Anvar Zakievich Nazirov

Anvar Zakievich Nazirov, born in 1952. He graduated from the Tashkent Polytechnic Institute, faculty of automated control systems. In 1999 he founded Uzbekistan's first enterprise producing industrial refrigeration and retail equipment — in seven years the company grew from a small cooperative into the industry's leading enterprise.

The main principle of any undertaking is, above all, to organise a quality production process: put the workshop and workstations in order, set up in-house component manufacturing so as not to depend on suppliers and to be sure of quality.

I have never made earning money the primary goal. Money is interesting as a tool for reaching a goal and as a measure of the effectiveness of the decisions made.

It all began with an abandoned warehouse rented from a factory. The only thing in unlimited supply was enthusiasm. We learned from books on refrigeration and retail equipment, bought worn-out Soviet-era machines, repaired them and worked. We started with display cases, shelving and counters — and bet on high quality from the outset, at half the price of foreign analogues.

There is always risk in business — you cannot do without it. But risk must be thought through in detail, step by step, starting from low altitudes. Mastering each next altitude in turn, you reach the summit while keeping risk to a minimum.

Today 90% of our staff are young people under 25. If a person wants to learn and discover the new, they will achieve a great deal. We started on enthusiasm ourselves, and I know our specialists are a match for Western ones.