It goes as smoothly as if oiled: The largest Russian manufacturer of mayonnaise invents healthy foods and feeds Asia

26 December 2018


                    It goes as smoothly as if oiled: The largest Russian manufacturer of mayonnaise invents healthy foods and feeds Asia

Nikolai Nesterov has been heading NMGK since 1996. Today it is a holding with a turnover of $ 1.6 billion, the products of which are exported. How does the Soviet manager react to new challenges?

When you enter the office of the chairman of the board of directors of NMGK, you run headlong into Nikolay Nesterov himself - on the second door there is a photo of the owner asking: "Do you use your brains? What will you boast about?" On a wide window-sill there are piles of books about business and management. "I buy 20 pieces if I like the book. I'm giving them away to subordinates, partners. We bought e-readers to key employees, it's easier to make notes there,"- says the 63-year-old entrepreneur. He has chanhed more than one device, his secretary always transfers old notes and comments to new devices. Nizhegorodsky oil and fat plant, which Nesterov has been heading since 1996, has also changed a lot. Today it is a holding with a turnover of $ 1.6 billion, the products of which are exported. How does the Soviet manager react to new challenges?

New technologies

On the territory of NMGK in the center of Nizhny Novgorod, you can see pre-revolutionary buildings - oilseeds have been processed here since 1898. After the war, German trophy equipment was installed, the plant has always been considered as leading plant. Modernization is in full swing - two years ago, 273 million rubles were invested in new lines for the production of mayonnaise and sauces, it increased the total production of these products to 170,000 tons per year. There are more projects in the investment plan.

There are also new products. R&D department has developed, for example, liquid margarine and trans free margarine range with the content of "harmful" trans fats of less than 1%.

Nowadays, according to the order of food producer - to give fluff or aroma to the pastry, to reduce the consumption of other ingredients - NMGK can develop a specific product in a period of up to two weeks. There are field workshops "Mobile Bakery" to train customers conducted by process engineers.

Marketing is also evolving. Recently NMGK positions its products as "natural" - the label "Ryaba" is decorated with the inscription "100% natural product", and recently "live" Provansal with lactic acid instead of vinegar appeared in the range. NMGK products are sold in 90 000 stores throughout Russia. The exact map of points of sales was created without spending thousands dollars on a research agency: the company announced a competition in social networks for iPad, the participants made pictures of "Ryaba" on the shelf of the nearest store and uploaded picture with geotag.

Sales of mayonnaise and sauces cannot provide rapid growth. Marina Lapenkova, Director of Global Accounts Nielsen Russia, states that in 2014 the category of mayonnaise grew only by 5% in physical terms, in 2015 – it fell by 1%. NMGK tries to develop new categories in response to the trend: jams, confitures, snacks.

However, it is still possible to make good money even on traditional products. "We need to feed the world," - Nesterov indicates one of the growth points. The company has become a major exporter of sunflower oil for several years of partnership with Wilmar. Wilmar delivers palm and coconut oil to the port of Yuzhny, which partners resell to CIS. The same tankers are loaded with sunflower oil produced or purchased in Ukraine, and send them to Europe, India, Malaysia, Singapore, China. Now more than 1.1 million tons of oil are exported, it is almost twice as much than four years ago. The company is analyzing the export of grain, peas and corn. "Obviously, we need to recruit a gentleman portfolio, which we do not have today, and strengthen export positions - primarily to India and China, because the market there is simply endless," explains the co-owner of NMGK. One of the investment projects for $ 220 million is the construction export terminal of oil, grain and meal and a plant for the production of margarines and special fats in Taman port.

"Nikolai Nikolaevich is a talented manager who knows how to make reasonable decisions," says Albert Gusev, founder of GC "Sladkaya zhizn", one of the largest distributors of food products in the Volga region, about Nesterov. "I have great respect for him as manager and entrepreneur who created and developed such a large and important company for the region."

The favorite means of transportation of NMGK head is bicycle. There is a figure of a bicycle rider on his desk, the bicycle rider rotates the pedals with the help of solar energy. Nearby there is the globe, that also moves with the help of light. "If there is leading light, something will happen. Or will not happen, - philosophizes Nesterov, as if telling a parable about the management of the company. - The leader gives movement to everything else. When he ceases to make efforts, everything stops."

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