BREC Talks

A smart coffee shop concept is an “anchor” for a successful office building: a benefit for tenants and a landmark for the building, attracting new clientele in the place. With new office hubs and retail formats developing, we sat down with Răzvan Crișan, Co-founder of m60 and talked about the specialty coffee market development and opportunities.

Theoretically, there are around 40 places in Bucharest, called as ‘specialty coffee shops’, but I believe that only 10-15 are preoccupied to do a truly good job. And when I say a good job, I am referring to investments in equipment, working with good beans and most of all the investment in the staff to offer a nice experience for the clients. At M60 we decided to serve along specialty coffee, simple but delicious food. If you do your job honestly, with a coffee shop like m60 you can reach an annual turnover of over 2 million RON, like us, in the third year.

We started in 2015 and we have succeeded to double our business. Regarding the clients’ daily average, we have increased significantly, at a level of 250-300 persons. We have three criteria which we try to implement every time we invest in a new location: we focus on quality design, with an original approach, that suits the location, we offer very good quality products, trying as much as we can to buy from local producers and we invest in creating a motivated and involved team. Interestingly, when we chose the location from Mendeleev street we were discouraged by real estate experts on the market, arguing the area was inappropriate. The lesson here was that sometimes you don’t listen to the expert’s opinion and trust your entrepreneurial instinct, especially when you are a start-up.

The technology center of Deutsche Bank is operational since 2014 in BOB office building from UpGround and employs 500 IT & C specialists . The center develops top software solutions for the banks’ global operations and represents a platform for highly skilled engineers. BUCHAREST REAL ESTATE CLUB exchanged views with Marian Popa, Director of DB Global Technology in Bucharest about the future of workspace and expectations related to the services on the local real estate market.

A competitive workforce market generates quality, and this has positive effects as competition is the most severe arbitrator. We try to perceive our workspace as a partner – I think this is the principal differentiating factor. A partner which helps you to perform, which generates good mood and stimulates the creativity of the occupants. And, as it mainly is a problem of human interaction, the project manager was the HR Department. The achieved results prove that it has been a successful project, which we are about to multiplicate.

The workspace of the future is directly related to the development of technology. The more freedom technology offers us, the more virtual the workspace will become. The “working anywhere” concept will evolve and will be the future trend, while holograms, future networks of 6-7-10G, augmented multi-tasking will allow us in the future to consider the office anywhere.

Romanian real estate market starts to enter a pre-maturity phase and I sense the need of its transformation in a supplier for habitat services. I am referring here to complete relocation services: from temporary apartments offers, shared-car services (the road from home to office is constantly done for 22 days per month), catering, conferences facilities, etc. The transformation of this industry from a predilect “hard” area to a “soft” area will determine a qualitative increase of used spaces, in the benefit of both parties.

One of the proposed routes in the initiative is China – Port Batumi-Port Constanta. If the railway road will include Romania, the new created infrastructure will have a massive impact on the local logistics sector, with the potential of attracting new, important players on the market.

On the occasion of the 16+1 Summit (China-Central and Estearn European Countries) in Riga, November 2016, the China – Central and Eastearn European investment Fund was launched – a private equity fund meant to support investment projects implemented through the 16+1 Cooperation Format.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Financial Group was designated by the Chinese Government to launch consultations with potential partners, for the establishment and operationalisation of the fund. Thus, under the coordination of Sino-Central Eastern Europe Financial Holding Corporation (CEEFC), member of ICBC, consultations, strategic lines and ways of operation of the Fund have been established. CEFC, together wth ECE partners and other Anchor Investors will contribute to the initial capital with EUR 1 bln., as Limited Partners. Other premium institutional investors are expected to contribute with EUR 9 bln., following a fund raising campaign.

The Fund will mainly finance projects in the ECE region, as well as projects developed under the new Silk Roads Initiative in other regions. Under market conditions, without irredeemable component, public projects will be financed (such as transportation infrastructure, energy, utilities and other public projects). A special attention will be provided to private sector projects able to generate important growth in the following period – companies activating in healthcare sector, agriculture, IT&C, High-Tech, Real Estate, states the Romanian Ambassador to the People`s Republic of China.

The Initiative is considered the biggest foreign spending program by any one country since the U.S.’ Marshall Plan to rebuild post-World War II Europe. BUCHAREST REAL ESTATE CLUB`s key question in the context: How will Romania and ECE private Real Estate sector will benefit from?

Following the opening of a new office in Romania by Axis Communication, the market leader in network video, we sat down for an interview with Bogdan Gavril, Sales Engineer & Trainer, CEE Region at Axis Communications to find out more about the company’s innovative solutions for retailers and smart city.

We believe that the road to a smarter traffic is by monitoring it. From congestion and stopped vehicles to serious accidents and extreme weather, we understand the everyday traffic management challenges and to keep the traffic moving as smooth as possible, we need the very latest information at hand.

Axis Communications is working with partners across the globe to offer smart network video solutions, that can provide reliable and detailed traffic video around the clock, automatically alert for incidents such as congestion and stopped vehicles. Our products stand up to the toughest weather conditions and provide real-time and historic traffic data. One of our recent local integration was done in Bucharest, Pasajul Unirea. The solution was developed by Axis Communications and one of our partners and consists of three pillars:

• Axis network cameras with technologies that allow the units to monitor in any light conditions.
• Citilog video-based Automatic Incident Detection system, that identify incidents and accidents within seconds on highways, bridges and tunnels. The application was installed directly on Axis Cameras, through the AXIS Camera Application Platform.
• Number OK LPR – Software that can recognize car’s license plate numbers and control executive units /barriers and automatic gates. Number OK can recognize license plate’s patterns, regardless of the plate state and lighting conditions.