This article series tells the stories of the 15 finalists selected in the Made in Romania 2023 program. Made in Romania is the flagship program of the Bucharest Stock Exchange dedicated to the development and promotion of the Romanian entrepreneurial environment. The program’s goal is to select and promote Romanian companies that have the greatest growth potential and high chances of becoming impactful players in the local and even regional economy. As of 2024, the Made in Romania program has been rebranded BVB Arena.

Chic Bijoux was born from Ioana Buiac's desire not to return to Deva, her hometown, after finishing college, where she could secure a simple, warm job. He wanted to stay in Cluj-Napoca to build something on her own.

"Like any first business started by a young person fresh out of college, the choice of field was based more on familiarity than on market research, analysis of needs or opportunities. During her studies, Ioana organized several stone and jewelry fairs in Cluj-Napoca, and the jewelry trade seemed to be the most convenient for her. It just seemed so at the time, because later it turned out to be an extremely competitive field," recalls Sorin Buiac, co-founder & CEO of Chic Bijoux.

Chic Bijoux started with a 6 sqm stand in a mall in Cluj-Napoca and with 2 employees, one of whom was Ioana Buiac. Today, the company delivers personalized jewelry made of Silver, Gold and Precious Stones all over the world but with a majority in Romania and Hungary through the 2 dedicated online stores.

"We ended 2023 with a team of 27 colleagues, over 2.5 million euros in turnover and clear development plans both in terms of the product portfolio and in terms of sales markets," says the entrepreneur Sorin Buiac.

Company identity

The Chic Bijoux creed is that metaphorically speaking, jewelry comes to life through the emotions it captures, drawn from memories with parents, lovers, husbands, brothers, sisters, grandparents, friends, and, last but not least, pets.

"What makes us truly unique is this very thing: we don't just relate to making personalized jewelry; we offer an experience to customers. It is very important for us to understand what is the memory that customers want to carry for a lifetime and translate it into a precious metal. In addition, we see innovation not only as a company growth strategy but also as part of the culture of the organization we are building. Chic Bijoux has pivoted many times in these years, and it is this ability to continuously adapt that has brought us here today where the business is less fragile, and we have a solid base on which to place the growth that will follow," says Sorin Buiac, co-founder & CEO of Chic Bijoux.

He believes that in this world of entrepreneurship, he makes the decisions he considers the best at the time, and the future records whether he was right or not.

"If we were to start this business today, I don't think we would do anything differently. When you change something from the past, all parameters of the game change, and we don't know if the outcome would have been better or not. Instead, the lessons I learned are now part of the decision-making process, and I am convinced that this brings the greatest value," adds Sorin Buiac.

Secrets of success

As a business started from scratch and self-funded, the first years were challenging, with ups and downs but also moments when the Chic Bijoux team wondered if they were doing the right thing, knowing that in some cases, one extra step could make the difference between failure and success.

"In 2017, having several physical stores (islands in malls in the country), we realized that profitability was not where we wanted, neither was scalability, and, most importantly, we as entrepreneurs did not see it developing from that point. So, in 2017-2018, we closed all physical stores and focused 100% on online. The difficult moment was generated by the strong impact this decision had on the company's cash flow, keeping with much lower income the same expenses of the production workshop that would serve the new product strategy and the new sales channel. Fortunately, the mix of know-how we had together with our colleagues helped us overcome the moment, and in just 6 months after the launch of the new online store we were already generating more revenue than all the physical stores we had closed,” recalls Sorin Buiac.

The pandemic probably forced many entrepreneurs to make tough decisions. Chic Bijoux was no different, especially since the biggest intention was to protect the team and the business.

"During the pandemic, 99% of our income was generated by online sales of our own products. Basically, if we couldn't produce anymore, we wouldn't have anything to sell. We then made the decision to split our team into two totally separate work shifts to limit contact and avoid getting to the point where we all get sick at the same time. We also decided to increase the marketing budgets because we anticipated the consumption behavior, considering that people were at home more. That put a lot more pressure on the team to keep our quality standards and delivery promise, but fortunately, a hard decision turned out to be a good one in the end," says the Chic Bijoux co-founder.

Future plans​

The company's vision remains the same for the long term. In the future, the focus will be on innovation from the point of view of the production process and on bringing top technologies to the workshop in Romania that will allow the development of an even more attractive product portfolio for customers.

"At the moment, we serve two main markets, Romania and Hungary. As long as we are logistically sustainable, we leave our options open for any market in the world," adds the entrepreneur.

What does it mean to be a “Made in Romania” brand

Inside Romania, the field in which Chic Bijoux operates is a competitive one. However, the entrepreneur sees this competitiveness as a good thing that forces development, creativity and authenticity.

"For us, a Romanian success story means, first of all, the power to move forward. It is that energy that makes us search every day for how to better meet the needs of our customers and how to offer them something that really makes them smile. I think it is as easy or difficult to be a Made in Romania brand as it is to be a Made in Germany, Italy, or USA brand. The difference is made by us as people, the values that guide us, and how we adapt to the playing conditions in the market in which we operate. Many known examples of brands created in Romania have also conquered foreign markets. We need to believe more that we can also export value, not just import it," concludes Sorin Buiac.

*The Romanian version of this article was published in the Made in Romania 2023 booklet, which gathers the stories of the 15 finalist companies selected last year in the Made in Romania program. A new edition of the program, now branded BVB Arena, started in April 2024. More details about the program are available here.