating the relevant information using Social Media tools. Presently we are implementing a communication strategy on Facebook and LinkedIn. Also, we constantly offer on our website up-to-date information regarding the workplace safety. We are connected to the European and world HSE organisations and we permanently inform our partners.

Another dissemination channel is networking events. These are opportunities to disseminate the relevant information and thus to raise awareness of the vital importance of the HSE for the continuous and safe development of the business.

A thoroughly understanding of the HSE importance by the business owners will directly contribute to an increase in profits, by diminishing the work accidents costs.

Collaborative Entrepreneurship in Romania I would like to mention here a social project we are very honoured to be part of. We are ensuring the HSE work for the construction of the biggest private hospital in Romania. The importance of the workers’ health and safety is well understood by the managers. They are not negotiating their employees’ life and health and they are thoroughly implementing the HSE procedures. Probably this is the reason they are succeeding in realising such a big project with impact on the health of thousands of people and their families and they have benefitted of the support of some big companies and of many individual contributors. We would like to take this opportunity to say how grateful we are for choosing us and to warmly thank them for their involvement and commitment to develop such a great project.

Another example of collaborative entrepreneurship is the one we are developing with ErgoPrint, Mrs Corina Mihul, also a member of EBW. This collaboration is based on win-win terms: SafetyFirst is ensuring the HSE services and ErgoPrint is providing the printing services for us. We have this collaboration for over 10 years now. During this time, ErgoPrint did not record any work accident and following the safety controls they had (not few) the company did not receive any penalty or fine. Also SafetyFirst benefitted of the most high-quality printing services on time: brochures, business cards, notebooks, roll-ups, calendars, etc. Besides, we are also enjoying the unique exquisite accessories of Murano Glass that this company offers to those who loves beauty for a couple of years. Thank you so much Corina and Cristi for the trust you showed to us. We wish you success in your activity and many more years ahead to our fruitful collaboration!

Madalina Cotorogea Business developer 0040.721.634.785 http://www.safetyfirst.ro FB: @safetyfirst.romania LIn: safety-first-romania

Cristina Vintilă, founder of CV-Expert Contabil group:

„ACCOUNTING IS THE LANGUAGE OF BUSINESS (WARREN BUFFET)” EBW: What does your business do? (mission, vision, market) What products or services do you provide?

Cristina V:Our goal is to provide clients with accounting advice to the highest standards, our expertise being based on financial solutions for each particular business.

“CV-Expert Contabil” mission statement- we provide accounting and financial consulting services for people. Starting from the premise that the most valuable resources of a company are the entrepreneur and their employees, we always focus ourselves to their guidance, so we do not only help them with the identified accounting problems.

First of all, we fully understand the activities of our clients to create a dedicated monograph, focused on solving the problems found in accounting.Then we propose improvements so as to reduce the fiscal impact (the tax) and the reduction of expenses (ANAF, banks, partners, etc.). In addition we help the entrepreneur understand what our goals are in terms of the financial section of their business.

“CV-Expert Contabil”vision - We want to be the best business partner, not just the best accounting company.

EBW: How do you promote your business?

Cristina V: Within the 10 years of experience we have managed over 500 projects of our clients, a large part of which we collaborate with at the moment. In our case the classic way of promoting worked very well: the recommendation from the current customers which generated new customers constantly and assured us the growth of the business.However, "CV-Expert Contabil" is at the point where we set out to move to the next level. As a result we are in the process of rebranding, and we will set sales targets to grow the business.

EBW: What does the organizational culture look like in your company? Work environment friendly, strict, etc?

What are you looking for in an employee?

Cristina V: I know it's a cliché, but we are like a family that is based on trust, empathy, mutual support and solidarity. I have always looked for colleagues willing to excel and to develop professionally.

EBW: What is unique about your Business?

Cristina V: We have a human approach in such a process-oriented field, which is what differentiates us in the local market: we understand people, not just their activity and constantly guide them to avoid any financial mistakes in the future.

EBW: What responsibilities do you have as a business owner?

Cristina V: It all sounds great, especially as I hear more and more young people wanting to be entrepreneurs or freelancers. But besides the responsibility of the success of my business, it weighs heavily on my shoulders the responsibilities towards employees and clients.

EBW: What made you choose this type of business?

Cristina V: My passion for the financial field has always helped me to meet the challenges of my chosen job, and also in developing my own business. The main reason why I managed to build a business from scratch is precisely this dedication to everything that "CV Expert Contabil" means to me. The truth is that I feel very happy between numbers and I think that was the key to success in my case.

FOUR COLORS, FOUR ELEMENTS. PERFECT AND IMPERFECT.

Corina Elena Mihul, Ergo Print and OriginalMurano.ro The human is an artist by nature. He seeks to bring the beautiful everywhere in his life, one way or another. Maxim Gorky Through the two businesses created by me, Ergo Print and OriginalMurano.ro, I tried to bring beauty in the lives of our customers, either from printed materials or Murano glass decorative objects.

The quality of printing is the rule that governs us here at Ergo Print.The layouts are verified to the last detail thanks to our “inspector” colleagues at DTP, whether the layout needed to be verified is for a business or a magazine. In the same professional manner, my colleagues from the production department don’t rebate on the quality of the paper, the printing or finishing.We propose layouts, process photos, discuss, obtain printing approval and print every day.

I have a special feeling when I see the offset paper, the coated or pearlescent cardboard take shape and color when they “meet” with the four base colors – CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black)-, resulting in business cards, brochures, maps, flyers and many other beautiful things, implacable I’d rather say.

The market we operate on is filled with many ups and downs. We take part in an industry in which innovation is constant and we need to keep up on the pace. We don’t try to compete with the online, we try to complete it. We offer printing and finishing solutions to attract the customer. In fact, our customer’s good image is our business card made by them.

To make my business life even more daring, besides the strictness of the printing machine, I am also attracted to another source of beauty: the sublime imperfection of Murano glass.

OriginalMurano.ro, the Murano glass business, was born through a bet I made with myself at the end of the summer vacation when I visited Venice with my family. My chemical engineer degree helped me understand and explain to my children the production process of Murano glass. From that moment on, the partnerships with the family businesses of Murano glass makers were just a natural step for me.

The experience I accumulated as a printing house manager helped me develop my online shop, the layout completion from the simple idea form to the final product contributing directly in reducing the time needed to implement and make the site function. Alongside my colleagues at Ergo Print I took pictures of the Murano glass objects in-house, we processed them and we managed to write the description for the products. I knew exactly how it was supposed to look in the end.

