Nadiya Cherkasova: “My career breakthroughs were associated with crises. Nadiya Cherkasova: “Family is also a project, and I do everything necessary to be successful in it. Nadiya Cherkasova’s husband

On April 5, 2016, an open lecture was held at the MSTU Engineering Entrepreneurs Club by Nadiya Cherkasova, member of the board of VTB 24, director of the small business customer service department. “Life as a project” - this idea ran through the entire performance.

“Is it possible to be successful in several roles at once? I can say yes. I am a happy mother, I have three children. I’m 45, my husband and I have been together for 25 years,” Nadiya explained. “I combine several roles at once and I believe that you can be successful in each: I am a mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, banker, public figure, investor.” Sounds incredible. But it is the project approach that helps Nadiya, which stipulates that any role has limitations - temporal, spatial, has its own deadlines and its own events. “When I began to treat my family as a project, the quality of my personal life rose hundreds of levels higher. I wanted to be as successful in the “family” project as in business. When I realized this, I began to invest more time in my family. Often, a man and a woman come home after work, throw themselves on the sofa, and complain. I was the same. But my husband and children are my partners in the project. It would be wrong to come home from work and whine.” Nadiya clearly knows what she wants in her family in her 50s, 70s, 80s and even 90s. For example, after retirement, she wants to take up dancing with her husband - for pleasure and to preserve vital and mental energy. The project approach gave Nadiya motivation for time management and the mandatory allocation of time for family. For example, she, her husband and children get up at 6:30 in the morning to have breakfast and chat together. Nadiya also explains that a person and a family at different ages have their own goals, tasks and joys.

Success is a relative concept, according to Nadia. In 2007, the British magazine World Business Magazine included Cherkasova among the 35 most successful women on the planet under the age of 35, and in 2010, Nadiya had already been heading one of the country’s largest banks, which was in the TOP 30, for two years. And then she went to the hospital, because she's pregnant with twins. “And then I, all so sparkling on the banking horizon, suddenly disappeared. At this point, the business community judged every day I was absent as a failure. At the same time, every day was a success for me because it brought me closer to the birth of my children. The percentage of my bearing children was low. And I decided that I would leave the system for a while.” The criteria for success are relative. It's important to know what's good for you, not just what's good for society. “And I’m glad that I realized this now, and not at 70 years old.”

Another important rule of Nadiya is to live and work with pleasure, and to launch projects in parallel and nothing else. In this case, even seemingly unrelated projects - business and social activities - receive synergy from each other. For example, Nadiya is engaged in the direction of women's business at Support of Russia. And it was her social activities that gave her the opportunity to meet President Putin in January 2016 at the “Small Business is a National Idea” forum.

Immediately after the lecture and photo on the main staircase, Nadiya changed her 12-centimeter stilettos for comfortable sneakers and ran on the subway to the live broadcast of the “Tao of Business” program on Mediametrix radio. But the most amazing thing is that for 4 years in a row Nadiya has found time in her harsh schedule to broadcast live every Tuesday at 20-00. How? “At 19-10 I leave the VTB 24 office, on the way I prepare for the broadcast, and from 20-00 I start to get high together with co-host Sergei Turko, editor-in-chief of Alpina Publisher.” The balance of time is simple: either she would host the program for these four years, meet outstanding businessmen, or stand in the evening traffic jam home out of town. On the last program, Nadiya met David Yan, founder of ABBYY. “Where and when else would I be able to do this? Even after the program, we sat together, talked and drank tea.”

Radio programs also motivate Nadiya to take up her favorite pastime—reading. “I can’t help but read a book about the speaker with whom I will communicate.” She calls the best books toilet books, i.e. which you can read with pleasure and highlight clever thoughts with a pen during toilet procedures. In addition, while reading, Nadiya advises thinking, and how the thoughts received can be applied to yourself. Curiosity is an important thing.

Another important piece of advice: a crisis is a time of opportunity. Nadiya’s key career milestones occurred during these periods. In 1998, she became the head of the EBRD branch, in 2008 she became the Chairman of the Board of Trust Bank, and before the last crisis in 2013, Nadiya was appointed Member of the Board and Director of the Small Business Customer Service Department of VTB 24. Our Japanese colleagues from Mitsubishi Electric and Hitachi, who like to say that the word “crisis” in Japanese consists of two characters - 危機 - which mean “danger” and “opportunity”. And after listening to Nadiya, you understand that there are opportunities every day, and an entrepreneurial approach is important in work. She even divides all her colleagues into two categories: “officials” and “entrepreneurs.” “Officials” with puffy cheeks have little chance of remaining on Nadiya’s team.

