Call for Leaders | Costin Borc (Groupe SNEF): We are not in a sprint but in a marathon

The SNEF Group, with activities in industrial infrastructures and the energy field, has managed in recent years to grow organically and through new investments in the Romanian market. Active in Romania with three complementary companies: BRINEL, an innovative IT company, IMSAT Groupe SNEF, which offers industrial engineering and construction-assembly services, and COMOSERV, a company operating on the market of industrial mechanical engineering services, the group strengthened its presence and became a strong player with complete services. Business Review talked to Costin Borc, Director of Groupe SNEF in charge of Africa and Eastern Europe, for a new #Call4Leaders interview.

What measures have you taken to protect your business during this period?

Agility in matching our customer’s needs tailoring the offers based on their specific needs (different geometry – EPC, EP), and creating ad-hoc partnerships with other companies in the market to offer global solutions. A strategic measure was recruiting new talent for IMSAT Groupe SNEF, which has over 1,000 employees, BRINEL, and COMOSERV companies. We centered on developing our teams’ skills and, at the same time, on flexibility and dynamism in executing local and global projects. We also focus on strategic acquisitions to add to our portfolio of high-end services (robotics, automation, and IT&C).

Within BRINEL, part of SNEF group, we managed to exceed our settled goals. In particular, IT and cloud services have evolved well and some segments have grown surprisingly well. For example, banks have quickened the digital transformation and champion companies are the ones who knew how to start the digitization processes on time. The current context has facilitated the implementation of new IT solutions and the optimization of business processes. We want to continue to grow on recent technological trends and new markets.

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At a strategic level, SNEF group has consolidated its presence in the Romanian market. We became a strong player, with complete services in electromechanics, with a cumulative turnover of 120 million euros. For example, through the integration of COMOSERV, which currently has 160 specialists, SNEF group gets to have a team of 1250 employees in Romania. We live in times when digitalization is becoming a current and essential need in all sectors of activity, from services to industrial production. SNEF group aims to offer complete services in the Romanian market, including electrical, mechanical, automation, robotics, IT, including IoT and Industry 4.0 services and solutions.

What is your advice for business leaders for this crisis?
As in any other crisis and period of economic recovery, long-term resilience is most important. We are not in a sprint but in a marathon. Sometimes even in business projects that look like an ultra-marathon. Physical endurance creates the power to give reasonable solutions to complex problems. I wish that business leaders in Romania have the ingenuity and flexibility to find both the customers and the solutions they need.

What is the most positive business news you have read today and want to share it?

There is good news coming from the IT sector and also a consistent movement for Dacia. I’ve heard an announcement about a potentially significant international in-vestment in Romanian IT related to the potential of large digitization projects and the transfer towards cloud. The project would attract substantial investment from the IT giants in Romania, challenging the local economy and the public administration’s digitalization.

Dacia launched an image campaign to announce its new visual identity with a new logo, a new emblem, and a new color range. Denis Le Vot, General Manager of the company, describes Dacia as “a brand that permanently redefines the essentials in the automotive industry and makes it ‘accessible’ to rhyme with ‘attractive.’ In my opinion, such a strategy states a more innovative and accelerated internationalization of the brand, raising the Dacia brand in rank. For me this is an additional sign that Romania is leaving the low-cost area and becomes a more sophisticated market.