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Explore the vital entrepreneurial landscape in Romania and Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESA). Discover the vision for innovation and digital technologies.
In brief:
- Romanian entrepreneurs show a strong focus on process, strategic and marketing innovation.
- In the last 12 months Artificial Intelligence has become the main focus for entrepreneurs
- Despite high labor costs and difficulties in finding skilled talent, Romanian entrepreneurs are focused on increasing the number of full-time employees.
The Romanian entrepreneurial landscape shows a high level of vigor despite barriers that make their mission difficult. In today’s economic and geopolitical instability, entrepreneurial spirit is essential for building resilient economies, encouraging stable growth, and addressing complex societal and technological challenges. The findings show an entrepreneurial landscape full of opportunities and challenges. Romanian entrepreneurs are prepared to embrace these opportunities but are also ready to confront and overcome the obstacles ahead.
The survey collected insights from 1,032 participants across countries such as Romania, Hungary, Poland, Greece, Serbia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Turkey, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The Romanian Entrepreneur
Most Romanian entrepreneurs who participated in our study lead small businesses. Specifically, 63% reported annual revenues of less than US$10 million in the last fiscal year, and 60% operate with teams of 1 to 49 employees. Notably, 52% of respondents identified their companies as family-owned, highlighting the strong presence of family businesses in the Romanian entrepreneurial landscape.
These entrepreneurs built stable businesses but when it comes to the investment plans for the next 12 months, their primary worries stem from external sources beyond their control. This shows the uncertainty that many entrepreneurs must navigate in our days. Romanian entrepreneurs express greater concern about macro-level factors that could affect their businesses than financial issues.
Economic risk and market uncertainty top the list of concerns for Romanian entrepreneurs, with 75% mentioning them as a primary challenge. This widespread fear reflects deeper worries about macroeconomic stability, especially amid global tensions such as ongoing tax disputes between major economies. Geopolitical instability ranks as the second most pressing issue, highlighted by 54% of respondents. Regional conflicts, particularly the Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine, have amplified uncertainty and created an unpredictable environment that continues to weigh heavily on the minds of local business leaders.
Innovation is a driving force for entrepreneurs
Romania's entrepreneurial landscape is marked by a strong commitment to innovation, with a balanced focus on efficiency, engagement, and strategic growth initiatives. Romanian entrepreneurs show a stronger inclination towards process innovation and strategic marketing innovation compared to CESA entrepreneurs, indicating a robust focus on improving operational efficiency and market adaptability.
Romanian entrepreneurs show a holistic approach to innovation, by linking internal process improvements with strategic and marketing positioning. Process innovation, strategic and marketing innovation are the top priorities, each cited by 60% of respondents. These figures stand out when compared to their counterparts in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe (CESA), where only 46% focus on process innovation and 38% on strategic and marketing innovation. This gap highlights the more proactive and forward-thinking innovation mindset among Romanian entrepreneurs.
When it comes to products, the gap in product innovation is narrower, however, Romanian entrepreneurs still hold a slight edge. In Romania, 56% of respondents plan to engage in product innovation, compared to 53% across the CESA region. This difference, though small, reflects a commitment among Romanian entrepreneurs to use innovation as a means of maintaining or gaining a competitive advantage.
Digital technologies
Romanian respondents understand the technological evolution that the world is going through. They understand that they need to catch up fast to the developed countries. Thus, they embrace digital technologies, showing their focus to streamlining operations, improving customer experience and above all staying competitive.
According to the Romanian entrepreneurs’ responses, there is a strong interest in customer-focused technologies such as CRM, E-commerce and website improvement.
There is also a clear correlation between the ease of implementation and the level of adoption of digital technologies. The “plug and use” digital tools gained more traction in the last 12 months. Technologies requiring higher capital investment and significant commitment for implementation such as IoT, AR/VR or CAD show significantly lower levels.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tops the list, which shows that Romanian entrepreneurs understand the significant impact that the AI technology has o the business environment.
AI as a business tool
Romanian entrepreneurs show a higher adoption of AI technologies, with 71% reporting increased use, compared to 61% among CESA entrepreneurs. Romanian respondents show a strong commitment to AI adoption and recognize its potential to enhance efficiency, gain new skills and reduce costs.
Over the past 12 months, an important share of Romanian respondents reported increased adoption of AI. However, in the past three years, overall investment in AI stays relatively modest. In fact, 38% of respondents reported no investment in AI, highlighting significant untapped potential. Meanwhile, 23% invested up to US$25,000 which suggests that most businesses are still in the early stages, focusing on pilot programs or limited-scale initiatives. This points to a market that tests the waters but has yet to fully embrace AI at scale.
The data shows that there is a clear preference towards front office applications such as analytics, marketing, and customer interaction. The reason behind it is that these areas provide a quick win and measurable return on investment. Almost two thirds of respondents invested in AI for data analytics which highlights the importance Romanian entrepreneurs put on data driven business decisions.
Areas which are of strategic importance for a business such as finance, security and risk and supply chain see far less adoption potentially due to integration complexity, higher risk, high costs or legacy infrastructure.
In Romania, AI is used for HR cases such as personal development (47%) which shows that AI is increasingly being applied to human capital. Romanian businesses have a higher implementation of AI in personal development compared to CESA respondents (38%), indicating a stronger focus on leveraging AI for employee training and growth.
Employee strategy
The strong focus of Romanian businesses on digital technologies must go hand in hand with a capable and tech ready workforce. To stay competitive and drive sustainable growth, businesses need to focus on talent development while strengthening recruitment strategies. Building a skilled workforce is essential and not only to meet evolving hiring needs but also to fully use digital tools.
The intention of Romanian businesses to hire more full-time employees signals a positive outlook and confidence in future growth. Despite the many challenges businesses must face and considering the increased competition for talent, companies are actively looking to expand and strengthen their teams, which is demonstrating a commitment to long-term development.
The commitment to hiring full time employees is undisputable, Romanian companies are more open to flexible work arrangements when comparing with CESA companies. Romania plans to hire more full-time employees (46%) and external collaborators (33%), while CESA shows a slightly higher percentage for full-time hires (48%) but only 19% for external collaborators.
Despite committed to an all-around approach to employee’s recruitment, Romanian entrepreneurs are facing many challenges. Some of these issues are systemic and cannot be resolved with short-term fixes, such as skills and experience shortages. The overwhelming majority of businesses report difficulty in finding candidates with the necessary skills, showing a mismatch between labor market supply and the business demands which are evolving. Also, nearly half (44%) of respondents in Romania struggle to find candidates with sufficient prior experience, which could limit the ability of businesses to fill roles especially in the mid to senior levels.
Summary
Romanian entrepreneurs continue to prove their resilience, ambition, and forward-thinking mindset. Even in the face of economic uncertainty and regional instability, they are building strong businesses, exploring new ideas, and pushing for growth. What stands out is their dedication to innovation, not just in products, but also in how they work and connect with their markets and customers. Compared to their peers in the CESA region, Romanian entrepreneurs show a stronger drive to improve processes and strategies, all with the goal of staying competitive.
Digital transformation is clearly top of mind. From CRM systems to AI driven tools, businesses are embracing technology to become more efficient and customer focused. Many are taking their first steps with smaller, more manageable investments, especially in areas like data analytics and marketing.
People remain at the center of this story. Companies are not only planning to grow their teams, but they are also thinking carefully about how to find and develop the right talent. That is not without its challenges, of course, many are struggling to find candidates with the right experience and skills. But their commitment to building strong teams is clear, and flexible work arrangements are becoming part of that strategy.