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Inkubator De Afaceri, Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania
Enterprise services and incubator facilities for young entrepreneurs

Built in 2006 and housing 20 enterprises at a reduced rent for a period of 3-5 years, the Inkubator De Afaceri aims to provide new, expanding small enterprises with even more favorable discounted rents and enhanced enterprise training and services.

The Inkubator provides a range of services including business and legal advice, marketing, enterprise training, accountancy, business plan preparation and trade show organisation. Other facilities include meeting rooms for hire, furniture rental, telephones and extensions, office services, Internet access and technical equipment.

Romania joined the European Union (EU) in January 2007. Although the country’s income level remains one of the lowest in the EU, reforms have increased the speed of economic growth. Romania has the ninth largest territory and the seventh largest population (with 22 million people) among the EU member states.

Sfântu Gheorghe is one of the oldest cities in Transylvania, a geographical region of Romania, having first been documented in 1332. The city takes it name from Saint George, the patron of the local church.

Under the leadership of its Director, Lajos Vajda, the Incubator De Afaceri is participating in EDW’s youngbusiness.net 3 project. The Inkubator is being supported in developing and establishing its youth enterprise programme by EDW and by one of our ‘older’ youngbusiness.net Central European partners, the Neumann Youth Enterprise Centre (NIVAK), in Eger, Hungary.

The project is being managed by Covimm Consultancy, which was set up by the Association for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Covasna County (ASIMCOV) in 1996. Covimm Consultancy is a non-governmental, non-political organisation.

The aim of the project is to build on the Inkubator’s experience of advising on business development, by drawing on expertise provided through the youngbusiness.net programme, improving engagement with young people and enhancing the skills of its young entrepreneurs, through training and specially targeted seminars. It is also keen to disseminate the lessons learned from the project throughout the neighbouring counties in Romania.

Lajos Vajda and his team have been proactively disseminating information about the youngbusiness.net 3 programme through marketing materials, media coverage and presentations to key groups and individuals in the region, such as schools, higher education establishments, local authorities and community groups, including the Roma community and orphaned young people over the age of 18.  A very valuable enterprise awareness event also took place at a research exhibition at the University of Brasov, where Covimm Consultancy gave a presentation about the Inkubator De Afaceri and the youngbusiness.net 3 project.

Within the framework of the youngbusiness.net 3 programme, high school students and young people with entrepreneurial ambitions have the opportunity to take part in free enterprise awareness training sessions. Lajos Vajda says: “It is extremely important that young people start considering their future prospects at least as early as high school. What is more, it is valuable for them to gain knowledge in their particular fields of interest and to consider entrepreneurship as a career option”.

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