Company Spotlight
July 2010
Living the BIO life…
Life Care Romania was launched five years ago by brothers Cristian and Dan Onetiu and sells organically produced health supplements, cosmetics and detergents. Features writer MADELINE CLARK finds out more about the Life Care success story.
Since Life Care Romania was launched in 2005 the company has gone from strength to strength with plans to make its BIO products available to the whole of the European Union by the end of the year.
The company has just launched a new website which will operate as a global online shop, focusing on products and spreading the word about the Life Care brand experience.
The company is also about to open a new logistical department which will be a distribution centre for the whole of Europe.
“This new development will mean that people all over the EU will be able to receive our products and benefit from our compensation plan, explained Life Care’s Cristian Onetiu, who founded the company with his brother, Dan. “Everything will be run under the one network that is the European Union though, obviously, we will have to comply with different commercial regulations for every country.”
Cristian first became involved with the direct selling industry when he was aged just 16 and worked as a Distributor for Amway, combining this with his studies. Later he worked in traditional retail then started a career as an entrepreneur, opening a small coffee shop.
“I eventually returned to direct selling because I enjoy being a free spirit and liked the flexibility it offered,” he explained. “I liked Amway’s products and I also admired Oriflame’s way of doing things. I felt it was a very structured company with a very good compensation plan and great products. I wanted to take the best from each and develop a new company that would be more focused on people, healthy products and personal development.
“My brother and I were looking to sell products that didn’t already exist within the industry. Our Krauter range of cosmetic products was developed one year in advance with some bio-engineers in Germany and we produced a range of cosmetics based on recipes with healing ingredients.
“Our objective was to create a community of people interested in the holistic approach to life.”—Cristian Onetiu, Life Care Romania
“We started 100 per cent with cosmetics but now our cosmetics represent around 40 per cent of our sales. Demand for our organic detergents is also growing rapidly as allergies become more common worldwide.
In 2007, Germany’s number one European manufacturer in the detergents industry, started producing BIO detergents for Life Care under the BioHAUS brand with original Life Care recipes.
BioHAUS products contain no fillers, optical brighteners, synthetic preservatives or dyes. Nether do theycontain chlorine, phosphorus or genetically modified substances. Surface-active substances are also completely biodegradable.
“Life Care is today also one of the few direct selling companies selling external use products for specific conditions, such as arthritis,” Cristian continued. “We have developed a range of these external use products that is unique, all with organic ingredients. Our producer has been creating these remedies since 1969 and has developed a new brand especially for Life Care.”
Life Care’s external use Krauter products include; Inflammation Gel with Bio Devil’s Claw and Plants, used to reduce pain caused by various injuries; The Power of the Bear anti-rheumatic Gel with Bio Plants, offering a rapid, calming effect for rheumatic, muscle and joint pain and Bio Anti Cellulite Mint Gel to reduce the appearance of orange peel skin.
Cristian continued, “We decided the company should be called Life Care because our objective was to create a community of people interested in the holistic approach to life - an approach that involved taking care of the body, mind and spirit through the use of healthy products.
“We came up with the name, then the concept and finally the product range. Then we introduced an organic feature and set up our compensation plans and all the tools and accessories required for starting a direct selling business opportunity. Though we operate from Romania and, more recently, Hungary, we also have a lot of requests from people all over the world.”
Life Care uses traditional methods of direct selling which include one-to-one meetings, party plan presentations and also official local presentations (OLT’s), where leaders get together for meetings to generate recruitment.
The company has just created a concept called The World of Life Care, which takes place at a 500 square metre business centre where Consultants can try out products or hold meetings. The business centre also includes a training area and a conference area.
“Often direct selling companies are hidden behind a website or a very nice building,” said Cristian. “The difference with our company is that the company is part of every stage of our Consultants’ lives. We help them to evolve and to develop their desires.
“We have meetings on different topics to help them in their development. We bring in outside people to offer their expertise and to talk about their principles and their goals. We also have holistic meetings which we call our ‘360 Degree Conferences’ where we bring in doctors, complementary therapists, psychologists, and also people of a spiritual nature so we can look at humankind from different perspectives. We feel it’s important the company should revolve around the people within it and not the other way round.”
