How 12 people grew a business from 1m to 100m euros in full crisis

KDF Energy is a company few people had heard of until this year, but which in 2009, a period of insolvencies and bankruptcies, managed to lift its turnover 100 times, from 1m to 100m euros. George Brăiloiu, owner of the business that sells carbon certificates, says the sum is not big at all considering turnovers revolve around billions of euros. KDF Energy was set up in 2002, initially operating in the field of electricity consultancy. Carbon certificates are a kind of pollution rights 229 companies of Romania receive for free during 2008-2012 period. The idea is that companies should invest a lot to modernise installations to the end of cutting CO2 emissions as starting 2013 certificates are no longer allotted for free. KDF's portfolio currently includes 50-60 clients from fields such as energy, steel, the chemical industry, glass or cement. "For this year, we initially planned to double our turnover, but volumes have dropped so much, that we hope we can maintain our 2009 figures," said Brăiloiu. The company wants to reach this target by entering new market segments.