Teodor Cătăniciu

Building communities and careers for minorities through entrepreneurship

Teodor has a gift to imagine the world as it should be and a commitment to community service, says his nominator and fellow IBA graduate Frederick Rustler.

As an entrepreneur and founder of OVO Europa, a development company that builds sustainable communities, Teodor was named one of the Best Entrepreneurs Under 35 by the Dutch Financial Times, featured on Voice of America and TEDx, and has been selected as one of Romania’s 30 Under 30 by Forbes Magazine.

As a student, Teodor rallied the support of Rotterdam City Hall, volunteers and technology companies to co-found Restart Network, a non-profit venture that built careers in IT for underrepresented minorities in the Netherlands. He also co-founded Turing Society (now Turing Students Rotterdam) which hosts lectures and programmes about coding and technology.

He taught martial arts and created a community of students through Erasmus BJJ, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club he co-founded with Erasmus Sport. His student ambitions resulted in Restart Network being able to donate €15,000 to RSM’s Hummingbird Fund, empowering current students to have a positive impact through entrepreneurship.

Teodor: “The idea that most significantly impacted my worldview is that ‘we are the people we have been waiting for’. At RSM I forged strong friendships, found bright minds that challenged me, and kind people that supported me. And five years later my significant other and I are still very happy – we met during a lecture. So I certainly have a lot to be grateful for.”