A business that relies on the need for directions

A sum of 10,000 euros: this is the initial investment you need to produce maps. Yet money is not enough since you also need a cartography specialist and to permanently adjust and update maps in line with consumers’ requirements. The reward? Selling a map for even as much as 1,500 euros to people in need of your products.
“The mission of the firm is to help individuals and legal entities find directions and organise themselves more efficiently with the help of maps”. This is how Jozsef Kuszalik, manager of Micro Mapper, Cluj-Napoca, defined his map business.
It began in 2001, when Kuszalik, providing cartographic services to several firms, realised he could handle orders himself and that it was time he started his own business.
He has a wide range of customers, particularly due to the general profile of the company. “Digital maps are acquired especially by academics and by firms, personalised maps made to order by public administration employees, touristic and road paper maps and navigational and leisure GPS-es by people who have a medium and above-the-medium income and are university graduates,” recounts Kuszalik.
Turnover in 2005 revolved around 100,000 RON (28,250 euros) and has been going up every year since the firm started operating. “This growth is due to activity diversification and to the rising volume of distributed maps. In 2006, turnover will get bigger owing to the fact that Micro Mapper’s activities have developed on all levels: there were four editions of printed maps, with cardboard covers, we contributed to the Digital Romania Project with new data about 10 cities and we stepped up the distribution of paper maps,” explained Kuszalik.
Map prices are not high, with the mountain maps as the cheapest products, with prices ranging between 7.90 RON (2.25 euros) and 13.40 RON (3.82 euros).
Beside the maps sold online, Micro Mapper also has a distribution network for printed maps. To create the maps, the firm invested around 10,000 euros in computers (250-350 euros), software (250-900 euros), basic analogical or digital maps (50-80 RON/drawing), GPS-es for field measurements (400-600 euros) and car. Profit is quite low for now. Though it rises each year, it reached only 4,000-5,000 RON (1,137-1,421 euros) in 2005.
Cristian Alexandrescu, manager of Everest publishing house in Bucharest, is another person who has noticed the potential of the map business. “In 1991 we set up Everest and since 1997 we’ve been the only firm exclusively manufacturing wall maps of Romania, of counties, towns, Bucharest and its districts,” says Alexandrescu, a geographer. The company’s customers are 99% legal entities.
Everest map prices range between 50 and 1,500 euros, depending on the complexity of the required product. The business is profitable, according to the owner of Everest, with net income standing at 67,848 RON (19,000 euros), according to Finance Ministry data.

The business in brief
Initial investments revolve around 10,000 euros
Total investments: 50,000 euros
Turnover derived from map production ranges between 100,000 RON (28,520 euros) and 143,273 RON (40,500 euros)
Net income generated from map production ranges between 4,000 RON (1,137 euros) and 67,848 RON (19,000 euros)