An entrepreneurial approach is required in the work. In 1998, Nadiya opened the first branch of a foreign bank, KMB Bank (G.B. - INTEZA since 2010). It was the first bank in the country to lend to small businesses. The first branch of the bank traditionally opens in Moscow, but here there was a unique case - the opening in Nizhny Novgorod. Moreover, this procedure was very complex and required a lot of approvals and permits from the Central Bank. Nadiya was then working with an American partner, Michael Malcolm, who now lives in Zimbabwe. “Michael suggested that we make an appointment with the head of the Central Bank for Nizhny Novgorod and bake him cookies. We baked them all Sunday and came to the Central Bank, which looks like a palace. Its walls encourage the leader to believe that he is a great person.” The manager was touched, said that no one had ever baked cookies for him, he drank tea with Nadiya and Michael, talked, he went to the building of the future bank and everything ended in success.

Another principle from Nadiya is P.S.Z. - get off your butt and start doing it. For example, VTB 24 recently circulated a circular about saving paper. But how to motivate employees to do this? And Nadiya came up with the image, but how many trees does her department destroy every year? 30 packs of paper - one tree. And now a campaign has been launched that employees will plant twice as many trees as they destroyed. And now every VTB 24 employee thinks that even an extra piece of A4 paper destroys an entire tree branch.

“Thank you very much for the lecture! It’s impossible to look at you without smiling, you inspire. It’s amazing how you accomplish so much and at a high level. And you begin to believe in yourself more and understand that you yourself can do more. I hope you live to be 90 years old and beyond!” — Marina Buldovskaya, who came to Moscow and MSTU from distant Khabarovsk, was impressed by the lecture. Nadiya gave Marina the book “Life as a Startup” with her autograph and best wishes.

Vera Shibaeva, master of the IBM 7 department, also received a gift for her question about how a woman should position herself in a business environment in order to be treated as an equal. Nadiya gave an example: when she started her career, she learned advice from her mother: in order not to find herself in the role of “gofer” or “tea lady,” she must immediately say that “I don’t like tea.” And Nadiya never had to do unprofessional things at work. Nadiya also recalled the only case of discrimination in her career, when one friend at the institute asked him to pay with his body for help. Nadiya was stunned by this proposal, and she honestly consulted with her mother. Mom invited the guy to dinner, and the issue was successfully closed. So Nadiya’s main advice from girls is to be a professional and not think about discrimination; you should always consider yourself equal to everyone.

The lecture went by like a fast train, as Andrei Dmitrievich Kuzmichev figuratively noted. Well, I filled 4 sheets of notes with notes. I would have written more, I just didn’t have time to write down all of Nadiya’s interesting thoughts. Fortunately, there is an audio and video recording that we will publish soon. I would like to thank Gulnara Bikkulova from RVC, who introduced us to Cherkasova. Personally, I was impressed and charmed by Nadiya. I'm excited to start applying many of her tips in my life. And I humbly hope that we will meet Nadiya at MSTU more than once.

Photo by Nikolai Demchuk and Olga Batsokina

Illustration:

NB "Trust"

Cherkasova Nadiya Narimanovna, Senior Vice President, Director of the Small Business Customer Service Department of VTB 24, born in 1971 in Vladimir. She received her first higher education in 1994 at the Faculty of Economics of Nizhny Novgorod State University.

Then she graduated from the International Moscow Finance and Banking School. In addition, Nadiya Cherkasova completed an internship under special programs at South Shore Bank in the USA, EBRD in Austria and IIMD in Germany.

Nadiya Cherkasova began her banking career in 1994 at the Nizhny Novgorod branch of Inkombank, where she worked her way up from a credit expert to the head of the credit department.

In 1998, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development opened the first regional branch of its subsidiary Small Business Lending Bank (KMB Bank) in Nizhny Novgorod, and Nadiya headed the division.

In this financial organization, Nadiya Cherkasova gained experience in the field of lending to small and medium-sized businesses, in which most Russian banks showed insufficient interest in the post-crisis period.

