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| IMD ranking 2013: Russia is looking more attractive to the US investor |
| Moscow, 07.06.2013 |
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| Russia has jumped six places to 42nd place in competitiveness rating in the 2013 IMD ranking, while top US business investors are looking into financing and angel investing into Russia's most promising start-ups and businesses. Turning away from the energy sector, most promising global business projects are found in Russia.
Russia has climbed 6 positions since 2012 in the 2013 world competitiveness rankings published by the Institute of Management Development IMD on Thursday. The IMD, World Competitiveness Year Book, is published by top ranked global business school based in Switzerland. It covers 60 countries and compares their competitiveness based on economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. Russia has improved its standing based on macroeconomic performance which encompasses state finances and employment figures. While the rankings on efficiency and infrastructure improving for Russian economy, in business sphere Russia is looking more attractive to the US investors who are looking into Russia’s entrepreneurial talent and fresh startups. Evan Burfield, Co-Founder of 1776, an incubator platform for connecting the hottest startups in the world with the resources of the most powerful business elite just came to Moscow to assess Russia’s business talent and more.
“There has been a real emphasis I think in Russia over the last few years certainly from the top down with Skolkovo but then also more at a grass-root level there has been a real emphasis on this kind of diversification into technology innovation that startups help to drive. We have a similar set of initiatives. In the US everybody thinks about silicone valley, but we face the same challenges of how do we make sure that there is startup innovation occurring in the whole rest of the country, and you see the same thing here.”
Asking Evan Burfield whether there are challenges in the economic climate in Russia, Evan says that new business people in Russia speak the global business language despite all the stereotypes.
“I was expecting to come here to learn about the challenges and what I am finding is that a lot of the things I assumed would be difficult are less so. I mean entrepreneurs all speak English, which is helpful for an American investor. Not only they do speak English but they are all speaking the same language. Everyone is reading the same blogs, everyone’s reading the same books, everyone’s using the same terms, all of these terms that frankly a lot of people outside of the circle of economy in America don’t fully understand are completely common in Russia, everybody understands them.”
While Russia jumps 6 places just in 1 year in a global competitiveness rankings, there is a lot of room for younger businesses to conquer the international field.
“Compared to the US, you still have a relative green field competitively. So, if you look at Car-Fin that we’ve just met with, Car-Fin has the advantage of being able to study all of those models that worked in the US, that worked in Europe and maybe you have 2 or 3 people here in Russia and you don’t have an established competitors. That is an advantage, the depth of technical talent here is a huge advantage, big opportunities, so there is a longstanding tradition which everybody knows and I think it is still there, really good engineering, that is another very interesting field in Russian startups.”
Stereotypically Russia’s economy is mostly focused on energy sector. Majority of Russian startups and businesses are focusing more and more on efficiency and greater global services.
“I don’t think a lot of these startups are looking at it from the perspective of “Russia is stronger in energy, hence we will do energy startups”. I think they are looking from the perspective of Russia has had and continues to have growing middle class. Car-Finwho I just met with is going well, Russia has 40 mln automobiles, the average automobiles are 11 years old. The rate at which people are buying cars in Russia is growing rapidly, therefore the great place of providing service makes it easier to compare the growth by cars. I mean the opportunities in Russia right now are the opportunities that any country with growing consumer class is going to have and that is what is exciting and interesting from my perspective.”
Typically Russian business sphere is known in the west as primarily energy oriented field but today the Russian government and major startup accelerators are giving a huge financial boost to the most innovative and prominent companies in Russia.
Russia, investments, Skolkovo, Russian economy, Economy
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