Horaţiu Țepeş, the owner of Bilka, has been designated the businessman of 2015, during the CAPITAL Gala for “Business Excellence”.

“He has managed to create one of the fastest growing businesses in the Romanian industry. The young entrepreneur, now 36 years old, is the owner of Bilka, the metal tile market leader. While this market registered a 10% increase last year, the company of Horaţiu Țepeş grew by 40%, reaching a RON 191 million turnover. The company brought into operation 10 new production lines and the number of employees increased by almost 30% last year. In its nine years of activity, BILKA covered over 100,000 houses.”

“I thank the Capital team for this prize. It is a prize for the whole BILKA team. I have colleagues that have worked with me since the very beginning. Likewise, this is a prize for our 500 partners in the country with whom we have developed mutually fruitful partnerships. I would also like to add that this prize compels us to similar growth rates in the future. We plan to build factories also outside Romania. We haven’t managed this so far because of the rapid internal growth. We have competed with the multinational companies in this field. We have learned a lot from them. But now our intention is to assume leadership in this sector. Romanians used to come up with innovative things that others would take abroad and enjoy their benefits. Now it’s about time we learned from other companies. This niche appeared in Scandinavia in ‘55. After a very nice development there, it penetrated the Romanian market after the 90s and we have seen that it suits well the needs of the people. In my opinion, things in Romania are heading in the right direction. It is a good economic environment. We are on the rise, and we have to keep it that way. I traveled to Germany the other days and lots of ideas came to my mind. I saw many Romanian people working there in restaurants and bars. We do realize that 4 million people are working there. While here we are in need of workforce. In Braşov, we have an issue in this respect. I have seen companies in Braşov bringing people from the East. I do not think this is the right solution. It occurred to me that we should think of a program to bring Romanians back home. 3 million Romanians left the country to work in Europe in the past 15 years. If we could bring back at least 10% of them with a well-designed program, we would have a great gain” declared Horaţiu Țepeş when he picked up his prize.