In 2000, Nadiya Cherkasova moved to Moscow, and already in 2003 she became a member of the board, director of the business development department of KMB-Bank CJSC.

In 2005, Nadiya Narimanovna went to work at the Trust National Bank as Managing Director for Small and Medium Business Development. Since 2009, she also became the head of the corporate block of this credit organization, and later - the chairman of the board.

One of Nadiya Cherkasova’s achievements in this position is the opening of an extensive network of offices of the Trust National Bank in Moscow.

In July 2013, Nadiya was appointed to the position of Senior Vice President, Director of the Small Business Customer Service Department of VTB 24. In this position, she will be responsible for the development of lending programs for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs. In March 2014, she joined the board of VTB24.

Nadiya Cherkasova is a laureate of the National Banking Award in the category “For Effective Bank Management”, established by the Association of Russian Banks (ARB). She is the only woman who heads a credit institution that is among the top 30 largest Russian banks.

In 2007, the British magazine World Business named her among the 35 most successful women on the planet under the age of 35 who have implemented business projects.

In 2010, the Banki.ru portal recognized her as “Person of the Year”; she entered the top 50 most influential business women in Russia.

In addition, Nadiya Cherkasova is a fairly open and public person. He maintains a blog on the Banki.ru portal.

Nadiya manages to combine a successful career with a happy family life. Nadiya is married and has three children: a daughter and two sons who were born in 2012.

… For more than 20 years, I have been working on projects to develop lending programs and financial services for small and medium-sized businesses. Of course, I am well acquainted with the activities of OPORA. The role and significance of OPORA in the development of entrepreneurship in Russia is significant. Within VTB24, where I head the small business customer service department, we and OPORA have been successfully cooperating for several years. I myself, as an individual, joined the organization in February, which I am glad about. I believe that the organization really makes a contribution to the development of Russian entrepreneurship, not in words, but in deeds. Actually, that’s why I proposed creating a committee on women’s entrepreneurship at OPORA in order to draw attention to this area and actually implement a number of programs aimed at supporting mother entrepreneurs, innovative projects created by women, as well as programs aimed at creating educational environment among women startups and businesswomen.

About the motives for doing business.

Yes, this is certainly true, but at the same time we can say with confidence that the range of interests of modern women today is not limited to this. Currently in Russia, women make up almost half of the working population. Moreover, Russia leads in the number of female managers (43% of companies are headed by women).

At the same time, the birth of children increasingly pushes women towards the idea of ​​moving from being an employee to starting their own business.

After all, it is entrepreneurship that provides women with the conditions for combining maternal and professional functions, realizing personal aspirations, and increasing the financial security of the family.

Some statistics.

Women entrepreneurs make up up to 30% of Russian small businesses. The key areas in which female entrepreneurship is most widely represented are undoubtedly the social sphere (education, healthcare), as well as the service sector, public catering and trade. Although, there are undoubtedly bright examples of high-tech and innovative areas of activity.

As part of the committee, we came up with the following slogan: “Made by mom, made with love.” And this is actually true, since women are characterized by a very emotional and spiritual immersion in their work. Excellent examples from among the members of the "SUPPORTS OF RUSSIA" committee - Evgenia Belonoshchenko and one of the best networks of preschool institutions "Babyclub", Evgenia Lazareva - production of clothing for children and their parents "Mamanonstop", Alla Komissarova - the best confectionery shops in Moscow La Princesse Choco - winner Palm Branch award for the best restaurant concept, Anna Grushina - children's clinic "Good Doctor" and many other bright and interesting women's projects from different fields of activity.

About obstacles and overcoming them.

According to statistics, the main deterrent to starting your own business is the lack of start-up capital. According to a study by VTsIOM, more than 50% of respondents consider this the main barrier to starting a business. In addition, there are such limiting factors as lack of relevant skills and competencies, lack of a formulated business idea, fear, lack of social security and stability.

In this regard, we are clearly convinced of the need for a targeted policy to support women entrepreneurs both at the federal and regional levels in the form of educational and infrastructure projects, social and tax policies, and the provision of preferential loans to start their own business.

About life and work.

