METRO's commitment to business owners continues unabated: On International Women's Day METRO Cash & Carry Romania is supporting girls born in Bucharest with starting capital

Bucharest (ots) -

- With this campaign METRO continues the series of initiatives
dedicated to support Romanian business owner and independent
businesses. All initiatives lead to Own Business Day, the day
dedicated to pay tribute to own businesses, which will take place
this year on 8th October.

- On the occasion of International Women's Day, METRO Cash & Carry
Romania launches the campaign Own Business Girls to support "little
girl entrepreneurs", as the continuation of the initiative launched
in Germany is called in Romania.

- METRO Cash & Carry Romania, in partnership with Banca Comerciala
Romana (BCR), offers to all little girls born in Bucharest, on 8
March 2019, a cheque gift in amount of 1,500 Euro, to support their
dream of becoming business owners when they turn eighteen.

- The initiative is based on the results of the International Own
Business Study commissioned by METRO in 10 countries including
Romania. The results show that only 6% of women in Romania who
expressed interest in starting their own business, believe it is very
likely that they will indeed dare to take this step.

According to the study commissioned by METRO in Romania, 64% of
women want to open their own business, but only 6% have confidence
that they put this idea into practice. The problems which feed this
distrust are financial: A quarter (25%) of female business owners say
that raising funds as well as the lack of financial support are the
most difficult challenges in starting and running a business.

That is why METRO Romania and BCR come to prevent these
difficulties and encourage the female entrepreneurship by the
initiative Little Girls Entrepreneurs. Thus, each little girl born in
the maternity hospitals of Bucharest on International Women's Day,
will receive the amount of 1,500 Euro, under the form of cheque gift.
The money will be deposited in a bank account, which the little girls
will be able to access to fulfil any dream after they reach the age
of 18 years old. The purpose of the initiative is to offer women a
real support in the starting of their own business. The campaign is
carried out in all the maternity hospitals from the capital.

"With the same desire to help the Romanian business owners, which
you already know from Own Business Day, we launched today, on 8th
March, the campaign Own Business Girls. This time we encourage the
female business owner by offering with our partner BCR a gift in
amount of 1,500 Euro to all little girls born on Women's Day, in the
maternity hospitals in Bucharest, so that when they reach their
majority age they can fulfil any dream", declares Marina Zara, Head
of Marketing and Communications METRO Cash & Carry Romania.

"We are happy that we can contribute to this initiative which will
consolidate over the years a new generation of young business owner.
Romania needs people with self-confidence and female business owner
from our country have already undertaken this role to bring
confidence that Romanians can succeed by own forces to have a better
life", declares Ionut Stanimir, Head of Marketing and Communication
Banca Comerciala Romana.

How does the Own Business Girls campaign work?

The parents of the little girls born in the maternity hospitals in
Bucharest on 8th March 2019 can send an e-mail to ma@metro.ro, by
which they express the desire to participate in the campaign. The
email has to contain: copy of the birth certificate of the little
girl and the consent form received with the birth of the little girl,
completed and signed. The deadline for enrolment is 8th April 2019.

Further information about the campaign is available on
www.metro.ro and www.bcr.ro

The International Own Business Study shows also other essential
aspects regarding the female entrepreneurs of Romania and the way in
which they choose to manage their business.

Even if there are enough obstacles to the start of a business,
most female business owners in Romania (97%) declared that if they
were to return in time, they would open again a business, without
hesitation.

This conclusion emphasizes that entrepreneurship is an option that
more and more women consider - women who want to develop their career
by managing their own business.

If in the past one said that you cannot do two things at the same
time, modern women come to dismantle this myth. Most of Romanian
women who participated in the study are at the same time mothers and
successful business owner. 76% of them successfully divide their time
between managing a business and the growth of their children.
Although, according to the study, half of the women in Romania who
own a business use their income to support their family, only 4% of
them listed getting rich as reason for starting a business. 44% of
female business owners in Romania declare that they run their
business because they want to earn a living doing something that
makes them happy.

In addition, the modern female business owners in Romania
highlight the importance of technology in the management and running
of a business. About 91% of them claim that digital tools are
essential to run an independent business day-to-day. 48% of them
implemented an electronic payment system for their business, 23% use
a digital system for the management of their business and 25% receive
feedback from their customers by a digital instrument. Also, 47%
choose that their business should be present on the social media.

Further details about the International Own Business Study in
Romania are available on www.metro.ro.

The International Own Business Study of 2018 was commissioned by
METRO on the occasion of Own Business Day in Romania, Czech Republic,
France, Germany, India, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkey on
a basis of 10,000 respondents among whom 1,500 business owners. In
Romania, the sample included 1.000 respondents, including 150
entrepreneurs.

METRO is a leading international wholesale company with food and
non-food assortments that specialises on serving the needs of hotels,
restaurants and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent traders.
Around the world, METRO has some 24 million customers who can choose
whether to shop in one of the large-format stores, order online and
collect their purchases at the store or have them delivered. METRO in
addition also supports the competitiveness of entrepreneurs and own
businesses with digital solutions and thereby contributes to cultural
diversity in retail and hospitality. Sustainability is a key pillar
of METRO's business. METRO has been the sector leader in the Dow
Jones Sustainability Index for the last four years. The company
operates in 35 countries and employs more than 150,000 people
worldwide. In financial year 2017/18, METRO generated sales of
EUR36.5 billion. In September 2018 METRO AG initiated the divestment
process for the food retail chain Real with its 34,000 employees. For
more information, please visit www.metroag.de

METRO Cash & Carry Romania was officially launched in Romania in
October 1996, by opening the first distribution center in Bucharest.
The METRO stores in Romania are distributed as follows: 5 centers in
Bucharest, 2 centers in Brasov, Constanta, Timisoara and one center
in each of the following cities: Cluj, Bacau, Iasi, Craiova, Baia
Mare, Pitesti, Galati, Ploiesti, Oradea, Sibiu, Suceava, Tg. Mures,
Arad, Deva, Satu Mare, Piatra Neamt, Buzzu, Târgoviste and Turda.
Further information is available on: www.metro.ro.

Contact:
Marina Zara
Head of Marketing & Communication
METRO Cash & Carry Romania
E-mail: marina.zara@metro.ro; pr@metro.ro

Original-Content von: METRO AG, übermittelt durch news aktuell