The second panel of Forbes Business Bridges 2025 turned the spotlight on one of the most pressing topics in today’s uncertain global climate: how to build and protect long-term wealth.
Below are the main insights shared by the speakers:
REBECCA ROSE WOODLAND – Founding partner Lonuzzi & Woodland, LLP
And one question I’m confident is on everyone’s mind—not just mine—is about the first legal steps for entering the U.S. market. What would you say are the right initial steps to take?
From a legal perspective, the first thing we’ll do is discuss how an investor from a foreign country—say, Romania—will organize their affairs and documentation. That’s very important. You need to define your investment goals and your investment strategy. Once you have clear goals and have identified your partners, you’ll come to the U.S. and find the people you want to work with. It is imperative that you assemble a legal team, a tax/accounting team, and—where appropriate—a lobbying/government-relations team.
Everyone needs to be in place before any funds are sent to the U.S. Before you choose and structure a U.S. entity, these decisions must be taken with your team already assembled. Your American team will guide you, because our regulatory environment is demanding. As you’ll see when we discuss outlooks, change is the only constant in the U.S. right now. With an administration focused on “protecting America,” there is a lot of regulatory movement. You want to be sure you have a strong team in place.
Once your lawyers and accountants are on board, I always suggest appointing one person on that team to serve as the coordinator. What do I mean by that? Transparency and communication between you (or your company) as the investor and your professionals must be impeccable.
JOE WICKWIRE – Adjunct Professor at Bentley University, Former Portfolio Manager Fidelity Investments
As a former history major, I want to congratulate everyone in the room. I remember a time when the entrepreneurial spirit—so alive here today—was not accessible to Romanians, and it’s wonderful, even in the brief time I’ve been in your company, to witness that spirit firsthand. So, congratulations; it’s an exciting time to be a Romanian entrepreneur.
How can I help? I’ve had a 32-year career in the investment-management industry, where I managed billions of dollars on behalf of our investors and shareholders.
What I can offer now, in retirement, is an institutional U.S. perspective on how to build long-term, successful partnerships with long-term-oriented investors. In the U.S. investment landscape there are many different approaches, so you need to decide: who do you want your shareholders to be, and whom do you want to partner with? Simona mentioned the importance of relationships—and it has come up several times. Institutionally, when I evaluated companies, we approached it with a partnership mindset: we were investing for the long term. It wasn’t a trade; it wasn’t attention-deficit-disorder speculation. It was a long-term investment.
Ensuring that you have a compelling long-term risk-reward proposition for investors—who will stay with you through good times and bad—is critical for long-term success. With the G7 economies and markets—plus China—shaping the global marketplace, there are challenges ahead that we’ll likely address in this conversation. At times, those challenges may “turn off the faucet” to the capital markets for many would-be issuers. That’s why, when you speak with institutional, long-term U.S. investors, you must not only present your solution set and your compelling risk-return proposition, but also clearly articulate how you manage risk.
You can’t adopt an approach that only talks about unlimited opportunity and upside, while ignoring the fact that you don’t control global capital flows. Some entrepreneurs say it’s okay to be naïve about risk; I can tell you it isn’t. You need a margin of safety in your story and a credible plan to keep offering a compelling risk-reward profile—even when markets aren’t going your way. Long-term investors who understand your strategy and see you executing what you promised are more likely to stand by you, whether the capital markets are supportive or not. And that’s often when institutional portfolio managers can generate their best returns—when others cannot or will not invest.
So, again: lead with a compelling risk-reward proposition, and be explicit about how you manage risk when you speak to institutional investors. And finally, thank you for inviting me and for your time today.
Moderator: JENNIFER FONDREVAY – Founder Day1 ReadyTM
(…) So even though I ate far too much, it was a magical time being in Bucharest and around the conference, even visiting—yes—Dracula’s Castle. I loved it. It’s a privilege for me to be here, and I cannot thank Raluca Michailov enough, because building relationships and creating better business bridges truly happens at events like this.