Simon Suitner takes over SOMARO management

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SOMARO can look back to five very successful years.  Now it is time to hand over the management to Romania. On the 1st of June 2015 Simon Suitner takes over from Jakob Detering the position of general manager.

How did the journey begin? When the Katharina Turnauer Foundation, back in 2009/10 together with lots of supporters, started to put the idea into action, it mainly received scepticism. Could they really overcome all bureaucratic obstacles to even open one store? Would companies really be willing to provide SOMARO with products? How could they make sure that indeed only those people in need are allowed to shop at SOMARO and prevent items being sold on the black market? Already these questions were accompanied by doubts. However, as the initiative was also aiming at covering its costs by its own revenues – without losing focus towards its beneficiaries – the majority of people deemed the enterprise as naive and unrealistic.

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Jakob Detering and Simon Suitner

Against all odds, SOMARO has become a success story! Today, SOMARO operates in Romania three social supermarkets, is supplied by more than 70 companies, provides employment for seven people, and allows more than 1.000 customers and their families access to food and other everyday products. All this allows SOMARO to be financially independent and to cover all its running costs.

With this in mind, the time has come to hand SOMARO’s management over to Romania. This has always been the goal of Katharina Turnauer Foundation: to step back from the operative management, when SOMARO can sustain itself. Therefore, on 1st of June 2015 Simon Suitner, the former store manager in Bucharest, will become the new general manager taking over from Jakob Detering. From the very beginning, Simon has played a major part in SOMARO and will successfully lead the project with all his experience, enthusiasm and his empathy for the people of Romania. Jakob Detering will remain member of the board and will support the SOMARO team continuously.

As wonderful as the success story of SOMARO is, it is also very important not to forget all the thousands of Romanians who are still threatened by poverty and social exclusion. At the same time, it is mind-boggling to know that tons of food are thrown away daily in Romania. SOMARO will therefore not rest on its laurels, but try to fight the waste of food by expanding its activities in the future.

Read more about this in an interview with Katharina Turnauer, Jakob Detering and Simon Suitner.