Olesea Onofrei

Biography

Olesea Onofrei was born on 23 April 1969 in the village of Boroseni, Dondușeni district. She graduated from a culinary vocational school and has been cooking for the people of the district for over 35 years: first as a cook in a canteen, then as the founder of the "La Olesea" café in Boroseni, which today also provides catering services.

### Education

- (1985–1988) — Culinary Vocational School, specialty: cook

### Professional experience

- (1989–1994) — cook, canteen of the agricultural enterprise in Boroseni
- (1994–2002) — founder and owner of the "La Olesea" café, Boroseni
- since 2002 — founder and manager of the "La Olesea" café and catering service, Boroseni (12 employees)

She is married and, together with her husband, is raising three children.

### Key facts

- Year of birth: 1969
- Place of birth: Boroseni, Dondușeni district
- Profession: entrepreneur
- Current position: founder and manager of the "La Olesea" café and catering service
- Education: culinary vocational school, specialty: cook

Views and principles

I have decided to run for the Dondușeni District Council because I know from my own experience what it means to run a business in a village. For 30 years I have cooked for the people of Boroseni — and I know that behind every rural entrepreneur stand the same hard work, the same worries and the same obstacles.

When I opened my café in 1994, I had nothing but an old kitchen and courage. Today, "La Olesea" employs 12 people — all from our villages. I know how hard it is for a woman to start a business: banks look at you with distrust, paperwork overwhelms you, and real help arrives late. I have been through all of it.

If you elect me, I will push for concrete things: support programmes for women entrepreneurs — from start-up grants to free consulting; a district fair for local producers, so that vegetables and dairy from our villages reach tables instead of rotting in the fields; and jobs for young people here, at home — because one local business keeps a whole family in the village.

The tables I have set all my life taught me one simple thing: people trust the one who feeds them. I want to feed this district's hope too — the hope that things can be built right here at home.

This candidacy is not about office — it is about responsibility. Together we can make Dondușeni a district where small businesses grow and people stay.

Career analysis

Olesea Onofrei's career is the lesson of a village entrepreneur learned the hard way. She started as a cook in a canteen — there she learned the discipline of work, the price of every leu, and respect for the ordinary people who come to the table.

Her decision to open her own café in 1994, in the middle of an economic crisis, shows the courage to take risks. She did not wait for "better times" — she built them herself, brick by brick, recipe by recipe.

The move into catering and the growth to 12 employees prove real management ability: planning, logistics, running a team. A woman who feeds hundreds of people every day knows how to organise — and a district council needs exactly the people who know how to organise.

As a woman entrepreneur in an environment where business is still dominated by men, Olesea understands from the inside the obstacles women face: access to credit, bureaucracy, lack of mentorship. That experience makes her the natural voice of women's entrepreneurship on the council.

Finally, the fact that she stayed in Boroseni and invested everything here — not in Chișinău and not abroad — proves her bond with the territory. Her business is not just a business: it is a table set for her native village.