Ilie Vonica of Sibiu, owner of Polisano drug distributor, 17 years ago started doing business in the pharmaceutical field after having borrowed part of the money from friends. Today, the group he runs has around 1,500 employees and an over 200m-euro annual turnover.
Together with Ioan Ciolan, owner of Ambient construction materials distributor, and Ilie Carabulea, owner of Atlassib holding and Banca Carpatica, Vonica is one of the most powerful people in Sibiu. Though he has a manager for each company and even one for the entire group, he says he gets involved in each business, but also makes time for consultations.
"One must structure one's business depending on the market and competition. One cannot come up with dogmas," says Ilie Vonica in one of his few press interviews.
In 1992, he opened the first polyclinic in Sibiu. "Financially, my own funds were not enough, so that I also resorted to loans. It was a small polyclinic in a 4-room house, to which I subsequently added two rooms. There were 6 medical offices and a lab. I had four doctors in the beginning, then 50 and so on," Vonica recalls.
The list of fields he invested in includes drug distribution and import, private clinics, dialysis centres, in vitro fertilisation centres. He thought of buying Antibiotice Iasi when it was put up for sale, but he is also involved in the real estate and automotive fields.
He says at that time he did not think of a national network and had no concrete expansion plans. The first money from medical services came after several months.
"I then thought of doing something else in this field. So I started with pharmaceutical distribution in 1994, and then imports one year later".
Polisano group, one of the strongest in the pharmaceutical industry, has been wooed by several investors over time. "I did not want to sell. I believe I can grow the firms of the group on my own, to drive them to the leading positions in the industries they are present in. They are already top five players (...)", Vonica says.
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