All people in Tudora, Ștefan Vodă, know Dorin Țapu. The young man is the owner of a modern tractor, bought with European money and used to crop dozens of hectares every spring and autumn. The villagers come to him whenever there is a need to carry out some mechanized works in the field or in the orchard.

He won the contest while still being a student at high school

Dorin was a high school student when he won a grant under the Support to Confidence Building Measures Programme, financed by the European Union and implemented by UNDP. To get the money – about 14 thousand Euro, he participated in a contest and had to come up with a well-reasoned business idea and to prove that he will be able to maintain and further develop the business he intended to start. It did not take him a long time to decide on submitting the project proposal. Tudora village is famous in the region for its peach and nectarine orchards, and the demand for mechanized services – ploughing, harrowing, watering, has always existed.

“I have been thinking about a business in this area since long ago, because people really needed such services. In villages, people work hard in the field, and when the works are mechanized, the output is much higher,” says Dorin.

With the money won from the European Union, he bought a modern tractor and started up a company with three employees.

All over the business launch and development, he was supported and helped by a mentor employed under the project, but also by his father, Ghenadie Țapu. Since his son won the grant, the man returned from abroad, where he has worked for several years, and now he is one of the company’s employees.

The queue is established for months ahead

If at the very beginning he had to fight for every client, now the queue for the services provided by Dorin’s company is established for months ahead. And all this, because he has the best performing technique in the village.

While Dorin plans the activity of the company and takes the responsibility for communicating with potential clients, his father, Ghenadie Țapu, works on the tractor, together with another employee of the company – a mechanizer with dozens of years of experience.

“I am so glad to have the possibility to work together with my son and to help him fulfill the plans he has. These week we have watered a number of trees and cropped a young and beautiful orchard,” says Ghenadie Țapu.

Being launched two years ago, Dorin Țapu’s business succeeded to get profitable and now the young man is thinking to extend it and to buy new equipment and technique so as to provide a wider range of service not only for the people from the village, but also for those from the neighboring localities.

At the same time, he is thinking of building, together with his family, a big fridge to store fruits – peaches and nectarines for selling.

“Now people are selling at their gates or in the rayon center. I think that it would be a good idea to help them take their products to the capital city or even to export them to other countries,” says Dorin Țapu.

Another business they think of is related to biomass production. They plan to buy special equipment to process the vegetal residues to be collected from vineyards and orchards, and to transform them subsequently into pellets.

Over 70 young people benefited from help in starting up a business

Since last autumn, Dorin is a student at the Technical University of Moldova and he combines business management with training at the faculty. He succeeds to get involve a lot in the company’s works and comes to the village all the holidays and weekends.

Dorin Țapu is one of those over 70 young people from both sides of the River Nistru, who got European grants for a value up to 13,500 Euro to start up or develop a business.

The Support to Confidence Building Measures Programme, financed by the European Union and implemented by UNDP, contributes to enhancing confidence among the population from both sides of the River Nistru by involving representatives of business environment, local communities and civil society in joint projects for business and social infrastructure development.