Like in any business in a new domain, we confronted a series a challenges: the standard for the photos for the online environment was different than the one we used to work with at the printing house, we needed our own photography equipment in order to take pictures of our products (the first photos, before attending an online photography course, were horrible), we had to conceive the text and the layout for the new site, we had to assign the names for our products correctly and we had to target a different group of customers than the one for our printing house.

OriginalMurano.ro is an online shop that started from our desire to bring beauty in everyday life. All the Murano glass jewelry and vases are handmade by the venetian craftsmen using techniques dating that have been around for centuries.

Just as for the printing process, where the magic is a result of the combination of the four colors -CMYK-, the beauty in the Murano glass is obtained through the combination of four elements: sand/quartz, limestone, sodium carbonate and coloring agents (various oxides of metals such as iron, copper, cobalt, manganese and chromium).

The mix of these four base materials, combined with the temperatures of over 800 degrees Celsius, creates the beautiful and unique Murano glass objects. Each and every one of them wears the stamp of the moment it was conceived.

There are many types of Murano glass: smalto– enameled glass, aventurine – glass containing thin gold threads, millefiori - multicolor glass, with floral motives, lattimo -opaque glass etc. From these, jewelry, vases, pots, frills, decorations, chandeliers, and other accessories are created for you.

The nobility of Murano glass is beyond our dreams!

My name is Ana Maria Iosif, I am a graduate of the Faculty of Sociology and Communication, a master student at the Thematic Journalism department of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Science at the Bucharest University, Raiffeisen Bank account officer, a graduate of the MIFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) modules run by the Romanian Banking Institute, a graduate of the Fitness Scandinavia Academy and a paraprofessional educator with the Heidi Academy in Brașov.

Furthermore, I have attended numerous networking events, book launches, fashion,public speakingandbusiness events and conferences.

I am a happy, creative person, inquisitive and optimistic, and I love to learn things and be what others only hope could be one day. I don’t like leaving things on an ideational level. I like being around people, I like sports, I love to communicate and I am irrevocably in love with FASHION, OUTFITS AND STYLE. I am a natural learner and I have learnt how to choose dignified role models.

I love to write and read, and especially share my life experience with people. I love to help them realise that life is a hard battle which only the lazy ones give up. I have learnt to use reason in matters of the heart, and to do things that leave me in awe. I believe in emotions and feelings, which I think are what brings people together. I believe in love born on different levels and in different areas of life, as well as in the fact that people may not have long lives, but that they all live enough to fulfil their mission.

My desire is to become a successful journalist, because this is my passion and I identify myself with this job as a “communicator”. Furthermore, I would like to join the business women’s community and develop a brand of my own, however, being still on the lookout for what fits me best.

NAVIGATING THE EMOTIONAL CRISES – Camelia Paduraru, Crafting Minds We’re living unprecedented times in history. Our lives have been turned upside down basically overnight. We’ve been thrown way out of our comfort zones, each of us in our own way and paradoxically, all of us in the same way. We’re no longer stable on our own two feet and we struggle with consequences that have already become apparent: the future of our jobs, the possibility for our businesses to thrive, the health of our loved ones, challenges related to working from home or being confined to a limited space all by ourselves, or with our partner, kids, even parents. We wonder for how long is it going to be like this, when are we getting back to normal or what will the new ‘normal’ look like?

All of these are taking a huge emotional toll on us, a charge that we are more or less equipped to handle. Some of us are tempted to hit the brake, stop, downsize and wait for it to pass. Others, on the contrary, accelerate and try to do everything at once.

What’s the healthy way through this? How do we adapt, how do we take care of our health, of our businesses, our families and stay sane at the same time? How do we deal with layers upon layers of uncertainty? How about our goals? Do we stubbornly stick to them, do we change them, or forget about them altogether?

Without claiming to have any definitive answer to these questions, based on both my personal experience and my expertise, I’ve put together a few guidelines to help us better navigate these times.

Acknowledge and label your emotions. We live in a society that has promoted high levels of performance and the power of our rational thinking minds for a very long time. Emotions have been hidden under the rug, denied and sent into a corner. That doesn’t serve us and is no longer sustainable. It’s like fear, anger, anxiety, sadness, grief, confusion hit us hard so they can no longer be ignored. It’s ok. Feel them. Label them. Notice when your breathing rate changes, when your heart rushes, when your hands and feet get numb or frozen. Ask yourself ‘What emotion am I feeling right now?’, and name it. Sit with it for a while, trying to understand what perception is causing it. We are beings of meaning and the moment we label our emotions, they start shifting. Allow yourself to feel. Otherwise, ignoring them will only increase their power and make them fester.

Be kind to yourself and stay aware of yourself talk. Once you’ve labelled your emotions, talk to yourself kindly, exactly as you would to a 5 year-old who’s scared. ‘It’s ok. I’m here for you. We’ll find solutions. We’ll get through this.’ Don’t blame yourself, it will only make things worse. Be mindful of the should-s and have to’s in your language, especially when you talk to yourself. ‘I should be doing this, I shouldn’t be feeling that, I have to do this’. Stop. It is what it is. It’s normal and it’s ok, as long as you don’t plan to dwell on them forever.

Stabilize your emotional state. Once you have identified the emotions you’re feeling, find further ways to stabilize them. There are breathing techniques that have proven to be very effective in helping people get into calm, balanced states. There are tools aimed to help let go of negative emotions so you further expand your perception, access resourceful states, and therefore, be able to think creatively and find solutions. I use Time Line Therapy® techniques in working both with myself and my clients, breath work, meditation, yoga techniques. Find one that’s suitable to you and bring it to your daily practice.

Keep a few healthy routines. Talking about daily practice, our emotional body needs security and stability. When things outside us are so uncertain, it’s very useful to shift our focus towards what’s within our control and we can still be certain of. It doesn’t have to be very complex, something as simple as having our meals at the same hours every day, going to bed or waking up at the same hour, having a simple practice as a few minutes of working out or mental health related practice will prove extremely beneficial.

Renegotiate boundaries, especially with the ones you’re sharing your space with. Being confined to a limited space for an undefined amount of time can be very challenging and you can easily get to step on each other’s toes. Talk about what’s important for each of you, what your calendars are, when you need quiet time and how each of you could be supported to accommodate that.

Take time for yourself. Support groups have been created everywhere and everybody advises you to connect to other people, reach out, stay in touch, Zoom all day long, share your experience, talk. While this works for some people, it’s not a winning strategy for others. In NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) we have these things called Metaprograms, unconscious filters that determine how we think and how we work. One of them has to do with the way we process information and it can be either external, either internal.

