Star Brands participated in the Forbes Ukraine Exporters Summit, which took place in late March in Kyiv. Yevgen Razuvayev, Director of Strategic Development, spoke during the panel discussion titled “The U.S., Europe, Asia: Secrets to Entering New Markets.” His presentation on the history of “conquering” Central Asia and the company’s plans for further expansion in the East was a real sensation.
Three production sites in Kazakhstan have laid the foundation for further development. The next step is Uzbekistan, where Star Brends sees great potential.
During his panel presentation, Yevgen Razuvayev emphasized: “Uzbekistan is a country undergoing remarkable changes. From a largely closed territory, it is transforming into a market with enormous potential. For us, it is a springboard for further development in Eastern countries. My advice to everyone here is: don’t focus on European markets. Turn your attention to the East,” said Yevgen Razuvayev. Star Brends’ expansion into Asia began 20 years ago, and as the speaker noted, the development was “not thanks to, but rather in spite of.”
“We entered the Kazakh market in 2006 and faced a local logistics challenge. We couldn’t find a single logistics company or distributor capable of ensuring a nationwide presence in a country where the distance from east to west exceeds 3,000 kilometers and from south to north is 1,700 kilometers. So we became our own first national distributor: our “rapid response team” of 15 people went there, learned about the new culture and customs on the ground, established contacts, and organized distribution. The first branch opened just six months later,” Razuvayev said.
After 2014, Star Brands ceased all cooperation with Russia and withdrew from the market. This posed yet another challenge for the company.
“We realized that we would be unable to maintain normal logistics from Ukraine to Central Asia, since the main route—the railway—ran through the territory of the aggressor country, which we don’t even want to mention. Transit became impossible without a significant increase in the product’s cost,” the top manager emphasized.
The company faced a serious challenge of optimizing processes so that logistics wouldn’t “eat up” all the profit margin. Opening factories in Kazakhstan turned out to be a strategic and effective solution. In-house production has propelled Star Brands Asia to a leading position in the market.
“Continuous development is one of the key values of the Star Brands group of companies. Teamwork and energy make our companies ‘stars’ and our products leaders in retail across more than 30 countries,” concluded Yevgen Razuvayev.
