Programme

A national project has set ambitious goals to have Russian citizens benefit from expanded opportunities. The number of people employed at SMEs is projected to grow by almost 6 million by 2024. More than RUB 400 billion have been allocated for the implementation of this national project with a substantial portion of the funds earmarked for the regions of the Russian Federation. What mechanisms can be used to promote entrepreneurship? Is business already feeling improvements? What steps are needed for a qualitative breakthrough in the availability of SME funding? Are the measures that are envisaged to accelerate this process sufficient for the development of small business?

Moderator
Alexander Kalinin, President, All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses OPORA RUSSIA

Alexander Kalinin

President, All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses OPORA RUSSIA

Born on November 4, 1966 in the city of Chelyabinsk.
In 1989 graduated with honors from the Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute, specialization in robototronics, diploma qualification in electrical engineering.
From 1989 to 1991 has undertaken postgraduate training program at the Department of Engineering Economics of the Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute.
In 1991 founded a wholesale and retail company engaged in export and import operations. Fluent in spoken English.
In 1995-1998 has graduated from the Ural Academy of Public Administration with a degree in law.
In 1998 invested in the creation of a manufacturing company. The company designs and manufactures motor control centers, co-author of an invention patent.
In 2002 became a founding member of All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization of Small and Medium Business “OPORA RUSSIA”.
In 2005 was elected Chairman of the Chelyabinsk regional office of “OPORA RUSSIA”.
In 2007 was elected to the Board of “OPORA RUSSIA”.
In 2012 was elected first Vice-President of “OPORA RUSSIA” on energy, infrastructure and cluster policy.
Since 2013 – member of the Government Commission on Electric Power Development.
In 2013 was elected Co-Chairman of the Staff of the Chelyabinsk regional branch of the All-Russian Public Movement “People's Front” for Russia!”
Since 2014 – member of the Board of Directors of JSC “ROSSETI” (June 2014), member of the Board of Directors of RAO “UES” (August 2014).
October 29, 2014 was elected President of All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization of Small and Medium Business “OPORA RUSSIA” and Non-Profit Partnership “OPORA”
Awarded with certificates of acknowledgement of the Presidential Administration, Government of the Russian Federation, Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk region.

Panellists
Konstantin Basmanov, Head of Small and Medium Enterprises Unit, Promsvyazbank
Meir Brand, Vice-President, Google Inc.
Viktor Evtukhov, State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation
Vadim Zhivulin, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation
Andrey Nikitin, Governor of Novgorod Region
Anatoly Popov, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Head of the Corporate Business Block, Sberbank
Alexey Texler, Acting Governor of Chelyabinsk Region
He Zhenwei, Secretary General, China Overseas Development Association

Konstantin Basmanov

Head of Small and Medium Enterprises Unit, Promsvyazbank

From 2008 till 2015 Konstantin Basmanov was Head of Small and Medium Enterprises Unit and Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, Promsvyazbank PJSC.
From 2015 till 2017 he was Chairman of the Management Board of Vozrozhdenie Bank.
In 2018 he became Head of Small and Medium Enterprises Unit with Promsvyazbank PJSC again.
He is a member of the Board Presidium of OPORA RUSSIA, the All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization of Small and Medium Business.

Meir Brand

Vice-President, Google Inc.

Graduated with honours from Tel Aviv University with a Degree in Economics.
1998 – received MBA from Harvard University
1999-2001 – Director for Business Development, excite@home (one of leading search systems of the time)
2001-2002 – Vice President for Marketing and Sales, ICQ
2002-2005 – Head of Division for SMB Development, Microsoft Israel
2005-present – CEO, Google Israel; was the first employee
2009-present – Member of the Board of Directors, Google Europe
2009-present – Regional Director, Google in Greece and Africa
2015-present – Regional Director, Google in the Middle East, Russia, and Turkey
2016-present – Vice President, Google
Meir Brand speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hebrew.

