Better roads, more open-minded people, cheap work force and university centres with a long tradition have made Western Romania attractive to foreign investors over the past few years, which were quick to open branches in the area.
Last year, for instance, a delegation comprising representatives of eight German IT companies visited Romania at the invitation of the German Chamber of Commerce, IBD.
Three of those companies were very quick to open branches in cities in the west of the country. These companies do not target the local market exactly, but their representatives are serious in their plans for the area.
Caatoossee GmBH ad Living Systems AG chose Timisoara, thus joining the German companies already operating in the city.
With some DM 250,000 in initial investment made in equipment mainly, Caatoossee now has 24 employees developing Internet-oriented software applications, according to the company’s manager Cosmin-Claudiu Tanase. He added that the total investment of the company in Romania so far amounted to some DM 400,000.
“The Romanian business environment is perfect for foreign investments, as there are plenty of incentives,” Tanase told Ziarul Financiar.
The German investors feel Romanians are the best of the entire corporation. Caatoossee is currently producing only for the parent company and its clients include ABB, Die Zeit, Philips, Adidas, Lucent Technology. The Romanian branch made some 300 million lei in 2000 profit, with this year’s turnover estimated to reach more than DM 1 million.
Living Systems Romania was set up in Timisoara a year ago, but opened its office in April, this year. “Our software specialists were trained in Germany, in the meantime,” said the manager of the Timisoara-based branch, Jeanette-Renee Renard.
Living Systems Romania is currently employing 23 people, 21 of which are software specialists and started out with DM 125,000 in share capital. “Our products are based on Java Agents technology, which allows us to develop commercial markets on the web, intended for auctions, direct sales, shopping solutions, OTC trading, as well as communication opportunities, ” Renard said.
Alf AG chose Cluj as the location for its Romanian branch, opening it through Alfrom SRL. Set up in January this year and having started out with DM 50,000 in capital, the branch has four software specialists at the moment, according to Alf AG representative Lothar Schaarschmidt, member of the board.
It is currently developing Internet projects for homebanking, targeting only German clients and is planning to invest another DM 52,000 in Cluj.
Consultens Informationstechnik, based in Sibiu, did not open a branch following the visit last year, but in 1998, because of its three Romanian-born shareholders.
The progress made so far prompted Consultens to open a new centre (Consultens Networking), to operate separately, which should target the Romanian software market.
According to Guenther Schaeffer, one of the shareholders, Consultens Networking may be set up in form of a joint venture with a Romanian company. It will probably become operational this fall, with the initial investment estimated at DM 30,000.