Rody Mob Lux - a successful business in the furniture industry started by Start-Up Nation

Gabriel Cojoc: There's a lot of things you have to think through, calculate three times and cut once, like a skilled tailor, if you want to succeed! For a Start-Up Nation business, you need to know the market very well and have your own capital to invest. (INTERVIEW)

Gabriel Cojoc, a young entrepreneur from Bistrița-Năsăud, who has been passionate about furniture since childhood, revealed the secret of his success in the production of chipboard furniture. Besides passion, invested time and personal sacrifices, Gabriel Cojoc believes that pragmatism, realistic calculations and estimates, as well as the own capital to invest are the basic elements for the success of a business started by Start-Up Nation.

Key points:

• Production: standard and custom-made chipboard furniture and sofas
• Equipment purchased through Start-Up Nation:

→ Circular saw Felder K900 S moving table formatting

→ Felder G480 edgebanding machine

→ 2 professional systems exhauster Felder AF 22

• Criteria for choosing the supplier: the quality-price ratio of woodworking machines, 3-year warranty on machines and dedicated service for Romanian customers
• Tips and advice for future entrepreneurs: to study the market very carefully beforehand, to consider the equity capital to invest, to make the most accurate estimates and calculations as close to reality as possible.

How did you get into this field? Where did your passion for furniture come from?

Gabriel Cojoc: The passion for furniture comes from my parents, they had a small company at the beginning that produced upholstery, and then they focused on the production of chipboard furniture. I had my first contact with furniture production as a child, around the age of 12, when I was helping my father making sofas.

What does Rody Mob Lux produce?

Gabriel Cojoc: We make chipboard furniture, from standard furniture for shops, to custom-made kitchens, living rooms, dressing rooms, sofas, corner units, basically we make whatever the customer wants.

What were the problems you faced in running the Start-Up Nation program? What were the biggest obstacles you overcame?

Gabriel Cojoc: The biggest problem was the bank credit which depended on the state, on the counter-guarantee fund. It took a very long time.

On what criteria did you choose the project consultant and suppliers for Start-Up Nation?

Gabriel Cojoc: I chose the project consultant on the recommendation of a friend, he was easy to work with, especially since he is from our town. As for the machinery supplier, I chose Felder Gruppe because I had known about this company for a long time and I had confidence in them because they are Austrian. We studied the market and the most important thing was that they are serious. Of the 3 offers we had in the project Start-Up Nation, we chose to go with Felder Gruppe Romania for the quality and the best price in relation to the performance of the machines. The 3-year warranty for the machines and the service, which is dedicated to customers in Romania, also weighed a lot.

What was most important in the purchase of the machines?

Gabriel Cojoc: For me it was quality first. Both the quality of the machine itself, to be built with good materials, to be solid and reliable, and the quality that it gives me in production. Because it's no use having low prices if you don't offer quality. Secondly, easy maintenance and spare parts are easy to find. And third, service to be quick. So that if something happens, because there are situations like that, you don't waste a lot of time repairing it or, worse, you don't have to stop production and you don't even know for how long. Those are my criteria. That is why I work with Felder equipment and I am very satisfied.

What is the secret of success?

Gabriel Cojoc: The secret to success is hard work. A lot of hard work. I work harder than the employees, I come first and leave last. Saturdays and Sundays I'm in the field, every day I'm in the factory, I take the orders. You have to make sacrifices if you want to be successful.

What would you advise the following woodworking entrepreneurs looking to start a business through Start-Up Nation?

Gabriel Cojoc: For a Start-Up Nation business, if you don't know the market beforehand and if you don't have your own capital to invest (because what the state offers you is not always enough) it is very difficult to succeed. I know many people who have tried to start a business through Start-Up Nation and failed. In addition to the conditions imposed by the funding program, which are hard to meet, there are many aspects that you have to think hard, calculate three times and cut like a skilled tailor if you want to succeed.

If you are one of the future entrepreneurs who want to open a business through Start-Up Nation, find out what you need to consider in order to succeed, and what Gabriel Cojoc's first steps in the furniture industry were, by reading the full interview here.

The interview with Gabriel Cojoc - Rody Mob Lux is part of the Felder Stories campaign which you can read here.