When faced with a problem, the external processors need to think in the presence of somebody else to filter and find answers. But then there are the internal processors who need to think about it by themselves so they find a solution. If you identify as external then it’s ok, reach out, talk to other people. If you identify more as an internal processor, make sure to carve time to be by yourself, with your thoughts and your emotional states so you can process them.

Define what matters to you the most. In times of crises, our values tend to shift. Values define what’s important to us. We have values in all areas of our lives: personal, family, finance, business. Make a list of what’s important to you in each area of your life, look for ways to secure what feels threatened, so you can then find ways to thrive and grow.

How about goals? I’m sure all of you had goals you were working on when the crisis began.

External conditions have changed so what now? What I did was to go through my goals again and see what I can still work on these days. How can I pivot or reroute so I still get to my destination? I realized that some goals have to move further down into the future, and some of them are still achievable in the time frame initially set. At the same time, there were those goals I never found time or space for that seemed perfect to tend to right now.

Write all those articles, catch up with all that reading and movie watching, learn that new language, write that book, finish all those projects that had been put on hold.

When it comes to me, before I knew it, I was even busier and more overwhelmed than before. I realized that thinking that I now had a lot of time was a trap. This is not a holiday.

There is a lot of pressure on us so the best option I found was to focus on the essential ones and forget about the rest. Take action, breathe, take it step by step, focus on one thing at a time and don’t expect the highest levels of productivity ever. Give yourself time and space to process and shift wisely between action and stillness. You SO need them both. WE need them both so we collectively create the new world while learning what we need to learn about ourselves and others in the process.

Hope this helps and brings some light. I am here if you need assistance.

Until next time, be well!

Camelia Păduraru Master Trainer of NLP, Founder of Crafting Minds

Sales and Marketing Challenges in the Legal Profession: Lessons Learned Loredana Costina, Lawyer, Partner at Corobană si Asociatii – Attorneys at Law

Being a lawyer comes with a unique set of challenges, starting from the ever-changing law to the technology advancements that require new legal solutions, and to the recent pandemic that suspended the activity of the Romanian courts, and with it a large part of our work, a change that almost no one saw coming. Running a law firm in these troubled times is not easy, as it is not easy for anyone working on building a company today. However, a unique set of challenges as a law firm is the sales and marketing part, as Romanian lawyers face a series of limitations unique only to this field. On short, we as lawyers are not allowed to promote our services, at least not using traditional marketing techniques. By navigating the challenges of a “no marketing” marketing strategy, I learned a lot about what a consultant in any area can do to make her services know, without actually promoting anything.

The Romanian law that governs the lawyers activity was first published in 1995 and it pretty much remained the same in the past 25 years, at least when it comes to marketing. The law forbids almost all types of marketing activities, as these activities were seen unfit for the dignity of the legal profession where all its members are to be considered equals, therefore not one better than the other, and the promotions activities unfit for the status of the lawyer.

Two years ago, when my partner and I started our own law firm, respecting the law and making our services known was a big challenge and we were lost. More than two years from that moment, we learned a few things that helped us grow our practice and not make marketing our main focus. And I believe these are the lessons that any consultant can take and put into practice: 1. Help, don’t sell As we cannot advertise our services and tell people to come buy from us by means of google ads and facebook campaigns, we decided to simply tell people what we know. Therefore, we decided to invest in writing articles, and case studies, and legal opinions, and simply being of services to others, clients and colleagues. We do not have a PR agency doing that for us, it is just us and our legal expertise, we don’t optimize our articles and opinions for key words, and we don’t have a primary target to sell anything. Therefore, all it takes is an investment in time.

And although we haven’t written much, some of our clients found us through our articles.

2. Make friends, not clients As we cannot go into the world with the sole purpose to sell our services and attract new clients, we decided to make new friends. Therefore, I joined several business clubs for networking opportunities. I learned that selling comes last and that the people who will be your clients are always the people you can connect to on a personal level. There is no need to go anywhere

to sell, the goal should be just to make a new friend. Some of our new friends became our clients. Some brought other clients. Some didn’t, but they taught me important lessons and helped me navigate troubled times.

3. Be a partner, not a service provider Most of our clients came from the recommendations of other clients, and in the legal profession the word of mouth is still the primary way of marketing the company, and I believe it still is for many of the consultancy businesses. I like to think that we managed to be recommended because we treat our clients as partners, not just as the people that pay our bills. Positioning ourselves as partners, and not just service providers, meant that sometimes we offered advice outside the scope of the contract and that some of that advice was not billable. In return, our clients involved us in their projects, recommended us and helped us grow.

Loredana Costina, Lawyer, Partner at Corobană și Asociații – Attorneys at Law www.corobana.com

THE SHOW MUST GO ON! Tips & tricks for the event planning industry

The COVID-19 pandemic was once a threat that hurriedly became our every-day reality - an uncertain reality that requires agile readjustments. The virus affects us both personally and business-wise; one of the most damaged areas is the event planning industry.

Events are all about people, gatherings, and experiences, delightful meetings and activities that we do not have access to anymore, today. So what it is to be done?

Here are some tips&tricks. Read, “feel” and implement what suits best!

1. Analyze all your options, not forgetting the most radical or creative ones, and make a decision - cancel, postpone or wait and see (waiting is still an option!).

2. Consider each and every ALTERNATIVE! No event experience can be compared to the one you are actually experiencing, but there’s still a virtual space, ready to help us!

3. Continuously communicate with your public and tell them what are you thinking about and how are things going to be. It is your time to be supportive and transparent!

4. Maintain a close relationship with sponsors, partners, and suppliers; negotiate and find solutions TOGETHER! It is, after all, a situation that we have to overcome together.

5. Take good care of your team! (In return, they will take good care of your event.).

6. Reorganize, re-strategize, rework, re-re-re! Your mission, right now, is to get the event back on track. Go through all the details and, again, reevaluate every scenario.

7. Learn! Take good use of this situation and write down 3 things you’ll never forget to do when you’ll organize an event from now on. One? An extreme-driven back-up plan.

You believe in your event, have great planning skills and passion! Run the show!

Andreea-Carla Mureșan Event planner / advertiser Tel.: 0743 073 483 E-mail: andreea@allaagency.ro www.allaagency.ro/home www.facebook.com/allaagencyandevents www.instagram.com/allaagencyandevents

LEGAL EXCELLENCE FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Roxana Tudor, Partner -Tudor, Andrei and Associate I am Partner within Tudor, Andrei & Associates SPARL, the national law firm associated to BDO Romania.