Work is an opportunity for me to continue to realize my potential in business and achieve new goals and is an important part of my life. At the same time, I am the mother of three small children, they are not yet 5 years old and I, of course, try to spend as much time as possible with them. Fortunately, I have a strong family that supports me; my husband and I have been together for 24 years. How can all this be combined? My recipe is simple: I don’t divide for myself - work or family. When I'm with my family, I'm 100% a mother and a woman and never work on vacation or on weekends.
And in the office, I am focused on work. Family is also a project and I do everything necessary to be successful there. Every woman wants to be an ideal mother, wife and ideal employee. I am sure that this is possible, you just need to not put one of them as a priority. What my career has taught me: to value and manage time resources. I know how to find time for everything. A trivial thing - time management is a necessity, even if a woman decides to focus only on her family. In my opinion, it is important not to limit yourself: family, work, social activities, everything is important and you can find time for everything.

Love your job

I would like to wish all entrepreneurs self-confidence, since many of the best and successful projects and businesses were built by women. There are many examples among our members of OPORA RUSSIA. As part of our committee, we will talk about successful business cases so that everyone knows about our girls and women. We have already visited Astrakhan and Tula, where we found interesting women’s projects that we will tell you about. Of course, I want to wish you love, since a successful business can only be done if you do what you love, then it brings joy and satisfaction. And of course, it is the love of family and our loved ones that helps us women be doubly successful. Happy holiday!!!

Vladimir

Education:

She graduated from the Faculty of Economics of Nizhny Novgorod State University, then from the International Moscow School of Finance and Banking. Trained at South Shore Bank (USA), EBRD (Austria) and IIMD (Germany)

Short biography:

Member of the Board, Director of the Small Business Customer Service Department

Since 1994, she worked at the Nizhny Novgorod branch of Inkombank, where she worked her way up from a credit expert to the head of the credit department.

In 1998, she was appointed head of the KMB-Bank division in Nizhny Novgorod.

Since 2003 - member of the board, director of the business development department of KMB-Bank (Moscow).

In 2005, she joined Trust Bank as Managing Director for Small and Medium Business Development. Since 2009, she became the head of the corporate block, and later - the chairman of the bank’s board.

In July 2013, she was appointed to the position of Senior Vice President, Director of the Small Business Customer Service Department of VTB24. In March 2014, she joined the board of VTB24.

Winner of the National Banking Award “For Effective Bank Management”, established by the Association of Russian Banks. In 2007, the British magazine World Business named her among the 35 most successful women on the planet under the age of 35 who have implemented business projects.

In 2010, the Banki.ru portal recognized her as “Person of the Year”; she entered the top 50 most influential business women in Russia.

Married, has three children. He maintains a blog on the Banki.ru portal.

Nadiya, a study on the effectiveness of Internet banking for small businesses by Markswebb was recently published. VTB24 Internet bank showed good dynamics compared to last year. How was this achieved? Which RBS innovations were the most noticeable and significant for the Bank?

Our ambitions are to become trendsetters. We are already creating products that other banks copy: a number of services this year were the first to appear at VTB24. In the modern world, it is quite easy to copy innovations, and in some ways this is good. At the same time, in areas such as banking, it is important to be the first, so that the clients for whom we create products can use them a little earlier. This way, clients receive additional benefits to develop their business.

Let me give you an example. In online banking for individuals, a client, as a rule, can view card transactions in any aspect: how much he spent in pharmacies, how much in supermarkets, beauty salons, etc. For legal entities, only a few offer such a PFM service. It is believed that there is an “Online Client Bank” where statements and all financial information are available. But different users work with remote banking channels in companies: there is an accountant, and there is a business owner who wants to understand the situation as a whole. Especially for business owners, we have implemented a service called “Business Pulse”. It allows you to view a report on financial transactions in infographic format. It would seem that we have not created anything fundamentally new: the business owner, being at the same time a client of the Bank as an individual, is accustomed to managing personal finances in a similar format, but we introduced a service that significantly simplified his work.

We will enter the new year with a redesign of “Business Pulse” in terms of usability - there are opportunities for growth here, we are satisfied with the functional content of the service.

Usability is good, but what new functions have appeared in the Internet bank?

Among the significant innovations in the market that have appeared over the past year, we can highlight our counterparty verification service. It allows the client to check in real time the reliability of the partner and his business reputation.

The service analyzes data from official databases of government authorities and displays the verification result in the form of color indicators (red, yellow or green), and also provides a link to a specific source of information. Based on the information received, the client decides whether to confirm the payment, conduct additional verification, or completely refuse to cooperate with such a counterparty.

