Being a dreamer has its perks, such as happiness and fun. Making money first is a tad more difficult, but it results in a better match, later on, with the aforementioned two desiderates. And since one of the most important conferences for entrepreneurs and business people will take place December 10-11, it's worth taking a look at who we'd like to see there.

I had a quick look at the press release of this event and here’s what I was left with (via Laszlo Pacso, the founder):

Romania ranks second last in Europe in entrepreneurship, with only 0.025 corporations per capita. The cause is the weak entrepreneurial culture, generated first by Romanians’ low appetite for risk, by the lack of an educational system encouraging team and entrepreneurial spirit, lack of capital and the reluctance of banks to invest in start-ups. Business Days is trying to completefill these gaps and to encourage participants to profit from current opportunities in the marketplace.

The above strikes me as an exaggeration – a problem that arises from an excessively restrictive definition of entrepreneurship. More precisely, official statistics generally count entrepreneurs who operate within the confine of the law. That is unduly restrictive, for before 1989 there was no “legal” entrepreneur and even after 1989, some areas remain unjustifiably illegal, while some entrepreneurs operate on the black market simply because the red tape makes “going legal” a very time-consuming and expensive proposition. Judging by the low price of drugs in Bucharest, Romanian “merchants of illegal dreams” are particularly effective at meeting demand with supply. Furthermore, Romania has a very large contingent of prostitutes, some of them meeting demand for their services in Western Europe, others at home, as “freelancers” or “part-timers”.

For instance, in medium.com, in a story edited by Bobbie Johnson, fact-checked by Emily Loftis, and copy-edited by Lawrence Levi with GIFs by Pascal Perich for Matter, a “Svetlana Z” leads with

Escorts make $100 a hand job — but entrepreneurs like me? We make $5,000 a night. Welcome to the new economy of the oldest profession.

She continues with:

I’m a businesswoman. I did what politicians in this country are always encouraging immigrants to do. Work hard, seize opportunity, maximize your talents, and adjust and adapt to the new world economy.

However, it is unlikely that such artist-entrepreneurs would be willing to talk much about their [art?-]business in front of an audience of “suits” and those who are, have done so already (see, for instance, Tudor Chirila at TEDx Chisinau).

The man in a red t-shirt, Florin Talpes, is probably the main draw of this event (at least for me). I learned from his quick bio that he’s also a competitive dancer and works very closely with his wife – that, I didn’t know. There’s a good chance I’d learn more from his talk.  He’s definitely not the only interesting leader. Others who caught my eye are Dragos Atanasiu, who reminds me of a Hollywood actor whose name I can’t recall, Dan Sucu, Alexandru Lapusan, Rucsandra Hurezeanu, Voicu Oprean, Florentin Banu (Jean-Luc Picard), Andreea Boaca, Teodor Blidarus, Mihaela Nicola.

Sources / More info: BusinessDays, bd-speakers, mdm-sxmny