Viktor Evtukhov

State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation

Education:
1993 – Leningrad Finance and Economics Institute with a major in economic cybernetics.
2002 – Saint Petersburg State University, Faculty of Law.
2004 – Master’s degree from Saint Petersburg State University, Faculty of International Relations.
2003 – Defended his post-graduate dissertation and granted the degree of candidate of economic sciences.
2008 – International Management Institute of St Petersburg (IMISP) under the Masters of Business Administration programme.
Professional experience:
1998 – Elected deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg (second convocation) for the 33rd Electoral District (Moskovsky District) and was twice re-elected in 2002 and 2007.
2009 – Appointed member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation – Representative in the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation from the Government of St. Petersburg; representative of Saint Petersburg State University in the government and administrative bodies of the Russian Federation.
2011 – Appointed Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation.
2012 – Appointed Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
2014 – Appointed State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation under an order of the Government of the Russian Federation.

Vadim Zhivulin

Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation

Andrey Nikitin

Governor of Novgorod Region

Born in 1979 in Moscow.
2001 – graduated from State University of Management.
2007 – was awarded EMBA degree at Stockholm school of Economics.
2002-2011 – held key positions in Ruskompozit Group of companies composed of the largest Russian enterprises which do business in the markets of glass fibre, composite and geosynthetic materials.
2009 — was appointed Director General of Ruskompozit Management Company LLC.
Since 27.07.2011 – held a position of the CEO of the Agency of Strategic Initiatives (ASI).
13.02.2017 – was appointed the acting governor of the Novgorod region by the Presidential Decree.
Member of the Presidium of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for economic modernization and innovative development of Russia.
Member of the Presidium of the Presidential Council for Strategic Development and Priority Projects.
Member of the Supervisory Board of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects.
Awarded the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" II class and the Russian Federation Presidential Certificate of Gratitude.
Ph.D. degree in Economics.
Married.

Anatoly Popov

Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Head of the Corporate Business Block, Sberbank

Professional Experience
In 1994–1996, worked his way up from Key Accounts Manager to Branch Director in Septima Trade House, the leading distributor of Mars, Cadbury in the region.
In 1997–2001, received a position of Sales Representative in Wrigley (Tumen, Novosibirsk), then, took the position of Regional Sales Manager in the West Siberian Region. Appointed Sales Department Head in a distributor company in the Omsk branch.
In 2002–2009, worked as Regional Director of Sales at SunInBev in the Novosibirsk office. Moved to Moscow and took the position of Senior Vice-President of Sales. Then, he was invited as General Manager to Bulgaria, where he worked till March 2009. Then, he returned to Russia and took the position of Chief Operations and Commercial Officer.
In 2010, appointed Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom in Kazakhstan.
In 2018, appointed Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board in Sberbank.
Education
Graduated from the School of Applied Informatics and Mathematics at the Novosibirsk State University. In 1995–1997, continued his education at the School of Economics and Management at the Novosibirsk State University. Received Wharton InBev Degree of the International development programme in INSEAD on Corporate Finance and LEAP, Leadership Excellence through Awareness and Practice programme (Singapore and Paris).

Alexey Texler

Acting Governor of Chelyabinsk Region

In 1995 he graduated with honours from Norilsk State Industrial Institute with a degree in Economics and Management in the Metals Industry as a planning engineer.
From 1990 through 2007 he held various positions in JSC Zavenyagin Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant and OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel, where he started working as a specialist and eventually became the General Director of LLC Norilsk Support Complex, a subsidiary of OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel.
From 2008 through 2009 he served as the Head of Administration of Norilsk.
From 2009 through 2011 he was the General Director of JSC Mining and Metallurgical Complex Kazakhaltyn.
From 2011 through 2013 Mr. Teksler worked as the Managing Director and Head of CJSC Polyus Gold Mining Company;
From 2013 through 2014 he held the position of Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation;
Since November 2014 he has held the post of First Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
On March 20th, 2019 appointed as Acting Governor of Chelyabinsk Region.

