I was reading these days various articles about Dinu Patriciu – the wealthiest Romanian citizen alive and the 426th richest man in the world! Although I am writing this entry in English, I don’t plan to develop on the profile of this extremely interesting man too much for my non-Romanian readers. You can read more about him here and here. Suffice it to say he is a very controversial guy… doing business in oil and gas (he is the owner of Rompetrol – a European leader in oil and gas), doing business with state-owned companies much to his personal advantage, being tainted with politics and all sorts of fraud/ corruption allegations (he even spent a couple of days in custody, if I remember correctly), and so on. I don’t plan to comment on any of these issues. I just want to point out two aspects:
1. I believe Patriciu is the first Romanian businessman doing philantropy in a strategic manner, by investing roughly around 5 million euros per year in education, and I heartily congratulate him for this.
2. I’ve attended a social event in his presence and talked with various people working for him. He fascinates people by his mere presence.
Thus, I totally disagree with Sorin Tudor’s entry, who was claiming that Patriciu spends 380000 daily by investing in his image (through his education-focused charity). Dinu Patriciu did not establish his charity as a PR stunt; in both his line and level of business, he does not need PR stunts. If he’ll ever need PR, he’ll just buy advertising. Prime time. Surprisingly though, google.com indexes fundatiadinupatriciu.ro as the first result when you search for “dinu patriciu”. Anyway, I look forward to seeing more of his charity’s strategic movements, as a sound educational system is definitely what Romania lacks mostly.
Dar in ce investeste banii mai precis? Infrastructura, abecedare? Sau da pur si simplu banii pentru ca altii sa-i foloseasca in mod istet, orice ar insemna asta? Ma gandesc ca formularea de tipul “5 milioane pentru educatie” inseamna orice, de-aia intreb.
Da burse mah
check out http://www.fundatiadinupatriciu.ro – there are basically 2 type of scholarships, some for needy students, others for top talents.
Corina Murafa
Apr 30th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
@ trainspot… din punctul meu de vedere, da. sa nu luam bani de la companii care stim ca sunt neetice si care dau bani pe principiul o mana spala pe alta (bun, aici multi ortodocsi ar acuza ca intra multe multinationale, dar asta e o alta discutie), sa nu luam bani de la politicieni care contravin vederilor noastre politice si morale, daca stim ca oferitul de bani le legitimeaza ascensiunea spre putere.
asta imi ziceai la postul cu gigi.
acum observ un ton totusi admirativ.
care-i punctul de vedere corect pana la urma?
@trainspot – cred ca cele doua puncte de vedere nu se contrazic; dinu patriciu nu contravine vederilor mele morale; unii ar zice ca este un politician murdar; i-as ruga atunci sa-mi arate care politician este dincolo de orice suspiciune. din punct de vedere politic, nu sunt de acord cu vederile lui dinu patriciu, dar pe de alta parte le accept in ideea pluralismului pe scena politica; tonul este admirativ pe de o parte vizavi de flerul in business al lui dinu patriciu (am citit niste chestii legate de negocierile cu kazmunai gaz si mi s-a parut incredibil cum a reusit sa scoata rompetrol din contractul ala), si pe de alta parte vizavi de initiativa de a investi strategic si sistematic in educatie. asa cum am incercat sa spun si in post-ul despre gigi becali, sunt multe nuante de gri la orizont, atat in ceea ce priveste moralitatea oamenilor cat si in ceea ce priveste etica multinationalelor; daca ar fi sa vedem viata in alb si negru, nu stiu cum am putea opera cu ceea ce vedem.
nu stiu ce sa zic. i-as cam baga in aceeasi oala pe patriciu, voiculescu si gigi (toti trei baga bani in educatie). mai departe depinde de gusturi. dar totusi de dragul prulalismului putem sa-i acceptam pe toti.
dar repet. e totusi o chestie de gusturi. iti place sau nu respectivul…