With ambition and perseverance, Anca Vlad founded her own business and was involved in its development.

A blonde, tall and modest lady enters the office, you do not think for a moment that you are in the company of the richest woman in Romania. Anca Vlad is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Romania and the brain behind Fildas Group. Established in 1991, today is one of the leading distributors of pharmaceutical and cosmetic products in the country.

Fildas is the most interesting success story of the early era of the free market in Romania. Although started from the scratch, Fildas became a national market leader under the leadership of Mrs. Vlad.

Anca Vlad began her career as a translator in various symposiums and international exhibitions. Pharmaceuticals became her favorite field and was recruited eventually and appointed manager for Romania by the British company Beecham Plc, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, now known as GlaxoSmithKline Beecham. Sponsored by the company, she has made a number of scientific studies including anatomy and pharmacology, meanwhile perfecting her sales strategy in the distribution of medical products.

Mrs. Vlad is not only a successful ​​woman, but also a true pioneer. After graduating the Rossetti College in Bucharest, attended the Faculty of International Relations of the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest who graduated it in 1980. Soon after the graduation she worked at a furniture company where she was responsible for the export of goods worthing 5 million dollars. Four years later, at the age of 27, she plans 240 million representing the value of furniture exports to Romania, working with international companies such as IKEA from Sweden, MVK – Germany, STEINHOFF – UK. At the same time she worked as an economist collaborator at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania.

In 1991, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and of Ceausescu, while the country was heading towards capitalism, Anca Vlad did not hesitate to use all the opportunities that occured. She was one of the first entrepreneurs in Romania who has chosen the pharmaceutical distribution. With the gained experience and contact with different producers, suppliers and importers, Mrs. Vlad put into practice what she previously learned and started to develop her own business.

Convinced that interest in health and beauty will evolve in parallel with the national development, Anca Vlad diversified her company with over 1,600 employees.

The company has launched two health and beauty publications, a television and a cultural foundation called Fildas Art.

“All women are interested in health and beauty”, says Mrs.Vlad, “so I thought to develop this concept. Catena is the «pharmacy that helps» and Naturalis is the «nature intelligence». Our publication is called Tonic (Health and Beauty Day by Day). It was actually my dream: to create a company to deal with health and beauty”.

Today, Fildas Trading represents 75% of the consolidated turnover and the 3rd place on the Romanian market, after Ad Pharma and Relad. Catena is the second pharma chain in Romania by number of open pharmacies and the franchising project initiated in 2006 justifies an increase of the stores number from five to 300 stores within three years.

Anca Vlad occupied the first place in the Top of the Success Women in 2004 and 2005. Furthermore, it is known as being one of the most powerful women in Romania, while having the reputation of being also the most transparent woman.

Among the top distributors, Fildas is unique because it is not involved in scandals, controversies, rigged bids for the subvention state medical products or corruption. The company can use the advantage of fair play, which will be mandatory from now on once with the entry of Romania into the European Union.

“I tried to create a respectable company based on honesty, and I think that is precisely why Fildas is a powerful company. Now that Romania is a member of the European Union, we are hoping that the performances will improve.

As a member of the European Union, I notice that the positive things happen in this field because Europe has much more experience in the health industry. We only have to go ahead and use the Europe knowledge. It is also expects an increase in consumption by at least 15% per year.” Currently, the consumption is low, between 1.3 and 1.5 billion for a population of 20 million people, due to the lower income and the financial health deficit.

In the coming years, it is expected that the pharmaceutical sector in Romania is growing by 15% and the European Union integration should also increase the competition, thereby enabling the national pharmaceutical market to reach 2.5 billion Euros by the year 2010. As expected, the dynamic area has seen many cases of mergers and acquisitions in 2006. For example, Sindan, the Romanian pharmaceutical manufacturer specializing in oncology was purchased by Actavis, based in Iceland while the Czech company Zentiva acquired the Romanian medical products company Sicomed. Fildas has only one shareholder: Anca Vlad.

However, it took more than experience and contacts, it took a combination of intelligence, initiative, wisdom, intuition and creativity, which allowed the company to reach from a turnover of 2 million dollars in 1992 to 200 million dollars in 2006.

However, while in Romania there is a trend of increasingly larger companies to be bought, also Fildas has its own plans. In order to finance and facilitate the investment proposals and the strategy development company, Fildas obtained a syndicated loan of 80 million Euros from Citibank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has proposed an investment plan for the company and an A/B syndicated loan of 60 million Euros especialy for Fildas Trading.

Anca Vlad says: “One of the leading financial institutions together with Citibank gave the green light to a single syndicated loan for Romania.” Why is this unique? Because Fildas is 100% owned by a Romanian entrepreneur who happens to be a woman.

Anca Vlad is more than a successful business woman, is very passionate about art and culture and contributes to the social and intellectual development of the Romanian society.

“I strongly value the creativity and freedom of expression.” Therefore, she established a cultural foundation called Fildas Art, which sponsors more than 20 exhibitions each year with Roamanian artists. The foundation also organizes abroad group exhibitions of the Romanian women artists.

The contemporary art in Eastern Europe is currently experiencing an explosion, thus being the result of years of oppression in the region. Anca Vlad supports this initiative, imagination and inspiration through Senso Art Gallery.

Furthermore, Anca Vlad bought a television channel, Senso TV, addressing mainly to people between 20 and 45 years. Senso TV specializes in life-style programs, talk shows dedicated to cultural events, health and beauty, travel, food, architecture etc.

Moreover, Anca Vlad is a staunch feminist and proud that she was able to accomplish so much in a country where conditions are not always favorable to women in business. She is a rare exception and that is why many of her projects aimed in a particular way, the women.

So, what motivates Anca Vlad? “Money is no longer a priority for me”, says Anca Vlad. “I wake up every day having the pleasure of facing new challenges, which brings me more satisfaction.”

