Romanian entrepreneur Ștefan Mandachi, who recently sold the fast-food chain he founded, has opened a cultural hub in the village of Cumpărătura, in northern Romania’s Suceava county.

It is a pilot part of an educational project focused on reading, and it is set inside a container that includes a library, a ready room, a room for painting and an area for musical instruments. 

The users of the hub can borrow books, donate them, or spend time reading them at the library. The hub also accepts toy and pet food donations.

The businessman, who announced he would focus on education projects after selling the fast-food chain Spartan, plans to implement the project in other counties in partnership with partners interested in taking it further.

“I want this place to develop creativity and unite people. This is why we will run several projects, from the novel or poem in the container to film and painting, projects with several authors. Visitors are encouraged to leave their mark through a text, drawing, image or video. You can film a sequence, the next visitor another and so on and, at the end, we will perhaps have a documentary. The concept can also be seen as a test. The container will have no cleaning or security staff for 100 days. The visitors are responsible for its running, and I’m curious to see what the place will look like in three months,” Mandachi explained.

The launch of the project comes four years after Mandachi launched his ‘manifesto for highways,’ meant to highlight the poor road infrastructure in the country and the region of Moldova in particular.  

“It’s been four years since the ‘Romania wants highways’ manifesto; throughout this time, we had four prime ministers, four governments, and only a 16 km part constructed on the Bacău ring road. I would like to mark this date with an action for education because I’ve realized that the main reason we don’t have highways in Moldova is the lack of education. Maybe education is more important than justice or healthcare because they all rest on education. I have parted with my businesses in HoReCa, and I have decided to put my financial resources and experience into educational projects. […] I am convinced that, as we invest significantly in education, the changes will be significant in a few years, both at an individual and societal level,” he said.

Another educational project Mandachi has is the e-learning platform MentorMag, set to launch soon.

(Photos: PR)

simona@romania-insider.com