Italian in Russia
— 2005-04-01 —
Interview with Produkty Pitania CFO Franco Nardi
Most of foreign top managers working in Russia say they selected the location because “It’s a challenge”. Mr. Nardi has worked in Russia for 14 years and he prefers setting new ambitious challenges for himself.
He started working in Russia as a banking specialist with 25 years of experience in the industry. After two banking crises in Russia the bank decided to cut funding for developing Russian operations and Mr. Nardi was offered a job in another country. He decided to stay and work in Russia.
In 1996 he came to Produkty Pitania as CFO upon personal invitation from Mr. Vlahovich. Back then company management was building the business from the very beginning. Kaliningrad was selected as the investment target due to its geographical and economic convenience. Back in 1996 many foreign companies left Russia because of growing risks but Produkty Pitania began investing in production facilities development and purchasing foreign high quality equipment.
Regional operations are based on trade representative offices. All clients of the company are reliable and the company assumes risk by shipping products on credit. Today there are no payments outstanding due to strict financial supervision.
Management is highly important in production. As the company intends to expand its operations in Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan the company is installing SAP system to ensure better management, which is key to success during expansion
The Financial Department of the company employs a total of 60 people. It is ready to train young specialists and even provide them with MBA opportunities.
Among the current objectives in his capacity of CFO Mr. Nardi mentions obtaining results of Ernst & Young annual audit report hoping that the result will help the company work on better terms with banks and make a public offer of shares.
New plant opening is another important objective for the whole company and for its Financial Department in particular.
By Anna Chernetskaya