Taken from fildas.ro

Anca Vlad is no longer an unknown name in Romania. More precisely, in the recent years, everyone speaks of the one occupying one of the top places in the list of the most successful business women in Romania.

One of the richest women in the country, surpassed this year only, by Corina and Camelia Voiculescu, the daughters of the late Dan Voiculescu, Anca Vlad is the living proof that you can succeed also in Romania – to stay upright and to succeed in whatever you set a goal.

With a successful career, a turnover of 200 million dollars and an empire of 70 companies and 1,700 employees, several luxury apartments in Bucharest, one in Bușteni, one in Constanta, villas in Poiana Tapului and Mogosoaia, lands and a house in Venice, Anca Vlad remains a modest woman, fair and, above all, ambitious.

An economist and specialist in commerce, Anca Vlad started from the scratch, working seven years in a furniture factory, which gave her the opportunity to learn a lot on the import-export business, commercial and international relations.

In 1990, immediately after the events that marked Romania, Anca Vlad opens one of the top marketing companies in the country. After this pioneering work, in 1991, Anca focuses on another field – the distribution of medical products. Once entered in this sector, the business woman becomes a shareholder in 70 companies from the health department, many of which acquired. Thus arises the Fildas group – 1.5 million dollars was the turnover and seven employees.

In 2000, Fildas created a brand in selling pharmaceutical products, currently there are over 200 such points across the country.

Anca has not stopped here, continuing with the Fildas Art Foundation, the health magazines group Tonica and Senso TV, knowing the impact the involvement in the cultural and media world has.

In addition, Anca Vlad was chosen to be part of the International Association of the Women Entrepreneurs – “Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World”, in recognition of her sustained efforts, has received numerous awards: Gold Medal for Excellence in Business Practice within the International Forum for Excellence in Business Practice, the award “The Successful Investor Vocation” from the magazine “Balkans” and a nomination from the Europe Business Assembly (EBA), Oxford – England at the award ‘Best company in Europe’.

Anca Vlad is, apart from being a strong woman, also a caring mother for her children, Alexandru (15) and Ecaterina (12), the ones who daily give her strength to move forward and overcome all obstacles.

Because at the end of a day of hard work, those that gives her the necessary peace are the two children.

Taken from stilfeminin.ro

Anca Vlad, the owner of the Fildas drug distributor network and that of the Catena chain pharmacies, companies with a turnover of 200 million Euros and 1,500 employees, says that the economic recovery will not take place until next year.

“One reacted very late to the crisis signals that were obvious last year. The authorities or politicians still do not see the danger of extending this crisis. It’s only been a few months from the beginning of the year optimistic estimates at the pessimistic one from today”, said Anca Vlad, one of the most famous entrepreneurs in the pharma industry.

The business environment needs, in her opinion, a dialogue with the authorities and the initial First House “is helping’’, but it is not enough.
“I am optimistic. I see the economic recovery next year and I see Romania capable to withstand to a notable event as the economic crisis hit, for resisting also to other hits”, said Anca Vlad.

Regarding the group of companies that she manages, the restructuring started since the middle of 2008 on the distribution area. This pharmaceutical market segment has been affected last year by the price freezing of the drugs.

“We felt it since last year (the crisis – n. red.) and we have made restructurings from August when the signals were evident. We restructured 80 jobs especially on the distribution”, said Vlad.

The group comprises mainly the Catena drugstore and the retailer Fildas Trading, and this year was budgeted a turnover of approximately 200 million euros, with a slighty increase compared to 2008 level. “We remain optimistic regarding the evolution of business. We are expecting the profit to be very symbolic”, said Vlad.

Symbolic profit

Reducing the number of the employees in the distribution was offset by the retail employment so that the total number of personnel in the group remains constant at about 1,500 people.
Separately, the retailer Fildas Trading, one of the top ten players in the field, recorded in the first quarter of this year a turnover of 190 million lei (44.6 million Euros), increasing with 3% compared to the level from the last year corresponding period.

The profit after the first three months was of 3 million lei (0.7 million Euros), decreasing with 25% from the first quarter of last year. Within Fildas Trading, there are currently 504 people working.

The project in Bulgaria was frozen

On the other hand, the Catena pharmacies, the second largest network in the local market after Sensiblu, part of A & D Pharma, had in the first three months of this year sales of 112 million lei (26.3 million Euros), increasing with 38% compared to the same period in 2008.
The strong advance was also specific to all network pharmacies and reached in some cases to 90% at the beginning of this year. The evolution was based on the removal of limits from pharmacies and increasing the level of compensation for the retirees. Catena operates approximately 200 units.

“This year we have scheduled maintenance investments, not also greenfield investments. This is the first time in the Fildas history when this happens. The company goes on a minimal risk”, said Anca Vlad.

Investments were scheduled in pharmacies and in production under the manufacturing contract, to which the group quitted. Fildas also carried out a project in Bulgaria, where an entity was founded and it has two employees, but it is frozen until the things clarifying things become clearer

“It was a test”, says Anca Vlad. His group competes with Mediplus, Relad, Farmexim, Farmexpert, Polisano, Montero in distribution and Sensiblu, City Pharma, Help Net, Dona and Centrofarm in retail. The pharmaceutical market was close to 2 billion Euros last year.

Taken from zf.ro

Anca Vlad is arguably very popular, with a career of great score and a financial situation to envy. It is one of the most successful entrepreneurs and the mastermind behind the Fildas business.

The luxury goods market was not well defined some years ago as most of the high class furniture importers were just responding to specific requests. Now the consumer segments have been given a contour and the further presence on the Romanian market of the top companies proves that there is still financial potential for the exclusivist offers.

We discussed about real estates, decorations and kitch with Anca Vlad, the founder of the pharmaceutical distribution group Fildas, a non-specialist that has the advantages of the business player’s experience, the moderation, the balance of a woman and the bending towards beauty of the art passionate.

