"Amidst the war, there are no set processes, strategies, algorithms. Every day, everything is different", BGV Group Management

Serhii Voitsekhovskyi and Oleksandr Naumyk, BGV Group Management/Delo.ua

Богдан Петришин

— According to research, currently, 79% of enterprises in the country have completely or partially stopped working. Has your company managed to keep its jobs in the enterprises?

Serhii: It is important to emphasize that since the beginning of the war, we are not talking about business at all. Our team is currently working on three key areas. First, we need to ensure the financial stability of our employees; despite everything, we continue to pay salaries to the team and keep jobs for them. Second, BGV Group Management is working to strengthen the defense capabilities of our country, which is heroically resisting russian aggression: by the end of March, we had already delivered more than 145 trucks of humanitarian aid to armed groups and civilians. Third, we provide, financial revenues to the budgets of various levels where possible because we understand that the economic front is also important.

Oleksandr: As of today, BGV Group Management employs about 2,000 people, supporting the day-to-day operations and functionality of various areas of business. We try to keep the work of our companies and the team of the investment group as much as possible.

We don't hide that the first week of the war, as for all businesses in Ukraine, was shocking. Our team took a short break; it took time to make new plans and resume work in a new reality. At first, many of us took up arms to defend the country. In particular, the founder of BGV Group Management Hennadii Butkevych inspired our employees and partners to join the territorial defense by his example. But after we saw how professionally the Ukrainian Armed Forces resisted and how long the lines of volunteer fighters stood near the military enlistment offices, most of the team realized that they would be more useful on the economic and humanitarian fronts.

Humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Photo: BGV Group Management press service

At that time, the goal was to launch a group of companies, help the country support its economy, attract foreign partners, and organize the supply of humanitarian aid. We had to reformat all processes in more than 10 companies of the group. And as of today, it has been possible to almost fully restore production processes at enterprises that are not in the zone of active hostilities.

There is no doubt that Ukraine will win. And after that, we will have a lot of work to do to raise the economy, rebuild cities, restore industry, infrastructure, and more.

What we've already succeeded: our paper processing plant in the Khmelnytskyi region, Zelenyi Park LLC, is fully operational, and we are actively looking for foreign markets. Our chain of KOLO stores continues to operate, moving to the support offices and cooperating with the Armed Forces and the Territorial Defense Forces to provide our defenders with essential products.

— Every business is first of all people. And the group of the BGV companies employs almost 2 thousand people. Were evacuations carried out? How do you ensure security in areas where there are active hostilities? What has changed for your employees? What is your big team doing now?

Oleksandr: Saving people is one of the company's top priorities. We are very proud of the team we have managed to create over the years of the company's existence. As I mentioned, most of our people continue to work for BGV Group Management.

24 of our workers are defending the country by joining the Ukrainian Armed Forces or the ranks of the Territorial Defense Forces. More than 20 managers of the group of companies work as a volunteer headquarters, which deals with the search for products and partners, procurement, delivery, and local distribution of humanitarian aid to Ukrainians 24/7. Our employees of the Security Department help the company solve information security issues of the group, preserve important data and equipment of companies that coordinated and quickly organized the qualified "conservation" of industrial facilities in the war zone and their internal security, and now continue to defend the country, its people, and our business.

Serhii: Now the company is doing everything possible to organize safety and stable work for employees. For example, we opened temporary mobile offices in Lviv and Khmelnytskyi. BGV is also committed to helping our employees and their families get through these difficult times. In particular, we managed to optimize payments per the company's financial capabilities to continue to pay monthly salaries to our employees. We also helped evacuate workers who were in the active combat zones. Unfortunately, we have staff losses. These losses are "the most expensive" and the most painful. And this is something that will never heal from.

— Are there any companies in the BGV group that produce natural gas and oil? What is the current mode of operation of enterprises?

Oleksandr: Experts from Ukrnaftinvest research, development, and production company are currently developing a plan to launch our natural gas and oil production company in the Odesa region. We have stopped at the fieldwork stage, and now the team is ready to continue working. We are negotiating with relevant contractors to gradually resume operations.

Unfortunately, there are several enterprises in our company where it's not yet possible to launch capacity due to active hostilities. Our task here is to protect the industrial infrastructure as much as possible and maintain the vital activity of the equipment to prevent man-made accidents and start work quickly after the victory. This is, in particular, our oil and gas company near Sievierodonetsk.

