Flowers - a passion a whole family has taken a “bite” from

Primula, petunia, hydrangea, cyclamen, begonia and about 50 other species of fl owers form a true kingdom of fl owers in Chetrosu, Anenii Noi, in the greenhouse of the young entrepreneur Andrei Cebotari. 

At the age of 30, he manages SRL “Cibos Prime”.  He is married and has two daughters.  He studies law at the State University of Moldova and madly loves fl owers - dream born in a winter morning. The idea of a fl ower business came to his mind eight years ago, when with an amount of a thousand dollars of his younger brother he bought fi ve tons of metal pipes. The original intention had been to save money from an irrational waste - his brother had gained this money by working abroad.

 “I took the money from home and just bought metal pipes of 5 meters length for the whole amount of thousand dollars. It was winter and I stored the pipes behind the house. There were many ideas - to paint the pipes and then sell them at a higher price, to wait for the price to go up and then to sell them, just to get the money back with some gain.  One morning, looking at the garden, I got the idea to make a greenhouse and grow fl owers”, recalls Andrei Cebotari.

Outside the village, the parents had a plot of land of 25 acres – here jointly with his brother, they thought to build a greenhouse and to realize their dream. However, the fi rst crops grown in the greenhouse were cucumbers and tomatoes followed by peppers, eggplant, onion, parsley and everything that could be grown. The shoppers used to enter into the greenhouse and directly chose the desired products, which they liked, and the brothers could request a higher price than it was on the market.

In order to ensure proceeds from the sale of vegetables throughout the year, they decided to build a store on the outskirts of the fi eld, right next to the road. The income exceeded spending slowly, but the dream of Andrei remained to grow flowers. For growing flowers, however, new greenhouses were needed to be built, which would cost “a lot of money”, according to the young entrepreneur.

 “I asked the advice of my brother and we decided that we have to risk and get rid of the old greenhouses. We searched for information on Internet about diff erent types of greenhouses, I read about the experiences of other countries, but in the end we chose a supplier from Peresecina, specializing in the construction of modern greenhouses and that were equipped with the latest innovation technologies” said Andrei. “When we signed the contract worth 66 thousand euros for the purchase of greenhouses, we had no single leu in the pocket. The good part was that we had to pay via bank transfer in installments over a period of six months. I could not sleep during the nights, I went to all banks, but we were refused everywhere” said Andrei Cebotari.

 First aid was a loan offered by a friend who worked in Italy; then he bought potatoes from the northern part of the country on credit and sold these at a shop next to the road. Monthly, all the money was directed to the payment of the contract for the greenhouses. In order to pay off  the whole amount of the contract amounting to MDL 300 thousand, a credit of MDL 180,000 and a grant of MDL 120 thousand were obtained through the IFAD V program.

“The financial support received from IFAD gave me the opportunity to fi nish the work successfully and to have this wonderful greenhouse that you can see.  I must admit that I had good luck and great help from God who sent me the right people” said Andrei Cebotari.

Investments in greenhouses are very high, and higher is the satisfaction of doing a business with love, which involves the whole family. Andrei plans to develop its business and to build new greenhouses in the nearest future. “I noticed that in business you have to have spirit, to have no fear. It is also important to have logical thinking, lucidity, to think correctly, to analyze everything you do. But do not have any fear. If you start something with hesitation, with no confi dence, that’s all, you cannot attract the Universe. It could be that you do not have the money – everyone can make it with money, but you have to really want to dedicate yourself completely and you will succeed” – this is the advice of Andrei Cebotari to young people who want to start a business.