Businessman Dan Lazarescu (photo), 61, former manager and shareholder of the private services supplier Medicover and software company TotalSoft, has invested over 1.7 million euros in a hemp processing plant, which will produce natural products such as hemp oil and hemp flour. "In 2005, I exited all my business in Romania, the most important of which were Totalsoft and Medicover. I then applied for the SAPARD funding programme, which encouraged me to start this project and set up the company Canah," Lazarescu told ZF. According to the National Trade Registry, Lazarescu holds 5% of Canah, with Cyprus-based Trolos holding a further 70%. The remaining 25% is held by another Romanian individual. Lazarescu founded Rombel Medical in 1994 and sold the company to Medicover in 1997, at which time he became manager and shareholder until 2005. The businessman did not wish to specify the amount of shares he had held in Medicover and TotalSoft, or the sum collected for these shares. What is certain is that SAPARD will reimburse half of the 1.7 million-euro investments, minus marketing and promotional expenditures. "SAPARD will give back 700,000 euros," stated Lazarescu, who estimates that the company will post a 2.7 million-euro turnover in 2009. Although he is a trained automation engineer, Lazarescu became interested in medical products at Medicover and is now focussing on natural products. "During my trips abroad, I noticed that customers are more and more interested in therapies involving natural products. Hemp, although not very popular at the moment, is gaining ground. In America, you can find hemp products in all the supermarkets, less so in Europe, whilst it is completely absent in Romania," stated Lazarescu.
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