We deal with a financial and economic crisis of great proportions, worried authorities, furious unions and no notorious bankruptcy. Not even in real estate, the hottest area of economics. Do I miss something?

I’m glad this didn’t happen. Probably people dug their feet in their business, they knew how to rationalize the costs and were supported by partners, sponsors, employees. It remains to be seen how things will evolve in the next period.

Leaving aside the sudden adjusting of the venues, the crisis forced us to be moderate even in what the self-imposed standards are concerned? That is, we gave up the dream of the Pipera villa, of the luxurious decorations, of the new apartments of thousand euros/square meters. Do we become moderate and reasonable again?

Certainly, this happens at a global level, not only in Romania. We have been suddenly awaked to reality by the crisis because we were the spenders of the last communist stream.

The tendency to make a splash through the possessions displayed led to many aggressive forms of kitch, be it architectural, through exaggerated dimensions and breaking away with the area’s context, be it – in interior appliances – through all kind of screechy, gaudy accessories, etc. Do you know any examples?

I saw that in Maramures, where it is even more painful than in Bucharest, where you do expect it. I saw those large traditional wooden doors replaced by inox doors. Or instead of the little wooden churches, now there were concrete monsters (I saw that somewhere very close to the Merry Cemetery of Sapanta). An early education of taste is needed, because people see owners and unaesthetic things everywhere, even in the real estate magazines, and the tendency to imitate is great. And concerning Bucharest…

“I personally hate walking through Baneasa, Pipera, etc. When I build my house in 1993, in Mogosoaia, I went for the style in fashion in the last years of the inter-war period, a more cubist style, with simple lines. I was even hoping to impose a style to the area, so that it be a guide mark. I now realize I was naïve, looking backwards at how the area later evolved.”

What do you think about the “corporate” architecture?

I cannot assert that everything that was built is unaesthetic; I personally like some of the office buildings from Victoria Square. The neighboring surroundings matter in exchange, because from the wrong combinations kitsch can result. Maybe it would have been better that all the business architecture be outside the city, like in Paris, so that the historic centre do not cohabitate with anything new.

Do you have a certain philosophy concerning the office organization? Do you transfer a part of the visual comfort of your home to your office?

I am a great art lover and I permanently seek exhibition spots even at the office. I like airy things, large spaces. I want warm colors, both for the furniture and for the walls. The walls play the role of support for the color. For instance, I have as a dominant color turquoise.

Taken from 1001case.ro

The richest woman in Romania is Veronica Dragan, the heiress of her husband’s wealth, the late Iosif Constantin Dragan, who conducted himself the top of the wealthiest Romanians. We are talking about an amount of approximately 450 million euros, according to the calculations of Forbes.

On the second place we see Camelia and Corina Voiculescu. Dan Voiculescu’s daughters posses a fortune estimated at 300 million euros. On the third place, we find Anca Vlad, the owner of the Fildas companies group, who earned 85 million euros.

The first outside the podium is Camelia Sucu, a businesswoman whose net value amounts to 70 million euros, which was obtained as a result of the luxury furniture company Class Mob’s activity. The lady who occupies the 5^th position in the top of the wealthiest women has a fortune of 40 million euros. We are talking about Stefania Florian, the wife of a Spanish businessman who lives together with her spouse in the Iberian Peninsula.

Taken from realitatea.net

Anca Vlad, the owner of Fildas pharmaceutical distributor and of Catena pharmacy network, founded the company number 800 in the first years of capitalism in Romania. Today the group she manages has businesses of over 200 million euros, counting over 1.000 employees.

“Capitalism has certainly given me the capacity to fulfill my potential, the economic freedom that I had. It has given me the ability to create. It would have been very sad to remain a mere office executive and to do repetitive tasks”, says Anca Vlad.

She wanted to be a chemist, however she was admitted to the Academy of Economic Sciences (ASE) due to a teacher who told her that she has a head for economics, much to the dissatisfaction of her parents who were both engineers.

She started working while in high school, when she began working in a chemistry laboratory, replacing the technicians while they were on vacation, and then, “as any student in Economics who longed for some money”, she started working as a guide at the seaside.

“The years of faculty were a very intense period of my life. I was also working as a guide, I was also doing translations for the Chamber of Commerce. All explain the connections later on. I  was an English and French translator. I had specialized in medical prospects and medicines. Every time a new pharmaceutical company entered Romania, they would contact me for translations and for the medicine prospects”, remembers Vlad.

After working in the furniture industry, she moved on to the pharmaceutical industry

This is how she had her first contact with the pharmaceutical industry, a field in which she would develop later on her business. After graduating from university, she received a position in Bucharest at the current Silvarom producer.

“The position was of export economist, and after two years I was promoted to the position of head of the export. In five years, I arrived to manage the export plan of the whole country, but I kept a permanent contact with the Chamber of Commerce and the pharmaceuticals. In my spare time, I kept on interpreting at conferences and symposiums. So that in 1987, when one of the companies I was working for wanted to open an office in Romania, I got the job of national representative”, says Anca Vlad.

This was the Beecham company, which became today GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the main players on the pharmaceutical market.

She left the state system because of the low salary and of the total chaos from that period, and after working at Beecham, she started in 1990 a personal marketing company, that was registered under number 800, in a period in which the clerks didn’t even know how to write “marketing” and “everybody would go to Turkey to buy clothes and to overcharge them”.

“I said to myself that if there is a chance and we can work on our own, I should test my strengths and take my chances”, says Anca Vlad.

She remembers that the first customers came quite hardly, after many months of attempts.

“For five months I kept writing. At that time, there was no such thing as e-mails, and the fax cost a lot. I would go to the telex post and send messages everywhere presenting my services. Firstly, there appeared a veterinary medicine firm and then, I was also contacted a bit harder by  SmithKline Beecham since they were displeased. Then, there followed a beauty company. Then I made something crazy”, adds Anca Vlad.

