The Making of RomAdvice - Part 1

Whilst the idea of starting a company in Romania had been around for a while, it was only by the end of the summer that three fellow ecademists -- Christian De Neef, Luc Geukens, and Filip Hamerlinck -- decided to give it a try. As such, the conception of RomAdvice can be placed somewhere in the second half of August 2006.

Following a series of internal meetings to define overall approach, high level strategy, intended positioning on the marketplace, etc., initial ideas were tested with representatives of the UNCJR on August 31. The UNCJR -- Uniunea Nationala a Consiliilor Judetene din Romania -- in Brussels represents the interests of the Romanian counties at the European Community. More than just a validation of our ideas, this first meeting also allowed establishing valuable contacts for the future, especially in Argeş, Braşov, and Vâlcea counties.

During the month of September, individual meetings with Romanian representatives in Brussels continued, the decision was taken to organize an exploratory visit to Bucharest and some of the above counties; we also found a Belgian partner that would eventually help us with the administrative and other requirements for setting up a company...

The dates for our first Romanian trip were decided: September 23-30, the same week as the Sommet de la Francophonie, which we didn't know when making our travel arrangements of course! ;-)

Continued below,

Filip, Luc, Christian.