"All the World is the one living organism that needs progress to move forward."
Nadiya Albishchenko, born in Mykolaiv – Ukraine, on March 19, 1983, under the Russian communist regime, experienced the formation of a new Independent democratic Ukraine with a dream and determination to form her own international company one day.
She is the Founder of INAS EXIM LLC, a Public Speaker, Author, international FMCG trader, and environmental activist. In 2020 she participated in the women empowerment platform held in UAE and was Titled Best Personality also obtaining an award for Second Runners up.
To learn more about her voyage, thoughts, and the drive that got her from being an ordinary child in a middle-class family to a successful entrepreneur she is authoring her very first book “Synergy: A synopsis into an elite business partnership” expected to be on sale by mid of September 2021. Shares her struggles, experiences, what made her keep going to finally be a Successful Entrepreneur, A model, An Author, and how now she has climbed the ladder to help build a strong business alliance. An excellent read on self-mentoring and motivation.
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Table of Contents
Thank you for joining us today! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Please introduce yourself to our readers by sharing your story.
Nadiya Albishchenko: At the very early age of eleven during my fifth grade, I had a desire to travel the world. Those days a young-born Ukraine was strongly influenced by foreign countries being independent of the USSR. We had a famous phrase used those days at school “London is the Capital of England!” What in a true sense it meant is still not known to me perhaps just slang among kids. But that slang influenced me in a manner where I started to dream about visiting London one day and inspired me to travel the world. I was so obsessed with it and believed that the English language would be the key to helping me achieve it.
Focused on studying with all my dedication I managed to complete school with decent knowledge of English then enrolled in university to study international business and advertising. Improvement of my user internet skills for online search portals helps open the doors to submit my application for jobs abroad. Checking different options, conducting numerous online interviews, exchanging emails until I managed to get my first break and got a sales position offer in one of the trading companies in Egypt for hardware and computer accessories. Even before I knew it I was in the window seat of the plane, looking through the window sill of my flight at the snowy hills and gray sky of Ukraine on March 5th, 2005. That was my first international job abroad from my home country.
This gave was the first step that gave me confidence and helped me move forward and be where I am today.
2020-2021 was unlike any other year. What is your favorite item you’ve bought in the past months and why?
Nadiya Albishchenko: I am not a brand psycho and don’t think items should be judged by brands. Me buying good quality food is my priority. Under the Covid situation when I managed to get a good opportunity and closed some good deals, I treated myself with Snow Crab Legs with a good glass of White and it felt great!!
Life is like a box of chocolates…What unexpected surprises did life grant you that contributed to your success?
Nadiya Albishchenko: Chocolates are sweet and the surprises no matter how harsh still in the end leave a sweet after-taste that one enjoys. If I have to specify one unit it would be hard but a series of things have been responsible and are still happening. What I believe is that things happen for the best and I love life’s surprises as it only helps me to break the ice to reach the next level.
Tell us about the job. Is there any exciting project you’re currently working on?
Nadiya Albishchenko: Having launched a new organic feed range for organic farms through my company INAS EXIM LLC we are now working on launching a new line of sustainable living concepts, under “Mystique” brand the brand has an elegant, wall decoration made from 100% Natural, Re-cycled, Bio-degradable, Ocean Friendly material.
All that gave me an idea that it is required to gain credibility in my own niche of being a successful entrepreneur for long-term planning. After a lot of thought and research work, I figured that the best possible way to do so was to write a book. Yes, exactly a book! The book of my journey through all my challenges of startup establishment, all ups and downs that lead me to partner with the person who thrives for success together with me. “Synergy: A synopsis into an elite business partnership” is the first book we are sharing our experiences and how we learned from the business world and how the learnings helped us successfully establish our companies.
Sir Richard Branson famously stated that “Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” As a CEO/leader how do you feel about this philosophy and if you agree with it, how do you implement that in your company? Conversely, if you disagree, explain why and how do you do things differently?
