{Info-Prim Neo article from the series “Independent for 21 years. New Moldovans coming?!” with Aliona Moraru, winner of the Grand Prize of the 2012 National Business Plans for Youth Contest} Aliona Moraru, together with her husband, develops a business on the production of fermented compound feedstuffs, which is a new technology for Moldova yet well-known and efficiently used in Europe. The idea was born after the family had grown poultry for several years and had noticed that the Moldovan market lacks high quality compound feedstuffs. “I’ve studied the production of compound feedstuffs in Europe. I borrowed some techniques and practices from there. I visited large fodder producing factories in Italy, Spain. The machinery is very expensive, and we couldn’t dive in head first. We worked abroad to gather money. Together with my husband, we worked for three years in order to able to invest. Instead of buying a house, we invested in the business”, stated Aliona Moraru. The woman says that the family to invest the money in Moldova, because it is not easy to start a business abroad. However, Moldova is more bureaucratic, which makes it harder to work here. In Aliona’s opinion, the change should start from the upper tier; the Law should protect the citizens, and should be respected by everyone. She says that the beginning was especially tough. Sometimes she and her husband would think that it may have been better to stay abroad. The money was never enough, and the attempts to get a loan would always fail, due to the harsh conditions imposed. Now she doesn’t regret that they couldn’t get a loan. Beside the financial expenses, the family has wasted very much time. “You need a lot of money to develop a business. Everything is much more expensive in Moldova than in other countries. The paperwork also cost us money, but more than anything – time. We waited for a building authorization for several years. They’d either say it was not ready, either there was some paperwork missing, and it always started off from scratch. Some quit because of that, some quit because of lack of financial means”, the woman added. Aliona Moraru is the mother of two boys, of 1 and 5 years of age. She was forced to both educated her children, and take care of the business, because the State did not really help her. “I’m not the kind of person to expect much help. What the State has to offer to a child, is very little, although I can’t say it doesn’t give anything at all. I’d accept to be given proper conditions, so that I can work, and have something to raise my children with”, the woman noted. Aliona Moraru says that the Grand Prize that she won in the National Business Plans for Youth Contest was of great support to her. With the €10,000 prize money they will buy high-performance steam machinery. The woman admits that she was expecting to win one of the prizes. When she saw that the winners of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places were named she couldn’t believe that she didn’t win anything, just to find out that she had won the Grand Prize. She is very happy, but says that she is not used to receiving money just like that, without work hard to earn them. She would be happy if the State would create conditions under which you could start a business and maintain it for a while, at least. Or even at the banking level, to have conditions that are not too tough, but realistic ones. The business is going well now; the family has regular clients, who are satisfied with the product. The woman thinks that the high stakes for the changes that everyone awaits still fall on the younger generations. “We must work hard, and the State should support us”. “Many things have changed in the 21 years of independence. It is a pity that the economy we once had doesn’t exist anymore - the factories, the plants, but I also see good things; the mentality of a part of the population has changed”, said Aliona Moraru. She says that in the past everyone expected to get money from the State, whereas now people try to create and develop something of their own effort, and this is a very good thing. “I am optimistic, and hope that things will change for the better in our country. Maybe the State structures should drop the people with Soviet mentality. People with a desire to work should be hired, those who want change, those who want to see the results of their work”, concluded the winner of the Grand Prize in the 2012 National Business Plans for Youth Contest. [Elena Nistor, Info-Prim Neo] ****** {The first time the Info-Prim Neo Press Agency used the sentence “New Moldovans coming” was in the summer of 2010, also at the anniversary of Independence. It seemed appropriate to us, to attribute this description to a category of people whom Moldova can rely its future hopes upon. The Info-Prim Neo team believes that Moldova has changes for adequate development only in the case when the society will accumulate a critical mass of new people. We did not refer strictly to young people, and strictly to ethnical Moldovans. “New Moldovans” are all the people who adopt new visions and experiences, new will and mentality; all those who care about themselves, their family, and their country. It is true that the Agency found it necessary to end the sentence “New Moldovans coming” in an exclamation mark (!), as a symbol of hope, and an interrogation mark (?), in order not to scare our luck away.} {Info-Prim Neo}