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This is not a flame starter and Eric Shogren does not need
defending; he has not been attacked.  He can take care of
himself; being a big boy (metaphorically and literally).   I imagine
a quick and stunning high stick would be his opener.   No, this is
to benefit us all in terms of quality of thought and presumption of
knowledge.   Newspapers tell a story, usually not the whole
story, and so it is here.  One reply suspects a front end load of
cash and easy pickin's.   ES has survived Ruble devaluations
and other failed ideas, for a long time he scrambled to survive. I
doubt (IMHO) the poster is in the food busines or has tried to
conduct, operate or manage a business in Russia.  Worse, his
implication was this can be  simple and easy.     And how easy is
it to find a wife?  It does not sound difficult....
Eric met Olga in this country.  It was a dissappearing
scholarship due to bad knees that took him out of higher
education.  The good side was meeting her, a graduate student
doing MBA work.  They did not plan to live in Russia.   The house
is nice, it reminds me of whole neighborhoods of lot line
mansions in Sugarland, just southwest of Houston.   It is
unusual because it sits in a birch forrest outside Novosibirsk,
close to dachas of city dwellers and humble izbas.  Truly an
island of western surrroundings on the inside, it is not
ostentatious (by American standards).  There is 24 hour security,
more as a realization of the cowboy nature of some of the local
players than fear of the major villians.  It would profit no one to
destroy him and hurt many.  The "bad guys" tried to duplicate his
ideas and learned it is easy to steal but not manage a real
business. Now he is too big, too wired, and well connected to
steal from.  Yes, he pays the help regularly and well.  Many do
not understand, people will work for less.  This is a man with big
family and support systems to maintain, he wears jeans and
looks and acts like us.  His touch is not golden, it is resolve and
determination and real smart insight and sensitivity that
accounts for this success. He aint perfect, some businesses
failed, he eats to much and can not return emails very well (hear
me Eric?).  Still, he dont blow his own horn much and no one
probably knows all of his charitable works, many of them major.  
Olga contributes more than kids and to liken her efforts to some
American Doctors wife given a business to amuse and not lose
too much money is really humorous (when you know her).  
So, review the article and the comments and these additional
words and  learn......maybe even apply this knowledge to our
search and remain optomistic as others have shown success.

... in response to Novosibirsk Article - Pizza (below), posted by jg on Jul 31, 2002

Just wondering, did the guy speak Russian when he first arrived to start a business in Novo???  How did he go about getting well connected being a foreigner new to the area?

... in response to Re: Novosibirsk Article - Pizza (below), posted by Ramblin on Aug 2, 2002

Do not believe he spoke Russian  and is still not great at it.  Only
contacts were his mentioned in the story (people he met in USA), and
Olgas'  family.

... in response to Re: Re: Novosibirsk Article - Pizza (bel..., posted by jg on Aug 2, 2002

connection or interest in all of this?

... in response to What is your, posted by thesearch on Aug 2, 2002

I have met Eric and liked him and he was kind and
helpful to me.  The original comments on the article were not
very astute.  I tried to offer enlightment from the point of
first hand experience.  There are those among us not
always perceptive.   I hoped to illustrate that as an
object lesson for all in this endeavor.  Also, it is a happy
story with valuable lessons for us all (kindness,
persistence).  Not to flame, but to help (NTF,BTH).

... in response to Novosibirsk Article - Pizza (below), posted by jg on Jul 31, 2002

Like what's the cost of living in Hungary vs Ukraine ?

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/020731/tech_hungary_videoton_1.html