My Business in Kazan: 9,000 guests, Leysan Utyasheva’s motivation and peculiarities of Turkish businesses
A business forum in Kazan gathered entrepreneurs from different Russian regions
Kazan hosted one of the key events of the year on 24 October — the biggest entrepreneurship forum My Business, which has been held with Rustam Minnikhanov and Synergy university’s assistance for the third year in a row. This year such forums are held across the country within a national project aimed to support entrepreneurs. Top business speakers, entrepreneurs from different regions and relevant functionaries gathered on two sites of Tatneft Arena in the capital of the republic. Read in Realnoe Vremya’s report what advice the experts gave from the stage and if businesspeople felt the real effect of the participation in the forum.
“Tatarstan is the biggest”
My Business forum, which took place at Tatneft Arena on 24 October, gathered about 9,000 participants on the site. Also, a live transmission of headliners’ speeches on big screens in two Tatarstan cities — Almetyevsk and Naberezhnye Chelny was organised for the first time.
The forum began with a video message of Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maksim Oreshkin who reminded the audience that My Business forums had already been in Barnaul, Samara, Svetlogorsk, Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don. “Such events will take place across the country until the end of the year. Both entrepreneurs and those who are going to run a business will learn at masterclasses about their rights, opportunities and get acquainted with the best experiences of running a business. Small businesses must become the driver of economic development,” the minister stressed.
Small and Medium-Sized Entrepreneurship and Support for Sole Proprietorship Initiative national project within which My Business forum was created contains an integrated system of support for entrepreneurs designed to create as comfortably conditions for them as possible. By the way, special centres My Business are created within the national project. Such a centre opened in Kazan in January, and over 13,000 entrepreneurs have turned to it over this time. A number of projects aimed to support and develop small and medium-sized entrepreneurship are financed in the republic within the national project.
Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov stepped onto the main stage accompanied by Director of the Department of Investment Policy and Development of Entrepreneurship of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Milena Arslanova. The head of the republic claimed that support for businesses was a priority issue for Tatarstan and noted that the community of entrepreneurs “should talk and show positive examples”.
“Tatarstan has always stood out from the crowd among other regions of the Russian Federation. You’ve broken the record among all the forums that have already been held in other regions — you are the biggest. We have never gathered 9,000 participants, we have never organised a transmission to other cities. You made this forum,” Milena Arslanova gave a welcome speech. “Our ultimate goal is to give you knowledge. The forum also gives a chance to exchange opinions, experience and contacts, but we would also like you to come to the forum, get acquainted with each other and help each other to develop your businesses.”
“If such forums had been held when I was just a beginner…”
The wishes expressed by the representative of the Ministry of Economic Development became a reality — at least the words businesspeople who our newspaper surveyed prove it. For instance, famous Russian cheesemaker Oleg Sirota managed to find potential partners from Tatarstan at the forum.
“Right after my speech, I have been invited to visit a cheese factory in a restaurant in the centre of Kazan, we will head off there right now. Unfortunately, we won’t have the time to go to the farm itself because we will be flying back soon. So the programme is not only interesting but useful. We also exchanged contacts with local colleagues who sell cheese in their store, this is why probably our cheese will appear in Kazan thanks to the forum,” Sirota told Realnoe Vremya.
The cheesemaker said the following about the benefit of the event for businesspeople: “If such forums had been held when I was just a beginner, my business would have developed faster, of course. Answers to many questions are already here. In addition, there is experience of real entrepreneurs, functionaries are also here — one site brings us all together”.
“I grew up because of such an event: once I was at a business forum and understood that I wanted to be among such people,” founder of Hyperscript.ru, expert in script sales Nastasya Belochkina shared with our newspaper. “Forum is popularisation of the necessity to learn. A speaker can’t teach a profession for 20 minutes, but he can motivate you to go further, show the gaps you have. Experts rouse the audience with their example. Business forums are rather a story about motivation and understanding that there is room for improvement, not education.”
About all tools at one time and in one place
Head of the Centre for Programmes of Support for Small and Medium-Sized Entrepreneurship Development of the Republic of Tatarstan Timur Gumerov talked about state support for entrepreneurs from the Tatarstan Ministry of Economy.
During his speech, the speaker said about a programme subsidising the interest rate, which the Centre for Programmes of Support for Small and Medium-Sized Entrepreneurship Development of the Republic of Tatarstan is responsible for, and supporting tools of the Tatarstan Guarantee Fund.
It should be noted that the Tatarstan Ministry of Economy decided to communicate to the audience for the first time what supporting measures Tatarstan entrepreneurs could count on in general. Even if the session with the centre’s head gathered a lot of listeners — much more than some other speakers who were delivering a speech on the small stage of the forum. At the same time, people actively talked with Gumerov and asked relevant questions.
“Anyone who wants to work with me?”
The programme of the forum was rich in topics and speakers. The participants in particular had a chance to listen to the most awarded business coach in Russia Radislav Gandapas. The speech of Russian athlete and TV host Leysan Utyasheva had a full house. In her lecture, she decided to look business through professionals port and remind the entrepreneurs about the importance of a healthy lifestyle.
“A strict regime really works, and if we seriously want a result, we will have to include sports discipline. We need to break patterns that business is alcohol and parties. Business is a serious thing where discipline and sport rule, not the rot,” the famous athlete delivered a motivational speech.
The forum also had a lecture of Director General of DESNET Technology Ömer Ekinci about how “humane” business was made. Mr Ekinci urged the entrepreneurs not to be afraid of failures (he himself has 10 unsuccessful projects that didn’t manage to stop him anyway), not to make your age your barrier and live a calm and simple life no matter how much you earn. It is noteworthy that one of the examples of a smart business creating caused a strong reaction among the spectators.
“I feel I am a president who is fully responsible for his team. People who work with me can’t take out a loan — we do the following instead: if a person wants to purchase something, the company purchases it, and then we deduct a sum from his salary. Moreover, there is no interest. Is there anyone who wants to work with me?” an approving whistle and loud applause were heard in the hall. “I just know: if banks constantly call my employee, he won’t be able to work effectively”.
