Each of them is less than 40 years old, but they are all involved in the top management of companies, which posted cumulated turnovers of more than 20 billion euros last year.

"There was an economic boom on the Romanian market that offered multiple opportunities for young people, because there were no competencies on the market at the time," explains Florin Luca, former human resources manager of BRD, put in charge of Soci? t? G?n?rale's human resources strategy this year.

Relocated to Paris around a month ago, Luca is one of the 300 young executives featured in the last three annual editions of "Top young executives", published by BUSINESS Magazin.

"There are lots of young executives, because the generation that joined the multinationals at the end of the nineties has benefited from the fast-paced growth of these companies over the last few years," added Serban Toader, senior partner of KPMG Romania.

Toader, another manager featured in last year's edition took over the reins of KPMG's local office last autumn.

For each of the young Romanian executives, the required conditions for their promotion came faster compared to other countries in Western Europe, especially as business grew and foreign managers withdrew from such positions as department heads or country managers, "offering exposure and at the same time the possibility to apply what one had learnt on a larger scale," as Csaba Gegely, senior manager of the human resources consultants department of PricewaterhouseCoopers Romania puts it.

He also believes that beyond professional capability, luck played a part in promotion, too.

Or, as the chairman of the Austrian OMV Group, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, explained the appointment of a Romanian at the helm of the newest business division of Petrom, it was a matter of "the right man in the right place." This year's edition of