Airplanes can be good places to do thinking shorn as they are of telephones etc. Except that Illyushin 90�s on their way to Delhi do not qualify as good places to think. Not sure which Quasimodo freak they used to model these seats but he was not 180cm, weighing 90kg sitting in a row of three where every seat is occupied. Not to mention that this, being Aeroflot, there was one beer to alleviate the agony.
The excruciating passage through Sheremeytevo, Moscow�s much under-maligned airport, caused me to consider the nature of entrepreneurialism in Russia. The thought process that gets you from Soviet levels of service to entrepreneurialism are way too complex to describe.
Russia�s greatest business leaders have all had a hand up by using State assets from which to build empires � passim Khordokhovsky et al. The number of true entrepreneurs who have built meaningful businesses can be counted on the digits used to create this blog. On my return from St. Petersburg last week the guy in the next seat worked for GosStroi (State building company) and was actively perusing a Lexus brochure � bureaucrats get paid a maximum of $100 per month. He was in his early 30�s. Many of Russia�s youth actively consider joining the Governemnt bureaucracy because it�s a great way to make a fortune. Even the Government acknowledges that ist efforts are hindering not helping the development of a entrepreneurial business class. This is not an environment that is actively fostering entrepreneurs. And yet��
Last night I collected a video and CD for this trip to Delhi from an individual who played Olympic level hockey (field) for the Soviet Union, has a PhD from Moscow State University (�MGU�), helped create one of Russia�s most successful local fast food outlets, has identified some of the most promising technologies emanating from Russia�s universities and institutes, and is building a great commercial finance business. Just before that meeting (I was sitting in a traffic jam for over an hour) I met with another MGU PhD with a string of successful business behind him � and is now the CTO of one of the most enterprising. Oh and he won a prize in Pure Mathematics from MGU � this in a country where Mathematics skills are valued and don�t make you a geek.
They are not quite as prevalent as maybe they we would all like � but they are there. Slowly but surely the people who are building the service businesses that will support the diversification away from natural resources are beginning to surface. They are humbler than their mid / late 90 compatriots; and better businessman.
But every time I have an experience such as today in Sheremeytevo, where those theoretically providing a service lord their power over poor mutts such as I who have paid good cash for my right to be abused by them I doubt that things will ever change.
11 August 2003
Airplanes can be good places to do thinking shorn as they are of telephones etc. Except that Illyushin 90�s on their way to Delhi do not qualify as good places to think. Not sure which Quasimodo freak they used to model these seats but he was not 180cm, weighing 90kg sitting in a row of three where every seat is occupied. Not to mention that this, being Aeroflot, there was one beer to alleviate the agony.
The excruciating passage through Sheremeytevo, Moscow�s much under-maligned airport, caused me to consider the nature of entrepreneurialism in Russia. The thought process that gets you from Soviet levels of service to entrepreneurialism are way too complex to describe.
Russia�s greatest business leaders have all had a hand up by using State assets from which to build empires � passim Khordokhovsky et al. The number of true entrepreneurs who have built meaningful businesses can be counted on the digits used to create this blog. On my return from St. Petersburg last week the guy in the next seat worked for GosStroi (State building company) and was actively perusing a Lexus brochure � bureaucrats get paid a maximum of $100 per month. He was in his early 30�s. Many of Russia�s youth actively consider joining the Governemnt bureaucracy because it�s a great way to make a fortune. Even the Government acknowledges that ist efforts are hindering not helping the development of a entrepreneurial business class. This is not an environment that is actively fostering entrepreneurs. And yet��
Last night I collected a video and CD for this trip to Delhi from an individual who played Olympic level hockey (field) for the Soviet Union, has a PhD from Moscow State University (�MGU�), helped create one of Russia�s most successful local fast food outlets, has identified some of the most promising technologies emanating from Russia�s universities and institutes, and is building a great commercial finance business. Just before that meeting (I was sitting in a traffic jam for over an hour) I met with another MGU PhD with a string of successful business behind him � and is now the CTO of one of the most enterprising. Oh and he won a prize in Pure Mathematics from MGU � this in a country where Mathematics skills are valued and don�t make you a geek.
They are not quite as prevalent as maybe they we would all like � but they are there. Slowly but surely the people who are building the service businesses that will support the diversification away from natural resources are beginning to surface. They are humbler than their mid / late 90 compatriots; and better businessman.
But every time I have an experience such as today in Sheremeytevo, where those theoretically providing a service lord their power over poor mutts such as I who have paid good cash for my right to be abused by them I doubt that things will ever change.
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