Ina Negruță runs a company in Orhei town, which is one of the largest honey exporters from the Republic of Moldova on the European Union market. Annually, by this company, about 600 tons of Moldovan honey reach the tables of consumers in the EU.
The idea for her business came to Ina in 2011. After several years of activity in a honey production company, she decided, together with her father, that it was time to launch her own business. Having the experience from the previous activity, in 2015 she founded the company Visapina-Impex SRL, which was a dream of her and her family to launch own business. Visapina, in fact, means – a Dream in Beekeeping of Ina.
“The Free Trade Agreement was the beginning of our activity, it was the basis for initiating our exports to the European Union. It happened that at that time there was a stagnation, after an embargo, which the Republic of Moldova had, and the EU opened its door wide to Moldovan honey. There has been a growing interest in our product and we have found, analyzing the market, that exporting to the EU is not so difficult if you follow all the rules of the Association Agreement. Our biggest dream at the moment is to export our production packaged in jars to the EU or maybe to other countries of the world. Moldovan honey is a high quality honey, appreciated with high distinctions at international competitions and we believe that we, the producer, must be the one who receive the added value to this product. At the moment, with regret, our product is packaged under another brand, but not under the Moldovan brand”, says Ina Negruță.
The businesswoman does not stop here. Among her plans and dreams is the construction of a new factory, where she will be able to process even more honey. At the moment, the processing capacity is about 1000 tons per year, but Ina Negruță wants to increase this capacity. Currently, Ina Negruță is the only woman member of the Honey Exporters Association of Moldova, and the company she leads is in the top of exports in recent years.
Ina Negruță’s success story is realized within the project “WE and the EU – EU in Moldova: Perceptions and Reality”, implemented by the Institute for European Policies in Berlin (IEP), in partnership with the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) and the Institute for Strategic Initiatives (IPIS), with the support of the German Federal Office for Foreign Affairs.