He Zhenwei

Secretary General, China Overseas Development Association

Mr. He Zhenwei is currently serving as the Secretary General of China Overseas Industry Association, senior economist, and visiting professor of Dalian Maritime University. In 1986, Mr. He graduated from the Department of Management Engineering in Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), and got his Master Degree in Energy Economics from HIT in 1990.
In 1996, he was dispatched to the Economic Counselor’s Office of the Embassy of People’s Republic of China in Russia, served as first secretary. In 2003, he came back to China and worked as a consultant of division level in Department of Foreign Investment of the Development and Reform Committee of Heilongjiang Province. One year later, he was in the same position in the Department of Foreign Capital and Overseas Investment of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). In 2007, he was transferred as Deputy Secretary-General in China Overseas Development Association (directly under the administration of NDRC), and he was promoted to Secretary General in May 2016.
Mr. He Zhenwei, with working experience in NDRC, is familiar with the national overseas investment policy. He has accumulated abundant experience in overseas investment from various projects. China Overseas Investment Fair (COIFAIR), founded in 2009 under the leadership of Mr. He, has been successfully held for 8 years, which has huge influence both at home and abroad.
In recent years, Mr. He has led a delegate of Chinese enterprises to conduct investment investigations in many countries and regions, and has made great contribution to the implementation of many investment cooperation projects. As a senior economist and visiting professor in university, Mr. He has delivered speeches to students in higher education institutions like Peking University and University of International Business and Economics (UIBE). He has been invited for several times to the Dialogue program of CCTV Finance Channel.
Mr. He Zhenwei is currently serving as the Secretary General of China Overseas Industry Association, senior economist, and visiting professor of Dalian Maritime University. In 1986, Mr. He graduated from the Department of Management Engineering in Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), and got his Master Degree in Energy Economics from HIT in 1990.
In 1996, he was dispatched to the Economic Counselor’s Office of the Embassy of People’s Republic of China in Russia, served as first secretary. In 2003, he came back to China and worked as a consultant of division level in Department of Foreign Investment of the Development and Reform Committee of Heilongjiang Province. One year later, he was in the same position in the Department of Foreign Capital and Overseas Investment of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). In 2007, he was transferred as Deputy Secretary-General in China Overseas Development Association (directly under the administration of NDRC), and he was promoted to Secretary General in May 2016.
Mr. He Zhenwei, with working experience in NDRC, is familiar with the national overseas investment policy. He has accumulated abundant experience in overseas investment from various projects. China Overseas Investment Fair (COIFAIR), founded in 2009 under the leadership of Mr. He, has been successfully held for 8 years, which has huge influence both at home and abroad.
In recent years, Mr. He has led a delegate of Chinese enterprises to conduct investment investigations in many countries and regions, and has made great contribution to the implementation of many investment cooperation projects. As a senior economist and visiting professor in university, Mr. He has delivered speeches to students in higher education institutions like Peking University and University of International Business and Economics (UIBE). He has been invited for several times to the Dialogue program of CCTV Finance Channel.

Front row participants
Eva Gutierrez, Lead Financial Sector Specialist in the Europe and Central Asian Region, World Bank Group
Natalia Korotchenkova, Deputy General Director, Russian Small and Medium Business Corporation
Anna Kuznetsova, Member of the Executive Board, Managing Director of Securities Market, Moscow Exchange
Andrey Pavlov, Founder, President, ZENDEN Group

Natalia Korotchenkova

Deputy General Director, Russian Small and Medium Business Corporation

Anna Kuznetsova

Member of the Executive Board, Managing Director of Securities Market, Moscow Exchange

In 1996, Anna Kuznetsova graduated from the faculty of mechanics and mathematics of the M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, and in 1998 from its faculty of economics.
Anna Kuznetsova holds a PhD in physics and mathematics.
From 1999to 2001, Anna worked for NAUFOR and was involved in the creation of the National Quotation System and development of the Complex Information Disclosure System.
From 2001 to 2004, Ms. Kuznetsova worked for RTS. Starting from 2003 she served as Head of the New Markets Development Department at NP RTS.
In 2004–2006, Ms. Kuznetsova worked as Executive Director of REGION Brokerage Company where she was in charge of the organization of work and interaction between the Company`s subdivisions. From 2006 to 2008, Ms. Kuznetsova served as Vice President of the Not-for-profit partnership "Russian Trading System" Stock Exchange" and Deputy CEO of OJSC RTS. From 2008 to 2013, Ms. Kuznetsova held the position of Deputy CEO and from 2013 to 2016, CEO of MICEX Stock Exchange. She currently serves as a member of the Executive Board and Managing Director in charge of the Moscow Exchange Equity & Bond Market, Investment and Innovation Market as well as Indices and Market Data Division.

Andrey Pavlov

Founder, President, ZENDEN Group