STARTING A BUSINESS IN MOLDOVA
Best of luck, friends, 4 years ago I went to Moldova to start a business. I had the idea of using the money I had saved from working abroad before and owning my own Cafe. I had the idea that I would open a cafe of my own, even if it was small, and have my breakfast in my own cafe in the morning. In this way, the food problem, which was a big problem for me, would be eliminated and I would also earn money from the cafe.
Previously, a friend of mine was constantly going to the Republic of Moldova . I looked at the Moldovan coins, I thought it was interesting that they were small and they did not take up much space in my wallet. Before, when I was living in a dormitory in Romania, I had a Moldovan roommate named Cornel. He was constantly going back and forth to Moldova. He was constantly bringing baskets of village eggs from Moldova. He was bringing cheese and stuff from Moldova. At that time, I was wondering what Moldova was like. Years later, with my savings, I bought a plane ticket to Moldova to open a cafe.
There is a direct flight from Istanbul to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. The flight takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes. For someone living in Istanbul, Moldova is not a very far place. I saw many Turkish men coming for 2-3 days on Ştefan Çel Mare Street in Chisinau. When you get on the plane, 90% of the passengers are Turkish men. Their purpose of going is to flock Turkish men to certain Balkans and find beautiful Moldovan girls. When I look at those who left, most of them are middle-aged and older. I think most of them have wives and children in Türkiye.
The ladies I met in Moldova always ask: How many wives do you have in Turkey? Do you have any children? They ask questions like how did your wife let you come here? Even though I tell them how lonely I am and I don't have a wife or girlfriend, most of them don't even believe what I say due to previous negative experiences and negative prejudice...
Anyway, there is a negative image of Turkish men in their love life, so be careful. Going back to the business issue, the legal system in the country is worse than Türkiye. Laws are not implemented. The police have turned into a mafia. Until 2 years ago, tribute was collected from all Turkish Passengers at all Moldova Airports. When someone does this and wants to complain about the police, you go to the police commissioner or the chief captain, who then collects the bribes from those who took bribes and distribute them to everyone, from the police commissioner to the airport police. In order not to pay a bribe, I rummaged on my phone and got the numbers of the Turkish consulate and certain higher-level places to complain. They didn't ask me for anything because I mixed in with German tourists. By the way, they only take bribes from Turks and Arabs. Bribes are not accepted from European Countries and Other Countries.
I heard that the bribery issue has been eliminated recently. I hope it continues like this. Even after the incident I just described, you must have understood that Moldova does not have a legal system and does not have a state structure that complies with the law. These events continue when you open a business. In the center of the city, I met a Turkish brother who had been making döner kebab for 8 years. The man was so fed up that he stuck to his window and said, "I took my wife and returned to Turkey." Police in the country go to businesses opened by foreign citizens and impose fines for no reason. If you don't want to be punished, you pay bribes. This time, he often comes and asks for bribes from you. Police constantly come to check foreign workplaces. That's why, when you travel around Moldova, you look at the streets and there aren't many businesses. Some people open their businesses in the name of their Moldovan spouses and give Romanian names to their businesses in order to avoid the penalties imposed by the police on foreigners.
A friend of mine who produces in the plastic industry opened it in his wife's name. And he was producing plastic with certain molds and he told me that they had no reason to fine us much. When there are food products, they write more fines and more police come to check. For this reason, Moldova is a country that does not receive much investment. The food industry in the country has been monopolized and the pizza industry is in the hands of a few people who have the backing of the Parliament.
If you are going to open a business, you need to be very careful. I talked to Turks who opened businesses before. The police got fed up and finally closed the shop. I hope you don't have any problems.
I hope this article was useful. If you have any experience in Moldova, you can share it in the comments.
