Nexus-Europe Founder Makes A Pleasant Surprise

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BERLIN — There is a phrase that says “looks can be deceiving.” We can probably all remember the boy in school who had the great looks, the charming personality and teeth that sparkled when he smiled. So years later we were shocked and amazed, and maybe secretly pleased, to discover that he was doing ten years in prison for trying to rob a petrol station. The same school would likely have also had the quiet and cowardly boy who had no friends and just the one coat. Now his brilliant business savvy allows him the time to sail around the world and fly experimental aircraft to attend the Summer Olympics. Looks can be deceiving. And so it was when I first met Dr. Svetlana Mamkina.

Dr. Svetlana Mamkina is the founder and managing director of Nexus-Europe GmbH. She created Nexus six years ago to accommodate the needs and requirements of foreign companies attending exhibitions in Moscow, and to provide market research and strategy making to integrate these companies into the blossoming, but complex, Russian market. It is for the latter services that I was referred to her. A colleague in the scientific fields happily benefitted from her expertise and thought I would likewise benefit in my own desire to expand my business into Russia. A meeting was set. 

I knew from her CV that Dr. Mamkina had earned Master’s Degrees in both economics and mathematics, and a PhD in mathematics from St. Petersburg University, the same university that graduated current Russian President Medvedev, and quite possibly the finest university in the country. I also knew from her CV that she is 28 years of age. Now, 28 is one of those ages that can easily look 38, especially on a scholar, but seldom looks 18. What I got was the latter. Dr. Mamkina arrived punctually wearing a long black coat, a tiger print scarf, and flowing blonde hair that framed an angelic face that would have been at home on a Michelangelo canvas. She carried in her hand a pair of books and my first instinct was to carry those books and walk her home from school. 

We talked. Dr. Mamkina listened carefully as I spoke about my business and product line. She asked questions that further defined for her how my business operated currently, and what I wanted to achieve. She explained to me briefly the complexities of the Russian mentality; that it differed greatly from the European model I was accustomed to; and that capturing a place in the Russian market was a carefully planned process. Honestly, the insightful nature of her questions and her detailed commentary caught me by surprise. They just didn’t fit the image I had of the person sitting across from me, but I soon got used to it. Her brain turned fast and she spoke at a pace to keep up with it. She spoke about correlation, different distribution functions, selections and dispersion, and I soon realized that the books were there for my benefit. Dr. Mamkina thought the graphs and other visuals would help me to understand what she was saying. She didn’t need the books. She had the degrees. She published articles. She knew and attended conferences with Nobel Prize winners like Dr. John Nash and Dr. Robert Aumann. She even had these men sign a book for former Chancellor of Germany Helmut Schmidt. This was her level. She didn’t need the books. I needed the books. Or at least I needed the pictures.

It was decided that Dr. Mamkina and her Nexus staff—more doctors—would begin compiling market research data to identify where and how my product line would find a home in Russia. What I received was enough paper to sink a small boat. The sources of my competition were defined; pricing levels and price structures were detailed; potential channels of distribution were outlined; points of manufacturing, customs, taxes and law were considered. With this information, and Dr. Mamkina’s explanation of it to me, strategy making proceeded. Now we had a plan and I began to feel a sense of direction and growing confidence. There was a place in Russia for my business and my products. But, if I had approached this expansion the same way I would have expanded into Italy or Canada or America I would have failed. I needed someone with the expertise to make it work, and I wisely have placed these things fully into her capable hands. Dr. Mamkina is currently organizing a forum that will be very advantageous to my position.

True experience and expertise does not always have to come from people with white lab coats, graying hair or glasses with lenses as thick as Coke bottles. No, sometimes looks can be very deceiving. Can someone walk me home please?

Walter Anderson
Northern Manufacturing
USA, CA

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