Granite quarry in Zhytomyr region. Photo: BGV Group Management press service

— Before the war, you announced the opening of a crushed stone plant in the Zhytomyr region. What about the company now? Was the equipment saved? And are you planning to open?

Oleksandr: Yes, we are gradually launching our crushed stone plant in the Zhytomyr region. Now the team is working on resolving infrastructure issues and restoring equipment. We had some difficulties because we had contractors from Turkey who are now unable to resume work on the site in Ukraine. However, we are finding solutions, new solutions to launch equipment shortly and produce a certain amount of products needed today, primarily for the domestic needs of the country.

— Let's talk in more detail about the retail segment. Your KOLO stores continue to work and help our defenders as well as civilians. How did the work of the network change during the war? What are the biggest difficulties you have encountered?

Serhii: Despite all the challenges and risks, our retail team ensures the work of the largest chain of stores of the "near the house" format in Ukraine, KOLO. We understand that in times of war, this format is especially popular and safe for customers because it is an opportunity to buy the most necessary products quickly and as close as possible to your home.

KOLO employees work 24/7 to optimize logistics and uninterrupted supply of goods to stores. Currently, 73 stores of our network in Kyiv, the region, and Odesa are operating smoothly. These are KOLO support stores in convenient locations for customers and partners. Almost from the first day of the war, we, together with other retail chains and food producers, joined the working group together with the Office of the President to ensure the food security of the country. The KOLO team had to completely reconfigure logistics processes and focus on necessities: bread, water, groceries, sausages, and eggs.

With the beginning of the war, our company took over the organization of the entire logistics chain. We independently pick up the goods by large vehicles from the supplier and take them to intermediate warehouses: a new solution that the logistics team has implemented in today's conditions. There we redistribute goods to smaller cars and deliver products directly to KOLO stores. We also had to abandon the warehouse on the left bank of Kyiv and promptly remove products from there, as this area fell into the zone of active hostilities. In general, I can say that the work of retailers today is also a struggle, ranging from logistics, fuel, passes, convoys in combat zones and ending with the main thing, the safety of partners and teams.

Unfortunately, the bombing killed the head of one of our stores, which is an irreparable loss for the KOLO family. As of today, several stores of the chain have been destroyed as a result of the shelling. In addition, we have temporarily lost control over some facilities; they are located in settlements that the Ukrainian Armed Forces don't control yet. We cannot sit idle seeing this struggle, so KOLO is actively cooperating with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Territorial Defense to provide servicemen with food and hygiene products.

During the first two weeks of the war alone, the KOLO team handed over more than 63,000 products to the defenders: food, water, and hygiene products. Today, KOLO is not about business, not about profit. First and foremost, we need to keep the team, pay taxes where possible, and help the country survive.

KOLO supermarket. Photo: BGV Group Management press service

— Are there any difficulties with the supply of goods to outlets. I wonder what about imported goods?

Serhii: Yes, there are problems. Today, about 60% of our suppliers can not meet the needs of KOLO in goods. The reasons are various: destroyed warehouses, destroyed fleets, bombed industrial facilities or facilities located in settlements not yet under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. To order some goods from the category of essentials, we often have to stand in line for pre-orders. However, we keep our fingers on the pulse, looking for new solutions and new opportunities to fill our fields.

— Is it possible to buy imported goods since the NBU has banned the purchase of currency?

Serhii: There is an opportunity. We continue to buy some imported goods and products from suppliers. Because currency can be purchased to purchase critical imports. And critical imports are now almost all food and feed for animals.

— How did the consumer basket change during the war? How has the average check changed?

Serhii: With the beginning of the war, customers began to buy much less; that is, the number of customers has clearly decreased. However, they buy more. Hence the growth of the average check is an average of 50%. Most people buy necessities. We see the greatest demand for groceries: grains, canned stews, vinegar, and soda. Also, at the top of requests from our customers today, there's the category of frozen products. In addition, many buy vegetables and fruits. Previously, all these products accounted for up to 10% of turnover, and now it's more than 50%.

— Your company has constantly invested in professional, amateur, and children's sports: equestrian, boxing, football, tennis, and car racing. BGV is also a general and exclusive partner of FC Polissia. Do you plan to support and develop this area in the future?

