Ana Raluca Chișu is an economist and the founder of Romania’s first pediatric recovery center (Asociația Kinetobebe). She is a trailblazer regarding social economy and health management actions.
She has paved the way in social economy initiatives and healthcare management, achieving remarkable feats that were once unimaginable.
She is a shining example of why women deserve equal recognition and opportunities alongside men.
She initiated prophylactic programs for preventive motor assessment of the child in the first 12 months of life and developed the formula for social clinics for motor assessment and she advocated for several public policy proposals to implement such clinics. Her strengths as a female entrepreneur are ambition, attention to macro strategies, but also fine details, especially in relationships with people.
Preventive health education is very fragile in Romania, that’s why the #staidrept program run by the Kinetobebe Association aims to reach as many schools as possible to provide preventive education.
Therapists go to secondary schools and explain to the pupils topics such as back pain, correct and incorrect positions when they are writing and staying in front of the various gadgets screens. Last but not least, they talk about physical exercise and favorite sports.
Raluca Chișu, founder of the KinetoBebe Association – the Network of KinetoBebe Pediatric Recovery Centers, aims to hold monthly workshops for a minimum of 300 pupils in 2024. The project will be completed with a study dedicated to how primary and secondary school students know and respect the correct positions during classes and in their extracurricular activities.
The workshops have already started in schools in Bucharest (Secondary School No. 27, sector 2) and will be extended to as many educational units as possible.
Six Thinking Hats of an Entrepreneur
Paraphrasing Edward De Bono’s method, Raluca wears several hats, which she describes with humor, in a unique parade:
“My professional hat closet is a colorful place. My favorite hat is that of a visionary, a creator of projects and new business directions. Economic and social. I like to say that I am just an economist. This is my favorite hat.
Then we put on the sleek and shiny hat of an opinion leader in two of the areas that create the community at the national level: health and education. I wear it when I sit at the negotiation table in public administrations and I wear it with great pride. I worked hard to be worthy to wear it.
Each lunch, Monday through Friday, I wear the crest that matches my lunch break. It’s the moment when I sit with the team, we eat together, we laugh and we’re happy that we’ve already been together for many years. I believe that every lunch we share is the anniversary of our collaboration.
Not daily, but now and then a policeman/policewoman hat is thrown on my head… I don’t like this hat, but experience has shown me its usefulness. I have to admit that I’m sorry to say that it still proves to be… very useful.
There is also the volunteer’s work crest, but I don’t want to talk about it. Here, I just let you see the results.
I also have a crown, rather a tiara that I put on my head in the evening, at events. It’s a tiara that I often stuff over my messy hair during the day, but it’s the metaphoric jewel I wear for the whole team, very humbly.
And there are more… there are more many hats…”, says the brave entrepreneur.
Her professional path is a constant one, which she built slowly but thoroughly. What would she say now to Raluca from 20 years ago, the one who was preparing to start and grow professionally:
“I would talk to Raluca about patience, patience and moderation when it comes to taking on obligations and actions. I look back and strongly believe that I could have loaded my plans with fewer activities and maybe even fewer plans. I learned the lesson of exhaustion with too many sleepless nights and days when the clock had no hours, only moments. The highlight is that this question comes after a discussion with a friend who is preparing to start his life as a future entrepreneur and embrace brave and financially risky projects on his own. I was trying to give him advice, but I decided to keep quiet. It’s better that way – everyone has to live their lessons.
I don’t know if the advice would have helped me 20 years ago, but what certainly would have been helpful would have been true stories, experience and especially sitting next to someone who has experienced the business on his/her own. I would tell the very young Raluca that you learn from experiences – yours and those around you. And I would tell her that success lies in resilience and constancy, in checking and monitoring. I would tell her to avoid times of dissatisfaction and make more lists – lists of accomplishments. It’s essential to write down your results, that’s the only way you’re aware of work and the joy of working as only you know what to do,” says Raluca, the wise entrepreneur from now.
About agility and resilience in social business
She admits that for many years she worked with great stubbornness, managed alone and considered that the entrepreneur-leader-manager-unionist mix is the recipe for success. She had to adapt to share the decision-making power, withdraw from many business activities, to leave the decision in the hands of her colleagues in the management team, but to keep the weight of the risk.
“It’s called ‘delegation’, but it’s team expansion, it’s steps to performance and growth. I adapted my work style to the different personalities of my colleagues and collaborators and learned to allow mistakes to be made, just to help the people on my team grow. For two years I have been experiencing the hardest test of resilience, having a business partner with a different vision than mine, working together with very bold objectives and targets.
So I have to admit that there is no “hardest adaptation”, but “not a moment without being ready to adapt”, concludes the founder of Kinetobebe.
