New Wildberries logistic centre provides Zelenodolsk with 1,200 jobs
Bakalchuk launches the first phase of a 50,000-square-metre distribution centre in Tatarstan
The first phase of Wildberries’s distribution centre opened on the territory of Zelenodolsk industrial site on 24 August. The 50,000-square-metre area has already provided the republic with 1,200 new jobs. And after the construction of the second phase is completed, which is designed for another 50,000 square metres, the number of employees is to increase to 4,000. Founder and Director General of the e-commerce giant Tatiana Bakalchuk personally visited the launching ceremony of the new logistic hub.
“Every time I arrive in Tatarstan, it never fails to surprise me how wonderful this place, people are, and I keep thanking Mr Minnikhanov and the government of the Republic of Tatarstan for making our work very convenient and comfortable, as both investors and already as part of this amazing republic,” the entrepreneur stressed during the opening.
According to the company, the number of Tatarstan producers selling their products via Wildberries’s marketplace has exceeded 500 nowadays, while the total amount of local companies’ goods sold via the online retailers’ resources has approached a billion rubles.
“I would like to thank Wildberries for the trust in our republic. We began drilling piles on this site in November. Today it is the first site — 50,000 square metres. Most importantly, it is new jobs, big investments, it is a site for small and medium-sized businesses to promote their products. We sincerely thank our investors,” Rustam Minnikhanov addressed Bakalchuk.
Director of Russian Post Maksim Akimov and head of Russian Export Centre Veronika Nikishina, who participated in the Tatarstan president’s meeting with representatives of the e-commerce industry, also became guests of the solemn ceremony. Board Chairman of VEB.RF state corporation, Director General of the Monotown Development Fund Irina Makiyeva joined the opening via teleconference.
“I am very glad to launch this project — thousands of new jobs will appear in the Zelenodolsk monotown. I think our monotowns deserve the best. When we talked with Mrs Bakalchuk, we made a decision to go to monotowns first, and we stick to it,” she noted. “We will help with infrastructure, preferential loans, long cheap money, the fund has capabilities for this.”
Wildberries’s plans to enter the republic became known for the first time in August 2019 when Rustam Minnikhanov and Tatiana Bakalchuk signed an agreement on cooperation. A month later, in September 2019, the company registered a subsidiary, WB Vostok PLC, in Tatarstan. The firm became a resident of Zelenodolsk PSEDA and began the construction in early November. The total investments of Wildberries in the distribution centre will exceed 5 billion rubles for several years.
Wildberries technopark for self-employed people can open for 2,5 billion rubles in Tatarstan
The company doesn’t refuse its plan to open a Wildberries technopark for small entrepreneurs and self-employed people, which was voiced during Bakalchuk and Rustam Minnikhanov’s talks this May, a legal framework is elaborated and the project is elaborated now, the entrepreneur told journalists after the official ceremony ended. According to the plans made earlier, it was considered to build a technopark until late 2021, Tatarstan Business Ombudsman Farid Abdulganiyev was appointed supervisor of the project.
At this moment, Bakalchuk says, a standard type of the technopark is designed for five floors, 10,000 square metres each. Wildberries’s investments in the construction of such a centre can amount to 2,5bn rubles. According to the idea of the Wildberries director, technoparks must appear in many regions of the country. As for Tatarstan, Tatarstan Bakalchuk stressed that initially, the project was to be implemented in Zelenodolsk PSEDA, however, the term of application for residency expires in November, and there is no guarantee that the company will have the time to fulfil its plans.
“We don’t reject this idea,” the entrepreneur noted. “When there was a meeting with the Russian president on the light industry, we voiced this idea — it is necessary to create technoparks across the country where producers, first of all, sole traders and self-employed people, ordinary girls, will be able to fulfil their ideas without investing anything to purchase production capacities. The legal framework is created now, we also plan to build such a technopark in Tatarstan. Mr Minnikhanov immediately supported this idea before we presented it at the top level.”