“The crazy thing” supposed the purchasing of movies from BBC, movies that she offered to the Romanian Television for a minute of publicity at each episode. There was a film with entrepreneurs that was played many years, and the advertisements that it brought were the ones for the Aquafresh tooth paste. “This is how we began doing our first profits”, says Anca Vlad.

From medicines selling to pharmacy purchasing

In 1993, she laid the foundations of Fildas Trading, and “while the number of customers was multiplying, the number of providers began growing too”. The first pharmacies with which she worked were those of the region of Fagaras and the region of Brasov, then those of Tulca. “I personally dealt with the import and the acts and sales until we were seven. Then we reached the number of 30, then 50, then 100 employees”, says Anca Vlad.

When speaking of the 1993 period, she says it was very interesting, “with very much energy, that was all consumed in those years”.

In 1993, in the period in which she stayed home after giving birth to her first child, a competitor who wanted to enter the market persuaded all her employees to move to the pharmaceutical company that he was building. She now sees the moment as “extremely tough”, but she also says that she needed to fill all the positions because she had commercial obligations.

“I remember having scheduled one day 70 interviews. There probably came 60 persons. The people with whom I discussed that day, including the current CEO, including the economic-financial analyst, including COO, they were all hired that day and are on my team ever since”, says she.

The next moment she remembers is 1999, “when the distribution could have run bankrupt”, because the leu was depreciating from day to day. But the situation was overcome through the negotiation of a much bigger margin with the Ministry of Health.

In the same year appeared Catena, today the second pharmacy network after Sensiblu, part of the A&D Pharma group.

“We were not a retailer. But there already existed a pharmaceutical chain in Romania, Sensiblu, which was developing and which belonged to a distributor, Mediplus. We considered that if this is the tendency of the market, for a distributor to develop the retail, and this cannot happen to us, then we won’t be able to oppose resistance to the subsequent challenges. We did not have the know-how and we were thinking of purchasing a company”, says also Vlad.

She paid for the acquisition of Argesfarm in the last moment

That year, the state started to privatize the regional pharmaceutical offices, and Fildas entered the license for the acquisition of Argesfarm, which had 60 pharmacies, out of which 30 in the rural regions, meaning “a very good starting point”. She bid and won, but the problem of funds has been raised as to support the acquisition.

“Back then, whether you had money or not, you bid and you had a timeframe of three months to raise the money. This is how I ran to the banks. Of course, at the banks you could not do anything. There were also investment funds on the market and I was thinking that we could associate with them, but something funny happened. I attended a personal development lecture in London, and one of the techniques that I learnt there was to gather my strengths and to ask for something extraordinary from someone. I tried this exercise with a partner, the owner of a company specialized in pharmaceuticals and consumer chemical products”, says Anca Vlad.

She did not obtain the credit from that person, but she received a bank guarantee, with which she could receive the money. “I got the credit and I signed the payment disposition the same day, the last day on which I could have done it at 6 pm. This is how Argesfarm was purchased.”

Concerning the period 2000-2008, she says it was one of great growth, with many openings and regional developments.

Penalties for being a Romanian company

The commercial credit (payment term) is much more important for any company than the bank credit, because first of all it is much easily obtainable, while the bank credit blocks the actives, cost a lot, and any bank puts you on condition. This was one of the first lessons that she learned from her entrepreneurship activity. “The greater the payment term, the more you can work with the money and you can produce a supplementary venue”, says she.

The companies from Fildas group are registered in Romania, but this thing creates trouble.

“I wanted very much to have our headquarters in Romania, to be a Romanian company. It is easy to move to Cyprus, to the Netherlands and to pay fewer taxes, however at some point, you would like to demonstrate that it can work even as a Romanian company. However I paid the price. I had a 30% loss in score to the rating compared to any foreign company only because we were Romanian”, said Anca Vlad. The entrepreneur added the fact that the loss of score was due to instability.

“At the end of last year it was very difficult. Because of the crisis, the American banks even present on the Romanian market began to give negative advertisements concerning Romania. It was a difficult period, but we believe that through the way in which the company behaved during the time in which we did our best to pay our invoices, sometimes even in advance. We paid in February with an advance of 3-4 months for them to see that we are trustworthy people”, also says Anca Vlad.

The owner of Fildas also adds that the difficult situation in 2009 was overcome through renouncing at the investments and through a restructuring process carried out last year, when they anticipated what was about to happen following the signals which they had in Germany. Moreover, next year Fildas will negotiate the extension of the financing with five more years.

“We have a plan on five years and starting with this year, a plan for a year and then we will make the adjustments in the trimester.”

Fildas Training, one of the main pharmaceuticals distributors, has budgeted for this year a turnover of approximately 770 million lei (183 million euro). Last year, the company had a turnover of 188 million euros and losses of 12,4 million euros, according to the data from the Ministry of Finance.

The distributor brought in 2007 a financing of 70 million euros, and next year they will negotiate the extension of the credit with five more years.

Catena pharmacy network

This year they bet on businesses of over 100 million euros, with a raise of 16% compared to the level of 2008. This way they should become the third network on the local market, breaking this baffle after Sensiblu and Dona;

Catena operates 200 units, out of which 175 in the urban areas and 25 in the rural areas. Last year Catena opened 12 pharmacies following some investments of 4 million euros.

What she says about:

Her beginnings as an entrepreneur

For five months I had been writing. At that time, there were no e-mails and the fax cost very much. I would go to the telex post and send messages everywhere to present my services. Initially, there appeared a veterinary medicine firm and then I was contacted even harder by SmithKline Beecham because they were displeased. Then followed a beauty company. Then I made a crazy thing.

Development of the business:

I personally dealt with the import and the acts and sales until we were seven. Then we reached the number of 30, then 50, then 100 employees.

What she did after remaining without any employees:  “I remember having scheduled one day 70 interviews. There probably came 60 persons. The people with whom I discussed that day, including the current CEO, including the economic-financial analyst, including COO, they were all hired that day and are on my team ever since”, says she.

