Honestly, I am against any development institutions. All of Moscow is nothing but development institutions, and we, Russia, cannot feed them.
The Observer Factory is worth $3 million or so. 300 billion dollars of Russia's foreign exchange reserves are frozen because of the sanctions. You could say we donated this money to god knows who. We could have built some 100,000 Observers with those 300 billion dollars. When Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, came to us, Kaliningrad Region was allocated 5 billion rubles for small and medium business. This money is lent to businesses at 1 % per annum for seven years. Roughly speaking, if we took those 300 billion of Russia's foreign currency reserves and gave them to the projects of social entrepreneurs at 1 % per annum, they would start working, producing something in-demand, making money, paying taxes, changing the country for better, and do more positive things.
It wouldn't be so much about monetary effect, but rather about social effect. It is hard to calculate, but it is possible.
Even if, say, half of the factories (50,000) went bankrupt, the borrowed money would still return to the treasury in a few years. And Russia, not just Moscow, would receive 50,000 very real small production companies. But in order to do that, the federal government has to trust its people, and vice versa. I'm the crazy guy who trusts his government. Getting something done at the regional and federal levels.
Do you think tax preferences for social entrepreneurs are necessary?
I guess so. But I'm afraid this will immediately become fertile ground for fraud. Just offer long money at 1 % per annum or completely interest-free, and that's it, no need to do anything else.
Generally, I am in favor of people with disabilities paying for admission to the theater, museums, etc. Maybe not full price, but 50 %. Then the museum will know why it has to invest in an accessible environment: because it earns money, and people with disabilities are also its visitors. Let a person with disability earn money. If they don't want to go to work, they can always stay home and watch TV. They wouldn't need any museums.
How can we make sure Russia gets more companies like yours that effectively deal with social problems and contribute significantly to the lives of their communities, regions, countries and the world? And that the world gets these, too?
It seems to me that, first of all, it is important to share successful cases. There are quite a few of them. There's a guy in Kaliningrad, he runs a YouTube channel called "In Process,” and he films industrial enterprises, talks to businessmen and interesting people who are creating something new. He came to us in the summer, shot a video, and got half a million views, 3,000 reactions and comments in three months, of which 2,995 were positive. We've never seen anything like that before. I understand that this kind of content landed with the audience. That is, positive content is highly demanded, amidst the tsunami of negative information about all the current events, from coronavirus to the special military operation. People write to me: "Let's open a rehabilitation center together,” "Let's open a workshop,” "I'm sick of everything, I made some money and I want to do something real,” "Let's do this and that,” "I can weld ramps,” and so on. That is, the video really made a hit. I think this is one of the important points. And the second thing we've already talked about is long money at low interest rates. I guess that's it.
Is it possible to learn to be a social entrepreneur? In my personal opinion, this is impossible. Either you are an entrepreneur or you're not, and it shows right away. It often happens that a person, or their relative or friend, gets into a situation that causes them to go into social entrepreneurship, to address the problem of that friend or relative or whatever. In this case, all we need is to support this man without creating huge federal bureaucratic structures that spend a lot of money on one exemplary exhibition, which will then be shown on television.
What is your personal KPI?
I have one KPI for all lately. The first and foremost is that you look at something and ask yourself: "Is this real or not?” Just like in the case of that exemplary exhibition. Is this real or is it done for three officials only? Are there any final users who will be able to buy the items? If there aren't any, then it's not real and there's no need for more exhibitions.
By the way, did the special military operation have any effect on your relations with your foreign partners?
Very much so. Half of the partners have suspended deliveries. Like the Scandinavians, for example. In fact, only China and Taiwan are still working as before; as for my European partners, only those that I had close personal relationships with do. The EU Consul helped us get an export license for German motors. We sat idle for four or five months with the motors seized, and now with this license we're bringing them in like before. That is, we made it through where we had good personal contacts.
Are you looking for any new partners to replace those who left?
The Danes had a unique transformer ladder, we cannot replace them. No other options exist. We are told: "Oh, just make it yourself.” I understand the "make-it-yourself” thing. When you look at the wheelchair, it seems like a simple thing, but it uses 16 different kinds of pipes. You go to a factory in the Urals, and they sell in batches of at least a thousand meters each. You have 3 million tied up in pipes alone each time. Another 5 million in motors, 6 million in joysticks, 3 million in fabric.
Now I need to make a new model of wheelchair, and I understand this would require some 30–40 million investment; and in the meantime, I have to compete with the Chinese wheelchair suppliers.
You are one of the most famous award-winning social entrepreneurs in Russia. What do you consider your greatest achievement? And what is the real measure of success for you?
My greatest achievement is the team and what we're getting right now. Here they are, really, my people, whom I showed around Europe, telling them: "Get your ideas from here and here.” And then together, standing up to our ankles in the mud, we laid the first capsule with the letter to the descendants in the concrete foundation of the factory. And now you are walking with these people on the second floor of this beautiful office, looking down at the high-tech machines. And you feel great knowing that you made this happen together.
We're all getting a little fed up. We are getting this feeling again – too little, too boring, too slow. But when you see the emotions of other people who visit us, and there are whole double-decker buses arriving with guests, you realize that we, indeed, have done something right and good.
Is money important to you as a measure of success?
Money is important, you see. But it is not important to me per se, it is important as a tool that allows you to be independent and implement some really interesting, beautiful projects, that's all. It's the same thing with fame, with glory. I don't know, I'm very cool about it. First of all, it's a tool to save a little advertising budgets, because if you wanted to run a paid story about yourself on Channel One, that would be insanely expensive. And here it's all free.
And secondly, I want to build better than what we saw in Germany, in Sweden. And we are getting there. I just want to inspire as many people as possible, ignite their hearts and souls, so that the same thing could happen elsewhere.
Two years ago in Kaliningrad Region we disbursed about 20 million rubles in grants. We did it through the Ark, a public organization for people with disabilities. Last year, similar grants were distributed throughout Russia, supporting projects that change the life of wheelchair users for the better. I consider it a big achievement, too.
In terms of performance, who is your example and visionary?
I look at Elon Musk and I don't understand how one man can be so efficient as to revolutionize seven areas. I keep listening to his interviews where he articulates why he does it. And, accordingly, I want to make a real revolution in Russia as well, at least in a few industries. To do something in the social sphere that had never existed in Russia.
I think we will live to see the time when a paralyzed person can have a chip implanted, which transmits neural impulses to places below the injury to restore muscle