I have never held cash, I do not have any properties and I do not have any money with banks. Children's education, holidays, even the house and cars were all acquired in leasing, and this happens as 97% of annual income was reinvested. This is the business philosophy of Radu Timis, the entrepreneur who now owns a group worth more than 130m euros.
When he decided to start the business he runs now, Timis set off with the thought he cannot start all over again after having lost almost 30,000 dollars trying to develop another two projects. In 2004, he decided a new change was needed in his life and in the CrisTim business and this has proven to be one of the best decisions he has made as an entrepreneur.
"Had the crisis caught us at the level of four years ago, CrisTim wouldn't have survived," says Radu Timis, 47, happy he made the right decision at the right time.
After his first two failed projects, "with no money, I borrowed 700 dollars from another partner and started CrisTim. In two years, I reassessed the partner's stake and gave him 20 times the investment he had put in the business".
Why did he decide to start a charcuterie business, considering his training and previous businesses had no relation with this market segment? "When we opened CrisTim, everybody was selling coffee and we wanted to be different," says Timis.
Timis opened the first charcuterie factory in Bucharest on a 300 square metre area in 1994.
Soon, Timis started to notice the entrepreneurial business model could not support the company's development in the long run. He recounts that before starting reorganising the company, in 2004, CrisTim did not have a management in the true sense of the word.
"The most difficult thing for an entrepreneur is to step down from the management of the business he or she founded. (...) Now, however, I can see the business from outside the circle, and the decisions we make are clearer and more rational. Before, we risked it all," Timis maintains.
The image Timis had about how CrisTim business would look is different from the current image, except one thing. "I wanted to be number one, I've succeeded and I've kept this position".
Timis expects sales increases along all business lines, with 20% growth for the charcuterie unit, to over 95m euros this year.
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