How Catena was born:

I said that if this is the tendency of the market, for a distributor to develop also the retail, and for us, there is no such thing, then we won’t be able to face the subsequent challenges. We did not have the know-how and we were thinking of purchasing a company.

The difficulties of a Romanian company:

I wanted very much to have our headquarters in Romania, to be a Romanian company.

It is easy to move to Cyprus, to the Netherlands and to pay fewer taxes, however at some point, you would like to demonstrate that it can work even as a Romanian company. However I paid the price.

We had a 30% loss in score to the rating compared to any foreign company only because we were Romanian.

Taken from zf.ro

The cultural patrimony of the Romanian Academy enriches today with two monumental works: the Ivory Tower and the Babel Tower, symbols of the eternal egos and human bravery, works that are posted in the headquarters of the institution, on the occasion of the generous donation. The gesture of the two creators, Florin Ciubotaru and Henry Mavrodin, honors us, renewing the hope in a better world, reconciled towards a noble communion among fellows. With great  appreciation, the Romanian Academy assumes the preservation and guarding of the works that become part of our cultural biography.

Acad. Marius Sale
Vice-president of the Romanian Academy

The cultural project the Towers subscribes to the sphere of ideality from the perspective of the entirety, but also from that of its constitutive parts. The apparently contradictory senses of the symbols of the Ivory Tower and the Babel Tower: the purity of the withdrawal of the superior spirit, and the aspiration towards exhaustive knowledge reunite in the works that the artists Florin Ciubotaru and Henry Mavrodin donate to the Romanian Academy. The painters Ciubotaru and Mavrodin are two personalities that have marked the Romanian and European artistic ambient through their creation. I had the privilege of seeing them in the studio parlors of the University of Arts. For me, they were both ideal teachers, and for my professional and human becoming, they represented two coordinates, as diverse, as coherent, as two parallel lines seen in perspective, that intersect somewhere, thanks to an abstract optical convention: from Florin Ciubotaru I’ve learned that painting and the artistic act in general is indissolubly related to the ludic spirit (in the deep and serious sense), and from Henry Mavrodin, I’ve learned that the native brutality of colors, appeased only by the geometric rationality of the forms, sometimes can coincide with a work of art. For me, Florin Ciubotaru and Henry Mavrodin are two human profiles similar to the expressivity of the two towers. The ideality of the themes chosen fuse with the ideality of the gesture of donation to the Romanian Academy and are perfectly coherent to the profile of the two lives dedicated to the same ideal. I would also like to underline the special importance of the presence of Mrs. Anca Vlad, who managed to transform the monuments from an ideal fact into a real fact. I am very honored by the coordination of this cultural project, where the gesture of the two artists is doubled by the elegance of its reception by the Romanian Academy, an institution that stands for the ideality emblem under its various forms of manifestations, cultural and scientific.

Ileana Stanculescu
project coordinator

I have always loved arts. I have visited many museums and have seen many collections of the world. But before the masterpiece, my mind flew again and again to the loftiness and spirituality of the Romanian art. I have chosen this project because it echoed an older aspiration of mine: that I have, although I’m not a creator, but a humble sponsor, a mark on our country’s land. And nothing can be more inspiring than the objects of our great artists: Florin Ciubotaru and Henry Mavrodin.

Anca Vlad
President of FILDAS

These lines, undoubtedly, fill in an abusive way the place which is usually reserved to the platitudes which explain the miracle of creation for the purposes of applauses; an effort, otherwise futile and energy-wasting. In fact, I do not substitute myself to the specialist, but I simply celebrate, the timeframe in which we arrived together with Ciubo up to this point, to be able to make a sign. I remember him watching the sky quietly, sometime, long time ago, before we embarked voluntarily for Cythera, a time when the wind seemed favorable. My colleague, Florin Ciubotaru, the same as the word of noble essence, is beautifully getting old, while the marks of time exalt in him the same look with which he continues to see everything that the others miss, finding as natural something that many of us look for a lifetime. He likes a lot to live and he enjoys every light of every day, the same way when he confuses it with his palette; now he can more, deluged by the drama of life. He was a sinner too, because otherwise he would have never had the sacred privilege of forgiveness, the unique means that gets us closer to God. This is why the wind is more favorable to his sails. This is how discreetly, together, we still celebrate before people, the heart beats, a mitigating circumstance for the justification of the refusal of great words.

Henry Mavrodin

I do not dare to claim that I know Mao deeply, I would fall into the sin of approximations, of equivalences, of dissections that would cast away the true substance. All the guilt can be traced in the beginning, when naïve and sentimental, through juicy actions, we convened by unwritten rules for a long communication, and we shortly became collectors of absurd events, surrounded by a humor of tantalizing fragrance. Maybe this made it possible for us to bear each other a lifetime. When you are endowed and wise like Mao, you cannot stay aside. From his youth, having a good sense of orientation, Mao drew for himself a project of life and profession. Being part of a hostile background, he refused the verbal mechanics of promises, of false benefactors, deciding bravely and chancefully to compose a personal biography. The spontaneous accents, the unpredictable, the eccentricity adapted to his nature; he expressed them all with measure and consistency. His images reveal much science, and are so stable and balanced that you cannot change anything.

Florin Ciubotaru

Taken from biblacad.ro

“There are too few women among the first 500 businesspersons. I didn’t expect that after 20 years their number be that little, although the number of female entrepreneurs is quite large in Romania. I wonder why that is. Could it be that the risk of business growth is beyond the direct collaboration with people, because you get to no longer know the names of the people you work with, you no longer know their family stories? For an entrepreneur, especially when it is a woman who loves personal relations, growth means a great risk, which I personally have taken.”

The above declaration belongs to one of the richest women in Romania, Anca Vlad, the founder of a real empire with businesses of over 200 million dollars and 1.500 employees.

