Baseball bat and crisis as stimulus for aspiring entrepreneurs
Acting businesspeople in Factory of Entrepreneurship tried to prove to the novices that Russia has not had a better time to set up a business
A secret of successful business during a crisis is to do what other people are afraid of, diversify an activity to a maximum… and don't watch TV. Acting businesspeople, who shared their experience of the development of their business in the project Factory of Entrepreneurship on 12 March, appealed the aspiring entrepreneurs. A correspondent of Realnoe Vremya who visited the event found out what the 'entrepreneurial happiness' is, why successful businesspeople are rarely in poor health, and together with other guests was a witness of a ritual destruction of two symbols of idleness – sofa and plasma TV – with baseball bats.
Bat against TV
On 12 March, over 600 people gathered in Factory of Entrepreneurship business hands-on workshop, which took place in Hermitage concert hall. Not only students dreaming of their own business but also functionaries, businesspeople and managers were among those people: the Minister of Economy of Tatarstan Artyom Zdunov, a deputy of the State Council of Tatarstan Aleksander Komissarov, the head of a branch of Sberbank in Tatarstan Rushan Sakhbiev and other VIPs. Motivation of the young for organization of their own business despite the crisis was the key goals of the organizers of the Factory.
'We are running an errand of the President and we are to reach every region, every school, every technical college with the scope of Strategy-2030 in order to explain that there are no barriers Tatarstan to set up a business,' Zdunov announced. Even there was a performance for the guests: a sofa and a plasma TV – representatives of laziness and inaction – were broken with bats right on the stage. It should be said that it had a good impact on the spectators: they applauded and took photos. Then one of the 'mentors' asked whether a dollar for 70 rubles was an obstacle to run their business, and almost all people answered 'No'. Some spectators were an exception because their business is connected with tourism.
The director of LEDEL, a company on production of LED lamps, Artyom Kogdanin continued the topic of the negative influence of TV on productivity and as an experiment offered to refrain from TV, radio and Internet for a day as an experiment. 'You will understand that actually you don't generate anything but just exist in the incoming flow. It is not possible to build a business so. Your formation as an entrepreneur will begin from this moment, and an entrepreneur is a secondary effect of successful person,' he stated.
Why is it easy to run a business during a crisis?
The founder of the largest chain of car washes Moidodyr and the co-owner of tyre fitting centres The 5th Wheel Aydar Ismagilov amplified the idea. 'The entrepreneurial happiness is when it seems that you have nothing, but – bam! – a thought, a feeling appears, and you start to change something at that moment,' he addressed to the audience. The businessman reminded that he started his first business when the dollar rate increased 3,5 times, the second business – the chain of tyre fitting centres – during another crisis, but now it has 150 offices in Russia. 'It has never been too easy to run a business in Russia,' he concluded and appealed the young entrepreneurs to do what the bulk of the population avoid during a crisis.
The owner of Russian Rubbit, the largest company on production of rabbit meat in Russia, Marat Chibishev was more concrete. He reminded that people economize on flats, cars and even clothes during a crisis but, lastly, on food. According to him, Russia's meat provision is only 40-55%, vegetables account for 70%. It opens big prospects for business, especially in the conditions of the sanctions. Taking into account the fact that it is profitable to export Russian products, this direction will be prospective during many years. 'The population in the world is augmenting: in China, it is to increase at least by 500m within 10 years, in India, it is growing. The need for food products will only increase,' he put an example. He advised organizing shops on chicken fattening, for instance, to offer mature fowls for further processing.
Why are entrepreneurs rarely in poor health?
The main guest of the conference Aleksander Kravtsov, the president of Ruyan Group of Companies and the owner of Expedition brand, had a more philosophic speech. 'Kazan is a wonderful city, and Tatarstan is a wonderful occurrence. We live in a country where the number of Orthodox Christians is larger, and we know that the Tatars are the second nationality concerning their quantity. We know that Islam is a powerful young traditional religion and that there are people who will impede the normal existence of this territory using new technologies and driving a wedge between the nationalities and religions. But we understand that there are matrix network empires, and big systems are powerless in a fight against them. No matter how much Syria is bombed because the fight against Syria is geographical, and the fight against them is mental,' he drew an analogy.
Aleksander Kravtsov: 'I have been heading the company for 21 years and always see that people who give themselves over to their work don't get sick'.
In his opinion, entrepreneurs create an environment that can oppose them. But one is to be a happy person to become an entrepreneur, according to Kravtsov. 'Victory is a happiness of future achievements, and happiness is an opportunity to do what you like with people you like,' he shared the thoughts he heard from his friends.
He is convinced that the entrepreneurs who are carried out by their favourite work are rarely in poor health. 'I have been heading the company for 21 years and always see that people who give themselves over to their work don't get sick. They fall from tiredness sometimes but recover quickly. They simply cannot afford themselves to be in poor health, the responsibility recovers,' he said and advised the listeners to change the spheres of their activities more often to avoid the boredom at work. What is more, it is useful to unite underused assets and possibilities. For this reason, it is important to educate entrepreneurial reciprocal relationships counting on you own strength only.