STARTUP MINDSET GAINING CLOUT IN LOCAL CORPORATE CULTURE

Being agile and innovative are two key principles for startups, but a growing number of large companies are also harnessing the entrepreneurial spirit, with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motto “move fast and break things” becoming increasingly popular among big corporations.

By Ovidiu Posirca

culture can’t promote entrepreneurship. These firms can have mentorship programmes and encourage entrepreneurship among their employees. A growing number of big companies are taking part in local programmes designed to accelerate or incubate new businesses, while corporates can also source products or services from startups.

Innovation is not something that only startups can generate, and just as a startup can learn from a big company, the reverse is also true, says Dan Mihaescu, founding partner of GapMinder VC, which has ongoing investments in dozens of local startups.

“More and more companies are talking about agile teams and mindsets within their organisations, which are attributes that are fundamental to startups. They are aware of the benefits of such a vision, but the bigger the company, the more complex it is to stir,” Mihaescu told BR.

Some large companies have their own research & development (R&D) operations as well as strategy departments. Taking over a startup that has a fresh approach in an industry is also a serious option for established players.

“For companies that need a new technology or product, the fastest way to achieve that is to acquire a startup, but large companies need to develop internal entrepreneurship so that talented employees can deliver new products and services,” says Ionut Sas, partner at professional services firm PwC Romania.

Innovation is of major interest for heads of financial departments in large companies, who can allocate funding for such endeavors. This effort is becoming critical as firms of all sizes are looking to recover after the lockdown and the COVID-19 crisis.

Some 63 percent of Chief Financial Officers (CFO) surveyed by PwC cite offering new or enhanced products or services as the most important factor for business recovery. CFOs are also not very likely to cut their planned R&D investments (14 percent) or digital transformation investment (11 percent), which corresponds with findings about their plans to

Companies across the local economy are starting to internalise some of the processes championed by startups

Usually, corporations have tighter risk management policies, but this doesn’t mean that their corporate

accelerate automation, adds Sas of PwC. LOCAL BIG FIRMS’ APPROACH TO THE STARTUP MINDSET Companies across the local economy are starting to internalise some of the processes championed by startups, while some firms are working with startups directly or promoting entrepreneurship inside their own industries.

Professional services firm Deloitte works with many startups, aiming to support their development and the creation of a technology ecosystem.

“Scalability and disruption are core objectives for startups and, during these collaborations, we learned and adopted a more entrepreneurial mindset, contributing to reinforcing Deloitte’s mission, which is to make an impact that matters,” Andrei Ionescu, partner-in-charge, management consulting and risk advisory at Deloitte Romania and TMT industry leader, told BR.

In the retail business, Kaufland has an open culture of mistakes, which means that if you are in a management position, it is important not to feel that you are the best at everything. The same vision applies for the relationship with partners, according to Valer Hancas, communication and corporate affairs director at Kaufland Romania.

“Due to the open culture of mistakes we have at Kaufland, I can say that our departments function as startups, with each colleague being encouraged to act as a small entrepreneur, who receives the space and resources to put their ideas into practice, no matter how brave those ideas are, if they take responsibility,” Hancas told BR.

Kaufland, which is the biggest retailer in Romania with 132 hypermarkets and over 15,000 employees, has also teamed up with local entrepreneurial initiatives in the agriculture sector. The company has created the Tara Mea agricultural cooperative, which initially had about 30 small farmers. In 5 years, the cooperative grew to more than 1,000 farmers, who can sell their products in Kaufland stores.

“We can say that this collaboration has helped us to have a better in-depth understanding on the real needs of small and medium farmers, to increase the number of local products on the shelf and even to diversify our product ranges, supporting farmers to produce in other categories,” says Hancas. This has also helped the retailer shorten the supply chain and guarantee freshness to its customers.