The Law Firm has been founded in 2010 and is currently coordinated by partners with an extensive professional experience gained in 18 years of activity. We have signed starting with June 2014 a long-term partnership with BDO Romania, the fifth audit and consulting firm in the country, with over 20 years experience in providing professional audit and consulting services, completing thus the range of services offered by the group in Romania.

My mission is to provide our clients with legal services, assistance and representation in court with professionalism, involvement and maximum dilligence.

Ibelieve in striving for excellence, a quality shared by all its lawyers in relations between them and clients and between Tudor, Andrei and BDO. I am encouraging our lawyers to diversifyconstantly their professional experience and always seeking to provide tailored solutions adapted to the situation and the client.

I am looking continuously to our competitors and given the profile and the BDO structure we consider as direct competitors the law firms affiliated to the similar networks (Big Four included). Two of them have visible and strong affiliated law firms in Romania, either born inside the structure or independent one, where the awareness is given mainly by the professional prestige of its partners that are traditional Law Faculty professors.

The Law Firm is in the process of restructuring our approach on the Romanian legal market.

We have considered at the beginning of this year a re-branding process with the scope of bringing more visibility and mandates on the Romanian legal market. We have signed professional partnership with lawyers in Brasov and Iasi with the scope of expending our presence and gaining an extensive coverage in other parts of the country.

I am constantly seeking to improve our marketing and sales approaches by: • Direct approaches to our clients’ portfolio with new legal products; • Direct approaches of the network existing clients with the support of the colleagues in other business lines; • Organizing training sessions for the accounting professional organization and auditors in Romania; • More presence in media either participating to seminars, workshops, membership to various organizations, up-dating and preparing Tax & Legal Flash for our clientshttps://www.bdo.ro/en-gb/insights/featured-insights/tax-legal-flash-no-10 • More presence in legal conferences organized on the Romanian market;

Considering the current period that we are passing overin 2020 we intend to develop the infrastructure that will allow us to digitalize our services by benefiting from the experience of an integrated IT, Cybersecurity and Risk Management team existing in BDO with the scope of becoming more flexible for our clients in providing our consultancy services.

Our strategy in 2020 is to remain competitive and to optimize our financial goals.

I am looking to the future and I strongly believe that we shall stand the test of these times.

Tudor, Andrei and Associates SPARL* ROXANA TUDOR Partner Mobile: +40 722 591 401 roxana.tudor@tudor-andrei.ro www.tudor-andrei.ro

6 MARKETING IDEAS THAT BUSINESSES MUST CONSIDER Most businesses are undergoing major changes during this period, from rethinking the entire operating strategy to integrating new products, services or calling for digitization.

As a business owner in affected areas or not, the focus is on the client - what he needs, how he feels, how you can provide solutions for him and how you can meet his needs, even if you no longer interact face to face.

How do you do that? Through Marketing & Social Media!

It's the ideal place to stay close to your customers or attract new customers. The place where people's needs and desires are communicated, if you are careful enough to listen.

I am Mihaela Lemnaru, a digital specialist for more than 5 years and I want to help you adapt some solutions for your business by offering you a bit of my know-how. Use it wisely!

1. See what others in your niche do during this period I recommend that you also dedicate time to research - especially if you are in a new situation with this sudden online transition. See what others do in this period - look out for local competitors or from other countries, bloggers, influencers and even other brands.

See how they communicate, what kind of information they offer, whether they continue or not, what actions they have taken? And then focus on what you have and what you can offer to those still interested in your product or service.

2. Think about a plan - what can you do with what you have?

You have a laptop and you have the internet - make it worth it! Social Media offers you a very wide range of potential clients, especially now that everyone is at home. If you have been physically closed, it does not mean that the work is over. Stay online!

Make the most of this breakthrough to fine-tune your online and offline marketing strategy.

3. Give Emotion If you are different, you can arouse emotion in the people who order. Come up with the usual order (product or service) and create human-to-human interaction, even if at a distance.

For example: create a kind of "Thank you note" for each order, where you briefly write the story of the brand, an idea or a special thank you message for still trusting your brand - it will be appreciated and distributed in Social Media.

4. Create Partnerships For example, if you are a business serving only pizza or sandwiches, make a partnership with a local cake business. Thus, you can deliver dessert along with your delicious food!

Remember: to have what to promote online, offline action is required!

5. Loyalty First of all, you can loyalize the current customers through loyalty cards - for example, at 5 orders, the 6th is free, within the limit of 50 lei. Here you can adapt the "prize", the amounts and the right concept.

Gift cards can be available on the website, which your customers can buy and use when all the craziness goes away or they can give to loved ones.

6. Offer something EXTRA to the Community Think about the products, see what is required in the market, how you combine the products, what prices you choose and then think about campaigns to attract customers and to retain current customers.

Also, you can engage in a CSR campaign - help the elder, the doctors or the hospitals or collaborate in an existing campaign made by an NGO. Donate a percent of your product value to a cause, for example.

For more tips & tricks, follow my website - www.mihaelalemnaru.ro If you want to be more visible this period as a business owner and you understand the importance of online marketing, seek for partnerships and support, EBW Online Membership is perfect for you! Ask for more details at mihaela.lemnaru@ebw.business!

5 BEHAVIORS THAT LEADERS SHOULD CONSIDER DURING A CRISIS “Anyone can show exceptional leadership ability in easy times. When all's going to plan, anyone can be inspirational/excellent/innovative and strong. The real question is how do you show up when everything's falling apart?”

• Robin S. Sharma I chose to start with this quote from one of my favourite writers because, as you know, 2020 is a challenging year for all of us, especially for business owners and leaders.

My name is Bianca Stoican, I am a Leadership and Executive Coach - in a few words, my job is to help and support leaders, managers and up-and-coming talent in organizations in achieving their goals and discovering their true potential. My goal as a coach is to improve results in ways that are sustainable over time.

The point of coaching is to achieve some sort of valuable outcome, usually related to improved performance, higher profits, career success, organizational effectiveness, or career and personal satisfaction.

Coaching is about helping people improve their own capabilities and effectiveness so that the results and performance improvements last.

Coachig is the part of the engagement where I work one-on-one with clients to encourage them to make difficult decisions, step out of their confort zone, stop destructive behavior, embrace change, and shift performance.

I will share with you here 5 ”secrets” that leaders should not only know, but also apply in their work, especially in hard times.

These 5 ideas are gathered from my experience with my clients and also from the dozens of courses, books and studies I went through the last years. Let’s begin!

1. Keep your eye on the prize As a leader, you have to clearly know your skills and your short-term and long-term goals.

Then, you make a plan for you and your business.

For example, if you lead under pressure, having your eye on the prize is absolutely essential because you know where you are going.

