Lifelong Learning | Marius Ștefan | TEDxBaiaMare

Known as one of the most respected business leaders in Romania, entrepreneur Marius Ștefan took the stage at a TEDx event for the first time at TEDxBaiaMare 2023. His speech is a plea for continuous learning, for imposing the ethics of learning. Marius Ștefan reads an average of 100 books per year and believes in the impact of reading on the quality of life of any individual. Marius Ștefan is the CEO and founder of Autonom (www.autonom.com), an integrated provider of mobility and financing services. Autonom is also the largest mobility network in Romania, consisting of 46 agencies present in 30 cities and owns a fleet of over 14,000 cars. Since its founding in 2006, the Autonom group has grown by double digits annually, reaching a turnover of over 130 million euros in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of approximately 50% over the last 16 years. In the last 6 years, Autonom has been very active in the mergers and acquisitions market, making investments in 11 companies in various sectors such as finance, insurance, technology and mobility. Together with its over 700 employees, Marius believes in the positive impact we can have through continuous learning. Autonomy and the values-based management system encourage the personal development of the people in the team. Autonom has received the Best Employer recognition from AON Hewitt for 5 consecutive years and from Business Review in 2019 and 2021, respectively. Autonom is also certified as a democratic company by World Blu. Marius Ștefan graduated from the MBA program of the Robert H. Smith School of Business of the University of Maryland. He strongly believes in continuous development and regularly attends executive training programs at universities such as Harvard Business School, London Business School, Stanford, INSEAD and IMD. Marius is a strong supporter of education and entrepreneurship. 10 years ago, together with his brother, Dan Ștefan, he developed the Autonom Foundation – a unique initiative with a decentralized decision-making system. In 2022, over 200 educational projects were initiated and supported by the Foundation, reaching a total of 840. Currently, Marius is the chairman of the board of Endeavor Romania (www.endeavor.org), vice-chairman of the board of Romanian Business Leaders (www.rbls.ro) and a board member of Teach for Romania (www.teachforromania.org). He was elected a member of the Supervisory Board of OMV Petrom (www.omvpetrom.com, the largest company listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange) and is a consultant on the board of companies such as Secom (www.secom.ro), Clinicile Dr. Leahu (www.cliniciledrleahu.ro) and many others. Through ATM Ventures (the investment division of the Ștefan family), Marius and Dan have invested directly and indirectly in over 50 start-ups in mobility, technology, retail and other sectors. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx