CRISTINA CHIRIAC: "The idea is perhaps 1% of the success of a business"

The outcome of a business comes from the mark of the entrepreneur, says Cristina Chiriac, the chairwoman of the National Association of Entrepreneurs.

"Someone who wants to be an entrepreneur must review themselves very carefully and do what they like. They have to emphasize their talents and abilities. The idea is perhaps 1% of the success of a business. The way it is implemented, assessed and exploited is different from one person to the next, special, atypical, personal", said Cristina Chiriac, at the "Female Entrepreneurship. Women in power - a better world" conference, organized by the BURSA newspaper in Association with the National Association of Entrepreneurs.

Mrs. Chiriac says that an economy can be judged by the state of small and medium businesses and she says that in reality we aren't doing as well as we are in theory in that regard: "According to the numbers, compared to last year, the number of insolvencies has decreased, the number of companies deleted from the Trade Registry has decrease. But that's not how things should be viewed - it is never enough to look at things like this because in that regard we are ranked last among the countries of the EU. If in 2010 the EU has considered that female entrepreneurship is a field of priority interest, there has definitely been statistical data to demonstrate that interest".

Cristina Chiriac told us that there are women who, after giving birth, no longer returned to work and women that don't have work after a certain age, and that there should be a solution to these issues.

"The social security budget isn't the solution. The solution could be entrepreneurship. This segment could apply to everybody, whether they are young, old, women or men. But in order to do so, the state must invest. And when I say < invest > I am not thinking of financing small and companies. It must first of all invest in culture, in education".

The greatest problem that most Eastern European countries are faced with is that of education, says Mrs. Chiriac, who emphasized that when the entrepreneurial curriculum in schools becomes mandatory, youngsters will have the ability to decide far more quickly what they want to do in the future.

"Not everybody must become an entrepreneur, but people who have entrepreneurial ambitions should follow this course".

According to her, the success of entrepreneurship does not necessarily come from financing, she says, as she considers that the need to have a decent living "can push you on the path to entrepreneurship": "I've seen cases of young people that had the necessary financing, but who have failed in their entrepreneurial attempts. The moment you have the necessary resources you become a little lazier, more indulgent with you and those around you".

According to Mrs. Chiriac, "being an entrepreneur means perseverance, an irresistible wish to end the fiscal year in the black, not to lay off people, to have money for wages, to handle all the challenges".

He said: "Most people who are content with being employees are lacking initiative or they have a fear that they will not be able to deal with the hardships, because entrepreneurship is not easy or carefree. You may find end the end of the year that you have to shut the firm down and go down a different road and not everybody has this ability".

The "Female Entrepreneurship. Women in power - a better world" conference, held yesterday at the World Trade Center in Bucharest, brought together over 100 entrepreneur women from various lines of business, who discussed the hardships and satisfactions that they have encountered throughout their careers.