Made in Romania, one of the most successful programs run by the Bucharest Stock Exchange, aims to bring local businesses into the spotlight and help them get acquainted with the mechanisms of the local capital market. “From the very beginning, the mission of the Made in Romania project was to contribute to the economic development of our country,” says Adrian Tanase, CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

Romanian companies can still enroll in the Made in Romania program until the end of May. Then, in June, the Nomination Board will select the 50 semi-finalists of this year. The 15 finalists will be decided by the public vote (3 companies) and the competition’s Jury (12 companies) and will be presented at the Made in Romania Gala.

The whole process was thought to involve companies, experts, and the general public and bring to the front those promising businesses that could become listed companies later on, explains Adrian Tanase.

“A benefit of enrolling in the program is the wider range of funding options opened up to a company for the implementation of development projects. Under the program, the 15 finalist companies will be afforded the unique opportunity of free meetings with the Made in Romania partners to consult about how to further develop their business,” he says.

About 1,000 companies enrolled in the first five editions of the program and 20 of them have already raised capital through the Bucharest Stock Exchange, either through stock or bond offers.

Read the full interview with Adrian Tanase (in opening picture), CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, below:

Please tell us a few things about the Made in Romania program: when was it launched and how does it work?

The Made in Romania program was launched by the Bucharest Stock Exchange in 2017, to support and promote Romanian businesses, by offering them access to a community of experts and consultants to help them grow. The program is complemented by the Made in Romania Platform (www.investingromania.com), which facilitates entrepreneurs’ access to information and contacts, as needed for their further development and growth, by engaging them with most of the funding options. Already at its 6th edition, the project concept has been constantly improved and changed since its creation, being deployed under the slogan ‘We link capital to ideas’. 

The Made in Romania program has a multi-stage structure. The first stage, which is to be completed by the end of May, consists in enrolling companies in the program through self-nomination by those who own a business and nomination of companies by the community developed around the companies, i.e. the employees and partners, as well as by the members of the Nomination Board. A second stage will unfold in June as the period of selection of 50 companies shortlisted in the semi-final by the Nomination Board. From 3 to 31 July, the public will vote on the favourite company among the finalist 50 companies. Thus, among the 50 companies, the public will vote the first 3 winners of the 2023 edition and the Jury will designate the other 12 finalist companies. The 15 finalist local businesses will be awarded at the Made in Romania Awards Gala ceremony. The Made in Romania Mentoring Program, 6th edition, will be implemented between October and November 2023, enabling participation for finalists and semi-finalists, companies nominated in the current edition or companies registering on the program platform. The edition ends with the launch event for the book which will include the success stories of the 15 finalists. 

What does the Bucharest Stock Exchange aim to achieve through the Made in Romania program?

Made in Romania is one of the pillars of the strategy rolled out by the Bucharest Stock Exchange, which discovers and brings Romanian businesses into the spotlight while offering them access to valuable information resources from various fields of activity (finance, organizational culture, strategy and innovation, human resources, corporate governance, branding etc.).

From the very beginning, the mission of the Made in Romania project was to contribute to the economic development of our country.

We would like to engage the general public in this program and for them to join us in the project at the nomination and voting stages as there are plenty of Romanian companies which deliver excellent performance and grow strong communities around them, and which can reap all the benefits of their enrollment in the Made in Romania program, but have not been nominated yet. Thus, with the help of the community of Romanian brands, we hope to find out about as many Romanian businesses as possible through the program nomination stage.

We believe that public engagement is particularly important and hope to see, this year, at least the same amount of interest as on the 2022 edition when there was a record number of nominated companies and total votes. Equally, we hope to reach out to Romanian entrepreneurs who laid the foundation of successful Romanian businesses so that they may learn about the benefits of enrolling in the Made in Romania program, which persuade them to get enrolled therein, and that we may help them promote their business.

What are the benefits for companies that join the Made in Romania program?

The Made in Romania program was devised to contribute to the growth of Romanian businesses while providing them with added visibility, and benefits were designed such as to be useful to their development and to support entrepreneurs and company employees. Thus, the first benefit is the visibility afforded by this program developed by the Bucharest Stock Exchange for the companies that reach the semi-final and the final. On enrolling in the Made in Romania program, companies benefit from exponential visibility and finalists have their exposure ensured throughout the project implementation period as well as afterward, through the communication activities intended for their promotion. Moreover, this high level of visibility ensures that local businesses have the opportunity of being closer to clients and prospects as well as to potential partners or investors.

