Entrepreneur Andrei Azarov told KBSU students how to build a successful business

March 4, 2024 at Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh.M. Berbekov had a meeting with the co-founder of the scooter sharing service “Yurent” Andrey Azarov.

Introducing the guest to the students, the director of the SGI KBSU, Muslim Tamazov, said:

“Modern challenges, permeated with innovation and technological change, require universities to train young professionals with an entrepreneurial mindset. Universities play a significant role in developing not only technical and scientific skills, but also the abilities for creative thinking, risk-taking and entrepreneurship.
The purpose of today’s meeting is to develop among you, students, an understanding that everyone can build their own business and achieve success. It is much easier to do this based on the experience of a successful businessman. Andrey Azarov is just such an entrepreneur.

“The Yurent startup is familiar to all of us: just look at the purple scooters around KBSU. Today it is the largest service for renting scooters and bicycles in the country, which has been operating in many cities of the North Caucasus Federal District for several years. One of the impressive indicators is an almost hundredfold increase in the company’s turnover from 88 million rubles in 2019 to more than 7 billion in 2023.”

A successful entrepreneur shared his accumulated experience in attracting investments and creating partnerships that helped build a successful business:

“When we started, it was hard. There was no one to ask for advice on how to develop. But nevertheless we were able to do it. And since 2020, they have grown 5 times in terms of city coverage and 60 times in terms of revenue. There are six of us co-founders in the business. This helps a lot in separating responsibilities. We are not afraid of competition. When you build an honest relationship with a competitor, this also helps a lot.
In general, I advise you to do something of your own. This greatly develops the brain and responsibility. When you work for yourself, you are responsible for your actions and for the people you hire. This changes the perception a lot.

You need to try yourself in entrepreneurship, and now there are many opportunities to do this, plus government support and various benefits for small businesses. And you can start thinking about your business already from school or university. Go for it, and you will succeed.”

Then Andrei Azarov answered numerous questions from the student audience.

The organizers of the meeting are the Social and Humanitarian Institute SGI and the Institute of Management, Tourism and Hospitality Industry of KBSU.