Gina and Emil Ene tell Dominica Lazar about their inspiring path to business fortune from Romania to Ireland
‘My dream is to be near my mother,” said Gina Ene in a speech she gave recently at the Hilton Dublin Airport Hotel in Dublin, where she and her husband Emil were recognised as ‘gold producers’ by the international marketing business Amway.
Meeting Gina and Emil at their home in Blanchardstown just a few weeks before, as they awaited the arrival of their eldest daughter Adelina, a pilot working in Hungary, I learned more about their inspiring story that had that audience of fellow business people at the hotel standing to applaud.
Their story starts in 1980, when they met at a disco in Ploiesti; Emil – born in the village of Ghioroc to a Hungarian mother and a Romanian father – was studying at the Petroleum and Gas University in the city, while Gina, from Zanoaga Grove, was working at a chemical factory. They quickly fell in love and were married two years later, on 1 May 1982. Shortly after, upon Emil’s graduation, the couple moved to Arad near the Hungarian border, where he was appointed head of oil production.
In 1988 the family moved across the border to Hungary, where they had their second daughter Bianca. Both daughters are a source of great pride for the Enes: Adelina qualified as the second ever female pilot in Hungarian history, while Bianca graduated from the school of police in Szeged and now lives and works with her parents in Dublin.
While both parents have full-time jobs – Emil is a financial consultant and accountant, while Gina is a cleaner at TK Maxx at the Blanchardstown Centre – they’ve long supplemented their income with selling of various products for Amway, a commission sales business more familiar to American homes, but over here might best be compared to Avon. It was an easy line of work for their busy family to get into back in 1995. Indeed a single point raised at an induction meeting was all Gina needed to get started: sponsor six other people to sell Amway products and received four per cent of their turnover every month. Though Emil’s wages were more than enough to support the family, the prospect of putting away extra funds for their girl’s futures was too good to ignore.
Getting back to business
Two years later Amway expanded into Romania, which gave Gina the opportunity to grow the family’s business back home. Before long they’d signed up 21 partners, taking a one per cent commission on each, providing a nice earner for the Enes till Gina withdrew due to health reasons, passing off the business to former partner Alina Branc.
Some years later circumstances brought them back into the Amway business – which proved opportune as the global financial crisis hit, making Emil redundant from his bank job while Gina was studying nursing at medical school. For their last two years in Hungary the family was lucky to be able to live off their savings.
Then came their move to Ireland, almost exactly three years ago. Emil and Gina took up an offer from an Austrian friend, John Baciu – who has been Emil’s boss in Hungary – to work as financial entrepreneurs, taking their services from client to client. It was a small income, and a lot of hours on the road, but it was something, especially during a winter that was especially harsh.
“We will never forget the goodness of John Baciu, who helped us to establish in Ireland,” said Gina. “Our family will always be grateful to this man. We will work hard and one day we will return every cent back.”
And it’s likely that some of that will be paid back the Amway way, as a chance meeting with a client who also does part-time sales for the brand reintroduced them to their old sideline.
The poor economy in Ireland motivated the Enes to work enthusiastically, so that by September 2011, less than a year after signing their contract, they were making 21 per cent commission, and were named ‘sponsor of the year’ for their efforts, netting them a €2,000 bonus. And their latest accolade of ‘Gold Producer’ has seen a doubling of their annual sales bonus, which is no small sum in this climate.
When I asked about their dreams for the future, Emil ¬– who works day and night with figures – replied that he has no time for dreams. But Gina was more imaginative: “I spent very little time with my mother, therefore my dream is to be near my mum.”
Those are modest words from a caring and tender mother, and words that brought a tear to my eye.