In these times, a leader has to define priorities (Identify and communicate the three to five most important ones), make smart trade-offs and choices, name the decision makers and embrace actions...which lead us to point no 2.

2. Lead by example

You should certainly manage yourself before you manage others and lead by example. As a leader, you have to show good behaviour towards your employees, not just to tell them how to be.

For example if you want your employees to be punctual, you have to be on time. If team-working is a priority, engage with your employees, treat everyone equally and make sure that you interact as much as possible with your employees.

3. Learn to perform under pressure A leader needs to cope with pressure effectively and to not add more pressure to their team.

Try to not install a climate of instability and confusion in your company.

You must also learn to ignore negativity when you are facing professional problems. Don’t let anything that doesn’t matter in your way!

Stay alert and aligned on a daily dashboard of priorities - offer great attention to KPIs and metrics that measure your company’s success.

And most of all, adapt. Decide what not to do and put on hold the unnecessary expenses.

4. Communicate effectively Choose to communicate transparently, according to your values because you have a direct impact on your team. Great leaders make sure they are heard and understood, but also listen to other people's opinions.

If you communicate effectively, your company will go forward with all the engine's power!

Also, train your team for crisis leadership - in moments of need, they will be there for you and prepared for every kind of situation. That will make it easier for you.

5. Learn from the past, but never stop improving Leaders need to stop for once in a while and concentrate in learning lessons from past mistakes or even from good situations. That way he will collect examples of successful business models and spectacular business failures - not only from their own business, but also from others.

Don’t forget to constantly learn new things and improve yourself! Master a new skill, work on a new passion and keep your mind open for great possibilities.

Also, collect and amplify positive messages as successes, acts of kindness, obstacles that have been overcome. In these times, stay productive and keep your mind focused on the good things and opportunities!

This is a part of my advice - if you want to talk about some more ideas regarding how to be a good leader and if you want to see your goals achieved, please contact me at biancastoican05@gmail.com or 0726 989 531 or LinkedIn: Andra Bianca Stoican.

HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR EYES IN A DIGITAL WORLD My name is Diana Langa and I am the creator of the Thera Optic Med concept. The desire and motivation to create something special determined me to focus on the performance of the medical equipment and the education of a dedicated team.

If you spent a lot of time in front of the screens, especially this period when we all work from home and divide our attention to the laptop, the phone and the TV, here are some helpful tips to protect your eyes: • Take frequent breaks from viewing devices • Expose yourself to natural daylight • Avoid the use of digital devices right before bedtime • Wear sunglasses in the daytime • Wear computer glasses or blue light glasses Understanding HEV light The thuth is that our eyes were not evolved for this modern digital world. The eye's cornea and lens aren't good at filtering HEV (high-energy-visible) light and over time, this can cause damage to its light-sensitive cells.

All day we're exposed to "unnatural" blue light from our smartphones, TVs, computer screens, and artificial lighting.

Although our digital devices emit only a fraction of the HEV light emitted from the sun, the number of hours we spend using our devices can have both an immediate and a cumulative effect on our eyes.

While exposure to blue light does have some positive benefits, our modern digital world has overexposed us to it.

Computer glasses differ from regular eyeglasses or reading glasses in a number of ways to optimize your eyesight when viewing your computer screen.

How can Thera Optic Med help you Together with our colleagues and partners we create a professional team that can help you make the right choices in the ophthalmological field.

We offer our clients more than 500 models of eyeglass frames of the most famous brands, comfortable contact lenses, but also stylish sunglasses.

Our goal is to find and make custom glasses with high quality products, in the shortest time.

We value quality and maintain its high standard.

Our values are QUALITY, PASSION and TRUST. We offer the best ophthalmological and medical optics services in Sibiu. We cover clients' demands by gathering professionalism and delivering quality visits on our website https://theraopticmed.ro/ for more details and let’s get in touch! https://www.facebook.com/theraopticmed/ 0749 687 375 theraopticmed@gmail.com

THE JUDICIAL REORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY DURING THE PANDEMIC In the field of justice, the activity has been restricted to the judgment of urgent cases, and the prescriptions and deadlines of any kind do not start to flow, or if they have started to run, they are suspended during the entire state of emergency.

The list of urgent cases is established by the Governing Board of the High Court of Cassation and Justice for the cases of its competence and, respectively, of the governing bodies of the courts of appeal for the cases of their jurisdiction and for the cases of the jurisdiction of the courts operating in their constituency. territory. These lists can be updated, depending on the circumstances, not being definitively established during the entire state of emergency.

According to these lists, insolvency litigations are not considered as "urgent causes", except for the requests based on art. 66 paragraph (11) of Law no. 85/2014, respectively the requests for provisional suspension of the forced execution procedures of the debtor's assets until the decision on the request to open the insolvency procedure is delivered.

In this context, the following problem arises: what happens in the situation where, prior to the legal suspension determined by the state of emergency, a plan for judicial reorganization of the company subject to insolvency was approved and confirmed? Will this plan be affected and what are the remedies available to the debtor company?

First of all, even if the courts have ordered the measure to suspend the case, according to art.

42 paragraph (6) of the Decree no. 195/2020, we consider that this is not equivalent to a legal suspension of the entire insolvency procedure. Only the court activity is suspended, without this impeding the carrying out of various procedural acts (for example, convening creditors' meetings / committees, preparing the situations regarding the expenses incurred for the smooth running of the activity, in the phase of judicial reorganization which is subject to the committee's approval. creditors, etc.), of course, provided that the special legal provisions adopted by the authorities are respected, in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 virus.

Therefore, we consider that the execution of the judicial reorganization plan, approved and confirmed in advance, continues, the debtor being held to respect the plan and to pay the amounts stipulated in the program of payment of the debts, at the moment there being no contrary legal regulations (which to postpone or suspend such obligations during the period of emergency).

Secondly, in practice there are already situations in which some insolvency practitioners refuse to draw up procedural documents, specific to the reorganization phase, on the grounds that the case has been suspended by the court during the state of emergency.

We consider that this point of view is not correct and that such a way of interpretation will lead

to the prejudice of the rights of the creditors and the interests of the debtor.

In such cases, a request may be made requesting the court to ascertain that the insolvency practitioner has failed to fulfill his duties, with the consequence of his amendment, pursuant to art. 60 paragraph (2) of Law no. 85/2014, attracting its liability for the damages created, according to art. 60 paragraph (3) of the Insolvency Law or even its replacement, according to art. 57 paragraph (4) of Law no. 85/2014. Of course, however, this request will not be resolved until the case is brought back.

