Ioana Pop Manta
Innovator
Terasa de Stat
Romania
Economic
Rural Areas
Rural village
The innovation journey
Born and raised in a small city, Ioana pursued a university degree in philology in Cluj-Napoca, and later a PhD, which gave her the opportunity experience living abroad. During her PhD, she sought a house in the countryside near Cluj to connect with nature and eat healthy food while staying close to the city’s cultural events.
Since first moving to the village of Bonțida in 2010, Ioana discovered her artistic side – she has a passion for painting, writing and reusing materials for collages. As she became a mother of three, she began focusing on sharing her creative moments with her children, creating educational artistic activities which she could use to support the development of her children (a project called MaternitArte).
Living in Bonțida made Ioana aware of the needs and opportunities for local development, both in terms of sustainable economic enterprises and sustainable cultural and social projects.
Ioana and her husband established two small family businesses in Bonțida in the food services sector – Terasa de stat (Terrace for Staying) and a pizzeria with the same name.
The innovation impact
The Terrace was opened as a local gastronomic hub, cooking meals at home and operating only on weekends. Ioana and her husband introduced a sustainable approach by collecting and preparing traditional local recipes with ingredients from local producers. Meals were served in a social, gift economy model. The pizzeria also hosted cultural events, such as concerts and discussions on gastronomy. After about two years, Ioana and her husband decided to spend more time with their children, pausing their small business activities.
Ioana is now implementing the project “The Happy Class” at the local school, in collaboration with a local foundation, using alternative methods to teach children to read and create stories.
Ioana was involved in organizing the first women’s meeting in her commune (2024), to which diverse and numerous women participated. She hopes that many more such meetings will occur to create a mutual support network, including women supporting each other’s entrepreneurial projects.