Most of us first heard his name when the first Christmas Village took place in
Limassol on 2014. The successful Russian businessman Arkadiy Sharov who lives and works in Cyprus gives us an exclusive interview and we seize the
opportunity to talk with him about the diverse matters surrounding Cyprus’s, economic and success.
By Yiota Dimitriou
Mr Arkadiy Sharov, most of us here in Cyprus we heard your name through the creation of the Christmas Village in Limassol. So let me start with this, how did you decided to do this Christmas village?
I was with my wife in Germany and we saw something similar in Germany and we said “why not to do this in Cyprus?” So that is how it started.
What type of business do you have and what brought you to Cyprus? And why did you decides to invest in Cyprus and are you permanent resident here on the island?
Very diverse business that I have and mainly with sales worldwide, we create many products, new ideas and then we sell them to many places in the world.
Most of the Russian business men live and do business in Limassol. You, Mr Arkadiy Sharov have you consider any other towns here in Cyprus to do business? For example Larnaka?
I like to live in Limassol I like this city a lot. Im not sure about doing business in other towns, because in order for any city to receive new business and I am talking about any city in the world, it has to have certain requirements. Business can not come on its own. There are certain conditions that the business requires. The government has to create certain conditions for the business to be interesting in order for it to attract an investor to that particular city.
How does the business man think? There’s a whole world why I as a business man, go to a certain place, to a certain country. If a particular country has many complications and requires a lot of time, where there are many obstacles, I will choose to go to another place where I am welcome and there are good conditions for my business, to develop and that is quick and easy, etc.
For example if you go to Asia there are millions of people, you can sell anything there, people need food, drinks, water, entertainment, you can sell anything there. You can also create other new goods. For a business man to come to a country the government has to create certain contusions otherwise the business man will not be interested. I believe that Cyprus is a perfect place for business. It’s a Mediterranean Island and therefore there are many other countries around it, theres always a sun and of course the beautiful sea. However , if there are a lot of obstacles and complications people would just live here and that’s it! A lot of business men, Russian and international just live here. And we as a family we would just live here.
The Christmas Village is just a project. It could have been a much bigger project if the conditions were better. If I could see a connection with the government or with the people that represent the government, if I could see an interest from the government for that project everything would have been different. But I can not afford to waste time solving problems and questions that instead of taking one day they take six months. It limits my possibilities. Why do we do the Christmas Village? We have created it and we will continue doing it because we love Cyprus. Obviously since we live here we want to give back to this country. Because we love it here and because we se how the situation is now in Cyprus.
Since you mention the government, did the financial haircut here in Cyprus affect the Russians in Cyprus? And how?
The first thing I would like to clarify is that Mr Anastasiades has nothing to do with the fact that the crisis took place in Cyprus. It was not his fault. He is the president but the situation did not evolve when he became a president and it was not even created by the people that were in government before him. It’s a problem of a global economic crisis and that is the way it effected Cyprus.
If the financial haircut was right or wrong I am not the person to judge. Obviously regarding this situation I m not as informed as the politicians in Cyprus. But it is a crisis and all countries are affected.
You are asking me If the financial haircut affected the Russians living here? Of course it did. Because the trust that the Russians had afforded the government and to the country have now diminished. Many companies have left the country and they are not coming back. We have to understand that there are a lot of alternatives in the world, Europe, Asia, Middle East, USA.
For example to get a passport, citizenship in the United States, officially, legally, is one million five hundred thousand. You have to invest in the economy there to became a United Estates citizen. It’s more expensive in Cyprus!
Also, in Dubai you can get a working visa for you and your employees by simply renting an office. It only takes to rent an office. And that is how they “force” (encourage) people to do business there by renting offices. If you want five working visas you have to rent a hundred meters of office space. Ten people? Two hundred meters of office space. (If you rent 1000 sq meters of office space you will get 100 work visas.) That way they increase the real estate market . The simplification of everything attracts business men and furhtermore they have a lot of new specialists going to the country.and this in turn helps the economy moving.
So if your question is about the financial haircut we must say that it did not affect only the Russians but everyone that has lost their money. I am not concern with the fact that rich people lost their money because rich people will find a way. I am concern for those that have been saving money all their lives for education, for their children this is sad. But again I want to clarify that it was not the government’s fault it’s a global problem.