In the banking field, ING Bank Romania is working with startups at multiple levels, from supporting the startup ecosystem in Romania through programmes like Startarium to partnering up with multiple local fintechs and more than 160 globally to incubate innovation. “In some cases, we even spin-off such businesses that then tackle the wider market – take for instance the very recent example of Dealwise in Romania. This has a direct impact in our day to day, as we need to shape our way of working so that such innovation is quickly adopted. Therefore, in recent years we have created our own Agile way of working, which is now the status quo and an innovation methodology that enables us to capture, prototype, and then productize new ideas. Technology is now lowering the market entrance thresholds and rapidly blurring out the traditional industry boundaries,” Razvan Sighinas, chief information officer at ING Bank Romania, told BR.

Meanwhile, financial services firm Allianz-Tiriac sees continuous learning and the growth mindset as some of the most important characteristics of startups that large companies should also try to implement to remain competitive. The firm is part of the German Allianz Group, which has a digital arm for investments in innovative startups in the insurance business.

Samsung, which is the biggest maker of

smartphones and memory chips in the world, stays close to the tech startup community in Romania through its Changeneers programme. The company also supports a place where startups can use Samsung devices to test their ideas in real situations.

“Samsung is not only looking at startups’ experiences, but also helps them grow by giving them access to technology and information,” Simona Panait, Samsung’s marketing director for Romania and Bulgaria, told BR. In the e-commerce field, eMAG has recently launched a new delivery service called Tazz, which was initially meant for food but quickly expanded to other categories, ranging from books to gadgets. “Both eMAG and Tazz are technology companies with strong entrepreneurial mindsets. We are data-driven and our new projects and ideas have a strong research component. Furthermore, both eMAG and Tazz have an organisational culture that encourages employees to test their ideas, as we encourage a trial and error approach. Usually, good ideas occur when the team’s creativity is not inhibited. Moreover, we both have the advantage that we can test our ideas and turn them to reality very quickly,” Alin Serban, the CEO of Tazz by eMAG, told BR. In the consulting field, for the last 6 years, PwC has been holding

an internal global innovation challenge that covers a wide array of industries ranging from cyber-security to machine learning and geospatial technology. In last year’s edition, the competition recorded 4,300 participants from 36 countries and 273 inventions.

Romanian market ready for new delivery startups

As the market for delivery services hit the EUR 1 billion mark in 2019, the industry is going through a series of challenges triggered by the ongoing coronavirus epidemic. Delivery platforms, some operated by startups, have relieved some of the pressure on firms that were worst hit by the lockdown orders, especially in the food business. Players are gradually adapting to the new market demands generated by the medical crisis, and new delivery startups might enter Romania going forward.

By Ovidiu Posirca

Established players doing solely delivery services need to adopt a competitive strategy

Just in the past few months, the Uber Eats delivery platform left Romania, e-commerce player eMAG launched its quick delivery service Tazz, and ride-haling startup Bolt launched its food delivery service in Bucharest as well as a separate delivery service for companies. Some of these deals have been shaped by the coronavirus crisis, which is already starting to change the way in which Romanians choose to work, shop or spend their free time.

Globally, the on-demand food ordering and delivery market recorded two major deals that had an impact on both the European and the US markets. Just Eat Takeaway, which is also present in Romania, took over US-based Grubhub in a USD 7.8 billion merger, while Uber bought online food ordering company Postmates for USD 2.65 billion.

FROM FAST FOOD TO FAST EVERYTHING Last year, investments in European food logistics and delivery businesses reached EUR 1.6 billion, according to the The Sift Report 2020. Deliveroo is the best-funded delivery startup in Europe, having attracted more than half a billion euros in fresh funding last year. The company is not present in Romania. The second spot belongs to Glovo, the startup founded in Barcelona. The firm got over EUR 300 million in new funding last year to boost its expansion plans and it is already one of the key delivery startup players in Romania. “There is room on the local market for new delivery startups to ride the wave of the ondemand economy boosted by the pandemic. In Romania, the pandemic accelerated the adoption of card payments, the increase of on-demand goods and services, the digitalization of state-owned companies, the penetration of remote education, and many others,” Cristian Munteanu, managing partner of Early Game Ventures (EGV), told BR. In urban areas, competition is getting fiercer on the delivery market, with large established players and startups looking to attract consumers who expect to get their favourite products on time. Lines are starting to blur

between partner drivers of ride-sharing apps, people delivering your order by bike, and employees of traditional delivery firms. All the changes in the delivery industry are taking place because incumbents have failed to properly service the market, suggests Munteanu of EGV fund.

