Canvassing the tent market to peg a profit

With her first strategic objective being to continue to develop long-term partnerships with multinationals, full service agencies and PR firms, Alina Banescu intends to consolidate her tent company’s market share.

Anda Sebesi

For Alina Banescu, managing partner of TentEvent, the initial seeds of her business were planted abroad. She is not sure exactly when or why she was drawn to the aesthetics and potential of tents, but whatever the reason, it was enough to persuade her to set up TentEvent back in 2007. “The idea perhaps came at the Four Seasons hotel in Thailand with its tent bungalows, or at the Buckingham Palace ticket office in London – or maybe it was under the fabulous sun shades on one of the Greek Islands. I simply remember being struck by the versatility and beauty of tent structures and thought I could do something with this back home,” says Banescu. The next step for the young entrepreneur was to determine how to develop the concept in Romania. She knew that she didn’t want to go into the already saturated wedding industry. But she discovered, simply by talking to marketing departments and agencies, that there was a real need for specialized tent rental services and tent architecture solutions for the corporate sector. The company now has two exclusive partnerships with foreign producers, with the most recent being Tentickle, the largest South African producer of stretch tents and décor. “We have slowly built up a reputation by working with global brands and leading businesses in Romania, as well as full service, event management and PR agencies,” adds Banescu.

Another significant reason for launching such a business was that interest in tent structures has grown steadily in recent years due to increasing ecological concerns. “Indeed with today’s technologies, new tents offer innovative green solutions for a huge field of applications – modern commercial buildings, resorts, event venues and exhibition halls, showrooms, stadiums, even airports. So, like most of my clients, I wanted to get involved in a business that has green credentials and that would leave a minimal carbon footprint,” says the entrepreneur. She also knew that it was the type of business where no two projects are alike. “You meet brilliant professionals, creative problem-solvers and immediately get to see the results of your work. There’s no end to the flexibility of our tents,” says Banescu. She adds that her company has supplied tent architecture for a rugby tournament at the Romanian Rugby Federation, a doctors’ convention at Peles Castle, the opening of Baneasa Shopping City and the first Ermenegildo Zegna store in Bucharest, and covered the ING Golf days as well as numerous green initiative events, open door factory visits, product launches and CEO garden receptions.

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As for the hardest thing for TentEvent, Banescu says that it is the day-to-day frustrations rather than anything specific. She adds: “My accountant is always talking about cutting expenses so I’m obliged to say I would focus much more rigorously on the bottom line. Of course profitability brings stability, resources and opportunities but often in my excitement to provide the best event possible I haven’t followed this principle too closely.” The current challenge TentEvent is facing is to meet the demand for branded stretch tents, especially for the hospitality industry.

At the moment the local event services market is pretty crowded as many companies in Romania provide standard tent rental services: catering companies, event management agencies, trade show organizers, local producers and tent importers. “This is why strategically we decided to focus on our corporate business and expand our services by selling tent architecture primarily to the hotel and hospitality industry,” adds the managing partner. “We are currently negotiating terms for a new distribution agreement for dome tents. Also, having made a first step this year towards stretch accessories for indoor events, we will most likely expand in this direction over the next couple of years,” says Banescu.