Managing Partner, ParentStroika

TRIUM Global Executive MBA, Class of 2007

Russia was a recurring theme within the context of globalization during the first module at the London School of Economics. One day, Daniel Schneider (Class of 2007) asked me about aged care in Russia. My answer was that we really didn’t have it, and that’s when it hit us! There was a clear need for senior care in Russia and this evolved into our TRIUM final term project. The result was Parentstroika…”

The result was ParentStroika, a long-term investment project for the creation of high-quality aged care in Russia. (The name was the brainchild of another TRIUM classmate and ParentStroika founding member, Claude Robillard, Class of 2007.)

Nicolai had been looking for a new idea, a venture that would broaden his business horizons, yet allow him to come back to what he calls his life’s niche of disseminating Russian culture. That’s precisely what he got in his TRIUM term project. In the September 2005 TRIUM module at the London School of Economics, with its heavy focus on globalization, Russia was a recurring theme. “There’s a lot of interest in Russia these days,” observes Nicolai. “The groundwork of our project was laid at the second TRIUM module at NYU, where, recalls Nicolai, “the combination of intense corporate finance and risk analysis and an amazing roster of invited speakers got everyone excited about the possibility of starting up successful businesses.”

“In the Paris module at HEC,” continues Nicolai, “I presented the results of the first survey of potential Russian customers for ParentStroika to our marketing class, and with the help of local HEC alumni, we found a French operating partner, Groupe Almage, whose director, Mr. Marc Saillon was a participant of the HEC EMBA program.

Today, the sites for the first three ParentStroika villages have been chosen and ground has been broken for the first of them. All three alliance schools contributed to the launch of ParentStroika,” notes Nicolai. “Thanks to the global focus of LSE, the risk analysis and corporate finance coursework at NYU Stern, and the marketing and operational connections at HEC, a rough idea for a term project evolved into a real business venture. My TRIUM teammates and I are enriching the Russian business landscape with an industry—aged care—that’s entirely new for my country.”

For Nicolai Kobliakov, the export of Russian culture has been something of a life’s mission. The holder of two degrees from the prestigious Moscow State University—an M.S. in physics and a J.D. in civil law, both cum laude—Nicolai founded a recording company in 1995, went on to create one of Russia’s leading retail book and CD chains with some 50 stores in the Moscow and St. Petersburg areas, and then set his sights abroad. “The idea was that Russia shouldn’t be known just for its carbon exports. We have vast musical, literary, and cinematic resources, so I decided that my life’s niche would be to distribute Russian culture beyond our borders.” And where better to start than in France, Europe’s cultural capital? Nicolai sold his business in Russia, bought a Russian bookstore in Paris, and began developing a European distribution system for Russian media (SEDR) as well as a global system for the management of Russian intellectual property rights (OPI Conseil).

Despite his new venture in senior care, the idea of Russian culture is never far from Nicolai’s thoughts. In January 2006, with the help of his Russian classmates, Nicolai rented the Guggenheim Museum for half a day and arranged guided tours of the splendid “Russia!” exhibit for the TRIUM community. “This was a way to give my fellow TRIUM participants a feeling of what Russia means. It was also a way to say ‘thank you’ for everything TRIUM has given me, starting with the assurance that I could do business in any area that shows promise. But above all, TRIUM focused my aspirations and gave me the inspiration to follow through. I’ll always be inspired by the people I met in TRIUM, and for me, that’s the program’s most important result.”