“New delivery startups or the delivery arms of players in other industries such as restaurants or ride-sharing companies all come with a new and innovative approach. New features, more convenience, more affordable prices, greater delivery speed: everything is to the benefit of customers and all is welcome,” says the managing partner.

Even before the onset of the coronavirus crisis, some 38 percent of people surveyed by PwC for a global consumer report said that they would pay for a delivery of groceries that took less than two hours.

“We are seeing retailers making huge efforts to improve this situation, and the past several months have seen a variety of innovative, unlikely partnerships in the grocery segment,” Ruxandra Tarlescu, partner at PwC Romania, told BR. For instance, Kaufland inked a delivery deal with startup Glovo, while Carrefour has relied on its own delivery arm, Bringo. Tarlescu suggested that the home delivery segment will continue to gain a foothold and we might see more retailers and restaurants providing these options to consumers.

Three years after acquiring delivery firm Same Day, eMAG expanded its presence in this segment by transforming a food delivery platform called EuCeMananc into a new service called Tazz by eMAG, which aims to make deliveries in less than 1 hour.

“The growth of our business was accelerated because we realised that our consumers needed our support more quickly than we had predicted. Nowadays, under harsh conditions like the pandemic, consumers need an extended offer of delivery services which will help them spend as little time as possible outdoors. We had been thinking about diversifying our offer since last year, but our plans turned into reality faster than we had initially planned,” Alin Serban, the CEO of Tazz by eMAG, told BR.

The company will soon start to deliver books, gifts, and DYI products, after expanding its offering with electro-IT products from eMAG but also with pharma, sport, and beauty products.

The company was able to move faster because it leveraged the experience of its inhouse technology team and aims to be present in at least 30 cities by the end of the year. “Currently, most of our revenue is generated by the food delivery segment, so we plan to continue investing in devel

oping our other delivery segments as well,” Serban says. He quotes a recent study which states that in the next 5 years, 90 percent of the urban population will no longer cook at home. Revenues for online food delivery in Europe could climb to USD 25 billion by 2023, with annual doubledigit growth rates, according to professional services firm Deloitte.

As the general trend of migration towards the online world is here to stay, there are many opportunities in the underlying layer of delivery that supports online retail development, GapMinder VC founding partner Dan Mihaescu told BR. The fund has invested in Frisbo, a startup that provides e-fulfillment services assisted by high-tech, becoming an interface between retailers and fulfillers. GapMinder has also provided seed funding to another startup, which uses machine learning to optimise last mile delivery for retailers. “Not every shop will decide to have its own delivery service, as it is not feasible. Not all ride-sharing players that will try delivery will be successful or become efficient within a reasonable timeframe,” Mihaescu comments on the latest developments on the local delivery market.

Starting to do deliveries as a side business while enhancing your core business might not guarantee success. Ciprian Gavriliu, tax partner at professional services firm Deloitte Romania and leader of the automotive industry, says that ride-sharing companies enjoy the advantages of an extensive fleet of cars, electric scooters, and even bikes. But this is only one part of the story. “Nevertheless, such a network, ensuring geographical coverage and fast mobility, does not guarantee success on the delivery market, as was the case for Uber, when the company decided to withdraw its delivery services from the Romanian market,” Gavriliu told BR.

He concludes that established players doing solely delivery services need to adopt a competitive strategy, without neglecting customer satisfaction and the quality and speed of their services.

The state of waste management in Romania: Plenty of work remains to be done

Waste recycling and the circular economy are among the most important issues in the European Union. All member states must comply with the European Commission’s policies, and Romania has yet to meet many of the requirements. As a result, the European Commission has opened several infringement proceedings against Romania for pollution, wood management, and waste management. In mid-May, the Commission sent a letter urging Romania to take several actions, including “to close, seal, and ecologically restore 48 illegal landfills and to comply with the judgement of the Court of Justice of the EU of October 18, 2018.”

