Competition of investment projects BUSINESS COMPETITION OF CENTRAL RUSSIA’S INVESTMENT PROJECTS “CREATING FUTURE NOW”

One of the key events at the 5th Central Russian Economic Forum (SEF 2016) which took place in Kursk city on July 1-2, 2016 was the business competition of Central Russia’s investment projects. The competition took place for the fourth time this year.

This year, the business competition slogan was “Creating Future Now.” The main purpose of the event was to combine the interests and capabilities of project initiators and investors. The competition featured both projects currently implemented in one of Central Russia’s regions and successful experience of other regions where the project initiators look to opportunities to develop their businesses in the Central Federal district.

Both major investment projects and projects initiated by small and medium-sized businesses participated in the competition.

To evaluate the projects, a number of investment bankers, representatives of investment companies, funds, investment management divisions of major corporations were invited to the Expert Board.

The competition was moderated by Maxim Kiselyov, partner, Granat SK Venture Partnership, mentor, expert, Skolkovo Foundation.

The Expert Board included:

Igor Sidorov, investment manager, VEB Innovations Fund
Sergey Kostkin, Head of the Analysis and Risk Assessment Department, AK&M Rating Agency
Elena Shapiro, CEO, WTO Expertise Center
Konstantin Shadrin, CEO, LIMF LLC
Denis Kudryavtsev, CEO, Quantum Capital
Valeria Delinskaya, Vice President, Center for Political Technologies
Irina Ratina, Vice President, Coaching and Corporate Training Sector, Retail Market Experts Association
Andrey Panferov, CEO, EVA Research & Production Company
Sergey Ponomarev, Adviser on government relations, Amway
Sergey Tokarev, head of the VTB Bank directorate for Kursk region

The business competition included two stages:

preliminary selection of investment projects;
competition of the selected projects during the Forum.

At the first stage, 15 projects from Kursk, Moscow, Belgorod region which, in the opinion of the Expert Board, scored the highest points, were selected out of more than 20 works submitted to the Forum. The project initiators received the right to present their projects at the business competition at the Forum.

For the purpose of the competition, the investment projects were united into two blocks: projects with a budget of up to RUB 100 million in block 1, projects with financing over RUB 100 million required in block 2.

The participants had five minutes each to present their respective projects. Upon completion of the presentations, the investors and experts evaluated the projects by voting.

When choosing the winners in each block of projects, the Expert Board and the audience differed on the first block (projects worth up to RUB 100 million): while the Expert Board expressed preference for the “LighTiO coating for increasing crop yield in greenhouses” project (Moscow), the audience favored the “Autohomes” project (Camper Diamonds Ltd, Moscow).

In the second block (projects with financing over RUB 100 million required), experts voted in favor of the “Construction of a hard pressed cheese and quark production shop of Kurskoye Moloko LLC” project (Kursk). The audience was unable to choose the leader and did not favor any of the projects presented in this block.

All the competition participants were awarded certificates of participation. The winning projects received diplomas.

The competition participants received awards from Sberbank of Russia:

LighTiO coating for increasing crop yield in greenhouses (Moscow city).
Center for comprehensive rehabilitation of disabled children - Orto-Doctor healthcare and rehabilitation center n.a. Y.I. Alekhin LLC (Kursk).