METRO's Commitment to Business Owners Continues Unabated: On International Women's Day METRO Cash & Carry Romania is Supporting Girls Born in Bucharest with Starting Capital

- With this campaign METRO continues the series of initiatives dedicated to support Romanian business owner and independent businesses. All initiatives lead to Own Business Day, the day dedicated to pay tribute to own businesses, which will take place this year on 8^th October

- On the occasion of International Women's Day, METRO Cash & Carry Romania launches the campaign Own Business Girls to support "little girl entrepreneurs", as the continuation of the initiative launched in Germany is called in Romania

- METRO Cash & Carry Romania, in partnership with Banca Comercială Română (BCR), offers to all little girls born in Bucharest, on 8 March 2019, a cheque gift in amount of 1,500 Euro, to support their dream of becoming business owners when they turn eighteen

- The initiative is based on the results of the International Own Business Study commissioned by METRO in 10 countries including Romania. The results show that only 6% of women in Romania who expressed interest in starting their own business, believe it is very likely that they will indeed dare to take this step

BUCHAREST, Romania, March 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the study commissioned by METRO in Romania, 64% of women want to open their own business, but only 6% have confidence that they put this idea into practice. The problems which feed this distrust are financial: A quarter (25%) of female business owners say that raising funds as well as the lack of financial support are the most difficult challenges in starting and running a business.

That is why METRO Romania and BCR come to prevent these difficulties and encourage the female entrepreneurship by the initiative Little Girls Entrepreneurs. Thus, each little girl born in the maternity hospitals of Bucharest on International Women's Day, will receive the amount of 1,500 Euro, under the form of cheque gift. The money will be deposited in a bank account, which the little girls will be able to access to fulfil any dream after they reach the age of 18 years old.

The purpose of the initiative is to offer women a real support in the starting of their own business. The campaign is carried out in all the maternity hospitals from the capital.

"With the same desire to help the Romanian business owners, which you already know from Own Business Day, we launched today, on 8^th March, the campaign Own Business Girls. This time we encourage the female business owner by offering with our partner BCR a gift in amount of 1,500 Euro to all little girls born on Women's Day, in the maternity hospitals in Bucharest, so that when they reach their majority age they can fulfil any dream," declares Marina Zara, Head of Marketing and Communications METRO Cash & Carry Romania.

"We are happy that we can contribute to this initiative which will consolidate over the years a new generation of young business owner. Romania needs people with self-confidence and female business owner from our country have already undertaken this role to bring confidence that Romanians can succeed by own forces to have a better life," declares Ionuț Stanimir, Head of Marketing and Communication Banca Comercială Română.

How does the Own Business Girls campaign work?

The parents of the little girls born in the maternity hospitals in Bucharest on 8^th March 2019 can send an e-mail to [email protected], by which they express the desire to participate in the campaign. The email has to contain: copy of the birth certificate of the little girl and the consent form received with the birth of the little girl, completed and signed.

The deadline for enrolment is 8^th April 2019.

Further information about the campaign is available on www.metro.ro and www.bcr.ro

The International Own Business Study shows also other essential aspects regarding the female entrepreneurs of Romania and the way in which they choose to manage their business.

Even if there are enough obstacles to the start of a business, most female business owners in Romania (97%) declared that if they were to return in time, they would open again a business, without hesitation.

This conclusion emphasizes that entrepreneurship is an option that more and more women consider – women who want to develop their career by managing their own business.  

If in the past one said that you cannot do two things at the same time, modern women come to dismantle this myth. Most of Romanian women who participated in the study are at the same time mothers and successful business owner. 76% of them successfully divide their time between managing a business and the growth of their children. Although, according to the study, half of the women in Romania who own a business use their income to support their family, only 4% of them listed getting rich as reason for starting a business. 44% of female business owners in Romania declare that they run their business because they want to earn a living doing something that makes them happy.

In addition, the modern female business owners in Romania highlight the importance of technology in the management and running of a business. About 91% of them claim that digital tools are essential to run an independent business day-to-day. 48% of them implemented an electronic payment system for their business, 23% use a digital system for the management of their business and 25% receive feedback from their customers by a digital instrument. Also, 47% choose that their business should be present on the social media.

Further details about the International Own Business Study in Romania are available on www.metro.ro.

The International Own Business Study of 2018 was commissioned by METRO on the occasion of Own Business Day in Romania, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkey on a basis of 10,000 respondents among whom 1,500 business owners. In Romania, the sample included 1.000 respondents, including 150 entrepreneurs.

METRO is a leading international wholesale company with food and non-food assortments that specialises on serving the needs of hotels, restaurants and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent traders. Around the world, METRO has some 24 million customers who can choose whether to shop in one of the large-format stores, order online and collect their purchases at the store or have them delivered. METRO in addition also supports the competitiveness of entrepreneurs and own businesses with digital solutions and thereby contributes to cultural diversity in retail and hospitality. Sustainability is a key pillar of METRO's business. METRO has been the sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the last four years. The company operates in 35 countries and employs more than 150,000 people worldwide. In financial year 2017/18, METRO generated sales of €36.5 billion. In September 2018 METRO AG initiated the divestment process for the food retail chain Real with its 34,000 employees. For more information, please visit www.metroag.de.

METRO Cash & Carry Romania was officially launched in Romania in October 1996, by opening the first distribution center in Bucharest. The METRO stores in Romania are distributed as follows: 5 centers in Bucharest, 2 centers in Braşov, Constanţa, Timişoara and one center in each of the following cities: Cluj, Bacău, Iaşi, Craiova, Baia Mare, Pitești, Galaţi, Ploieşti, Oradea, Sibiu, Suceava, Tg. Mureş, Arad, Deva, Satu Mare, Piatra Neamţ, Buzău, Târgovişte and Turda. Further information is available on: www.metro.ro.

Media Contact

Marina Zara
Head of Marketing & Communication
METRO Cash & Carry Romania
E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] 
+40-31423-4171

SOURCE METRO AG