SHORT PRESENTATION

 

NATIONAL UNION OF HANDICRAFT AND PRODUCTION 
COOPERATIVES OF ROMANIA - UCECOM facilitates to its partners from outside the cooperative system contacts with cooperative societies and provides assistance to initiate and develop a broad range of activities.
- The beginnings of the Handicraft Cooperatives in Romania date in the year 1879 when the first organization of this kind was founded in Bucharest. Today they represent one of the largest association in Romania which is based on private property; 
- Handicraft Cooperatives execute a large variety of products and services delivery in 21 industrial branches and over 140 fields of activity and are spread all over the country; 
- UCECOM, as an apex union, is the representative of the whole system of handicraft cooperatives in relation to Romanian authorities, other Romanian bodies and international cooperative organizations.
Ensures
- a long experience, a stable organizational structure, a high level of flexibility and reduction of bureaucracy; 
- small and medium size productive units (25 to 100 persons), flexible and easy to adapt to various sorts of activities; 
- opportunity to choose a specific unit, among many existing all over the country, in order to develop the most profitable form of cooperation; 
- well qualified labor force; a stable relation between the cooperative member and his working place; 
- many production and marketing spaces available for developing economic activities in all regions of the country;




BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

 


 
1. Production and Exportation of:
Wooden products: furniture (mostly style and hand carved furniture; small furniture); toys; artisan items; willow furniture; tables for stretching the wallpaper; sewing cases;
Products made of metal: working benches of various dimensions; working benches for jewelry workers; hand tools and accessories; welding transformers; garden furniture made of cast iron and aluminum; various types of metal fences; winches for car workshops; tanks of inox plate; car oil filters; tool cases; various small metal items; 
Textiles and leather products: ready made clothes and knitwear (including those manufactured under "lohn" basis); hand knotted and hand woven carpets (main Romanian producer); sport and camping articles; safety clothes and footwear; leather footwear; leather and synthetic leather goods (various hand bags, satchels, belts, wallets). 
Glass and ceramic products: ornaments for Christmas tree, inner decoration items made of glass and ceramics; ceramic cups, plates and complete table sets (especially for tea and coffee); 
Folk articles: table clothes, needle work items, scarves, wall napkins, rugs, icons painted on wood and glass, folk dolls etc.; 

 
2. Services Provided to Population and Companies

commercial activities: marketing through a network of more than 1800 shops; import-export activities through specialized societies ICECOOP and SADCOM; 
publicity and organizing trade fairs and exhibitions though the specialised society PUBLITER;
tourism and medical treatment in 4 hotels on the seaside and the mountains provided by tourism society HEFAISTOS; 
research and design activities in various fields carried out by Cooperative Institute ICPECOM; 
training of labour force in schools within Cooperative system: 12 vocational schools for training about 87.000 persons; University ARTIFEX for Economic Training; CEPECOM Center of Management Training for Cooperative Leaders;
fashion tailoring, clothes and footwear repairing; 
body care (hair cutting, hair dressing, cosmetic care); 
TV, radio, refrigerators, washing machines and vacuum cleaners repairing;
cars repairing.
The last four activities are provided by different cooperatives all over Romania.

 
3. Economic cooperation to develop activities and services as mentioned on point 1 and 2, or other legal activities with lucrative character.