At the same time, however, precisely because the court has suspended the judicial procedure during the state of emergency, the execution of the procedural documents by the insolvent practitioner must be carried out, during this period, with caution and rigor precisely because the exercise of the control of the court will take place only at the end of the suspension of law, and in case of their termination by the syndic judge there is the risk that the legal effects produced will be difficult or even impossible to remove.

Thirdly, in order for companies under judicial reorganization to be able to continue the payments provided for in the reorganization plan, they must obtain the income that allows them to do so.

The measures taken by the authorities to stop the spread of the virus already have a major impact on the economic environment. Under the conditions in which companies in full working order, which were not in a state of insolvency, are vulnerable, the more it is expected that the insolvent companies will face difficulties of such nature as to endanger the continuation of the reorganization plan and to determine the entry their bankruptcy.

How could this be avoided and how could the reorganization plan be saved?

On the one hand, one can resort to obtaining the fiscal and budgetary benefits granted by the authorities, such as those regulated by GEO no. 29/2020, with subsequent modifications and completions.

However, not all the benefits granted during this period to the business environment are accessible to insolvent companies. There are situations where they are expressly excluded from the application, even if they are in the phase of judicial reorganization - as is the case with art. 6 lit. b) of GEO no. 37/2020 regarding the granting of facilities for loans granted by credit institutions and non-bank financial institutions to certain categories of borrowers.

On the other hand, it is possible to resort to the modification of the reorganization plan, for example, in the sense of diminishing the debts initially registered in the plan or in the sense of delaying their payment or rescheduling them.

According to art. 139 para. (5) of Law no. 85/2014, the modification of the reorganization plan, including its extension can be done at any time during the reorganization procedure, without being able to exceed a maximum total duration of the 4-year plan from the initial confirmation.

However, such a modification of the judicial reorganization plan is subject to the approval of the creditors' meeting and the confirmation of the syndic judge.

Certainly COVID-19 will influence the reorganization of the company, both in a narrow sense, from the perspective of legal insolvency procedure applicable to professionals, as well as from

community perspective. The end of the emergency will mark a new beginning! Good faith and the collaboration of the whole society can positively influence this new beginning!

By PAULA DRAGOMIR – owner DRAGOMIR CONSULT

Andreea Groenendijk-Deveau is an entrepreneur, journalist, writer, image consultant, and book editor. She is the Co-Founder and Vice President of Communications at KindLink, the Editor-in-Chief of KindLink Global, a proud volunteer for Astriid and Asociatia Telefonul Copilului, and the editor of Cronica de Business in Romania.

1. Who is Andreea the individual and Andreea the professional?

It would be so very hard to separate the two - I have always put who I am at the core of what I do and vice-versa. I do realise how incredibly lucky I have always been to be able to choose my career path - and that came through both my resolve and the support I have always received from the extraordinary people I was lucky enough to meet over time. Knowing myself - and that means not lying to myself - is at the core of how I operate. For example, I am very (painfully) aware of my weaknesses. And that is not because I like to celebrate them, but because those are the main things I will continue to work on. And it's not easy.

But I also know that, with enough ambition, you can overcome anything. For example, I used to be very nervous about public speaking (and that included being on camera). I have been working on that on point for years. Understanding what made me nervous was a great tool in eliminating that stress. Where am I now? This year, I moderated the four panels in our KindLink Conference in front of an audience of 120, and I am now hosting a weekly live webinar. Was it easy? Not even close. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

In both my personal and professional capacities, I am a Spartan. Never retreat, never surrender, as they say. Will this always lead to victory? No. But for me, the journey truly is more important than the destination. Whatever the endeavour, I want to know that I have done everything in my power, that I can look at myself in the mirror and say: you may not have won this fight, but you were the absolute best you can be. That's why those who work with me - and those in my private life - can tell you that I am someone they can count on. When the going gets tough, I always show up. Whether you need me to be your soldier, to lead you or to comfort you, I will always be there.

2. Describe a day in your life.

I wake up at 4 or 5 am and read the news for about 1-2 hours, enjoy my coffee and the solitude helps me prepare for the day ahead. I go to the office at 9 or have meetings, and then I work until I'm done with the items on my list for the day. I always make sure to not have more than it is possible to do in a day, otherwise it would just feel like a daily Sisyphus uphill battle, and that would help no-one. Depending on the day, I may have dinner with my friends or dinner and a drink with my husband at home (he usually travels a lot, so I'm lucky when I have him at home), while spending some time with our lovely cats.

Because we are now living in strange times, the meetings have now turned into video calls and our living room has become my office. Other than that, it's business as usual.

3. What is your leadership style?

I want people to respect and trust my abilities. When they do, they will want to work with you and will trust your decisions. You don't have to know it all as a leader, but you need to surround yourself with the right people in order to - with their support - know or learn as much as you can. I've tried many things - and made many mistakes - before I found the right formula for me. And it's become clear that, as a leader, you get what you give. If you trust your people, they will trust you back. If you empower them, they will empower you. And so on.

And, of course, you have to lead by example. I will always be the first one in and the last one out. That is not something I expect of the people I work with to do, they work the hours they need to be productive. But I will always make sure to join them when they have their morning office coffee and see them go home at the end of the day.

My word is my bond. When I say I will do something, I do it. I expect others to do the same. It's that simple.

I also believe that each of us should always put their back into being the best they can be in absolutely everything they do - whether that is drafting an email or building a rocket. At every stage, deliver great work for yourself and your colleagues. Don't do a half-baked job and expect someone else to fix it. Don't create more work for others, if you can do a better job yourself. Can you check your grammar? Can you attach the right documents to an email? Can you provide someone with a little bit of extra information for something they are working on?

Then do it. Even if it's not your job. That way, you lead by example and everyone else will take responsibility for their own work and provide you with the best possible results.

Then, how you engage with people is key - I was brought up by a military doctor father, who said something that has always stuck with me: it doesn't matter whom you're in front of, always treat them as your equal. Once I had met enough people around the world through my job as a journalist, I truly understood what he meant - we are defined by who we are and the good things we do. By looking people in the eye when they are at the height of their success (take any CEO of a big company) or at the worst point in their lives (someone asking for money at the corner of the street - next time you give, look them in the eye and say hello, wish them well - you will be surprised to see their incredible humanity) - they will quickly appreciate you looking at who they truly are, not their context. I do that in my work and in my private life and, judging by the level of happiness I feel when I am around my people, I would say I am on the winning path.

So, I were to summarise, I would say: be competent (and that means always learning about your area of expertise), be transparent, be reliable, be honest, be the example, trust yourself and your people, treat everyone with respect. These are some of the key things to me.