On the other hand people must learn to live in this new reality and the country has to create certain things that will attract people to come and live here again. Geographically Cyprus has everything for someone to come and live here however there is a lot of work that has to been done.
Also if for example the government raise taxes today you will lose all the foreigner business men living on the island. In one hand you will increase the taxes to receive cash into your budget but in reality it will fire back and you will get a lot less. But if you create good conditions tax wise, security wise, relationship wise, how people feel treated when they walk in the street, if they feel respected. Its very important to gain foreign business men. The tax system is significant if you want to attract business men from abroad. they will spend their money here. It’s a simply calculation. There are people who spend 3, 4, 5 million euros annually on their expenses (shopping, restaurants, schools for their children, etc). So if you have a thousand people like that is 3 billion for the country’s economy. But if those people have any problems here, they will simply leave. Make the conditions easy for them and they will be coming here non stop, bringing and investing their money here.
Do you have any new plans for your business in Cyprus?
We have many plans and many projects. I also have an idea of how to make this island a lot greener. How to plant half million trees every year and it will cost the government zero. And it will cost the Cypriots zero. But again we cannot do it on our own.
For example medicine. To get full blood test (full medical check) here is about 600 euros in other countries it can be 2000 euros, but no one take s advantage of it. That could help the island if a business man invest in medical tourism. But again you need to have certain conditions to spend your money on a project.
Also Cyprus has so many churches. In Russia there are millions of tourists visiting its churches. For Cyprus we have a whole programme of how to make Cyprus well known in this regard. But again we cannot do it on our own. There must be certain conditions.
Do you believe there are opportunities in Cyprus for a better economical future? As you know most of the people on the island (as in the most of Europe) suffer from the economic crisis.
Lets say that you put a kettle on a stone and you really believe that the water will boil. Will the water boil just because you believe that it will? The water will not boil. Call all your friends all your family and sit there and believe that it will boil. Still. Nothing will change. The politicians cannot change the situation until every single Cypriot, every single one begins to change the situation. Until that point nothing will change.
I have a different opinion on that. I do believe that politicians not only in Cyprus but worldwide can change the situation if they want to.
No. Not until every single citizen begins to make changes. It’s a national idea.
If all the people in Cyprus want this place to become a paradise it will become a paradise. I will give you an example, every single person that lives in their apartment if all of them decides instead of shutting their windows, place flowers in the windows, when the tourists come in the summer and see that every single apartment has flowers in their windows they will say “wow its beautiful”. Its not difficult if every single person starts to think and does things for example instead of throwing cigarettes on the ground to try to keep the island clean, or if every single person of the island decides to speak and say hello to all tourists, imagine one tourist that saw many Cypriots greeting and talking to him how he would feel? He would go back to his country and will mention this. And this will bring more tourists.
Small things can create big changes. But only if every single person start to do small things instead of doing nothing and waiting for things to change on their own.
The paradox is that politicians can spend years changing a situation but people if the people decide, all united, they can change things in a week or two. And if you look at history its always been this way. The situation always reaches its critical point when the people begin to change. It has always been the people.
You can change the government, the politicians, the system if the people change their own attitude. If the people in Cyprus are willing to get out of this economic crisis they will do. Very quickly.
As a successful business man, do you have free time for yourself? And how do you spend your free time in Cyprus?
Yes of course I have free time. I don’t believe in working for the sake of work. I only work till 5.45 after that I turn off my mobile and I go on.
We would like to thank you for the opportunity you have given us for this interview. Allow us this one last question: what is the most significant advice you would give to someone that wanted to succeed in life?
The most important thing is to understand that everything is in your hands. And everything that a person does not like in his life its his fault. Its no one else’s fault. He is the reason and he holds the responsibility for whatever he does not like in his life. Just as well as everything that is good in his life is also due to him. The person should not try to put the responsibility of his problems on someone else. Everything starts from that and the second is to change everything about yourself that you do not like. And by changing yourself you will change your life and you will get what you want. There is no other way.
Mr Arkadiys Sharov Site: http://asharov.com/
