Upcycling, recycling and changing the mentality of people in Romania

The majority of population think that after you throw a thing out, its “life” is finished. But you will be surprised to know that there are people all over the world that are saying exactly the opposite of it. This is, also, the story of two partners that recently opened an online shop with handmade things, and a part of those things are made from recycled materials, such as: paper (newspapers, magazines), plastic, cans, glasses, etc. Even if they are at the beginning of the road, they have faith that will succed in this domain, in a country such as Romania.

They started this bussines because they wanted to work for them, they didn’t like to have a boss, so, they start doing what they like the most: creating. The idea of using recycled products came to one of the owners. The origin fo this idea is an international workshop 3 years ago. The creators of the project said: why not in Romania? Even if the Romanian people don’t have the necessary mentality for accepting this type of  product yet, in future it might change. The creators of the project were aware of how hard it will be, and, still they wanted to take this chance.

Even if few people believed in their idea, they business was started with a minimum investment. One of the owners is under 35 years old, so they applied for the project that helps starts-ups in Romania, called, “SRL-D” ( limited liability company – debutant). For the beginning there were no fees for setting up the company (only 45 Euro for the capital), and also , if they will have 2 full time employees, the state will pay for those 2, the health ensurance for 3 years. The third benefit is that they can apply with a project in order to obtain funds from the government : half of the total cost but no more than 10000 Euro.

The main obstacle they face it is the publicity without a big investment. In beginning they start with a facebook shop, but they want to open very soon, an online shop, so they can promote it in the entire Europe. The second obstacle was the menthality of Romanian people, because the women weren’t used to wear purse made from paper or other stuff, but they start participanting in different fairs and let them know the importance of what they were doing and show them the quality of the products. So, their plans for the future, is to make their business work, to make it grow in order to help youth, at certain point, by giving them a job.

So, their advice for youth is not give up to their dreams, as hard it may seems, even if they don’t have the support of anyone, because this are the things that will work. But they have to be aware of the obstacle because to start a business may seem easy but to make it work is hard.

Feel free to check out their products in their online store: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Unique-Sesam/258788070994730