How to Earn a Million When You’re a Student?

This question, as well as many others, has been discussed at the recent meeting of our students with Mr. Renat Batyrov, General Manager of the Skolkovo Technopark, General Director of the Pilot Group of Companies, and the founder of the Astrakhan IT Park “FABRIKA”.

When he came into the lecture hall, the well-known Astrakhan man took off his tie - that was the first thing he did. By doing that, he meant that his talk would be informal, friendly. Renat perceived his audience as potential entrepreneurs, so he based his speech on his own biography to prove that one could achieve a lot in business. An idea, $2k, and a computer - that was all that Renat had in 1995, when he was just a 3^rd-year-student - at that time he founded the Pilot Group of Companies. As he told, the software market actually did not exist in Russia then. So his young company became a pioneer in this field. His profits were growing by 100 %, 200 %, 300 % a year… But, of course, not everything was so smooth then: his company suffered several economic crises, some of his valuable employees quit. Eventually, the Pilot opened 10 branches all over Russia. “Before that, my greatest dreams were about working at a bank or in the gas-recovering industry”, he confessed, “But I believed in myself and earned money myself, without any credits, grants, or subsidies, which were completely unavailable then. I bought my first computer for money I earned when I arranged discos and filmed weddings”.

Having passed through a difficult itinerary and having learnt a lot, Renat Batyrov realized how much help (both material assistance and consultancy) young businesspeople need. That stimulated him to create the IT Park “FABRIKA” in Astrakhan; many experts in Internet technologies, businesspeople, and sponsors have joined this project. “Braindrain is our main problem. About 800 people graduate from three major universities of Astrakhan, and the best of them leave for other cities or go abroad. We took the idea of the IT Park in Kazan and created our own infrastructure for young entrepreneurs to develop and introduce their projects. Our Park helps its residents pass an expertise of their startups and get investments; it arranges business trainings, seminars, various courses, and practical training programs”, he remarks.

The successful businessman is not going to stop on what he has already achieved. He has recently been appointed to the post of the General Manager of the Skolkovo Technopark. Contrary to the common belief, he thinks that it is only a bit more difficult to become a resident of this huge innovative center than to get a passport for traveling abroad. “Multi-million grants in Skolkovo are real - they aren’t a myth”, he assured his audience. “If you think your project isn’t good enough, it means you don’t believe much in it. Don’t be afraid of your competitors: think faster than them, act faster than them, find new partners faster than them - and you shall succeed!”

Little by little, the talk turned into a discussion. Both students and their professors wanted to hear their famous guest’s opinion. They wanted to learn more about conditions for small business in Astrakhan Region, about pitfalls for inexperienced entrepreneurs, about qualities and competencies that any businessperson must have, etc. Renat Batyrov was answering all those questions with pleasure, and he added that it is a skill to make decisions instantly that he regards as the prime quality for any businessperson. As he says, thinking too much and too long requires very much energy and often results in failure.

“My motto is to dream and put into practice what others regard as a fancy”

“At any stage of your life, the number of ups must exceed the number of downs at least by one”

“I close my unsuccessful projects, I develop my successful ones, and I sell the most successful ones - and that’s the most pleasant thing for me!”

“To keep your company viable, you should turn all your outgoings into your incomes”

“When I achieve something, it inspires me. When I fail something, it inspires me, too. That inspires me to do my utmost, to achieve the result that I want!”

Russian original information source: T.Yu. Gavrilkina (the Innovative Laboratory of Information Linguistics of ASU)
Russian original photo source: http://батыров.рф

Translated by E.I. Glinchevskiy