Irina Popescu – How to Turn Financial Skills into Social Impact through Positive Projects

Discover how Irina Popescu, through Positive Projects, helps small entrepreneurs manage finances and create a positive social impact.

In an entrepreneurial context where small business owners and freelancers in Romania face almost daily administrative challenges, whether related to their relationship with authorities or to the financial management of their business, Irina Popescu is the guide who often provides them with a roadmap to help them navigate the legislative maze and ensure business sustainability, even in an adverse economic environment.

A tax consultant (member of the Romanian Chamber of Tax Consultants) and FCCA (senior member of the worldwide association of professional accountants in the UK), with 20 years of experience in the financial-accounting field, including as a Manager in one of the Big 4 consultancy and audit firms, 11 years ago Irina founded the initiative Positive Projects. This initiative meets the needs of entrepreneurs who want a structured and professional approach to financial management, through its educational and consulting programs, which stand out for their accessibility and their empathetic, human perspective on fields often perceived as rigid, such as taxation or internal financial management.

C&B: How would you describe yourself in a single sentence to spark the curiosity of those who don’t know you yet?
Irina Popescu: If when someone thinks of a financier, they usually imagine a person spending the day in an office, scrolling through spreadsheets full of numbers and writing lengthy financial analyses, people are often surprised to discover in me a dynamic and communicative person, passionate about entrepreneurial education, as well as a friendly translator of financial concepts into plain language.

C&B: If we were to follow a narrative thread of your career or business, what were the key moments that defined you?
Irina Popescu: As is often the case, my professional path was significantly shaped by personal experiences. Following some health challenges, after nearly 8 years in finance, I decided to temporarily step away from my corporate role as a Tax Manager to make room for my dream of having a complete family.
However, my initial role as a patient soon transformed into that of a volunteer and activist, reminding me that I had a voice and skills that could successfully serve the public interest, by supporting social entrepreneurs in developing their financial management systems and in advocacy campaigns.
Thus, less than a year after the birth of my wonderful son and shortly after being named Volunteer of the Year in Health, Positive Projects was born—an entrepreneurial initiative meant to combine my financial expertise with my passion for education and nonprofit projects, to support small businesses and their positive impact on society.

C&B: What is the main purpose of Positive Projects, and how do you manage to create a positive impact on the community?
Irina Popescu: The main mission of Positive Projects is to support entrepreneurs in developing financially sustainable businesses with a favorable impact on communities. That’s why the focus of the educational and consulting programs is primarily on the most vulnerable segments, namely small businesses and freelancers. However, there are also programs for other categories, such as corporate employees, non-resident investors, or even students.
The services offered by Positive Projects are designed to familiarize beneficiaries with financial-accounting concepts, especially in the field of taxation, regardless of their background, and to help them adopt a structured, systemic approach to business financial management. They also help entrepreneurs know and defend their rights in dealing with authorities and business partners, while fulfilling their obligations, avoiding additional taxes imposed during audits and tax inspections, and staying safe from fines and penalties.
The positive impact on society is both direct—through active involvement in information and advocacy campaigns—and indirect—by supporting the development of a dynamic and essential entrepreneurial sector that generates economic opportunities in communities through business.

C&B: Is there a dream or ambition that has always guided you, regardless of obstacles?
Irina Popescu: I grew up in a culture of performance and with the belief that a very high-quality education is an essential attribute that can ensure a fulfilling life, free from poverty, lived with respect, and away from moral compromises.
The work I have been doing since 2014 through Positive Projects is built on this belief and is the common thread of all my previous experiences: it uses my financial expertise, combined with my activist energy, and transforms them into a lever for social support and progress. The tools are education, counseling, and skill transfer to a vital engine of the economy: small private entrepreneurs, including social entrepreneurs, who pursue sustainable initiatives with a positive impact on their communities.
I also want to live in a society where citizens respect their obligations and each other, for the benefit of general well-being, and where resources collected in the state budget are managed efficiently and redistributed fairly for the benefit of all honest taxpayers. I believe in a democratic society where free initiative and the desire to work honestly are encouraged and supported, and where the relationship between citizens and the state is a balanced partnership from which both sides benefit.
That is why I will always try to contribute to these goals, both through the services I offer and through education and advocacy campaigns aimed at this transformation, which Romanian society so greatly needs.

C&B: What were you like at the beginning of your journey, and how do you feel you have transformed since then?
Irina Popescu: After 11 years in entrepreneurship, I can say that I’ve learned a great deal, and I now feel close to the professional maturity that any business founder aspires to. Perhaps the most profound transformation was the radical shift in mindset from being an employee in a large corporation to being a freelancer in the world of small businesses. This meant learning to live constantly with unpredictability, while also adapting to freedom in choices and decisions, which always goes hand in hand with assuming all related risks and consequences.
I also gained a much deeper understanding of how I can create and deliver added value for those who turn to my services and what my specific role is in the entire business ecosystem.

C&B: If we were to meet your team or collaborators, what do you think they would say about you?
Irina Popescu: Over these entrepreneurial years, I have built many multifaceted, long-term business relationships. Occasionally, I ask my partners for feedback about our collaboration and how they perceive me, so I don’t need to speculate when answering this question. Here are some of their testimonials:
“What makes Irina unique is the way she helps you get used to the idea that you will make mistakes, and her mature and formative approach gives you the confidence that you can overcome any financial, fiscal, or administrative obstacle. And although she is attentive and caring, you still feel you have a consultant by your side who will fiercely defend your case before the tax authorities.”
“Irina is excellently prepared, very detail-oriented, and has business sense, expressed in clear, accessible language, easy to follow for her clients.”
“In recent years, I have met too many specialists and too few people with a purposeful direction. What attracted me to Irina from the start and gave me the trust I needed was her background and track record, especially her involvement in nonprofit projects. The alignment of values gave me the confidence for a long-term collaboration.”

