Investors who decide to come to Romania usually face a problem having been largely discussed lately: the lack of qualified managers. This is the case of Broadhurst Investment and the other two funds managed by New Century Holdings (NCH).
They have taken control of about 50 companies in Romania, but haven’t found managers who can put their money to good use. In other words, it is easier to find an investment opportunity than a manager good at making a company prosperous.
Andrei Siminel, NCH Manager for Romania, is trying to bring here skilled people who would be both aware of the business environment in the West and capable to surpass the obstacle of communication with Romanian employees.
“We are looking for Romanians having emigrated a long time ago and who would be willing to return here in order to manage Romanian companies or advise Romanian managers.
We are interested in people having worked at least 10-15 years in related fields,” Andrei Siminel, NCH representative for Romania, told Ziarul Financiar.
NCH is looking for people with experience in production, research, design and marketing for companies operating in chemistry, electrotechnics, light bulb production and other fields.
Broadhurst holds controlling interests in Romanian light bulb producer Romalux Targoviste, in Electroaparataj and Electrotehnica and has stakes in another 47 companies. NCH seems to have solved only the problems of stores and bakery plants, while difficulties in the other fields are still waiting for a solution.
“The companies in NCH portfolio have pretty good management teams, which have succeeded to perk up ailing companies and make them register profits.
But these businesses need further development so that their value should increase, while our people lack visionary, long-term thinking,” Stelian Paunescu, a counsellor with NCH in Romania, maintains.
A US Embassy programme encouraging Romanian graduates of American universities to return in Romania is currently developing.
These young people are helped to find suitable jobs if they want to come back.
NCH representatives said that they were not involved in this project, as they are looking for a different profile, namely people who have acquired experience and know-how by their own.
“We need skilled people to come from abroad. For instance, we kept asking one of our managers to do something, but we failed.
When a foreign counsellor told him the same thing, results came immediately. The real problem of Romanian managers is neither attending strategy training nor learning about the company’s interest and goals, but actually believing in them,” Stelian Paunescu added.