Robin Martens: focused, practical, positive. 'I'm the logistic hub for information'

Robin Martens' first contact with Romania was in the early 90s, when he worked on the master plan for the port of Constanta. He has seen how doing business was in Romania back then and upon his return in 2001, he started to see the step-by-step changes. He has talked to Romania Insider about the things that shaped his life and about the principles he applies in business and in life. By Corina Saceanu When Robin Martens was 10 years old, he used to navigate the seas with his father and their ship crew for one or two weeks. He used to do small chores on the ship and mingle with the multinational crew. But his first ever job was to pick tomatoes, when he was a young boy, from 5 in the morning to noon, during summers. “I come from a shipping family. In those days, people were away for months, my father was away for ten months a year” he says. His father was a captain, coming from a family with a tradition in shipping freight. Back in their hometown Rotterdam, this was an almost year-long job for some people. But Robin hasn't chosen to navigate the seas, although he has stayed quite close to the area. He studied spatial economics and specialized in supply chain management. Logistics is his area of expertise. Robin Martens, who is now the general manager of Archicom and a board member of the Netherlands – Romanian Chamber of Commerce, has first set foot to Romania in the early 90s.

“When I first came here, everything was literally dark in Bucharest,” he remembers.