Business Review Magazine, together with banii.net platform, prepared the top 100 best entrepreneurs, based on a calculation formula that takes into account the business and entrepreneur’s notoriety, the value of the business and its evolution over the past 5 years, the number of employees and the social involvement. By calculating these criteria, Horațiu Țepeș ranks the 21st in the Top 100 best entrepreneurs, and he is also awarded the Diploma of Excellence for “The Largest Stainless Steel Roofing Tile Manufacturer in South Eastern Europe”.

You may find the full article below, published in the Top 100 Entrepreneurs, Business Review and banii.net, 2018 edition:

Plans to conquer Europe

In just a few years, Horațiu Țepeș succeeded in converting BILKA, the brand he created, into the leader of the Romanian metal roofing tile market. Later, the company founded in Brașov became the largest profile manufacturer in Eastern Europe. The next step is an easy guess ‒ the entrepreneur aims at making the company the leader of the roofing market across Europe. “It’s a long-term goal and we have the strategy and resources to get there”, said Horațiu Țepeș with conviction. So far, all the entrepreneur’s plans have been accomplished entirely, therefore he has all the reasons to be optimistic.

First roofs

The story of BILKA started in 2004. Still a student, Țepeș got a job in a Slovak company. He learned quickly everything he could about roofs, and he realized that the Romanian market is at the beginning and he could find many unexplored niches. So he got permission from the Slovakian owner to open a distributor company in Făgăraș. He became an entrepreneur, but he kept his job. That is until 2007 when the company for which he was working was sold (…). At that point, he chose to focus on his own business. The decision proved to be very inspiring. In just one year, the entrepreneur has increased its turnover by no less than ten times. Then, although the crisis started to be felt, he took the next step: production. He invested around EUR 400,000, a large amount for the company’s situation, in a production line and other equipment. Since that investment, BILKA has begun to be ranked every year higher and higher in the top of the metal roofing manufacturers. Although the company quickly became a leader on the market, Horațiu Țepeș continued his strategy, building new production facilities and acquiring state-of-the-art equipment. Thus, following an investment plan of EUR 10 million, Țepeș bought and used the Romlag platform, which belonged to the Rulmentul factory in Brașov. Then, a year ago, with EUR 5.5 million, BILKA purchased Hidromecanica 2 Brașov. By adding the new area to the 4.5 hectares, i.e. the current area of BILKA plant, a total area of 14 hectares is reached. The total investment plan for this new development phase amounts to EUR 20 million and the deadline for completion is 2020.

Top results

BILKA ended last year with a turnover of RON 394 million (EUR 86 million), an increase of 45% compared to 2016 when its turnover was RON 271 million. In only one year, the company produced and sold 57,000 full roof systems and reached a consumption of 80,000 tons of steel, being the largest pre-painted steel consumer in Eastern Europe. In 2018, at the beginning of November, the company reached the threshold of EUR 100 million, a 30% increase compared to the same period of 2017. Another interesting milestone was reached at the end of last year ‒ since its establishment, BILKA had covered over 200,000 houses. All these results can best be explained based on the level of investments that have already reached over EUR 40 million. How did Horațiu Țepeș succeed in having hundreds of employees, investing tens of millions of Euros and becoming the leader of the Eastern European metal roofing tile market? The answer is simple: business became his passion. He spends a lot of time at the office and he is always connected to the business he runs.