She discovered her passion for economics in high school. She then went on to study at the University of Economic Studies, specialising in International Economic Relations. She started working as a translator whilst still in college. She translated leaflets for medicines and papers on technical and medical topics. It was a first step towards a sector in which she would later go on to build one of Romania’s most powerful business groups: Fildas-Catena. Before doing that, however, she worked in the timber industry for seven years. This is where she was assigned after graduating from college, and she eventually rose to the position of coordinating the export operations of more than 40 furniture factories across the country. In her spare time, she continued to work as a translator at international conferences and, later, as an events organiser for the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “That’s how I got to know people from many international pharmaceutical companies, since chemistry is my area of expertise as a translator,” says Anca Vlad on her website, in the “Biography” section.
Immediately after the Revolution, once private enterprise had been given the green light, the entrepreneur decided to start her own business. The first step? A marketing agency whose primary business was the provision of consultancy services. The first customer was due to arrive in six months’ time.“ After a while, when I realised there were definite needs in the market, I decided to set up a company to distribute pharmaceutical products – both for human and veterinary use – as well as cosmetics,” Anca Vlad adds on her website. That is how Fildas was founded; by the end of 1991, the company had generated $1.5 million in revenue and employed 7 people. Today, the same company has a turnover of 8 billion lei (1.7 billion dollars) – more than 1,000 times as much – and nearly 1,500 employees.
The distribution of medicines was the first step. The second came in 1999, when the entrepreneur also ventured into the specialty retail sector: she acquired a state-owned company that operated a network of 30 pharmacies and a warehouse in Pitești. There are now nearly 1,000 units with a combined turnover of 8.6 billion lei. These are operated by a number of companies, including Catena Pharma, Catena Hygeia, and Farmaceutica Argeşfarm, which feature in the top 100 entrepreneurial companies in Romania.
What is the story behind the name Catena?
More than 25 years ago, when she entered the pharmaceutical retail sector, Anca Vlad wanted a brand name that was catchy, yet warm and simple. The word ‘Catena’ came easily to her mind because it had all these qualities, she had said earlier. “Furthermore, it means two things: in Romanian, ‘chemical bond,’ which brings to mind pharmaceutical products, and in Latin and Italian, ‘chain,’ which offers us a promising outlook for growth,” the entrepreneur recalled.
Alongside the chosen name, the logo was intended to complete the story. It started with orange and green. Most remedies come from nature, so she felt that a leaf would convey this idea. But something was missing… “When we added the yellow, we were delighted – it represented light and hope; it was exactly what we wanted to convey. Like anything done with passion, the brand has stood the test of time,” she adds.
Entrepreneur Anca Vlad is an advocate for family businesses. She had previously stated that Fildas was born in the same year as her son, Alexandru, so they are ‘twins’. He is, in fact, involved in business. “I could actually remember the sound of the pager going off and the little one crying or reading faxes whilst I was breastfeeding.” That is pretty much what my life as an entrepreneur has been like – quite complex. The children (the entrepreneur has two children, a daughter, and a son – Ed.) say there were three siblings and they still ask me: Who did you actually love more? And I say: You,” Anca Vlad had previously said.
