OLEKSIY AFANASIEV: START YOUR PROJECTS WITH “I’LL HANDLE THIS!” ATTITUDE

START YOUR PROJECTS WITH “I’LL HANDLE THIS!” ATTITUDE

In 2008, I became an intern at UMG Investment, which managed a number of mining operations at the time. All I had then was just a diploma from Donetsk National University, a few months of work experience in a bank, and aspirations to work for a promising business. I didn’t know I would stick around this long. But I have been lucky. The company has been steadily developing, as well as its staff. Here, I came all the way from an apprentice to a leadership position.

Working for a business. I started out in Sales, where I maintained documentation and interacted with clients. Working in Sales provides an insight into how the business works from the inside out and teaches you to build relationships with people and companies. The start of my career coincided with the economic crisis of 2008. The market situation changed, partners went bankrupt, people started quitting the company. Learning the ropes in a situation like that was hard. But I’m grateful for that now because it was a unique experience that made me react to change, quickly adapt, and develop. This was what brought me to a new level, taking the analyst and then project manager position in the Strategy Department.

Developing a business. In 2012, I became the first analyst in the newly created strategy department. We determined the points of growth and new directions for the company’s development. I turned start-up ideas into real investment decisions, analysed the particulars of technology, market, and law. It was then that the pilot Recycling Solutions project was born, and we started to expand in different directions. In 2017, I took over leadership of one of those—Ukrainian Mineral Fertilizers.

Creating a business. Starting 2017, I began implementing the strategies developed on paper. Now I’m building a 100,000 tpy production facility from scratch: from layout, establishing a separate entity, picking location and equipment suppliers, construction, and staff hiring to the signing of contracts with the first clients. It’s a very peculiar type of creative work that I wouldn’t be able to handle without any prior experience. Moving up the corporate ladder, you have no choice but to grow and change. My current position is a result of deliberate work, and this work is anything but finished.

Success is about furthering the development of your business and staff alike. Recycling Solutions became an ideal place for me to thrive owing to the freedom the company’s employees are granted. What’s important for the company is results, and it’s up to you to decide how you achieve them. In an environment like this, focus and responsibility are all that is required from an intern to grow into a CEO. Successful people are those who constantly process new information and look for new solutions, models, directions, and strategies. In business, you indeed need to run just to stay in place and run even faster to move ahead. It’s about leaving your comfort zone time and time again and fighting.

Actually, my martial arts experience came in really handy. I used to practice kudo, and it taught me one important thing. Before any fight—or any business foray—there are two things you can do. You can decide to show the best you can do and win if you’re lucky and accept the defeat with dignity if you’re not. Or, you can focus on victory alone, and, despite the enemy’s strength, keep fighting like there’s no tomorrow, never letting yourself give up, even in your head, even theoretically. And it’s this latter mindset that has made me successful.