Article by Lotte Frost

This is the very first venture forum in Romania and expectations were high. The participants were entrepreneurs, investors, various networks and several representatives from the government and central authorities. A total of 300 participants gathered in the beautiful Opera Nationala Bucharest. KiB and Wingate were represented by communication manager Lotte Frost.

The theme of the gathering was “Tech green companies”, and therefore it was only natural that today’s presenter opened the conference assisted by the robot Esko. The official opening was made by the State Secretary to Prime Minister Nicolae-Ionel CIUCĂ, who delivered the Prime Minister’s greetings to the assembly. Two other key presenters were Ramona Chiriac, head of the EU representation in Bucharest and Sebastian Burduja, who is the Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization in Romania.

Chiriac focused on the three C’s – covid, conflict and climate change – as important factors for the future development of businesses, digitization and upscaling. She was clear that if we are to succeed with the digital and green transaction, SMEs must be part of this change.

Burduja wanted to thank everyone in the room for their participation and contribution to building new exciting businesses. He believed that start-ups and SMEs are like children, they need TLC (tender loving care), which he believes there has been too little of in Romania. But now there is an opening that must be seized, something the government is focusing on with better framework conditions and the establishment of a national fund to support businesses in an early growth phase. Burduja’s message was very well received in the hall.

Throughout the day, there were five panel debates on various topics, with representatives from Wingate taking part in the last one. Here the Wingate project was presented and it was discussed how such projects can pave the way for improving the framework conditions for female entrepreneurs.

There were also two pitching rounds, where respectively five tech companies and five green companies presented their companies and ideas. A panel of investors evaluated the projects and asked questions. These were very interesting pitches, and a concept you could consider introducing in Kvinner in Business. In conclusion, two winners in each of the categories were named to great cheers from the hall.

The day was both exciting, engaging and interesting. Romania is developing rapidly, and we should all get engaged by the courage of entrepreneurs and developers in this region. The program ended with an informal gathering and, last but not least, an unforgettable dinner at a traditional Romanian restaurant that is over 100 years old.

Thanks to ANAA (The National Association of Entrepreneurs) in Romania for a very professional execution and thanks for the invitation.

Bukarest 1: The representatives from Wingate were very satisfied with the event. From the left, Viorica Puscas, Lotte Frost, Nicoleta Munteanu, Agnes Puscas, Orsolya Szlahotka-Gödri, Cristina Chiriac and Aleksander Bijelic

Credited – ANAA

 

Bukarest 2: Journalist Adrian Cojocaru and the robot Esko guided us safely through the day.

Credited to Lotte Frost

 

About the Wingate Project

The Wingate project is a collaboration between partners from Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Moldova and Norway. The goal is to create a green, competitive and inclusive entrepreneurial community in central and eastern Europe with guidance and networking for women who want to establish their own business or become investors. The project is financially supported via an EEA grant of €1,824,320 from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the “EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation”. From Kvinner in Business, Toril Flåskjer, Marit Silseth and Lotte Frost are associated with the project. – For more information about the project, click here.