By Aurel Constantin

The court decision referred to 68 landfills in Romania, of which only 20 have been permanently closed so far. But for the others, the required closure, sealing, and regeneration works had not even been planned at the beginning of this year. Through its formal notification letter, the Commission gave Romania four months to address the situation (two months longer than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

As one month has already gone by since the EC issued the letter and no solutions have yet been made public, Business Review asked Romanian authorities to provide all the available information about waste management in Romania, and what has been done so far in terms of collection and recycling and where our country stands in the European context.

The Environment, Waters and Forests Ministry provided answers to our questions as we tried to get a full picture of how the system works. There are 13 organisations in the country tasked with implementing the extended manufacturer liability policy for packaging placed on the Romanian market, known as OIREPs. Among them are names like Clean Recycle, Eco Synergy, Fepra International, Greenpoint Management, and Enviro Pack Consult.

OIREPs work with Intercommunity Development Associations (ADIs); there are currently 39 ADI organisations established in Romania for integrated waste management at county level. In most counties, ADIs are set up by the county councils and town halls, the institutions dealing with waste management in their respective areas.

County councils are the beneficiaries of Integrated Waste Management System (SMID) projects, while ADI manage project implementation. At the country level, 32 integrated waste management projects have been approved to finance prevention, separate collection, recovery, recycling, waste treatment and disposal, in parallel with the closure of non-compliant landfills.

Through the SMID projects carried out in most of Romania’s counties, investments were made in sanitation infrastructure, namely in waste collection equipment – mostly bins or vans for recyclable waste collection –, individual composting units, transfer stations, treatment plants, composting plants, sorting plants, TMB installations, and compliant warehouses.

The duties of ADIs regarding SMID projects are to implement proposals by establishing or extending, organising, managing, and operating services for the common interest, including delegating management based on the conditions of delegation contracts or public procurement procedures, in accordance with applicable law.

ADIs are also tasked with jointly promoting, financing, and implementing programmes to establish, upgrade, rehabilitate, and manage public sanitation services and related public utility systems in their associated territorial units.

SMIDs are also meant to develop the institutional and decisional capacity of local public authorities, members of the Association and to coordinate planning at the local and county level, by preparing and approving waste management strategies. Last but not least, through their members, SMIDs must sign contracts to delegate the operation of new infrastructure.

ADI AND OIREP ORGANISATIONS While defining the roles and responsibilities of ADIs and OIREPs within the extended manufacturer liability schemes, OIREPs must ensure the recycling/recovery of municipal packaging waste, which gets collected, transported, and sorted by the Administrative Territorial Unit (UAT) based on an official collaboration agreement. OIREPs must pay the UAT/ADI the full amount of the net costs related to the separate collection, transport, and sorting of municipal packaging waste as well as to the financing of awareness

campaigns to promote waste recycling/recovery. In the case of UATs, for certain types of sorted packaging waste which represent materials with a negative market value, the responsibility lies entirely with the OIREPs, which must provide recycling/recovery of materials, including transport logistics, at their own expense.

For packaging waste generated from industrial and commercial activities which has a positive market value, OIREPs must pay collectors the amount related to the cost of reporting packaging waste volumes and ensuring their traceability, until the waste enters the final recycling/recovery process. For packaging waste with a negative market value, OIREPs must give waste generators the opportunity to hand over their waste free of charge to waste carriers which are selected by OIREPs. In such cases, OIREPs must cover transport operators’ costs as well as the recycling/recovery costs for operators who

carry out such operations. The collaboration between ADIs and OIREPs is deficient, mainly as a result of the non-application or misinterpretation of legislative requirements and a misunderstanding of each party’s responsibilities. The main issues identified

in the collaboration between UAT/ADIs and OIREPs are: the separate tariffs for recyclable waste management, used to calculate the net costs paid by OIREPs, are not correctly substantiated; OIREPs only pay for the amount of packaging waste that actually gets recovered and not for the amount that gets collected and sorted, which leads to low revenues for UAT/ADIs, given the very low recycling/recovery rates; UAT/ADIs do not calculate users’ separate revenues, ultimately paying more for the management of recyclable waste than for the management of other types of waste. In this context, only 7 ADIs – Arges, Calarasi, Iasi, Mures, Olt, Salaj, and Sibiu – have contracts in place with OIREPs.

