BRITISH INVESTMENT REVIEW Britain has always produced entrepreneurs; a breed who thrive on being told "It won't work here." In Review talks to some smaller British-backed companies and some individuals making a difference in the Romanian market.
James Gray-Cheape had first visited Romania two years ago to renew an acquaintance with a friend who was working in a orphanage. After returning to work for a courier company in London, he began thinking of the possibility of beginning a similar operation here. He started Pegasus Couriers, which has become the best-known courier company in Bucharest. A significant proportion of Pegasus business comes from foreign corporations eager to have their invitations, documents and invoices hand-delivered. Certainly, the need for a reliable intra-city delivery service was there. But what to do about the recruitment of staff?
The idea to ask the boys in the orphanage came to him suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue. "I'd met these boys on my first trip here, and found them extremely pleasant and likeable. A real team spirit existed between them. I knew that what I needed were fit 20 year-olds, guys whom I could trust, who hadn't a soft upbringing and who wouldn't stop working if it began raining. Also, they were becoming old enough to leave the orphanage and try and find work," he says. The spectacle of a red T-shirted Pegasus courier zipping in and out of clogged, heaving traffic on a mountain bike is now a familiar sight in Bucharest.
