A well-established family business, Transavia, founded and led by Ioan Popa, is today a major player on the South-Eastern European meat market.
Its story began more than 28 years ago, when Ioan Popa, a zootechnical egineer, took over a former agricultural cooperative in Alba Iulia, where he begins to develop a farm to produce and process poultry, with just five employees.
Transavia today has over 2,000 employees, 28 poultry farms and four plant farms, a combined fodder factory, three state-of-the-art slaughterhouses and a meat processing plant.
The company’s products can be found in most retail chains in the country under the Fragedo and Papane brands, and 15 percent of the production goes towards foreign markets, in several European states. All this expansion explains the exceptional financial results Transavia has reached. În 2017, the company had a turnover of EUR 145 million – 5 million more than in 2016 – while its gross profit went from EUR 16 million to 18 million.
Furthermore, the fact that it’s always open to innovation in business also contributed to Transavia’s success, as it’s one of the most valuable companies and brands in Romania. The quality of its products has brought Transavia the title of Supplier of Romania’s Royal House in 2006, as well as several national and international awards. This year, Transavia will have a growth of more than 10 percent, according to the company’s own estimates.
However, in order to maintain this trend, Ioan Popa thinks constant technology upgrades are essential. Due to the market’s evolution, companies must produce more with the same people. The entrepreneur is confident in Transavia’s success in the following years and believes he is ready to make balanced acquisitions. He is not planning to buy companies that are as big as his own, but admits that he may complete his portfolio with a smaller company.
The values that grow a family business
Besides Ioan Popa, his daughter Theodora is also part of top management, as vice-president, and other members of the family are also involved in the company. This means that Transavia is a family business, and the Popa family members feel that they must do everything they can to ensure the highest quality.
As a result, the company always imposes new standards, and this can most easily be observed in a recent initiative: every Fragedo Fresh package is delivered to consumers with a visible icon that says “Premium quality guaranteed by the founding family.” And the food industry isn’t the only one where the Popa family puts an emphasis on quality.
In 2017, they opened the Theodora Golf Club, the largest golf club and resort in Romania. Located in Teleac, near Alba Iulia, and one hour away from the Sibiu Airport, Theodora Golf Club is an ultramodern resort that takes up more than 62 hectares. Its inauguration took place on October 14, 2017, and it has been very successful since. The values of the club’s founders have been ingrained into this unique place, as every detail of its construction and design bears the family’s mark.
