In these past 30 years, Bucharest has become a business destination sought by foreigners. Investors from all over the world have chosen to implement their business plans in our country. This is also the case of Jolyon Salvadore, “an Oltenian” educated in Switzerland and France, who, together with his family, had the courage to bring to Romania one of the most famous Belgian chocolate brands.
Jolyon Salvadore was born in Romania, in Turnu Severin. He tells me that he is proud to call himself an Oltenian. He spent his first years of life in our country, but as soon as he started school he was sent to Switzerland, in the Valais region. His parents were away in Africa, where they worked for 25 years, so he stayed in the Land of Cantons for nine years”.
His passion for sports made him choose a college in France, more precisely in Nice, a place where he had lessons in the morning and tennis training in the afternoon.
„I stayed in France for 14 years. I even got my PhD in sports management in Nice. I also have a degree in real estate. During this period, I had different jobs. I worked in a sporting goods store, I helped in my friends’ restaurants, and towards the end of my studies I was a consultant for a company in France”, Jolyon Salvadore told us.
„ When I came to Bucharest, I had a feeling I had never experienced before, that I was… at home”
The idea of opening a business in Romania came from his parents. „I was between two jobs in Nice and one afternoon I got a phone call from my mother asking me if I didn’t want to go back to Romania with them to open a chocolate shop. The following day I called the Belgian company that produced the brand and, after a few months of internship in Belgium and after having bought an outlet in Bucharest, the whole family came to Romania to sell chocolate. Only my brother stayed in Paris”, the businessman remembers.
The fact that he came from France did not represent an advantage for Bucharest City, which did not make a good impression on him from the first moment. He was not at his first contact with Romania, but his visits to our country usually took place during the Holidays. Now things were completely different: Jolyon Salvadore had to live in Bucharest, and the feeling he had was completely different from that of a simple tourist.
„I must admit that after living so many years on the French Riviera, I could not really make a comparison favourable to Bucharest, if I had Nice as my reference. However when I came to Bucharest I had a feeling I had never experienced before, that I was… at home”, the foreign investor confessed.
Bucharest through the eyes of tourists and Bucharest through the eyes of foreign investors
Bucharest is very friendly with tourists. Foreigners who come to the capital of Romania to relax support this idea, stressing that Romanians like to have fun. The city has many opportunities for leisure time, opportunities for the advantage of even the most demanding of tourists.
It’s just that Jolyon Salvadore no longer came to Romania as a tourist, but as an investor.
„I will always remember the first impact that Bucharest had on the investor Jolyon Salvadore. I entered the headquarters of the National Office for Trade Register and I had the impression that I had entered a real urban jungle. I was very lucky to speak Romanian and so I was able to get along better”, the businessman underlined.
A chocolate business brought him near his family
The year was 2001, and things have changed a lot since then. Despite the bureaucratic obstacles he faced when he opened his business in Romania, Jolyon Salvadore does not regret the step taken. „My project is actually the basis of my return home. I brought my favourite Belgian chocolate to Romania, and this was an opportunity to reunite our family and to be with my parents. I can’t say it was easy. At that time bringing a premium brand to Romania placed us a bit in the category of “aliens”. Unfortunately, Romania did not have a chocolate culture, but while developing the business all these years, we managed to create a premium chocolate franchise network in Romania. Today our goal is to continue the work we started many years ago. I must admit that I am proud, since I have turned Romania since 2001 from a country unknown by the Belgian chocolate producers into one of the most important countries for them”, the investor pointed out.
He likes to try everything that is new
The business he runs is very time-consuming, so Jolyon Salvadore is not a regular of the “city life”. However, he frequents all the malls in Bucharest, with a clear preference for those near his home.
„Other than that, most of the time I go out to restaurants. And as I like to discover new places and especially different tastes, I am not very loyal in terms of the places I go to. So, it is very difficult for me to indicate a certain restaurant. However, I can tell you that I love Asian, Indian and Oriental food. But what I like most of all are the desserts, but I try to avoid them as much as I can. Let’s not forget that all day I am surrounded by chocolate and yet I still eat chocolate, as if I had opened my store yesterday. I’m not even talking about pastries …. So, I can say I’m lucky, because one of the places I love is my own store, especially in the hot season, when we open the terrace”, Jolyon Salvadore declared.