RECYCLING IN 2019 The recycling rate of municipal waste reached 13.89 percent, totalling 739,384 tonnes, according to the Annual Report on the State of the Environment for 2018 issued by the National Environmental Protection Agency (ANPM). According to the information available in the National Waste Management Plan (PNGD) during the analysis period, the degree of separate collection of municipal waste varied between 3.2 percent and 5.3 percent. Both the ANRSC (National Regulatory Authority for Community Public Utility Services) and the GNM (National Envi

ronmental Guard) performed checks among UATs regarding the application of waste management legislation.

In 2019, the GNM carried out 2,512 unscheduled inspections (2,380 at local public administrations, 52 at road/railway administrators, 4 at Intercommunity Development Associations and 76 at sanitation operators).

Following these inspections, authorities identified 3,837 sites with un

controlled landfills, with a total area of 1,384,980 square meters, and 495 cases of failure to submit mandatory declarations to the Environmental Fund. Following the inspections, the GNM handed out 195 warnings and 485 minor offense fines, amounting to a total of RON 3,477,801. At the national level, UATs have started to update sanitation contracts by introducing performance indicators in order to streamline operations, implement separate municipal waste collection, and account for contributions to the circular economy.

HIGH-PERFORMING COUNTIES IN WASTE MANAGEMENT Integrated waste management projects carried out so far have provided financing for all waste management activities, including closure of non-compliant landfills. SMIDs are currently operational in the following counties: Arad, Arges, Bacau, Botosani, Bihor, Bistrita, Calarasi, Covasna, Giurgiu, Neamt, Olt, Prahova, Salaj, Sibiu, Teleorman, Timis, and Vaslui. Of the 32 projects, 17 required phasing out investments and continuing them within the Large Infrastructure Operational Programme, so as to provide both the amounts needed to cover the funding gap as well as to achieve project objectives and implement policy in this sector.

The SMID master plan has been developed and approved in the following counties: Alba, Arad, Arges, Bacau, Bihor, Bistrita Nasaud, Botosani, Braila, Calarasi, Caras-Severin, Cluj, Constanta, Covasna, Dambovita, Dolj, Giurgiu, Gorj, Harghita, Hunedoara, Iasi, Maramures, Mehedinti, Mures, Neamt,

Olt, Prahova, Satu Mare, Salaj, Sibiu, Suceava, Teleorman, Timis, Tulcea, Vaslui, Valcea, and Vrancea. Delays in the implementation of integrated waste management systems occurred either due to the complexity of projects or to delayed or even gridlocked tenders for such investments. Factors that can cause problems in SMID implementation are insufficient technical endowment and a lack of financial means due to high tariffs or fees applied to users of the service. Other identified causes are the lack of correlation of duties across the chain and the lack of involvement from operators.

As for the infrastructure created through SMID projects, there are issues related to delays in the execution of works and compli

ance with contract conditions. Some of the equipment that has been purchased is either insufficient or already outdated due to the new targets, which means there is a need to purchase additional equipment to efficiently operate the system. The quality of services reflects the availability of financial resources, and these are limited.

LANDFILLS TO BE CLOSED According to the Environment Ministry, there are 12 municipal landfills that still need to be closed. Ten administrativeterritorial units (UATs) have requested funding to shut down their landfills through the designated programme, which is managed by the Environmental Fund Administration (AFM), and all these applications have already been approved.

There are also 36 industrial waste landfills that still need to be closed (12 landfills with non-hazardous industrial waste and 24 with hazardous industrial waste). Of the 12 landfills non-hazardous industrial waste landfills, UATAA Motru in Gorj County was closed without a final inspection; the final validation by the construction inspection authority has not yet been issued. There are also two deposits in the process of being closed: SMR SA, currently SC VESPA

INVESTMENTS & CONSULTING SRL (78 percent completed) and Celhart Donaris, Braila county, 65 percent completed.

