The machinery purchased through StartUp Plus gave him the chance to stay in the country and start his own business

Lucian Dincă is a young entrepreneur who had the courage to start his own business and who, despite the problems encountered and this difficult year, continues to believe in his future here in the country. A year ago he bought 2 Laser CNCs from Rubiq CNC, to make personalized decorative objects, clothing accessories and wooden toys, and during this period the products could be seen at the Christmas fairs organized in the malls of Bucharest. He works hard, his life is now spent between the workshop and the stands, but he is confident. For now the website is a work in progress, but those interested can see his objects on the SIMBEDO ART facebook page. Find out how he came to develop a woodworking business below.

How it all started

Wood was not Lucian's first choice. In 2010 he started the Faculty of Management in Cluj, and in 2012 he went to the USA with a Work&Travel program during the holidays. It was a time when he learned a lot. Although she worked hard and had only one day off, it was a period that allowed her to get to know the world, visit new places and discover the American entrepreneurial spirit. The American experience continued in the summer of 2013 and then, back home, he joined some friends in Cluj who had started a business producing audio systems, Acoustic Density. He worked with them for 6 years, during which time he invested a lot of his soul. Until he realized he wanted to do something for himself, to have his own business. Time for a restartsays Lucian now. But to start a business he needed capital. As he didn't have it, he decided to work abroad for a while.

"I never thought about leaving the country for good, I believe that good things can be done in Romania. I wanted to leave just to accumulate capital in a short time, capital with which to come back and do something here. In Romania it is impossible to raise a large amount of money in a short time".

By chance one of his sisters, who had applied for Start-Up Plus for the Muntenia region, decided to get married and move to Galati. This made it impossible for the project to continue, so she offered to take it over. The program provided the capital he needed, so he accepted and returned home to Plopeni.

Equipment through Start-Up Plus

The project was in the field of woodworking, a field he had also been involved with at the audio equipment company. The new business was based on the production of customized children's room decorations, jewelry boxes, toys and even clothing accessories made of wood. But he needed machinery to produce them. She was going to machine plywood up to 8mm thick. She researched online and found the company Wood IQ/Rubiq CNC that caught his attention. It was just before the BIFE SIM fair in 2019 so he decided to go to the fair to see the machines and ask for the information he needed.

"But before, a friend who had already worked with Wood IQ called me by chance. He told me that the machines were good, that he was satisfied and that I could trust Dan Pruteanu, the company manager. That gave me courage. The most important thing in a relationship is to gain trust. So I went to the fair to get to know each other. I knew exactly what I wanted. Among other things, I wanted Laser CNC with a big table. Dan was very open and explained to me that for what I was going to do - small objects - I didn't need a large table. That was enough to decide. By changing the type of machine, there was money left over so I was also able to get a circular with milling cutter.”

The machines - two Rubiq CNC laser model 1309Pro  and a combined circular + milling machine Wood IQ model CF 1500 - came quickly and began designing and making models in 4 and 6 mm birch plywood. He was also going to make 3D maps in 8mm plywood. By November he had already participated in a trade fair with the objects he produced. Everything was going according to plan, but unfortunately the pandemic came.

2020 - a strange year when adaptation was key

Pandemic changed the facts of the problem and had to reconfigure the original plan. The idea was to work with distributors and stores, not the end customer. Unfortunately, the pandemic closed precisely these possibilities so they had to find solutions to reach the end consumer directly. Material possibilities were also limited because money was spent on machinery and there was not enough production to support the investment in such solutions. However, they joined the viziere.ro initiative by producing and donating visors to personnel on the front line in the fight against Covid-19.

Despite the hardships, his will and the support of family and friends have helped him keep going. He's not satisfied with where he's at, but he hasn't given up work either. He managed to contact customers through Facebook, Instagram or through friends, and near Christmas he had 2 stands at trade fairs in 2 malls in Bucharest. In the studio she works with an employee, for whom she does everything to keep and sometimes with family members. She is also working on the website and hopes to be able to launch it early next year. The fact that he has to work directly with customers and be in so many places means he loses production time, but he has adapted to the times. But he is confident that it will all pass and he will be able to devote himself fully to the new models and is convinced that the market has great potential.

Looking to the future

Lucian is now passionate about wood. He says we're lucky to have this renewable resource and we should look after it. Everyone who works with wood should have replanting programs. That's what he will do. He even aims to calculate the amount of wood he consumes and plant at least as much as he has consumed. It's a gesture of social responsibility that he feels he has a duty to do.

Talking to Lucian Dincă was refreshing. Self-demanding and positive, eager to build something solid in this country, he is the kind of entrepreneur you bet on to succeed. By the time he's 29, he has invested in himself, gained knowledge, worked and trained. He knows what he wants and is determined to get it.

If you would like personalized decor items for children's rooms, wooden clothing accessories or toys, you can contact him on Simbedo's Facebook page or on Instagram, @simbedoart. The website will be ready soon. Good luck Lucian!