C&B: What is the most important decision you’ve made that changed your trajectory?
Irina Popescu: By far, the most important decision was to choose entrepreneurship in 2014 instead of returning as an employee in large corporations. I still have clients among multinationals, but by mainly supporting small entrepreneurs through my work, I feel I can truly make a difference in society. Thus, I deliver added value where it is most needed, in a niche where high-standard financial management support is otherwise quite difficult to access.

C&B: What were the biggest challenges you encountered in developing the project, and how did you overcome them?
Irina Popescu: It’s no secret to any entrepreneur in Romania that the financial-accounting field (especially taxation) is highly unpredictable. Romanian legislation changes chaotically, often rushed and sometimes without respecting all legal principles, leaving room for imperfect, ambiguous regulations that pose major implementation challenges for small businesses.
As a consultant, the effort to always stay updated with lawmakers’ latest intentions, to provide timely, pragmatic, and effective solutions in an often uncertain context, has always been significant.
These challenges can only be overcome with strict professional discipline and, often, by sacrificing personal time planning, accepting increased flexibility in the work schedule. Time dedicated to promotion is often sacrificed in favor of continuous professional development to maintain a high level of service quality: less emphasis on form, more on substance, with the associated costs accepted.

C&B: What differentiates your projects from other personal and professional development initiatives in Romania?
Irina Popescu: Beyond the fact that Positive Projects addresses a niche in education in a highly technical, complex, and unstable field—taxation (which comes with high costs to keep program content up to date)—our training is offered in the context of real-life experience working on current cases. This gives it a less theoretical and more practical approach, as it starts from the most common challenges faced by small businesses and nonprofits.
In addition, our approach places strong emphasis on encouraging ethical business decisions, going beyond profit to positive impact on society across all three pillars of sustainability: economic, social, and environmental.

C&B: What does a typical day look like for you now, and which moments bring you the most satisfaction?
Irina Popescu: The beautiful part of my profession is that no two days look alike—which, as a lover of variety, keeps me motivated. The moments that bring me the greatest satisfaction are usually when I see my collaborators enjoying small victories we’ve achieved together against “the system” (for example, favorable solutions or responses to appeals, petitions, or court cases against authorities), especially if they had a history of failed attempts.
I also find great joy when I receive positive feedback from clients who, thanks to the information I provide, manage to develop their business financial management system, see a clear positive impact on their financial results, or face administrative challenges with much more calm and confidence.

C&B: What values or principles guide you in your work, and how do you apply them daily?
Irina Popescu: In my professional activities, the principles I try to uphold are: education first, no ethical compromises, and professional service delivery.
Education is a value for me because it goes beyond being a simple tool—it’s a life philosophy. I see its positive effects not only in terms of financial empowerment but also in enabling people to have more harmonious relationships, authentic connections, and empathy that keeps them away from ill intentions and destructive emotions.
Ethics—in business, we can talk about sustainability, which essentially means an ethical approach on three essential pillars: economic, social, and environmental. I strive to be honest and transparent in all economic relations with clients, suppliers, and collaborators, without compromising the profit objective. Beyond the services offered, I try to look at their societal and individual impact, considering the broader context and goals of those I interact with. To reduce negative environmental impact, I try to use my car less, make judicious use of resources, and encourage digitalization.
Professionalism has several dimensions I try to respect, such as:

• maintaining rigorous technical expertise;
• strictly honoring contractual commitments;
• honesty in promises and respecting the limits of professional competence;
• politeness in interactions (without excessive formalism), approaching all types of feedback openly and constructively;
• communicating at professional standards, without sacrificing quality for oversimplification or popularity.

C&B: How did Positive Projects come into being, and what motivated you to launch this initiative?
Irina Popescu: Volunteering extensively between 2008 and 2013, I realized how much Romania’s market needed specialists capable of supporting social entrepreneurs and NGOs in developing sustainable and efficient financial management systems, so they could sustain their nonprofit activities and noble causes in the long term. I understood that nonprofit projects need a functional business model and a specific management approach to generate their own resources and not depend solely on external funding. I also realized that many small entrepreneurs were very vulnerable in terms of essential business skills, which is why many of them failed.
The financial field—very complex and non-intuitive for non-specialists—along with the often-hostile behavior of fiscal authorities, led to the birth of this initiative of consultancy, mentorship, and education. I set out to give entrepreneurs access to the services they greatly needed but were not easily available or affordable. In the 11 years since its launch, the program has grown beautifully and diversely, continuing to address a niche that greatly needs this type of support.

C&B: What are the medium- and long-term development plans for Positive Projects?
Irina Popescu: Currently, Positive Projects is undergoing an extensive process of organization and enrichment of its programs, preparing this fall for a new identity and a new virtual home, including an educational platform to support freelancers and small businesses—a direction gradually shaped over 11 years of entrepreneurship. So, stay tuned for updates at the beginning of November!

Additionally, in the medium term, I aim to actively engage in advocacy campaigns to restore balance in the relationship between taxpayers and fiscal authorities, promoting respect for the social contract that encourages voluntary compliance.

Moreover, by involving as many entrepreneurs as possible in these initiatives, I intend to actively promote, in the long term, a genuine partnership between all parties contributing—each through their essential role—to a fair and healthy tax system, as it should exist in Romania, in order to avoid new macroeconomic challenges with painful long-term effects on the entire population.

Irina Popescu and Positive Projects demonstrate how financial expertise can be transformed into a driving force supporting small entrepreneurs and the community, combining professionalism, education, and a passion for social impact.