Read the interview with Stanislav Jančošek, owner of MAKOS Trade
Q: Can you give us a brief history of the company?
SJ: I have several companies, I’ve been trying to do business for almost 30 years, also with eastern countries. In the 90’s it was mainly medical equipment and footwear. It’s natural, as I come from Bardejov, where there was also a well-known shoe manufacturer. Today it is food and I try to help companies supply technology to the eastern markets, especially for the mining industry.
Q: We are talking during the Export Club, which is dedicated to Central Asia. Do you have experience with it?
SJ: I have, for example, also with Uzbekistan. Food trade with such a distant country is not easy, especially since the war started. Sometimes a truck went through Russia and Kazakhstan for 7 to 10 days. Today it is impossible, the train service is interrupted. The trucks have to go through Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey. Everything is taking an awfully long time and those transport costs are increasing all the time. Our main competitor at this time is Turkey, which is a country that is mentally and linguistically close to the Uzbeks, and which, moreover, does not require a visa like Slovakia, for example. Turkey also has plenty of food and electrical appliances, which the Uzbek market demands. Uzbekistan imposes high tariffs on many products, and there is a 100% tariff on imports of cars. It is very difficult to sell Volkswagen there. Uzbekistan, on the other hand, produces cars under licence from Chevrolet. I have already imported such a car to Slovakia and I am trying to certify it.
Q: Do you have a different business strategy for the Slovak and international market?
SJ: Of course. The grocery business is a very fast turnover of goods and therefore the life of the contracts is very short, usually a month. Doing business with a country as far away as Uzbekistan and with people of a slightly different mentality is more difficult. Some deals take 2-3 years to form. I try to work with companies that need to bring know-how, mining technology, pumps or pumps. Simply more expensive things, as transport is very limited and exclusively by air nowadays. For example, medical equipment, worth more than 100 thousand. It is only worth bringing in medical equipment worth €100 million by air.
Q: What other specifics does Uzbekistan have in terms of trade?
SJ: I’ve encountered a great willingness to collaborate and showcase my manufacturers. When I asked for a meeting, for example, at their chamber of commerce, they were very helpful, promptly arranging for a lot of manufacturers to come and present their products, so there was no need to travel all over the country, which is large in terms of size and population, but not very ideal in terms of transport options.
Q: Which of your products is the most competitive?
SJ: Confectionery products or ingredients for ice cream and food products that have a long shelf life. Production, whether from Slovakia or Germany, is interesting for them.
Q: Which countries do you see as promising for the future?
SJ: Certainly Uzbekistan, which has a developed capital city of 40 million people. Tajikistan is more China-oriented, as are Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Then the countries of Africa, which have large populations.
Q: How do you manage commercial risks?
SJ: You have to have a local partner who will guarantee that the payments, the acceptance of the goods and actually everything will be done without any side speculations or confusion. I would recommend to aspiring exporters that they first spend a year or two building relationships in the region. Today, it is no problem to have accounts open on the Uzbek side, to set up a company there or, conversely, to set up a joint venture in Slovakia. I have already had several meetings with Uzbek companies in Eximbanka. We have discussed insurance, and we have been redirected to banks that could finance it. Especially our banks should find trustworthy partners on the Uzbek side and an agreement on financing, for example, the delivery of 10 million equipment, would come much faster. When investing or securing technological units, you have to consider that you will be in that market for more than 10 years. Because when you are involved in financing together, you have no choice but to control the situation on the Uzbek side. And to help, if necessary, with the marketing of commodities and to be a guarantor, for example, on the Slovak side, that the equipment will work and the service will be provided.
Q: Can you tell us about an interesting situation that you have experienced in your export history?
SJ: The war and its consequences were an unpleasant situation. In this context, you cannot guess, for example, which large companies have Russian citizens or Russian companies among their shareholders. Related to that are payments to some banks. For example, you send a payment from a Slovak bank and it does not go through. You send it through a German bank and it works. So sometimes you spend an awful lot of time trying to make sure that it goes through within the parameters of the European Union.
Q: Do you have any funnier stories?
SJ: I invite everybody to Uzbekistan to ski. I go there with my wife. It’s the Janshan Mountains, AmirSoi resort. There are Swiss lifts, great food, and it’s not far from Tashkent.
Q: What makes a good leader?
SJ: You know, you have to maintain long-term relationships with your business partners, especially those from the eastern states. And not only with the partner, but also with their wives, children, relatives. That’s where the business partnership is transformed into such a human friendship.
Q: What would you recommend to beginner exporters?
SJ: If they want to penetrate the Uzbek market or even other countries, they should look for local partners and try with them. There are a lot of exhibitions, fairs in Uzbekistan, in Tashkent. You should go there and see that in many things they are maybe even ahead of us. It does not hurt to go hiking, to see Samarkand, Bukhara.
Thank you very much for the interview.