Society

In 2010, a tourism cluster appeared in the North Caucasus that signified a new and prospective field for the Russian travel industry. Below, Northern Caucasus Resorts CEO Oleg Gorchev talks about why one might want to vacation in Chechnya, what his children think about his job, and what it was like to be part of the first class to graduate from the Higher School of Economics.

Cafes and restaurants in Russia currently find themselves in a very competitive environment, which is why a lot of new formats and ideas arise. In the latest edition of Success Builder, the founders of Jeffrey’s Coffee, Alexey Mironov and Alexey Karanyuk, discuss what makes a ‘good’ café, why it’s important to go see what competitors are up to, and what the prime costs of a double espresso are.

Over the last five years, hummus and falafel have made their way onto the menu of most restaurants in the centre of Moscow, and food trucks have had much better luck selling Middle Eastern dishes than warm Russian pirogies. Daniil Goldman, who is a graduate of the Higher School of Economics and the founder of Mitzva Bar, sat down with Success Builder to talk about what’s fashionable in Israeli culture, why intuition is important in business, and how a bar in Moscow differs from a bar in New York.

A career in the aviation industry is something many people dream about, but to become a manager in the field, you have to be disciplined and fearless. No one understands this better than HSE alumna Maria Sharavina, who is currently the head of the press service at Vnukovo Airport. In the latest edition of Success Builder, Maria tells us why Vnukovo employees do not need motivation, how to resolve PR issues 24 hours a day, how to remember all business jet models, and how to make friends with the media.

HSE graduate Ilya Flaks’ company Fibrum began selling the Fibrum Pro virtual reality headset and its accompanying software in 2015, and both have since become well known throughout the world. In the latest edition of Success Builder, Ilya talks about how one can make tens of thousands of dollars while still a student, why he never ‘worked for the man,’ and whether virtual reality is really dangerous.

In the latest edition of Success Builder, HSE graduate and the founder of the anti-café Kocherga, Pion Gaibaryan, talks about how to build an ideological business and create a comfortable environment for ‘nerds.’ She also discusses why philosophy cannot be just a kitchen table conversation and how reading Kurt Gödel under the sun can treat depression.

HSE Banking Institute graduate Mikhail Rozin, who is currently a senior vice president at the Russian Regional Development Bank, sat down with Success Builder to discuss what makes education in Russia just as good as in the West, how being a good actor can help you manage a bank, and why a banker became a flutist.

HSE graduate Mikael Yan and his company are part of the world’s largest startup accelerator, 500 Startups. In an interview with Success Builder, Mikael talks about the benefits of chat robots, how to stay positive when talking with investors, and how he became part of 500 Startups after getting a flat tire on a San Francisco highway.

In June 2014, a law was passed that requires participants of the housing and utilities market, including management companies and homeowner associations, to move all of their data to the Government Services Portal (www.gosuslugi.ru). Virtually overnight, this created an enormous market for IT companies capable of helping resolve issues associated with automating the transfer. The company Telecom-Project, which was founded by HSE graduate Evgeny Tsaplin, is currently a leader in this market.

Contrary to what sci-fi lovers might expect, robots are not trying to enslave the human race, but instead are engaged in much more peaceful things like performing onstage. This is the type of creative application that the company Robots City, whose IT department is currently headed by HSE MIEM graduate Sergei Borhsenius, has found for robots. In the latest edition of Success Builder, Sergei discusses why robots are able to read Shakespeare sonnets, but haven’t yet made it to Hamlet; what future programmers should prepare for; and how an introverted mathematician can become a manager.