Online friend rental service, freshly inaugurated in Romania

Following a trend present on a global level, Romania now has its very own online friend rental service. Raluca Rus, CEO and founder of Rent Your Friend, inaugurated on January 5, sat down with Business Review and explained the concept and facilities offered by the service.

In a few words, Rent Your Friend supplies support in several social situations that require the presence of a friend: personal assistance in case of business trips, documentation and counseling for holidays abroad, home watching while away, the special package dedicated to mothers who lack the time to take care of some chores or simply need a friend, among others, all of these offering the possibility of hiring a professional friend to be there whenever the employer’s schedule allows it.

But are the more traditional Romanians ready for such a service? Rus believes so, expecially as “People help one another more and more rarely, the word “friend” has been completely erased from the vocabulary of many Romanians and has lost its former meaning”. And, as she adds, “Of all those asked, 100 percent answered that not only would they recourse to such a service, but they would offer it to others as well.

With a background in hospitality services, Rus also anticipates some frowns on what concerns the supplied service. However, “we will continue to emphasize that there is no connection to escort or dating services and we hope that everyone will understand”.

But who are these friends that the firms offers for rent? “The service relies on a database with friends for rent. By paying the Premium subscription, the client will have access to the information posted in the application form of those who wish to become friends for rent. For the moment, the database is still under work, but we already have a team that we are starting with”.

A “friend” does not necessarily mean just someone to talk to at the end of the work day. A friend is more like a personal assistant in the case of the firm developed by Rus. Thus, in case of having to visit a foreign country, for example, the rented friend will make all the necessary research and take care of the bureaucracy required by such a decision. “We follow the principle that people are very busy and although cutting costs is sought for, sometimes, hiring someone else may be the ideal solution, both on what concerns the gained time, as well as the stress reduction”, added Rus.

With an initial investment that Rus would not like to reveal, but states that it is somewhere around EUR 7,000, the goal that the CEO has set for the firm is to reach an income of around EUR 20,000 and an estimate of over 10,000 users in 2011.