Expanding opportunities for shopkeepers

Profi is biggest private employer in romania having around 25 000 employees when i came to profi profi was 67 stores we are currently operating on 1500 stores because of private equity we could develop we bring the opportunity of going to a modern grocery store to everybody in the country they have the same quality local produce as you have it in central Bucharest. We are developing entrepreneurship in romania learning people manage their own business within two years you could get a management position in our organization name is raluka i am from bucharest romania and i have been a profession since 2015. A profi agent is a person who takes ownership over the store you have to take care of everything every day the employees the stocks of the buildings even the customers my partner he is also a profi agent we do look forward to go to work because it's a challenge every day like you never get bored to go to profi.

We usually wake up at 5am we try to make breakfast together i leave the house around 5 30. i take a trip of 30 minutes with the car i usually arrive at the store at like 6 a.m and i'm trying to have a short meeting with my employees in the morning to set the task for the day. I can't work in the store without a good team we are not just coworkers we are basically a family we are supporting each other after the work as well.

Private equity can make businesses more efficient which is a benefit for the economy this is also good for the consumer because if you have an efficient company then they can offer their services at a better price. Profi has been acquired by mep in end of 2016. During the time we work together we gain 1 000 stores mediocre partners is a private equity firm focused on central and eastern europe we invest in companies to grow them nurture them and then we pass it on to their rightful owners. Profi story is truly a story of growth we invested in people we invested in processes we increased the number of new stores from around 50 60 a year to 200 250. We are operating in the four different formats in urban area profi super which is supermarket format proficity which is a smaller proximity format profitago typical convenience and in rural area profi local. The key values in mep profi relationship was set from the beginning we want to make this company the largest national food retailer in romania we try to strike the right balance between control and autonomy because autonomy gives the company speed this gives us an edge over our competition.

My favorite part of the day is like talking to the customers it feels good because i think i add a lot of value to their life just by listening to them every day you know it makes them feel comfortable to come back to the store all the time.

My name is irina and i am seven years old i come here to profit because i like staying here with all the people she looks in profit is i think the future is bright. The people who work for us they continue to create and teach other people and add to the economic development as well as the social development of the communities that they operate in. Now i understand how it's like to have a real business you know i really talk the business language right now for my future i'm hoping for my store to be refuted from city to a super shop. I would like to make together with my team profi as a number one retailer in heart of our customers and our employees.