For four other landfills, waste is being recovered by authorised facilities to prepare for final closure: Saturn SA (72 percent completed); ISPAT Sidex SA in Galati County (formerly Arcelor Mittal Galati) (currently LIBERTY GALATI), where slag recovery works have been completed and reprocessing works are being carried out to increase scrap sorting rates, at a completion rate of 16 percent.

At Forever SRL in Hunedoara county, slag recovery works are at 62 percent completion, while at Feral SA in Tulcea County recovery works have been 66 percent completed. Somes SA in Cluj County used its own funds to begin site organisational works to enable closure works. The Carbid Fox SA deposit in Mures County is in the process of clarifying its legal status in order to finance the shutdown using EU funds.

CAROM SA in Bacau County is in the process of obtaining a building permit to shut down the landfill and perform field greening. Elnav SA in Galati County is looking to obtain an environmental agreement and building

permit, while Energo Tech SRL in Brasov County has completed half of its shutdown process. There are 24 hazardous industrial waste landfills in the country. One deposit in the process of closing – SC Azomures SA in

Mures County (85 percent completed), while two others will soon be closed as well.

Two landfills are in the process of capitalising their waste ahead of closing: Turnu SA in Teleorman County, where recovery works are 60 percent completed, and Sometra SA in Sibiu County, where works are 15.5 percent completed. Rafinaria Vega Ploiesti in Prahova County has started its shutdown process. However, 17 landfills have not yet started works to close down; they are at various stages such as completing technical projects, obtaining environmental agreements, setting environmental requirements, bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings, change of ownership involving additional regulatory documents, absence of a closure project, uncertain legal status of land or simplified closure applications. In 2019, the GNM carried out 39,429 inspections related to pollution control and biodiversity, biosecurity, and protected natural areas, reaching a 110 percent completion rate for its initial inspection plan for the year. As a result of the checks, 1,575 warnings and 3,288 fines were handed out, to the total of RON 55.6 million. Furthermore, 219 shutdown orders and 44 criminal complaints resulted from the inspection operations.

Call for Leaders | Sergiu Zaharia (Huawei): 5G security standards are already in place

Cyber security has become very important to everybody in recent years thanks to IT departments and telecommunication specialists, who had been asking for better security measures for a long time. “I could say that we are the victims of our own success,” said Sergiu Zaharia, Chief Security Officer at Huawei, during a new Call for Leaders video conference hosted by Business Review.

By Aurel Constantin

“10 or 15 years ago, the message from IT security departments was that security should be on the management’s agenda. Now it is on their agenda. And, of course, there is also a boomerang effect, since now there is a lot of pressure on IT security teams,” Zaharia noted.

But this change is normal, as all business processes need to be secured. “Security has migrated from the IT and network area to the business resilience area. We have all managed to get to the same message about the importance of security, and not just in the private sector, but also in public institutions. There is obviously a lot of work to do, with tasks coming directly from management,” he added. 4G technology benefitted from the work of researchers and specialists who tried to discover its vulnerabilities, including people in the defence sector, who looked for solutions to every security issue. But 4G came with good security features compared to previous versions. Now, 5G comes with even more security, with a standard level of security. “When we talk about 5G, we don’t think about today’s attacks, but about future attacks. The encryption algorithms implemented in 4G were on 128 bits. Today, the quantum computers that will soon appear will reduce the scope of a 128-bit cryptographic system to a 64-bit one. A 64-bit crypto can be broken very quickly now. That is why one of the measures was to increase to a standard of 256 bits, so that when quantum systems appear, it will still be secure,” Sergiu Zaharia explained.

Huawei’s Chief Security Officer highlights the fact that there are some issues with asymmetric security systems, identification through third-party devices, but those issues are not specific to 5G technology. “5G has already thought about implementation and enough measures have already been developed to protect communications, which are the standard for the entire industry. The problem occurs in vertical industries; there we each must come up with specific solutions. There will be a lot of work to adapt solutions to industries such as healthcare,” he noted.

