The entrepreneur, Anca Vlad, the owner of Catena chain of pharmacies, as well as the owner of Fildas medicine distributor remembers how she chose more than two decades ago a name which, in the meantime, has become a brand.
Today, 800 pharmacies which operate under Catena brand (as per the latest information) have accumulated business if approximately one billion EUR in 2019 (latest year for which there are published data). The company is a market leader on its segment.
“21 years ago, when I approached the pharmaceutical retail area, I wanted a resounding brand name, however, warm and simple. The words “Catena” came to my mind as it had all these qualities. Additionally, it means two things: In Romanian it refers to chemical bound, which brings to mind the pharmaceutical product and in Latin and Italian it means “chain”, which created a nice development perspective”, says the entrepreneur.
She added that, in general, the words have the power to oblige. In parallel to the selected name, the logo needed to inspire warmth, proximity, care.
“We started with orange and green. Most remedies come from nature, so I felt that a leaf would be the perfect choice to express that. However, something was missing. When we added yellow we felt joy – it depicted light and hope, exactly what we wanted to express. As any job done from the heart, the brand lasted well throughout the years”, she added.
The Catena brand is operated by several companies, unlike Fildas Trading, the medicine distributor, which operates on a single entity.
Catena entered the market more than 20 years ago, when the entrepreneur, Anca Vlad, at that time, the owner of Fildas Trading- the medicine distributor- bought 30 pharmacies in Pitesti- the Agresfarm network.
Subsequently, the company had a direct development and it continued the acquisitions, which led the brand to have 800 units country-wide.
Whereas in pharma distribution the brand is less important, in pharma retail it is very important. How important is it for the customer that the pharmacy he goes to should have a Romanian brand?
‘The fact that we are a Romanian brand matters for the team, we feel proud of our creation. Customers, however, need quality services, this is important for them and this is what we strive to offer them, every day”, says Anca Vlad.
From the perspective of the business she created, this woman entrepreneur is the most powerful woman in the local business environment.
Article from Ziarul Financiar