The service is available in the marketplace of the VTB24 Business Online system. By the way, the marketplace in our online bank is also a unique solution for the market: here clients have access to non-banking products on the most favorable terms. We launched a non-financial services store at the beginning of this year and continue to actively develop it.

Will these be affiliate services?

Yes, including. These will be pleasant and convenient options for small businesses. For example, the “deferred payment” service, when an entrepreneur goes on vacation and wants the system to make the payment itself on a certain date. This service, on the one hand, is simple, and on the other hand, it is very convenient for the client. In addition, a new partnership project with Rostelecom will appear in the near future. The largest operator will offer telephony and Internet connections at an exclusive discount. For small and medium-sized businesses, mobility is key. We know that our customers are waiting for the launch.

Another unique product is online conversion operations with a rate directly from the Moscow Exchange. When the bank sets the exchange rate, the client has many questions (are they always optimal and transparent?), here we give the opportunity to see how trading is going, at any time the client can click “stop” and fix the rate.

Has the emergence of this service led to clients becoming more active in currency exchange transactions? Can RBS functionality develop the business of clients themselves? After all, RBS is initially an operational tool: log in, make a payment.

After launching the service, we began to receive gratitude from clients. I admit, it was very pleasant.

As for remote banking in general, I think the paradigm changed here at least two years ago. For quite some time now, clients have not viewed remote banking channels as a purely operational solution. Of course, within the framework of the “Bank-Client Online” system, we strive to satisfy all the client’s business-related needs, offering not only our own services, but also the services of our partners: legal support, cloud accounting, marketing tools, etc.

What growth points do you see? Are there any new projects or services planned?

As of September 1, 2016, VTB24 serves 380 thousand clients - legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, 98% of them make their payments through VTB24 Business Online. For comparison, in the market as a whole, the percentage of Internet banking penetration into business ranges from 68 to 77%. Through VTB24 Business Online, customers are offered an increased rate compared to service in the branch.

Active development of technology allows banks to offer a variety of solutions. Of course, we study them carefully. This encourages us, the big players, to be one step ahead and implement Agile methodology to compete with startups in the FinTech niche.

Obviously, a product for 5–10 thousand clients is one story, but a service for hundreds of thousands is a completely different story.

They say that there are digital banks for small businesses. If we take our figures for the penetration of remote channels (98%) - why is this not a digital bank?

Our willingness to open an API for remote channels will allow us to consider proposals from third-party developers and startups, and this is quite a breakthrough story.

What areas are banks interested in? Firstly, developments aimed at optimizing processes. There are not many B2B projects being launched for banks. The logic of startups can be understood - B2C models aimed at reaching an audience seem more attractive. But I want to note: B2B projects scale faster and can be more commercially successful: after working with one bank, you can then replicate your product and develop business with other market participants.

A traditional question that is asked in interviews with innovators in large banks: how to effectively support mobility and innovation in a large bureaucratic structure? How do you manage to quickly coordinate, resolve budget issues, develop and release products within such a large structure?

There is a stereotype that state banks are huge conservative organizations. My experience has shown that this is just a stereotype. At VTB24, the small business division is an independent team; many decisions are delegated to us. And if we talk about mobility and speed, you will probably be surprised if I say that I receive a response from the President - Chairman of the Board of the Bank to my email messages within an hour.

You can also tell about the bureaucracy of the company based on certain products. In this sense, if we take the top 3 banks focused on small and medium-sized businesses, there are no services that we do not have.

We react quite quickly to the emergence of new products, and with the introduction of a new ABS for legal entities, which should be completed before the end of the year, we will be able to respond even faster.

Recently, one of the major bankers expressed the opinion that the SME direction in the bank is a complete hassle and losses...

I don’t agree with this; for VTB24, small business is one of the most profitable business lines. The unprofitability of small businesses is one of the most common myths. There is a prejudice that small business for banks means only loans. If you look at the profit structure of VTB24, you will see that we earn only 17% from lending operations. The Bank earns the remaining 83% from commissions. The largest share is provided by transaction and transfer products.

Market leaders are changing their focus from the lending pipeline to developing a transactional business model. For bankers, everything is simple: where the profitability is higher, that’s where they invest. This is what unites us with entrepreneurs.