With such a performance, Anca Vlad proves every day that women can succeed on their own, even in a tough world, with apparently exclusivist laws, such as the business world in our country.

THE INGREDIENTS OF SUCCESS FOR A BUSINESS WOMAN IN ROMANIA

“Practically, we open the private market of medicines in ’90”, remembers with undissimulated nostalgia Anca Vlad.

Feeling the social need that was just flickering at the beginning of the last decade of the last century, together with the enactment of the first forms of capitalism in our country, the brave Romanian started as a medicines distributor on the external market (as an ex-director for Romania of the English company SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals) and, subsequently, from the local producers for “the chemist ladies, newly become owners” of the first private pharmacies.

Thus, in 1991, Fildas SRL company already made their first millions of dollars. In 1999 followed another key movement in the spectacular career of the Romanian entrepreneur, when she purchased through a state auction a network of 60 pharmacies and a storage in Pitesti, thus entering the retail market.

This is how Catena pharmacy chain was born, a chain that currently includes 200 pharmacies in almost all the country’s departments. “It is a challenge because you leave the business-to-business zone and you enter in the area of psychology, of understanding the customers, of what they want. I can say I am in a quite interesting stage of building my business, now that I’ve created a brand.”

“I had the privilege of receiving a good education, I still love my teachers from The Faculty of Economics. I believe that any young man or woman equipped with a solid education, the knowledge of some foreign languages and the technicalities of a certain field of activity can arguably success. There is no need for someone to open doors for you.

The doors that someone opens for you can be slammed before you get the chance to go in. I don’t believe that door opening is necessarily the key for success. I’ve seen businesses for which large doors were open and which failed… You have to be confronted with problems in order to be able to learn from your own mistakes.”

A success business is however extremely acquisitive because it permanently requires the attention of them who run it, who have to be constantly on the search for new opportunities.

“I am constantly looking for new opportunities, I look around at what the customers would want. You have to be present all the time, even when you are on vacation, you keep thinking if there is something that is missing, that you forgot. As an entrepreneur, you are 24/7 connected to your business, no matter where you are”, advocates the woman who ranked first in the female entrepreneur top of Romania, in 2005.

 “I’ve always considered that I do not have employees, but collaborators, in whom I trust until proven otherwise.”

If we were to consider the interest and concern with which she selects her employees, we could say that the human resources management plays a huge role in being successful in your business. “From the beginning, I’ve considered that I do not have employees, but collaborators, that I respect and whom I trust until otherwise proven.

There comes however that difficult moment when you have to accept to work through people, with other people, whom you have to trust and to accept that failures are imminent.

The greatest challenge of female entrepreneurship appears when the collaborators fail your trust: we are more vulnerable, more easily wounded, whilst men overpass such disappointments without too much trouble”, pointed out for us Anca Vlad.

To this prescription add a constantly greater dose of flexibility and the availability to get updated with the latest regulations in the field and you will succeed…

THE ANTICRISIS MEASURES ARE NOTHING BUT OBSTACLES FOR THE SMEs

This prescription functions in crises too? “These are times that are very difficult, perhaps more difficult than ever”, admits with a certain concern the business woman, who does not give up however the calm and serenity that define her.

“We live in a context which is not too predictable, you have to constantly make speculations concerning what can happen, because you make budgets and you start needing the banks. And there is much to it: it is not only you and your family, there are other 1.500 people and their families.

There is a large number of female entrepreneurs, but the risks you have to assume are not fit to the personality of a woman, who needs stability…”

“I have the feeling that the organizational structure of the public administration deteriorated.”

By far, the public administration is the main source that generates incertitude in the business realm. “The relation with the bank would be great if we hadn’t so many legislative surprises… There are things that happen and that I do not understand at all”, pointed out my interlocutor.

With specific regard to the emergency Ordinance issued by Boc Government before he was relieved, through which the payment terms for the reimbursable and free drugs were extended to 90 days, respectively 180 days (from 60, respectively 90 days), in full economic crisis, Anca Vlad pointed out that this measure contravenes even the European directive.

“Who governs shouldn’t be that important as long as people from group II know and do their job. However I have the feeling that something happened to the organizational structure. There has to exist a permanent transfer of experience and I’m afraid that at this level something happened.”

“In all Europe, the payments towards the entrepreneurs and the private companies are done by the state, when this is the customer, in 60 days!!” It is one of the modalities in which the state can support the SMEs without resorting to the state’s help, regulated by the European normative and without violating the concurrence’s laws. “The Fildas group will resist because we have been through very difficult moments! But there are people who get fed up and leave the system.

As long as we are in a context with prices fixed by the state, one cannot speak about a greater gain for those who remain, but the quitting of the market by every player leads to lower quality services due to the narrowing of the concurrence.

I feel a great disappointment and disorientation at the level of the SMEs, of the private pharmacies, that cannot stay without money 6 months! A part of the providers will understand, others will withdraw from Romania, the same way that happened even after other legislative changes.

We are a country that cannot pay like France and Germany, that’s right, but if an exchange of 4 lei for 1 euro is imposed, in the context of an exchange of 4,3 to 1 euro, this loss can no longer be supported. There are no resources for such measures!

Even ordinary people prefer leaving the pharmaceutical market… The effects will be felt, in the end, by the population. There are and there will be serious problems in the system”, summoned the one that became in 2005 the ambassador of female entrepreneurship in Romania.

“In a period in which all the European countries try to support the entrepreneurs, in Romania, companies will be lost and the state will find itself with many unemployed.” Anca Vlad sees here, the same as in the case of the VAT refunding, another flagrant case of “clear discrimination in disfavor of the SMEs…”

“As a company, we pull our energies together because difficulties are something that must be overcome.”

Nothing could determine Anca Vlad to give up the support granted to the community, towards which she feels a great responsibility, as a business person. “We are a big company and we cannot neglect our social activities, which already constitutes a tradition in the company.”

