They knew that the funding was 200 thousand euros, and the co-financing part was 30%. Financially, they were fine on paper, the turnover was okay, and they qualified for a loan for co-financing. Buuut… then came the pandemic. The project was approved in 2020, amid lockdown. „We were here, in the workshop, making masks when we received the news. We didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. It was a time when everything was closed. The Horeca sector was on the ground. We wondered how much money we had lost until then and if it was worth going further. It was an accepted project, so we had to spend money on consultancy. A lot. But how could we if we had no source because everything was closed? Nothing was left of what we had originally thought,” Mihaela recalls.

The Cărare spouses had planned a complete line of textile products; all the equipment that was supposed to come through the project was meticulously arranged in their plan. They had the schematics drawn on the walls. Meanwhile, they also developed the concept of personalized aprons, clothing items for the Horeca industry, bread baskets, and knife holders; the range had considerably diversified. „The initial idea was from the Belgian, but what developed afterward was thanks to Mihaela. She thought of every detail,” says Constantin proudly.

When they finished the wish list with equipment and sent it to the consulting firm, they were told that it was not enough; they needed an additional 80 thousand euros worth of equipment. The 200 thousand euros they knew about were the 70% of the project. From 60 thousand co-financing, they had now reached 80 thousand, and they no longer fit into the loan. It was exactly the amount the embroidery machine initially cost. All their plans were now turned upside down. And because they couldn’t take the money back, they preferred to think that they would buy the embroidery machine in installments. And the rest of the equipment would be a bonus. This thought helped them psychologically. They had no support from anyone. Everyone was locked at home, and they were getting equipment worth 280 thousand euros to make products for the Horeca sector. „Our partners in Belgium couldn’t help us. No one could. The madness had begun. It was said that we would no longer be allowed to sell bread baskets, that everything had to be hygienic, and that there would no longer be menus on the table so that they wouldn’t be touched by many people. No matter how you turned it, it was all bad. But we went ahead,” Mihaela says.

Now, in 2023, at the end of the project, all the equipment is being used and adds value to the company. One person, thanks to the equipment, does the work of three people. Precision is millimetric, without human errors. The business is developing and starting to penetrate the Romanian market more and more. They even obtained an ISO certification for the development of the apron. „When we go somewhere, I take the bag with samples with me. You never know who I might talk to. We learned a lot from our Belgian partners. They stood by us at the international fair we attended; they were like a quality guarantee. Now that we know the course of a project with European funding, we can’t wait for the next one,” says Constantin.”