By: Evgeny Kelikh

Owner of an immigration center, a company producing medical products, and a startup founder, Alexey Nevzorov, shared his personal views on what is important for a businessman today. He has come a long way from creating a distribution company to establishing an enterprise with its own production and brand. Alexey is a vivid example of the importance of not being afraid to implement new ideas and fully dedicate oneself to their business.

Alexey, today you have four offices of your immigration center. Please tell us about the path that led you to this point.

Today, I am the manager of the immigration center, and we indeed have four international offices. One is located in Moscow, and the others are in Turkey, Dubai, and Argentina.

I started with a merchandise business, producing and distributing medical and related products. Our own brands today include Dentalpik – everything for oral hygiene, Nevzorov – tennis equipment and sports goods, NDCG Mother Care – products for mothers and babies, as well as items for pregnant women and those in the lactation period, Matwave and NDCG – dietary supplements and medical devices, Elrique – production of mate tea beverage. By the way, I also own a pharmacy in Moscow. It’s safe to say that within diversified projects, I’m doing quite well.

Among your partners, there are many large and well-known companies, right?

Yes. When we started, we had major partners. We were official distributors of Oral-B, Phillips, and Waterpik – leading manufacturers of irrigators worldwide. Currently, we continue to work with the distribution company CDC, as well as with the largest pharmaceutical distributors, Protek and Katren.

When we started in 2013, we essentially engaged in reselling other people’s products. Then I thought, why import someone else’s goods when we can produce our own, using the same factories? So we started making our own products, of better quality and at a lower cost.

We reached out to the same factories that work with major brands and began developing our own models. We discovered that many big companies rely on the power of their brand, sourcing the cheapest products and materials, and selling them in large quantities simply because people trust and know the brand. Even the factories told me, “There’s a model that big brands buy, but it’s not the highest quality and has a strong plastic odor. We can offer a higher quality model for just a few cents more.” As a result, we obtained products of much better quality than many well-known brands, while being much cheaper for the end consumer. And this is despite the fact that we have a 200% markup.

In this situation, I came to an important realization: big companies, as it turned out, do not prioritize quality. They buy the cheapest products and sell them at high prices solely because of the strength of their brand. It was a revelation to me that products from small and unknown companies are often much better in quality simply because they are small brands that cannot afford to sell a low-quality product.

What results did you achieve?

Today, our companies have received over 2000 positive reviews on all marketplaces, which indicates high demand for our products and their quality. Additionally, we have become market leaders in storage bags for breast milk under our own brand.

The majority of product distribution is focused on the Russian market. We also sell on marketplaces in Turkey. Our products were well received on the Amazon platform. We developed a special paste specifically for cleaning veneers, as no similar product was being produced in Russia at the time. We were the first on the market, but later realized why no one else was doing it – it turned out that very few people in Russia have veneers, so the demand for this paste was not significant. However, we tried selling a batch through Amazon in the US and it sold instantly: it turns out that there is high demand for it in the US.

All of my companies are progressing steadily, with about 100% year-over-year growth since opening in 2013. There are no sharp spikes or setbacks, meaning we consistently show continuous growth. 

As I understand it, your experience in the goods business has helped you in developing startups. How did you come to this direction?

Today, we are working on three major and interesting projects. One is Getdesk.com, a kind of marketplace for workspaces and office spaces. Another is Flatlet.homes, a property management company for short-term rentals. The third is NDCG Medical, a company in the medical tourism sphere.

Speaking specifically about Getdesk.com, this startup is currently in active development and it is a convenient platform-aggregator for workspaces, similar to Airbnb but for those who want to rent a workspace. Many professionals have transitioned to remote work and freelancing, so we saw an opportunity to create a useful product for this segment of people. Working from home can often be uncomfortable due to children, noise, or simply not having the right atmosphere. Sometimes it is necessary to have a quiet and peaceful space for Zoom meetings, meetings, or just to work. We came up with a platform where you can easily book a workspace in a coworking space or an office that rents out meeting rooms for a couple of hours, for example.

Under your leadership, there are currently six consumer brand products, an immigration company, and three startups. How do you manage it all?

In regards to this question, I realized once and for all that it is better not to work with startups without a good project manager and product management specialist. But seriously, in 2018, I realized that with the help of a strong team, a company always develops faster and more successfully. When I hired an experienced operations director and formed a team, I realized that there was a new “quantum leap” in the business. Now I can spend much less time on routine tasks and focus on other exciting projects. At the same time, the company is growing much faster and more actively. So I recommend delegating, creating a strong team of professionals around you, and then everything will definitely work out.

What do you think is the secret to your success?

Product expertise and rapid team formation for each project. Comparing myself to competitors and other entrepreneurs, I see the same mistakes they make every time: entrepreneurs are usually not flexible enough in their business strategy and do not consider external risks. Of course, I also made similar mistakes, and at that time it resulted in extended timelines and financial losses for me. However, the experience itself was invaluable and has become an excellent foundation on which I rely on today in developing my business.