4. Name the hardest challenges you have faced and your solutions to overcome them.

Prioritising things when it comes to my work was one of the biggest challenges, especially over the last year. I am juggling a lot of different things - and I am sure there are many people out there facing the same issue.

The first thing you must become aware of is what your limits are - time-wise, physical, brainpower-wise, etc. Once I did that, it became clear to me how much I can actually take on and be successful in delivering on (and being successful is the key part here).

In order to be able to prioritise, I had to come up with a mechanism to determine what should come first, what I needed to outsource, what I needed to give up. So I looked at what I do and what matters to me. I work in the philanthropy space, so my general goal is to do good in the world. In order to do that, you have to pick your approach. Do you go and help people on an individual level? Or do you find ways to work on a bigger scale, help many through perhaps being a conduit or a catalyst, but then you won't have the time needed to ever focus on the individuals? Both are valuable ways of helping, but I realised that I am better suited for the second one. So I decided that that was the model I would stick to, no exceptions.

At KindLink, we provide software for companies to manage all aspects of their corporate social responsibility and their sustainability, while donating software to charities around the world, for them to engage with their supporters and beneficiaries, fundraise, and become more transparent. By working in a tech4good company, my impact (while less visible to me), can be on millions of people one day, if we do our jobs right. KindLink is my full-time job and my biggest passion.

I also work with Astriid, a UK-charity helping those living with long-term health issues find meaningful employment. I volunteer and lead Astriid's communications department, which means their 850 candidates can get their stories out there and companies can learn about this incredible talent pool available to them. Again, while my work isn't directly with the candidates, I know that what I do can come as a support on their journey.

I work on a wonderful project called Cronica - I write the Business section for it in Romania. It

me!), etc. There's no editorial stance, no fake news, no clickbait. Just a team of people dedicating their time, pro bono, to rebuilding the media from the ground up and, through that, helping society through information and education.

Finally, I have been supporting Asociatia Telefonul Copilului with their communications for about 15 years. They operate the 116 111 free-of-charge line, answering calls on topics such as child abuse, bullying, general children's rights, etc. To give you an idea on the impact they have, they have had over 2 million calls since they started their activity, and they are the first entity to ever have an anti-bullying campaign in Romania, something I was very proud to be a part of.

I am able to do these things through having an enormous amount of discipline and also the capacity to forgive myself for sometimes having to say no. It's hard, but the endgame has to always take precedence.

5. How do you define success? What about failure?

I feel successful every time I look in the mirror and think "yes, you've become whom you've always wanted to be." And that's not a vanity thing about me loving my hair on any given day, it's about being proud of the things I do, of how I am in relation to other people, of the work I do. I am proud of my friends, of my family, of the people I spend time with. I absolutely love the people I work with - at KindLink, at Astriid, at Asociatia Telefonul Copilului, at Cronica. I am in awe of what they have achieved and who they are as human beings. I am incredibly lucky to have had the chance to work alongside them. So that is success to me.

Failure is not the act of losing your job or closing the doors to your company because it just didn't work out. No. Failure is being scared to act. Scared to be your best self, to achieve your potential or to even realise what that potential is. Failure is reaching the end of your life and being riddled with regret. I would find that unbearable.

6. A piece of advice for women looking to juggle their multiple roles in society?

There is so much that is expected of us. We are so often judged so harshly for every perceived weakness, for what we do, for how we look. The moment I decided to just love myself a little more - and no, I never put myself first; I put the people I love first, always and proudly - is when my priorities became so much more clear. I don't want to preach to anyone, but if I were to give some advice to my younger self, I would say: - Find the people and things that matter to you and make them the centre of your existence, unapologetically; - Many people will need and ask for help along the way, and being needed is an addictive drug.

But you need to learn what your limits are, so don't over-promise, pick the right causes and make sure you choose the right people to invest in; - When you make a mistake in any of the above or anything else, dust yourself off and just move on. There is no shame in making a mistake, it's more shameful to not learn from it; - Once you've found the right things and the right people, juggle only what's tied to them directly - and to yourself. You don't need to do 1000 things to be happy, successful, and admired. You have to do a handful of things but work towards being very good at them. Once you are proud of what you do, you'll see success becoming a defining trait in your life.

SLOW FASHION VS. FAST FASHION OR WHY WE NEED TO BECOME CONSCIOUS OF OUR CLOTHING CHOICES Slow fashion and fast fashion are terms that have been showing up in fashion industry related conversations for a while now. There are many layers to this debate and some controversy. But, first things first: what do these terms refer to exactly?

Fast fashion is all about the mass-production of clothing in a very short time and at a very low cost. As fashion trends change fast, big manufacturers produce clothes at an incredible speed, to keep up with what customer expectations are these days: a wide variety of easily affordable clothing.

One could say that fast fashion has made it possible for everyone to enjoy the pleasure of shopping the latest styles. True. But at what cost?

Our environment. The fashion industry is the second largest polluter of the world’s clean water sources and a main contributor to climate change, producing approximately 1.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent per year - more than international flights and maritime shipping combined.

The social damage. The horrible treatment of workers in this industry is a secret to no-one: from low salaries, unethical and dangerous working conditions to infringement of human rights and modern-day slavery in third world countries.

The issue of sustainability is easy to sum: fast fashion uses low-quality fabrics, clothing doesn’t last, it is easily damaged and made of (mostly) synthetic fabrics, it cannot be reused or recycled, so it quickly ends up in garbage dumps where it spends quite a lot of time, since it’s not biodegradable.

The psychological and emotional impact should not be ignored: fast fashion encourages over-consumption, shopping just for the sake of shopping in an endless hunt for the latest trends, and treating our clothes like disposable items – that ultimately bring no real value to our wardrobes or our lives.

This is why we all need to become conscious of our fashion choices, and now is the time to do it.

Slow fashion is not just the opposite of fast fashion, it’s a whole different way of doing things.

And the main difference is not that of speed but of quality. Slow fashion is about awareness and having a conscious approach to the entire garment-making process.

Everyone and everything involved in the production process is treated with care and respect: the fabrics are sourced from providers that have an ethical approach towards the environment and the clothes are made in local factories where employees have fair salaries and safe working conditions.

Of course, the costs of production are higher, and therefore the clothing is more expensive.

But to be fair, we must mention that these high-quality pieces of clothing can actually bring value to your wardrobe and last a lifetime.

