I met Mihail Popescu when he invited me to the first meeting of the Business Talks Club he launched in 2025.

The quality of such events depends heavily on the speaker, but the BTC25 guest—Ukrainian marketer Viktor Sholoshenko—sparked genuine interest with both his hands-on experience and his way of presenting.

The intro to the event was also impossible to ignore: “Marketing is money thrown to the wind. And it's up to the leader whether that wind is head-on or tailwind.”

After the event, Mihail and I agreed to do an interview. Back then, I was convinced he was a journalist focused on business topics, but it turned out that wasn’t the case at all.

Read the interview.

Mihail, good afternoon. I’ve known of you for a while now. You work with a good friend of mine, Pavel Sidorenko, and host several Romanian-language TV programs. “Business Hero of Our Time”—about entrepreneurs, “Hero’s Credo”—about remarkable individuals, and I think there’s also a show with children…

It’s called “Hero Since Childhood.” I have two kids myself, and as a father, I care deeply about the kind of generation we’re raising—after all, Moldova’s future depends on them.

Speaking of journalism. Your delivery is very professional, but I don’t remember seeing your shows before. Did you work outside Moldova?

I’ve never worked abroad and never spent a single day in government institutions.

Journalism only recently entered my life, in October 2023. Pavel Sidorenko did an interview with me at the time, and afterward, he offered me a partnership—he suggested I take over the Romanian version of his programs and invite my own guests. I agreed, and since then I’ve recorded more than 200 episodes with a wide variety of guests, from entrepreneurs to singers and surgeons. I had my reasons for accepting Pavel’s offer, but I didn’t expect the bonus I’d get from this work—an incredible energy boost from connecting with new people.

Didn’t see that coming. Then tell me a bit more about yourself—I also feed off new people and fresh perspectives.

Right now, I run my consulting company Rare People, which I founded. I develop business projects—like the Talking Business conference and Business Talks Club—and at the same time, I’m involved in journalism. But all this came after 15 years of leading HR departments at four companies—two international and two Moldovan.

Add to my knowledge bank—what companies?

I started out at Coca-Cola. I was responsible for recruitment, development, and internal communications. I worked there for four years, right during a major production overhaul in Moldova.  During those four years, Coca-Cola dismantled the old 70s-era glass bottling line and built a modern PET bottling plant, along with new warehouses. The workforce was optimized from 360 to 220 people, and I handled hiring and development through all of that.
 I also oversaw the implementation of the SAP system for enterprise resource planning (ERP).

That’s solid experience. Coca-Cola, as a global company, is a great school—lots to learn there.

After Coca-Cola, at the end of 2015, I spent two months at StarNet. They were interested in my background with an international company. We didn’t end up working together long-term, but surprisingly, I still keep in close touch with colleagues I met during that short time at StarNet.

You mentioned four companies—you’ve named two so far…

The third was Moldcell. I headed up the partner development department, though it closely overlapped with HR. I was responsible for training and teambuilding for the Moldcell team. I’m proud that, to some extent, we managed to shift the internal culture there. It wasn’t easy organizing a teambuilding for such a creative department like marketing, for instance—but even they were surprised and pushed out of their comfort zone.

But the place I spent the most time was Aquatrade, where I was the head of HR from 2016 to 2023.

That’s Danil Balaban—Om, Gura Cainarului, Sincer?

Yes. I learned a lot from Danil. For me, a key factor in any job has always been: can I learn something from my manager? Danil was both a role model and a leader. There was a lot to learn from him—especially when it came to strategic thinking and developing both my department and the company as a whole. At first, I handled HR for Aquatrade, and later they gave me responsibility for the HR department at Sincer as well.

You’re now running your own consulting company. Was it hard to make the leap from employment to your own business?

It was a natural step in my personal growth. Besides, by 2023 I already had experience running a family business. Back in 2018, my wife and I opened a franchise of “Sushi Master” by Alex Yanovsky in Romania.

Why Romania and not Moldova?

At that time, the competition in Moldova in this segment was already high, while in Romania there were just one or two weak players. We're still growing this business today—we successfully made it through the pandemic thanks to the delivery-oriented business model. Right now, we’ve got five locations: two in Iași, plus Suceava, Botoșani, and Sibiu.

Respect. Staying afloat in Romania’s food industry, and doing it remotely—that’s impressive. Did you ever consider moving to Romania?

No. We have two kids, and when they grow up, they’ll have the choice to live in Moldova or abroad. But I want to lead by example, through the projects I’m building here in Moldova, and give them as many rational and emotional reasons as possible to stay. I want them, along with their peers, to take responsibility for our country.

I relate to that. No matter what international projects I’ve considered, I’ve always wanted to lead them from Moldova. Anyway, let’s get back on track—to 2023 and your move into your own business.

After seven years at Aquatrade, I had fully set up all the business processes in my area. At the same time, more and more friends and acquaintances started asking me to help them do the same in their companies. Those requests kept growing. That’s when I realized it was time for the next step. My expertise had grown beyond a single company. I decided that my mission—to help people within a company grow—could evolve into a new mission: helping other companies grow, and in doing so, supporting business development as a whole. That’s how Rare People was born.

"Rare People"?

Rare and exceptional. As someone who spent 15 years in HR, I can tell you—every person has something unique in them. You just have to know how to spot it and develop it.

As a consultant, did you decide to focus on human resource management?

I always saw my mission as broader than that—but you’re right. Everyone who knew me associated me with HR, so I asked myself: what can you do so that Moldovan businesses start to see you from a different angle?

Is that how journalism started?

That, and also my decision to launch the Talking Business conference. I wanted to bring the Moldovan business community together around experts and entrepreneurs with real, practical experience in Moldova. And on May 18 last year, the conference launched. The first try wasn’t a flop—there were 470 participants and a great speaker lineup: Ruslan Cojocaru, Alexei Munteanu, Alina Andriuta, Olga Melniciuc, Eva Pogor, Cristina Bulai, Vladimir Badan, Dan Dima. We also had experts like Andrei Haret, who might not be widely known, but whose level of expertise is very high.

I actually know Andrei Haret from his time in Moldcell’s marketing department—he really is a top-level professional. What was the feedback like after the first conference?

The conference was very well received. Shortly after, ODA called me—they proposed organizing a second business conference together in the fall. During the planning, we had different visions for the event, but it had already been announced for November. I decided to take the risk and move forward with a second Talking Business conference within the same year.

Any regrets?

None. We had an amazing new lineup of speakers: Carolina Bugăian, Corneliu Său, Ion Botnaru, Tudor Darie, Vladislav Papanaga, Vadim Mamaliga, Ludmila Lavric, Nicolae Șoitu, and Viorica Țîmbalari—a very impressive woman who managed to bring together more than 14,000 Moldovans from the diaspora through her organization.

But while testing out the conference format, I realized that even one or two conferences a year isn’t enough to stay in sync with what’s happening in business. Business happens every day, not twice a year.

And that’s when you added the Business Talks Club format? Where we first met?

Exactly. Bringing together 20–30 entrepreneurs and experts around a single topic can happen much more often. Business Talks Club helps maintain a live connection with the business community between conferences.

Are you already working on the 2025 conference?

I am. And I see it as my contribution to helping business grow and change things in the country. I don’t believe Moldova’s problems will be solved by the West or the East. The country will only become truly independent when Moldovan business gets stronger. Only we can create the values, products, and services that will make Moldova a thriving country—a country our children will want to live in. I hope that Talking Business and Business Talks Club can play a part in making that happen.