The “soul” project of Anca Vlad is called European Bridges, on which occasion she organized creation workshops for female plastic artists in whole Europe, who work together in a hall specially decorated. The impact on their creation, many artists confess after years, is huge.

Although it says that creation is supposed to be something intimate, the fact that they can talk, that they can share their most intimate thoughts influences their career in an unanticipated way, we have found out from Anca Vlad.

The list of sponsored cultural and artistic manifestations can continue with the exhibitions made in the country, but also in Paris and in Berlin.

In 2009, together with the Association of Women Creators in Plastic Arts from Romania and the International Feminine Cultural Federation, they organized an exhibition of contemporary feminine art at the Houses of Parliament in Bucharest. The concerns for art are however even larger: “I do not see them as expenses because business is, in fact, creation.”

ANCA VLAD – INFORMATION FROM A LESS KNOWN BIOGRAPHY

– President of honor of the Association of Women Creators in Romania, elected in the International Association of Female Entrepreneurs

– Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World;

– Golden Medal for Excellence in Business practice at the International forum for Excellence in business – Geneva 2004;

– Manager of the year 2005, declared by the Institute of Directors – London.

Taken from bloombiz.ro

The cardiovascular conditions represent the main cause for morbidity and mortality in Romania and in Europe, declared dr. Camelia Diaconu on Thursday, on the occasion of the launching of the campaign “The healthy heart can love more”.

She also mentioned in a press conference that in Europe over four million deaths are registered annually, underlining that, at the same time, an early diagnosis can reduce the incidence of the morbidity and mortality. The main cardiovascular conditions are hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, heart failure.

In her turn, the cardiologist Alexandra Grigorescu explained that premature deaths caused by heart conditions may be reduced with up to 80% if the risk factors were reduced, namely, hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, smoking, obesity and sedentary lifestyle. In Europe and in the whole world 17 million people die annually, every second a person dies from a heart condition, and every six seconds a stroke is signaled, says dr. Grigorescu. She also added that in Romania the death rate by cardiovascular conditions represent 61% of the total number of deaths.

Prof. dr. Mioara Dorobantu points out that, according to a study, 40% of the population suffers from hypertension, over 50% of the hypertensives are not aware that they suffer from this condition and do not have an adequate treatment, 46% suffer from dyslipidemia, 5% from type 2 diabetes and 14% present an altered glucose tolerance.

Romania was ranked third in Europe, in 2009, as far as the cardiovascular conditions were concerned, being outrun only by Russia and Bulgaria. In 2010, according to the first data, Romania seems to be ranking fourth.

In her turn, the nutritionist Corina Zugravu pointed out the importance of the nutrition in cardiovascular conditions, mentioning that stress influences our cardiovascular system. “What is important is how much we eat and what we eat. Nutrition is not a medicine. It can help us prevent or slow down the evolution of a heart condition. The most important thing is to maintain our normal weight”, said Zugravu.

She explained that at a larger weight the heart “works” in excess and this affects her. “The most important thing is to reduce the salt, the animal fat and to eat food rich in fitonutrients, fibers, antioxidants. The excessive salt intake is a risk factor for hypertension and it is strongly recommended that we intake no more than five grams of salt per day. In fact, people intake 10-20 grams. (…). An important role is played by omega 3 and omega 6, which can be found in the ocean fish, in nuts, seeds and oleaginous fruit, explained Zugravu.

In February, Catena pharmacy chain launched the health and social responsibility program “The healthy heart can love more”.

The founder of the program, Anca Vlad, stressed that the purpose of this campaign is to meet the citizens’ needs, to help them change their lifestyle in order to be able to control the potential heart conditions and to improve their quality of life.

Anca Vlad also added that the program is part of the campaign with the same name launched last year. The program will unfold in the period February-April 2010 and includes free blood pressure checks, professional advice offered in Catena pharmacies, special discounts at the nutritional supplements for preventive purposes and the distribution of 300,000 brochures about the cardiovascular conditions in pharmacies, health centers and family physician practices.

Moreover, debates and reunions on this topic will be organized, events which will be attended by representatives of the medical community and of the patients, of the Government, of the Parliament, and of the press.

Taken from romedic.ro

On February 11^th, the series of brochures “The healthy heart can love more!” was launched. An initiative part of the health and social responsibility campaign with the same name, started and supported by Catena pharmacies. The underlying principles of “The healthy heart can love more!” are: information, education and prevention. This initiative gathers the team of 800 chemists and pharmacy assistants of Catena pharmacies, with the aid of the medical community, and was born with a view to informing the public concerning the cardiovascular diseases. The campaign’s main purpose is to offer a real support to people in need, to help them change their lifestyle.

Actions carried out in the program

– Services provided by the supporter of the program in Catena pharmacies: free blood pressure checks, as well as professional advice.

– Nutritional supplements for preventive purposes will be present with special discounts in Catena pharmacies.

– On the occasion of the campaign “The healthy heart can love more!” 300,000 brochures will be distributed in pharmacies, health centers, and family physician practices. These are meant to develop the awareness of the risks caused by the cardiovascular diseases and are put at the disposal of the public.

– Supporting the distribution of the brochures through insertions in health publications published by the press group Galenus (Your Pharmacy, Galenus – the chemists’ magazine and Tonica) and other health publications.

– Informative workshops.

– Debates and meetings attended by representatives of the medical community and of the patients, representatives of the Government, of the Parliament and mass-media and through a campaign supported by communication on the incidence of the cardiovascular diseases, research in the field and decisions on the European level.

