September is the month in which we count the results and a good time for a retrospective of the EXPUR evolution in Romania. For 25 years, EXPUR has been writing its success page in Romania, so now, it a perfect moment for celebration.
On 29th of September, the management team of the Avril Group was in Romania with the EXPUR partners, reviewing the important pages in the company’s history, starting with 1992, when the company was established, going through all the important moments and the challenges arising over time.  

200 participants saw the overall picture of the transformation of an entire industry, and had the opportunity of meeting the people behind the common results and discussing future opportunities.

Messieurs Jean Phillippe Puig, Yves Delaine, Gabriel Krapf, Jean Baptiste Bachelerie,  Michael Vaton, Xavier Dorchies, Alain Brinon, Peter Tagge, Bernard Sargis, along with Mr Pascal Pinson and the local team, delivered a powerful message by their presence among the invited partners, as well as through their speeches.

“I firmly believe that through respect, boldness and performance, but also through perseverance and leaving our comfort zone, we find the way to evolve. It’s almost a lifetime since we have been growing and looking for horizons with one another and I thank you for this. Your contribution is invaluable,” said Pascal Pinson, EXPUR CEO.

But what would have been the evolution of the company without its people? Considering that the most valuable asset of an entity is its team, EXPUR also conducted a dedicated event, with its employees, in Slobozia, on 19 October. Meeting and rewarding the most dedicated employees, such as Mr Constantin Uzea, the employee with the greatest seniority within the factory in Slobozia, who had been working for 46 years in the same place, represented a special moment.

“These people who choose to spend almost half a century with us and have offered us their most valuable resource – time – are so rare today and deserve all the appreciation in the world. They invested us with all their confidence, perseverance and dedication and I believe they must be in the spotlight as true heroes,” added Mr Pinson.

Mr. Uzea, what made you stay in the same job for 46 years? What has been the most visible change you have seen in these years in the community you live in, in society?
When I graduated from vocational school and specialised as an electrical mechanic, the company that gave me the opportunity to put into practice what I learned was the Oil Factory from Slobozia. It became my second family and the place where I met a group of people with the same strong desire to learn. We grew up together, we overcame many difficulties, starting with the social and political changes, with the transition from the public to the private sector, with the uncertainty whether the factory would remain open at certain times, but we continued to hope for better times, which came after several years, once the factory was taken over by EXPUR. Workplace safety becomes a certainty, when there is reliability and professionalism; this is a lesson I learned then.
 

Do you have a constant thing in life as “young” as your job?

I always liked sports, and my passion of a lifetime was football, which I had the opportunity to practice even in the factory team when it participated in the county championship. But speaking of sports, generally, both in my early days and now, the idea that we are good at tennis is a fact.