So for those of us who work in slow fashion, business is about: • A desire to create special pieces, and making better products, that not only look great but also offer those who wear them comfort and protection for a long time • Choosing natural, high quality fibers and fabrics • Creating timeless designs, rather fleeting trends • Caring about what happens to our clothes over time: can they be repaired if they tear? can they be donated? are they sustainable? are they biodegradable?

How does a slow fashion brand work?

Well, for instance, we at Never Oblivion only use the finest yarns of cashmere, extra fine merino wool, Peruvian alpaca, silk and pima cotton, which we have carefully selected after years of research. And we are not willing to compromise: Never Oblivion is about passion for knitwear and the commitment to select the finest strands of yarn.

We aim to create timeless pieces of clothing in a slow fashion cycle and all our knitwear is produced in small factories, right here in Romania.

Our knits are mainly available in our virtual store and in our shop in Bucharest, because we prefer to invest in offering higher quality products to our customers, rather than renting spaces in retail stores. And we don’t really feel the need to blend in either.

We like to say that the essence of our knitwear is a very simple formula: Each Never Oblivion piece is perfectly made in Romania with exquisite fine yarns.

Finally, the most important thing about slow fashion is that it isn’t about the product, it’s about the process. And it’s not about the producer, it’s about the consumer. It’s about giving yourself the gift of quality, making fashion choices that truly represent you and creating a relationship with your clothes. It’s about slowing down and choosing what you really need and makes you happy. www.neveroblivion.ro

STATE AIDS IN ROMANIA, MAXIMUM 50% NOT REFUNDABLE FOR INVESTMENTS OF MINIMUM 1 MIL EURO Roxana MIRCEA-EU funds and State Aids consultant The companies, from start-ups to big companies, that have an investment project of at least 1 million euro, can receive maximum 50% not refundable according to GD 807/2014, coordinated by the Ministry of Finance, Department of State Aid. 50% non-refundable is granted except for the West Region (Arad, Timis, Hunedoara, Caras) and Ilfovwhere companies receive only 35% non-refundable. For Bucharest area the maximum financial support is 10%.

The session for submitting financing applications is open continuously by 31 of December 2020; the budget announced for this year is approximately 313 million euro but it can be increased if many companies will apply. The projects are evaluated according to the principle “first come, first served�.

The Scheme works on the refund request mechanism, no advance payment is made; reimbursements can be made progressively, by phases of works / acquisitions of equipment.

In order to submit the project, the companies should have the land, not mortgaged, a minimal architectural project and a general overview in order to have a total cost of the investment.

In case a project is being submitted with equipment building / equipment acquisition, equipment offers, a very clear technological flow, and financial forecasts that predict payment of taxes for 5 years in exactly the same amount as the State Aid received.

Under the business plan, the company must demonstrate the existence of medium and long-term firm contracts (minimum 3-5 years) to sell the products that will result from the new investment project.

It is allowed to start the investment immediately after the submission of the financing but this will not oblige the Ministry of Finance to finance the investment.

The project is evaluated between 5-6 months.

Beneficiary companies will have to prove the source of project co-financing: bank credit, comfort letter, intragroup loan or own resources if the 2019 financial statements allow.

Roxana MIRCEA - REI FINANCE ADVISORS WWW.REIGRUP.RO Roxana.mircea@fonduri-europene.tel 0755 046 434

1. Bianca Tudor, CEO & Founder EBW - The question is simple: "I ASSUME ENTREPRENEURSHIP" in all its stages? Then you will find solutions, you will adapt and you will emerge from the crisis interview by Bianca Tudor, for TheWoman.ro 2. Dr. Ruby Bakshi Khurdi - Cover story 3. Alina Nițu, Customer Care Trainer - It’s time to bring more hospitality to your business!

4. Carmen Brașovean, Owner Flori de Poveste - I believed I could, so I did 5. Ella Gheorghioiu, Event Planner Sibiu Events - Event Planning in Pandemic Times 6. Ioana Arsenie Trusted Advisor - Crisis Management 7. Aura Icodin, Owner A_BEST: Getting Ahead in Business through Foreign Languages: 4 Advantages of the A_BEST Online Courses 8. Adelina Iorgulescu, it happened for me: LR Health & Beauty back-up occupation in a crisis period 9. Almaj, Iordache law firm: is it within our willpower to rethink and organize our activity adapting to the new reality 10. Ana Roșca, Owner Traduce.re - Medical translations – how to choose the translation office to meet your requirements 11. Georgiana Voinea, Environmental Services and Waste Management Expert, founder of Geoffan Expert Consult - ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION - when is it mandatory, how to get it and what documents you need to have it awarded 12. Andreea Popescu, Owner Andreea Details, Style consultant & Personal shopper - ''What we wear when we work from home (remote work)?

13. Adina Stiuca, Founder Elite printing studio - Empowered women empower women 14. Andra Raluca Tăutu, Owner Arkia Design - The True, The good and The Beautiful - an integrative look at your environment via Arkia Design 15. Ofelia Neagu, Psychologist/ Coach - About 16. Georgiana Tara, CEO & Co-founder Trail Trips Romania- Family businesses will prevail 17. Tora Miklosi, Owner Kitchen Tailors - The pandemic gets us out of our comfort zone – be smart, embrace the change!

18. Marinela Niculae, Owner Green Day Spa - Beauty as the fabric of life - from one artist to another 19. Mădălina Cotorogea, Owner Safety First - Marketing strategy as awareness rising tool

20. Cristina Vintilă, founder of CV-Expert Contabil Group- About 21. Corina Mihul, Ergo Print and OriginalMurano.ro - Four colors, four elements. Perfect and imperfect.

22. Ana Maria Iosif - About 23. Camelia Paduraru, Owner Crafting Minds - Navigating the Emotional Crises 24. Loredana Costina, Partner Lawyer at Corobană and associates - Sales and Marketing in the Legal Profession 25. Andreea-Carla Mureșan, Event planner / advertiser - THE SHOW MUST GO ON! Tips & tricks for the event planning industry 26. Roxana Tudor, Lawyer at Tudor Andrei & Associates - Legal Excellence for your Business 27. Mihaela Lemnaru, Social Media Manager & Content Writer - 6 marketing ideas that businesses must consider 28. Bianca Stoican, Leadership and Executive Coach - 5 behaviors that leaders should consider during a crisis 29. Diana Langa, Owner Thera Optic Med - How to take care of of your eyes in a digital world 30. Paula Dragomir, owner Dragomir Consult - The judicial reorganization of the society during the pandemic 31. Andreea Groenendijk-Deveau - EBW Interview 32.Corina Blidar- Owner Never Oblivion 33. Roxana Mircea - State Aids in Romania, maximum 50% not refundable for investments of minimum 1 mil euro