The most difficult moments – business and life lessons
Raluca Chișu is always ready to speak openly about the great trials in her life. She does not mistify, she does not beautify, she does not pretend to be what she is not. She is often invited as a speaker at conferences and workshops, and her confessions are an example of authenticity. Her stories stir emotions as if she knows that a modern entrepreneur must master the art of storytelling. That’s why she takes advantage of this art that she honors with her quality of being authentic, and real. Raluca knows when to speak, but she also knows when to remain silent. Her assumed silence is a story in itself.
“There have been some very difficult moments in my career and now I realize that each moment was different from the other. There were two moments when I failed to support the sustainability of the business, these moments being the hardest lesson of what it means to be an economist on your own. When you admit: yes, I was wrong and I can’t go on. I was lucky to have the most wonderful jurist and the best lawyer by my side at that time. It was the people around me who supported me and didn’t let me fall.
Then was the Black Swan crisis strike caused by COVID-19 pandemic years. It was hard not to lose my trajectory, and it was the moment when I kept repeating to myself: in every crisis, there is an opportunity to grow. And that’s what I did. From 2022, we came out much stronger and better. The business also became mature for the niche we represent.
Yes, I am not afraid to say that a difficult time has come from a personal point of view as well. What I learned from it is that I can afford to fall because I have the team behind me that catches me, supports me and pushes me forward again. There were moments when I closed my eyes to have some rest knowing that my peace was being watched over by the people with whom I grew the most beautiful and responsible business. This is a priceless thing!”, Raluca says sincerely.
Women entrepreneurship – there is no perfect word that can describe the complexity of the nuances of female entrepreneurship
Raluca Chișu is a part of #WeAreHalf campaign. How difficult is it to be a female entrepreneur and not a male entrepreneur in a world still tributary to patriarchy? It’s been almost 15 years since I’ve been a female entrepreneur, and sometimes I’m amazed that I manage to resist.
Hard is not necessarily the right word. I don’t know if there is the perfect word that can describe the complexity of the nuances of female entrepreneurship – it takes courage, ambition, and the ability to walk in the dark without knowing where you’re going. In my early days in entrepreneurship, I looked at the support networking that male entrepreneurs shared. Trying to break through among them, I was often not taken seriously or even laughed at. It seemed that what I was doing was a caricature, I felt ridiculous. I was asked frequently what gentleman was behind me, who led me, and who advised me. And every time I told them it was just me and my team, it was obvious that they didn’t believe me. After 15 years of solo female entrepreneurship, I say the same – there was no male side as support. But I knew how to surround myself with high-caliber professionals – men and women – who made my journey as an entrepreneur much easier.
Otherwise, for me, professionalism has no gender. I always choose to work with men or women based on their results, and their excellence in the field they represent, not gender-based. I choose to work with the human, not the gender.

Business values, life values
“As a businessman, a businesswoman in fact, you talk about white, gray and black things. As a personality, I only divide things into black and white. To me… there’s not much gray. And so, only white remains. I embrace the white zone in all the activities I do, I don’t accept lies and people who steal. And when we talk about theft, the palette of discussions is wide and very nuanced.
Also, being a difficult communicator, I put a lot of emphasis on how we talk to each other, the words we say to each other, and I miss the words we don’t say to each other.
The secret of values-based management is not to be discouraged by non-values, evolution and progress based on lies and reinventions just for the sake of image. Management under the digital eye combines strategic decisions with social media promotion, and from here I believe the scale of values begins to tremble. Respect, responsibility and professionalism are values that I do not pass over, but the value that I keep in the center of attention is the care for patients. This is more than a value, it is our responsibility.
What never changes in my life? I think the work schedule! An entrepreneur leaves work at whatever time he wants, especially at midnight… I like to joke about this often.
I would now like to turn to the Health Service Entrepreneur hat. For me, as an entrepreneur in the field of medical and social services, the constant aspects are:
1. Ensuring the quality of services: It is crucial to ensure that we provide high-quality services to patients, which involves hiring and training staff, safety standards and continuously monitoring the satisfaction of patients’ families.
2. Compliance with regulations and rules: The social and medical services industry is highly regulated, and compliance with relevant legislation and rules is essential to the legal and ethical operation of any medical business.
3. Management of financial resources: I am often put in situations of tearing down and cutting budgets, I am obliged to pay special attention to financial resources to ensure the sustainability of the business and to offer quality services without compromising the responsibility we have towards the community.
They are values that I never give up, that’s the only way I can maintain the coherence and relevance of such a complex business”, concludes Raluca Chișu.

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Daniela Palade Teodorescuhttps://feminismforreal.com/author/daniela/
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Daniela Palade Teodorescuhttps://feminismforreal.com/author/daniela/
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Daniela Palade Teodorescuhttps://feminismforreal.com/author/daniela/
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Daniela Palade Teodorescuhttps://feminismforreal.com/author/daniela/