„I am Romanian at heart, due to my culture and education”
The businessman admits that it was not very easy for him to adapt to the lifestyle in Bucharest, but now, should he leave Romania, he cannot say that he would love this idea. „Nevertheless, let’s not forget one thing! Even if my father’s origins are a little more exotic, I am a Romanian at heart, due to my culture and education. I admit that in the cold season I would like to leave the city for a little while, but it is not possible. We have the biggest sales around the Winter Holidays, so the business gives me many reasons to stay in Bucharest”, the businessman mentioned.
For him, the city of adoption has long become his home, so he can afford to talk honestly about what he likes and what he doesn’t like about Bucharest. Like any other metropolis, the capital city of Romania faces problems related to pollution, congestion or traffic. „But we have to admit that this is the case in any big city in the world. The optimistic approach makes me say that Romanians are a special people, they are very open people. We can come to Bucharest without knowing anyone and leave with a dozen friends. There is also a personal sense of security that I find in Bucharest and that I do not have in other big cities in Europe. And one last thing. Let’s not beat around the bush, Romanian women are among the most beautiful in the world, which makes everything much more pleasant”, Jolyon Salvadore added.
Romania is not the most predictable of the markets
The investors who have chosen to open various businesses in our country have found that Romania is not the most predictable of the markets. Many of the foreigners who brought consumer goods to our market assumed that they could sell cheap products to Romanians. However, they quickly realized that their business strategy based only on price and not on quality was not exactly a viable one. The buyers in Romania look very carefully at quality, so those who wanted to open businesses based on cheap and questionable quality products failed in their plan.
„What characterizes the socio-economic environment in Bucharest is the unpredictable factor. Fortunately, we can now discuss an economic trend. We hope that business will not be stopped soon from the impetus it has taken”, said the investor.
The development that Bucharest has known in recent years increases the city’s attractiveness among foreign tourists. The capital city of Romania has a lot to offer to those who visit our country. It is true that there are still things that need to be improved.
Jolyon Salvadore considers that a better promotion of the historical areas and a renovation of some of the historical buildings in Bucharest that have not undergone such interventions should be taken into account.
In addition, a much more intense promotion of cultural events taking place in Romania is required. Such initiatives would please not only the foreign tourists, but also those who have chosen to settle in Bucharest. And Jolyon Salvadore is one of them. He gave up his life on the French Riviera to come to a developing country, which offered him the opportunity to open a business. He has been running this chocolate business since 2001 and everything that has happened to him so far makes him think he did not make the wrong decision.
Bucharest is changing, Romanian society is changing and the foreign investor really likes to be part of all this evolution which is obviously felt at the level of our society.
Bucharest, in the top of foreign investments
These past years have brought major foreign investments to Romania. Brands from all over the world have opened branches in our country as well. Also, foreign investors with capital have chosen to develop businesses here from scratch. Bucharest is the city that attracts most of these projects. The data of the National Bank of Romania reveal that in the first ten months of last year alone the value of foreign direct investments exceeded five billion euros. Foreigners opened over 4,700 companies in Romania in 2019. Most of them come from Italy and the Netherlands, but there are rather many from other countries too. The same statistics indicate that more than half of these businesses were attracted by the capital city of Romania and by Ilfov county. According to the Council of Foreign Investors in Romania, the total foreign investments made so far amount to over 75 billion euros, money that went to all sectors of the economy.
„Foreign investments represent several billion euros each year, depending on the health of the local or the global economy. The peak of investments was reached around the moment of Romania’s accession to the European Union, when they amounted to eight to nine billion euros per year. Foreign investments are comparable in size with the money from European funds. Most of the foreign investments made in Romania come from European Union member countries. States such as Germany, France, Austria, the Netherlands are the country’s most important trading partners “, according to the representatives of the Council of Foreign Investors in Romania.