– Dedicated campaign site

Anca Vlad, President of the Group

“As they say, in the beginning was the word. At the beginning of the ’90s was the Fildas word and the motto through which we were determined to become the Name of health in Romania. 20 years later, we were wondering: Fildas, the name of health in Romania? We do our best that it be. Is Catena the pharmacy that helps you? We believe it is. Recently, there appeared a new under-motto, «Catena, the pharmacy of your heart». Why the pharmacy of your heart? Because we care for your heart. Because the leading causes of death in Romania today are the cardiovascular conditions. Because more and more people both at the authorities level and at the population level, become growingly aware of the burden of the health of the heart. Thus we would like to express our support for our patients through the launching of this campaign. Actually, the campaign launched 2 years and a half ago enjoyed a tremendous success. It was an occasion on which we published 100,000 brochures. We thus wanted to resume this program and in this sense, we put out and published 200,000 new brochures.”

Alina Marinescu, General Director of Catena pharmacies

“On November 7^th, 2009 the national campaign «The healthy heart can love more!» was launched in the over 200 Catena pharmacies. The purpose of this campaign is to support the patients in adopting a healthy lifestyle as well as to support the national pharmaceutical industry. The campaign «The healthy heart can love more!» aims to offer Catena customers the opportunity to inform themselves concerning the risks and the preventive methods in the field of cardiovascular diseases as well as to educate, through the health and social responsibility programs, the whole population. This campaign also hosts the program for health and social responsibility «The healthy heart can love more!» The program offers from the part of Catena pharmacies:

– informational support through the launching and distribution on a national level of 300.000 copies of the brochures meant to make people aware of the risks caused by the cardiovascular diseases;

– free blood pressure checks, as well as professional advice

– special discounts for nutritional supplements for preventive purposes.”

Ruxandra Andronache, Catena pharmacy Manager

“The campaign of Catena pharmacies «The healthy heart can love more!» aims at preventing and improving the symptoms of the cardiovascular diseases through an accurate informing process centered on the patients and at their counseling in using nutritional supplements used in the prevention of the cardiovascular diseases. During the campaign «The healthy heart can love more!», the patients can enjoy:

– Discounts for the supplements used in cardiovascular diseases;

– Free monitoring of the blood pressure;

– Medical information summarized in the brochure «A healthy heart can love more!»

Every patient can have their blood pressure checked by professional staff and can benefit from professional advice in any Catena pharmacy.”

Dr. Alexandra Grigorescu, primary care physician in internal diseases, cardiologist, doctor in medical sciences

“The main causes of the cardiovascular diseases are the unfit nutrition, the sedentary lifestyle and smoking, factors that can all be controlled. The avoidance of these factors could reduce with up to 80% the number of premature deaths caused by the cardiovascular diseases. 17 million people die annually due to cardiovascular diseases. Every 2 seconds, due to these conditions, a death occurs, and every 6 seconds someone suffers a stroke. According to WHO, in Romania, the mortality rate due to cardiovascular diseases is of 61% of the total number of deaths, compared to 37% in EU. The SEPHAR study carried out in Romania clearly shows that 40% of the country population presents hypertension, and over 50% of the hypertensives are newly diagnosed. The cardiovascular diseases represent the leading cause of death in EU and account for 40% of the total of deaths or 2 million deaths per year. Out of the 10 million people that survive a stroke annually, over 5 million remain with permanent disabilities. In 2009, Romania ranked third in Europe as far as the incidence of the cardiovascular diseases was concerned, thus being outrun only by Russia and Bulgaria, according to the American Heart Association. In 2010, according to the latest data, our country ranked forth, with Hungary one place ahead.”

Dr. Camelia Diaconu, internal medicine primary care physician, doctor in medicine, general and heart echocardiography competency

“The cardiovascular disease ranks first as a cause for death in Europe, both in women and in men, according to the European Heart Health Charter. In Europe, they actually account for more than 4.35 million deaths every year (European Heart Health Charter). The incidence as well as the consequences of the cardiovascular diseases can be definitely reduced with an early diagnosis, an adequate management of the condition, recuperation and prevention, including lifestyle coaching. The main risk factors are: hypertension, smoking, high cholesterol level. At least 20% of the hypertensive patients that undergo a medical exam are not aware that they have hypertension even if their blood pressure presents high values. For this reason, a regular check of blood pressure is necessary at least once a year, even in the absence of any disease manifestation.”

Dr. Corina-Aurelia Zugravu, alimentary hygiene and nutrition primary care physician

“One’s lifestyle is a collocation with lots of implications: nutrition, smoking, activity (stress), rest periods, physical exercises, psychological aspects.

As far as the nutrition is concerned, the quantitative indices (how much we eat) and the qualitative indices (what we eat) play a huge role. On a global level, there exist over 400 millions of obese people and over a billion of overweight people, which clearly shows that the overweight represents a major risk factor for the heart conditions: the heart works excessively, the blood pressure rises, the triglycerides levels and the bad cholesterol (LDL) levels increase and the good cholesterol (HDL) levels lower. Any pound lost lowers the risk of heart conditions and strokes. The reduction of salt intake and animal fat intake is strongly recommended together with the increase of fiber, fruit and vegetables consumption. Moreover, the physical exercises performed 30 minutes a day are paramount.”

About Catena pharmacies

Catena pharmacies represent one of the most modern pharmacy chains in Romania, with a large coverage on the territory of the country, with an actual total of over 200 units open. Catena pharmacies count a number of 800 employees, out of which more than 500 are chemists. Catena, “the pharmacy that helps you” constantly offers advice and professional recommendations for a large range of pharmaceutical products, beauty products, derma beauty products, natural remedies and nutrition. Catena’s vision is to become an ultimate bench in the medical world, as far as the quality and the professionalism of the services provided are concerned, the pharmacy chain with the largest numbers of constant patients.

Catena’s mission is to permanently help through advice and professional recommendations, for a large range of products: pharmaceuticals and para-pharmaceutical products, cosmetics and dermato-cosmetics, homeopathic remedies and natural therapies. Catena’s customers can enjoy services such: beauty counseling, blood pressure checks, weight measuring, as well as discounts, special offers and surprise awards for all holders of Catena card. Visit www.catena.ro for further details on the offers of Catena pharmacies.

Taken from sfatulmedicului.ro