Nadiya Albishchenko: All the World is the one living organism that needs progress to move forward. Every century passed is more advanced from the last one and it is continued to grow, so the society can benefit from new developments.
I would look into employees’ matters more deeply. The care should be from the Company as well as the Employee side. Employees are the wheels of any company so that company can progress, but they are not slaves. Each one has to be treated and given the opportunity to grow.
I think it’s a give and take where both need to fill their responsibilities and duties at the same time to get the deserved rights.
The COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down, in many cases, it pushed the employees and the consumers to critical stress points. How did you lead your team through these difficult times and maintain a good reputation?
Nadiya Albishchenko: Covid-19 taught us all a lot of things. Sitting at home trying to figure out what next. To be honest, at first, things were very enjoyable thinking this shall pass away soon and we will be back to regular and were enjoying the moment. Until soon it was realized things were getting serious and we needed to take steps. Being in the food consumer industry we knew no matter what people had to eat.
I formed a Zoom group, pushing my sales team to list the company and its products on every B2B portal we could, globally. Monitoring posts, contents, products they were posting. Initially, inquiries started to pour in buckets and barrels considering my team was the all-women team. We got exhausted entertaining every inquiry felt very bullish and were amazed by it. All teams got busy until we were quick to realize most of the buyers were not serious about their requirements.
However, we were not disappointed as we still managed to get a few good deals that helped us enough to sustain and progress during the lock-down period. Over the experience, we also learned to identify and filter serious buyers and understand potential customers. This also helped us expand our wings globally into markets that were unknown to us. We would have never imagined doing business with these countries if it were not for our hyperactive online initiative during the pandemic crisis.
I am proud to say our company was blessed and under the challenges. we managed to keep the same salaries for all our team and supported them with timely payments.
The COVID pandemic raised a lot of polarizing politically charged issues. According to ‘The Harris Poll’, 75% of Americans said that they would avoid taking a position on political issues if they were CEOs. We would love to know your thoughts about this. Is it better to take a political position or to avoid it completely When it comes to being a great CEO/Leader, do you have one name that comes to mind, please share with us how they influence the CEO you are today? What lessons did they teach you over the years?
Nadiya Albishchenko: With power comes great responsibility! – Spiderman (Stan Lee)
Given the opportunity, I think I would take the position. Everyone was under a lot of challenge and so were the leaders of all nations big and small. This gave an opportunity to nations to keep differences apart and keep the focus on the situation. H. H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was a great example of doing so shaking hands with Israel and keeping historical differences away and forming an alliance with them.
Also appreciating H. H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum who was equally responsible for the happening. He is by far someone that I appreciate and look up to and has been an example of a true leader. He has taught us to dream big and pursue it no matter what the outcome is you have to keep moving forward towards your goals. Giving me the inspiration and drive that has helped me groom and grow myself over the years.
You have been very generous with your time and knowledge. Our readers would also love to know, What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? and what is the advice you give the most often to new team members?
Nadiya Albishchenko: The best piece of advice I have been given was by the owner of the first export company I worked for where he told me if you don’t know something just keep a smile and listen. You have two advantages one people are under the perception that you know a lot and two they would share their knowledge which will help you to learn and better yourself.
Coming from a young country that faced a lot of political and economical challenges my advice to all is “Keep your passion burning that will help you build roads through mountains!”
Thank you so much for your time but before we say goodbye, we do have one more unusual question. If you ask yourself any question what would it be and how would you answer it?
Nadiya Albishchenko: Well, a lot also depends on who is going to ask me the question! I wish it to be someone who can support me with my answer!!
I would like to be asked: Why do people age and is there a cure to it?
My answer would be: Invest in me and help me build my project allowing me to further study the characteristics of Mitochondrial – DNA Genetics. This has been my passion and helped me reach what I am today just with a desire that one day I will be able to pursue my research on the subject.
Mike Weiss, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Nadiya Albishchenko for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Nadiya Albishchenko or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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