Oleksandr: We definitely plan and will support sports. With neighbors like Ukraine has, our nation simply has to be strong, healthy, resilient, and iron-made. Therefore, sports in Ukraine will definitely continue to work. Moreover, our football club Polissia from Zhytomyr is not only 11 players on the field. It has a large team of staff and a professional coaching staff. And the primary goal of our company and its founder is to keep their jobs and salaries, to support the families of club members in this difficult time. Therefore, we continue to support FC Polissia. The guys are training and ready for new matches.

Serhii: Now the strongest weapon that FC Polissia has is football and the voice of the international football community. Going to every game and communicating with a huge number of foreigners, players from Ukraine convey to millions of Europeans objective information about the situation in our country and russia's crimes. We are proud to see how athletes from Ukraine in the framework of international tournaments and championships raise the Ukrainian issue on the world stage, demand the strengthening of sanctions against russia, and initiate support for Ukrainian refugees. And each game is an opportunity to financially support the country's economy, defenders, and humanitarian initiatives. After all, most of the fees will be directed to this.

We know that some players continue to receive attractive offers from European football clubs. And we know that some of the guys have been waiting for this opportunity all their professional careers. However, the players of Polissia unanimously decided to defend the honor of Zhytomyr Region at this difficult time for the country, refusing any transfers.

FC Polissia. Photo: BGV Group Management press service

— Regarding projects involving foreign partners. Do you see their outflow? Are there any investment projects in the company that have been closed due to the full-scale war?

Oleksandr: We are grateful to all our foreign partners for their understanding of the situation, how much they believe in Ukraine's victory and how they support us. There are a number of our partners who donate humanitarian aid or provide financial support to Ukraine. Some meet the needs of business and offer deferred payments in these difficult times, and most importantly, do not stop working on our projects. After the victory, many foreign companies are ready to invest even more and cooperate with the Ukrainian market and assure that Ukraine will face a significant economic boost. We also believe in this.

— How should businesses work in conditions of great uncertainty and war? What works for you? TOP-3 tips from BGV Group Management.

Oleksandr: We need to trust each other more, interact and support each other. Because trust, interaction, and support must go together to produce results. This was shown to us by the first few weeks of the war, when, frankly, the company's processes were based on these "pillars."

Amidst the war, there are no "set processes," "developed strategy," and "algorithms." Every day is different: new challenges, new losses, sometimes, new opportunities. Therefore, even conventional locomotive businesses, which rarely change course, have to think and act out of the ordinary in the period of such shocks, look for, and try at least sometimes to look at the business through the eyes of a simple "trainee."

We must also look for export potential. Everything is simple here. You need to make money in Ukraine.

— What areas of business, in your opinion, will develop best after our victory? What exactly will BGV Group Management do? May there be changes in the guidelines? What will be the role of BGV after the victory of Ukraine?

Oleksandr: I'm not sure about the change of direction, but I'm ready to talk about the beginning of extra ones. For example, BGV now has its foundation, BGV Charity Fund. Our company has previously had a large number of social initiatives and charitable projects. But from now on this is a separate course in ​​our company.

After the war, we will continue to implement projects of the charity fund. To do this, we have chosen three main areas of humanitarian work: cooperation with perinatal centers to help the youngest patients; support of hospitals by purchasing and delivering medicines and medical equipment; providing food and hygiene products to vulnerable groups to avoid humanitarian crises in Ukraine.

In just the first month of the BGV Charity Fund, together with partners, we delivered 115 trucks of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, which is almost 2,300 tons of necessities, medicines, drinking water, baby food, personal hygiene products, and clothing, pet food and much more.

Serhii: After the victory in Ukraine, the businesses related to the reconstruction of the country will develop. As of the end of March, russia had fired more than 1,000 missiles across Ukraine and destroyed dozens of cities. Therefore, we have ahead of us the restoration of housing, transport infrastructure, hospitals, schools, and historical monuments. There will be enough work for everyone.

The mining industry will be promising. Ukraine needs its own gas, oil, granite, sand, ore, and more. Therefore, here our company will not change course and will continue to develop its mining companies and increase capacity. We will also continue to develop sports in Ukraine. For many years in a row, our founder supports equestrian sports, boxing, football, tennis, and much more.

The war changed Ukrainians. We became stronger, more enduring, thirsty for victory. Therefore, in the future, we will have new sports and economic and diplomatic victories. And this is exactly the future we are fighting for today.

Source: Delo.ua