ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9605020016
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT in Russia is very different, Maxim Ogarenko says. Inflation runs 3 percent a month and the interest on loans exceeds 100 percent a year. All businesses must deal with organized crime.
Maxim Ogarenko is only 22. But at home - in Russia - that's not an unusual age to be considered a rising star in the world of business.
Ogarenko, who is spending a month as an intern at three Roanoke Valley businesses, said the average age of people heading a commercial enterprise, even a large one, is 25 or 30. The head of the Commercial Bank in his home town of Saratov, where Ogarenko has worked in securities, is only 28 or 29, he said.
That's because young people in Russia are the most active in economics, Ogarenko said. "Most don't have a socialist mentality," he said. They can orient themselves in free-market conditions.
He came to the United States under the auspices of Legacy International, a private organization that receives government funds to bring Russian interns to the United States to learn American business practices.
Ogarenko does not believe that practicing Communists will win the national elections in Russia next month. If they do win, he said, "that would be a disaster."
The death camps wouldn't return, he said, but the economy would be ruined. If the Communist Party comes to power again, he said, America would have another wave of Russian immigrants.
The business environment is very different in Russia, he said. Inflation there runs 3 percent to 5 percent each month, and the interest on loans exceeds 100 percent a year, he said. Russian business operators must take this into account in all decisions.
Organized crime also is a strong power in the country. All businesses, even big companies and former state enterprises, must deal with organized criminals. "There is no way to neglect them."
Ogarenko is the son of a businessman, the vice president of a knitwear company. His mother is a college professor of biochemistry.
A 1995 graduate of Saratov Academy of Economics with an emphasis in banking and securities, Ogarenko worked during his college years for the International Association of Students of Economics and Management. He helped to set up seminars and conferences, traveling in Russia and other countries.
He also found employment as an interpreter of English during his college years.
In addition to working in the securities department of Commercial Bank in his home city, Ogarenko spent two months in Kenya in 1993 as an employee of an American life insurance company.
Several prospects have arisen for his future employment in Russia, but Ogarenko said his most likely position will be manager of accounts receivable and bad debts for a regional unit of the natural gas monopoly. It's one of the biggest companies in Russia.
He is one of a group of eight Russians spending the month in Western Virginia as part of the Legacy International program.
The only other one who has been in Roanoke is Alexander Kudryavtsev, who will return next week for a second week with the Packett Group, a Roanoke advertising and public relations firm. Now, he is working with Quality Foods and Bunker Hill Foods in Bedford.
Others are Vladimir Samsonov with Rose Computer Co. in Lynchburg; Sergey Saveliev with the Radford Small Business Development Center; Alexander Soukhanov with Hill City Wholesale Corp. in Lynchburg; Ruslan Tatarrintsev with WYYD radio and WSET-TV in Lynchburg; Vladimir Morozov with the Radford Business Assistance Center; and Natalya Morozova with Central Fidelity Bank in Lynchburg.
Ogarenko spent two weeks at Graham-White Manufacturing Co., a Salem company making equipment for the transportation industry. He said he studied the company's accounts receivable management, bad debt collection practices and sales efforts. This work should help at his prospective job with the gas monopoly.
One of the things that impressed him most at Graham-White was its method of inventory management, which he had never heard about. That, he said, was "a totally new experience."
This week, his third, Ogarenko is spending with Budd, Ammen & Co., a firm of certified public accountants in Roanoke.
He has found that accounting practices are similar in the United States and Russia. This should also help in his future work, Ogarenko said, and, in any case, the business of private accounting is developing very rapidly in Russia.
Next week's experience at the Roanoke office of Davenport & Co., a brokerage firm, should fit in with his interest in banking and securities.
Ogarenko said he has seen only New York City and the Roanoke Valley, but he was most impressed by the clean environment. Even Manhattan, he said, is not as polluted as most Russian cities are.
Living standards here are obviously much higher, he said, because most people have private housing and several cars.
Ninety-nine percent of people in most Russian cities live in apartments, Ogarenko said, but this is changing quickly. Housing and all types of construction are rapidly developing industries.
Ogarenko said he also has been impressed by the safety and security of the streets here. "This place has less crime than most Russian cities."
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. Maxim Ogarenko, 22, is working atby CNBBudd, Ammen & Co., a firm of certified public accountants in
Roanoke. He is spending a month as an intern at three Roanoke Valley
businesses this summer. He is one of a group of eight Russians
spending the month in Western Virginia as part of a program to
learn American business practices. color.