Phenalex, an entrepreneurial company located in western Romania, will close the fruit and vegetable processing section, where it produced organic-certified jam, dried fruit, and the vegetable spread zacusca, to open another production facility in Switzerland to capitalize on the better Swiss Made brand, Profit.ro reported.

It is not the first company that seeks to brand itself as foreign to get better visibility. Ivatherm, set up by Romanian entrepreneur Rucsandra Hurezeanu, produces cosmetics "designed and produced in France" using thermal water from Herculane, a spa resort in south-west Romania.

Simona Bișboacă, one of the owners of Phenalex, also hopes that their products will find their place on the developed markets under the label "made in Switzerland". 

Bișboacă mentions, besides the better country branding of Switzerland, the facilities provided by the country of adoption to innovative entrepreneurs. Romania has a positive image in terms of raw materials, she says - cereals, fruits, seeds - but not for processed, value-added products.

The Romanian factory Phenalex will keep only the production of food supplements.

The company was set up and is controlled by Simona and Nelu Bișboacă. Simona Bișboacă, a researcher, inventor and entrepreneur, decided to settle in Friborg, Switzerland, together with her husband and their two children and rented a space in an industrial park, where she will produce natural cosmetics and food supplements under Swiss patents starting 2022.

"Switzerland, which ranks first in the top of the most innovative countries, is looking for companies to support its position, and we have been very openly received by the authorities," Simona Bișboacă told Profit.ro.

(Photo: Alexey Novikov | Dreamstime.com)

andrei@romania-insider.com