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THE growing trend towards a more natural lifestyle has seen rapid growth for Romanian company Life Care which is leading the way in the field of organics, known locally as BIO.

Until recently a highly specialised area of science, BIO is now moving into the mainstream as people become more aware of the benefits of natural products to enhance health and lifestyle.

Life Care was set up by brothers Cristian and Danut Onetiu who developed the concept of a European BIO community in response to growing evidence of the harmful effects caused by pollution, stress and the toxic content of many products.

Working since 2003 with BIO engineers in Germany which has a strong following in this area, a selection of personal care, supplements and homecare products was developed based on exclusive formulations created by a mix of various organic ingredients.

The business was launched in Romania in 2005, selected as a test market partly because of the low levels of awareness of the BIO concept. The founders reasoned this would be an ideal environment in which to prove its value and establish a base from which to expand.

Direct selling was chosen because of the excellent results of existing network marketing companies already operating there. Despite some initial challenges, the business took off quickly and today has more than 40,000 Partners and 800 products — personal care, cosmetics, food supplements and detergents. Around 80 per cent of the range carries the Life Care brand, made for them in Germany and America; the remainder comes from other established EU sources.

Turnover last year was €10 million, almost four times the previous year and 2nd Quarter results for 2009 show an increase of 31 per cent over the same period. Over the past three years, the company has enjoyed one of the fastest growth rates of any direct selling organisation in the country.

“To keep up with this rate of growth we made two important decisions last year,” said Cristian, who is President of parent company Life Care Europe. “The first was to open a new and bigger logistics centre in Timisoara which has the capacity to support at least three times the size of our existing business, and the other was to recruit international experts across all business functions to ensure we can provide the necessary support.” Combined with a solid  foundation based on core principles and global vision, the establishment of our ‘ethic and success guide’ was a natural step,” said Cristian.

Expansion is underway with the launch of a new website, in 12 languages. Designed to enable Partners to run the administrative and operational elements of their business more effectively, the first new market to benefit is Hungary.
“We are based very close to the border and already have a waiting list of people wanting to join us due to many of our existing Partners who already do business there,” said Cristian.

Costel Baghina, General Manager of Life Care, explains the reasons for the company’s success. “We have top quality products and we keep our promises but one of the biggest factors in our success is human contact,” he said. “Our
products are independently certified and our business model is proven over many years with a stable ‘breakaway’ marketing plan — that is why a Life Care Partner is active, on average, more than eight months out of 12.”

Life Care Vision

To offer a global opportunity where anyone can enjoy good health, beauty and great rewards through our lifestyle, philosophy and BIO products.