“The point isn’t about being number one in the industry but to generate 100,000 free people who are healthy physically, mentally and elevated spiritually. This is our goal.”—Cristian Onetiu, Life Care Romania
He added, “This approach is about helping our Distributors and Consultants to develop their spiritual side, their mental side and also to take care of their bodies. We believe this will result in a successful company. The point isn’t about being number one in the industry but to generate 100,000 free people who are healthy physically, mentally and elevated spiritually. This is our goal. I am not sure whether I can reach it in my lifetime but I can certainly try. Life Care is a company for those who enjoy the simple things in life and enjoy being around other people who think of life in a holistic way. I do consider a key factor of our success is down to the people involved in our business.”
As Life Care has grown over the last year Cristian and brother, Dan, have taken on smaller roles, providing opportunities for others to grow and develop within the business. “We now have a lot of people who are involved as executives and employ a General Manager in charge of all operations,” explained Cristian. “We also have an export department, a financial department, a support department and so on. These days we act more as shareholders, keeping close contact with the management, overseeing plans, approving plans and then following the results.”
Life Care has recently launched an exciting new health supplement which comes as a gel capsule rather than a liquid supplement. One of its more unusual products is a range of coffees, containing extracts of the health promoting Chinese mushroom, Ganoderma, which has been used in Chinese healing for the last 6,000 years.
The Company’s latest products now include clothing with a range of women’s tights with special healing qualities. The tights contain organic nutrients which benefit circulation, can help the lymphatic system and can also improve cellulite and the appearance of the skin. The tights have shown to be effective for leg pain and other conditions such as varicose veins or for protection against deep vein thrombosis, during long haul air travel, for instance.
“The tights, which come in a range of fashionable colours, work with the aid of active micro capsules, containing extracts from plants and vegetables, which are inserted into the fibres,” explained Cristian. “These ingredients are gradually released upon direct contact of the hosiery with the skin.”
Cristian believes one of the biggest challenges the company faces today is to ensure it continues with the same values it started out with. “But at the same time we need to remain aware that we must also move with the times and, as human beings, we must continue to reinvent processes, reinvent the brand and reinvent the channels we use as well as reinventing the trust in the direct selling business.”
He added, “Our vision for the future is to provide a global opportunity where anyone can enjoy good health, beauty and great rewards through our lifestyle philosophy and BIO products.”
“The difference with our company is that the company is part of every stage of our Consultants’ lives. We help them to evolve and to develop their desires.” —Cristian Onetiu, Life Care Romania
Fact File
Life Care products are produced with BIO plants and traditional recipes, inspired by nature.
A product is BIO if it meets all the following conditions:
- The land of BIO crops is clean - no pesticides, no chemicals, only natural fertiliser.
- The seeds are BIO certified.
- Processing is mechanical.
- The finished product contains no chemical ingredients or genetic alteration.
- The product is BIO when is certified by an authorised centre.
Life Care’s main brands include:
- Krauter – a cosmetic and healing range offering original recipes used since 1969.
- Life Impulse – an organic food supplement range.
- BioHAUS – a range of bio solutions for house cleaning
- Bio Style – stockings with an active minicapsule that aids circulation.
- Coffee for Life Ganoderma - coffee containing health promoting Ganoderma extracts.
Benefits of food supplements
Since 2007, Life Care has also experienced success after success with its Life Impulse BIO products, produced by one of the top 10 US suppliers of organic food supplements.
They are USDA Organic certified and are also notified and certified by the Romanian Ministry of Health.
Life Care co-founder Cristian Onetiu explained why food supplements can be beneficial. “The reason our bodies need food supplements is that we are increasingly exposed to pollutants and stress factors, because we live in an increasingly alert rhythm and because we no longer eat the right food and at the correct time. Fruit, vegetables, fish and lean meat should be part of our daily diet, but in most cases we either do not have the time or we do not have access to the best resources.”
He added, “Our body does not wait and it cannot heal itself. Each of the sensitive or stressed areas needs our help immediately. The hours we spend in rooms with artificial lighting or in front of the television or the computer, for instance, make our eyes tired and our eyes can benefit from our food supplements.
“Our digestive system, under pressure by so many bumps and deficiencies can heal itself if we can help it with the necessary substances, in addition to a good diet. There are several plants whose healing properties have been known for thousands of years, such as Aloe Vera, Goji and others.”
Cristian continued, “When it comes to burning fats, mobilising kidney stones, the antioxidant effect, losing weight in a healthy manner or the stimulation of the metabolism, the Life Impulse range can be considered an appropriate supporter for health. This is also due to the fact that the products are made from plants cultivated in areas of organic agriculture, without fertilisers and pesticides.”
www.life-care.com