“From very small systems like the ones we have at home (phones, TVs, etc.) to complex systems like connected car infrastructures, which Germany is looking to implement, they all have vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. Maybe I’m less interested in the home, but if I’m managing a military system, I have to ensure maximum security. If we talk about connected cars, we first have the car’s own system, then the system that allows the car to connect to streets and cities, then the cloud system through which it works,” the Huawei official added.

All these systems must follow technical standards at the product level to meet safety requirements, and then an industry standard will be required. “For example, in the

connected car there are standards for each part of the car. It’s all based on the concept of zero trust, meaning I don’t need to trust the security of a light bulb or another car part that connects to the cloud. Products must have their own security and communication to any other device must be encrypted. Standards and solutions exist, now all we need is implementation,” said Zaharia.

There are also security solutions for the “technologies of the future”, like AI, cloud, virtual reality, augmented reality. “Even in the machine learning area, there has been research that showed that you can build a system using a malicious “teacher” or tamper with the programme database so that it works incorrectly. There are protection solutions for these systems as well. There will certainly be new things to implement, but mixed teams of specialists from each field will be needed to find effective solutions,” he argued.

“Unfortunately, there will always be attacks; a new type of attack appears every week, and specialists must keep up with new threats,” Zaharia concluded.

Employee benefits could provide glimmer of hope to local tourism industry

With many countries still keeping their doors closed to tourists due to the pandemic, Romanians only seem to be left with the staycation option – both to stay safe as well as to help the tourism sector, which has been hugely affected by the crisis. BR talked to Sven Marinus, the CEO of Sodexo Pass Romania, to find out how corporate employee benefits could make a real impact in the industry.

By Oana Vasiliu

The Sodexo Turist Pass was launched in 2018. How have you adapted it for 2020? We worked to further develop the Turist Pass vouchers which had been available since 2009, and in 2018 we launched the Tourist Pass card to support digitalization efforts. Holiday vouchers are a great support tool for tourism in Romania and we have done our best to make them as easy to use as possible for consumers, at our partner accommodation units and travel agencies. At the end of 2019, we upgraded the card offer with a mobile option, which can be used with Apple Pay and Android Pay, greatly improving the consumer experience.

We have also upgraded the SodexoCard mobile app, making it easier for users to find a place to stay, and also including options to buy online from travel agencies and guesthouses which have a web presence. The Turist Pass is a great chance to get to know our country better and discover those special places and hidden spots that can become favourite destinations.

How many cards/paper vouchers did you issue this year? Has the pandemic crisis impacted employer benefits programmes? We had record card issuance rates in this period, as tourism vouchers have been exclusively card-based since April, and meal cards issuance rates have also increased, with 85 percent of such vouchers being issued on cards.

The Tourism minister started a campaign to encourage companies in both the public and private sectors to grant vouchers to their employees, and we tried to respond to this request. We are also investing in B2B communication as a tool to recognise employees’ efforts, while still offering compensations and benefits in optimal cost conditions. Many of our clients think that good employees need to be rewarded at all cost, but even more so for those working in difficult conditions.

Through the mobile application, which has been downloaded by almost 1 million users in Romania, we can promote new partnerships to enable Turist Pass voucher and card users to book holidays in Romania and Gusto Pass card users to place and pay orders at restaurants using their mobile phones. More than 100 partnerships are available today and the more recent ones includes digital travel platform booking.com and the mobilPay Delivery programme (for Gusto Pass holders).

How many accommodation units receive your Turist Pass? What is the most wanted type of holiday? We have a very large network and partnerships with almost all travel agencies in Romania, which offer our holiday card users

thousands of holiday locations to choose from. As for destinations, most people have chosen to book a holiday inside the country and I believe that over the coming year, most tourists will continue to stay local. The most popular destination for the summer is Eforie Nord, while Tasnad is the most wanted destination.

Has the number of companies offering Turist Pass benefits increased this year? How about the number of accommodation units taking this form of payment? Both numbers have increased and we are getting more and more requests from guesthouses and hotels who want to introduce the Turist Pass payment option, because consumers are asking for this facility. We work with all the main travel agencies in Romania so they can very easily provide assistance and recommendations, but when people want to book or pay directly through the accommodation unit, we recommend that they contact us so we can set up the payment terminals.