Another important benefit is access to valuable information. Through the workshops, the representatives of companies enrolled are able to improve their knowledge and to learn about Finances, Organizational Culture, Strategy and Innovation, HR, Corporate Governance, Branding, and many others.

The benefits also include the credibility gained by enrolling in the program, in that, in the nomination and evaluation processes undergone to accede to the program semi-final, companies are assessed on the basis of objective and transparent criteria by the members of the Nomination Board.

Another benefit of enrolling in the program is the wider range of funding options opened up to a company for the implementation of development projects. Under the program, the 15 finalist companies will be afforded the unique opportunity of free meetings with the Made in Romania partners to consult about how to further develop their business.

Which are the top criteria based on which participating companies are judged?

Companies must meet a number of requirements in order to enrol in the program, including: to have a Romanian shareholding of at least 51%, not to be subsidiaries of a foreign company and not to be in the process of listing shares or issuing bonds. Also, companies of all sizes and from all industries and fields of activity are encouraged to be nominated. It is equally important for them to have at least three years of business or for the last year reported to have a recorded turnover of at least EUR 250 000. The complete eligibility criteria can be found in the Guidelines for the Made in Romania Program.

Upon its launching, the Made in Romania program counted among its objectives the creation of a sound business environment; to this end, the nomination and selection of the 50 semi-finalist companies will also take into account criteria such as the company performance in terms of profitability, the annual turnover in the last year reported and the growth rate. Consideration will be given to the relevant performance in previous years, including products launched, prototypes and innovation prospects on niche markets, as well as to whether that company has a project with potential for large-scale extension in the short term.

How many companies have participated in this program since its launch and how many of the alumni have made further steps towards a BVB listing?

The five editions of the Made in Romania program have gathered over 1, 000 companies that were nominated under the Made in Romania program and 20 companies that used the instruments made available by the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Roughly speaking, we have a total of 75 finalist companies enrolled in the Made in Romania program, some of which have remained in the program afterward as partners, supporters, or members of the Nomination Board or the Jury. The total value of the 35 rounds of share funding and bonds issuance with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, completed by the 20 companies, exceeded the amount of EUR 230 million.

How open are private companies in Romania to exploring capital market financing mechanisms nowadays? Has their interest grown in recent years?

The data on the number of companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the increased focus on the capital market attest to a growing interest in the past five years. The local capital market has received increasing attention from companies, while the number of investors follows the same upward trend.

There have been 162 funding rounds between 2019 and 2023, equating to share and bond listing events worth over EUR 6,9 bn in total. During this period, 39 companies have been listed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, 3 of which on the Main Market and the other 36 on the AeRO market, with a cumulated value of EUR 269 bn. At the beginning of this year, one company has transferred from the AeRO to the Regulated Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

As for the number of bonds issued by the companies, 83 corporate bonds worth EUR 3,1 bn were issued in the course of the five years. In the same period, 38 FIDELIS Government securities were issued in the total amount of EUR 3,7 billion and 2 securities were issued by the Bucharest Municipality, through the Bucharest Mayor’s Office, in the total amount of EUR 224 million. We are also expecting Hidroelectrica to join the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

All of these actions attest to the companies’ interest in being listed and to the fact that, despite a challenging background, they have found, in the local capital market, the solution they need to finance their development plans. 

Besides the Made in Romania program, what other programs or initiatives does the Bucharest Stock Exchange run or support to draw more private companies?

Here, at the Bucharest Stock Exchange, we invest in the development of projects with great potential, such as the BVB Research Hub, a source of relevant information about companies listed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, which is useful in the investment process, by increasing the visibility of issuers and by facilitating investors’ access to quality resources.

Together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) has launched a new programme in Romania – ‘Investor Relations and Liquidity Support Programme’ – under which up to 3 issuers have been selected to receive consultancy to enhance their visibility and liquidity in the capital market.

The excellent inter-institutional relations we have with local public institutions have provided us with the opportunity of being partners in programmes such as those developed under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), which aim at attracting private companies to the capital market, hence at developing the Romanian economy. We are also involved in promotion and awareness-raising activities in the green and sustainable products sector, which are hopefully conducive to greater interest in funding through such instruments. Last but not least, one of our objectives is to launch the derivatives market, for which it is necessary to render the Central Counterparty operational, as planned for the fourth quarter of this year.