NIBULON is a vertically integrated Ukrainian company and a leader in the domestic agrarian market. It is one of the largest agricultural commodity producers, investors, and exporters. On December 5, 2021, the company will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Established in 1991, when Ukraine declared independence, NIBULON, together with the country, continues to improve and to become stronger. On the eve of Ukraine’s 30th anniversary, we have discussed with Deputy General Director for Economy, Bohdan Muzyka, the most important economic aspects at NIBULON as part of “A contemporary of independence” information project.Holding such a responsible position, Bohdan Muzyka, the independent Ukraine and NIBULON are contemporaries. His persistence, hard-working nature and confidence helped him to improve, to get a second higher education and to achieve a career growth from a mechanical engineer to Deputy General Director for Economy. Thus, our conversation concerns not only economic figures, but also the way NIBULON helps the youth to build their future, relying on their own knowledge and self-improvement. – According to Bohdan Muzyka, his work is generally directed to the achievement of the highest results by spending less money on material, labour, and financial resources. The lower the expenses are, the more efficiently the company works. Our work relates to almost all NIBULON’s activities, such as agriculture, building, grain storage, logistics, navigation and shipbuilding, as well as grain exports to 75 countries worldwide. The economists must choose the best strategy for the company’s economic development in short-term and long-term prospects by constantly searching and analyzing prices, quality, durability, productivity, and efficient operation. – What comes first: a strategy or economy? – To achieve a result, a strategy must be developed. The idea comes first. It must promote an income and profit increase. It is then necessary to calculate economic benefits considering all the ins and outs that can appear during the idea implementation, so that we are are sure about economic efficiency when implementing this idea. For example, the company has been implementing its large-scale patriotic investment project to revive the Dnipro and the Southern Buh as navigable transport arteries of Ukraine since 2009. The company’s long-term strategy consists of certain stages that include the construction of the river transshipment terminals and its own fleet. At present the company has 13 terminals, 10 of which are located along the Dnipro and 2 terminals along the Southern Buh, plus the transshipment terminal in Mykolaiv. Each elevator was built reasonably and purposefully. Prior to choosing a place for construction, we accurately analyzed many important data and conditions, such as the size of areas sown with agricultural commodities, the number and capacity of facilities located there, the crops cultivated in the region, annual yields, the presence of competitors, infrastructure, logistics capabilities from a field to an elevator and from an elevator to the outer roads by river, etc. Based on the optimal data, the specialists conduct calculations, make a business plan with expected economic benefits. The decision is then made whether it is efficient to build an elevator complex at a given place. It is an example of a good idea becoming a part of a great strategy when developing the company’s economy. Certainly, all the calculations are based on the planned data we try to forecast, but it is important to know how to find alternative ways to perform tasks set, depending on various circumstances, to achieve maximum results. At present NIBULON’s elevators are loaded, operate efficiently, and bring benefits. The company’s simultaneous storage capacity is 2.25 million tons. The company exports more than 4.6 million tons of grain per year. Thus, our elevators make 2.5 turnovers. There are transshipment terminals that make 3 turnovers and more. All the facilities operate in a single logistics chain and bring the company the maximum effect, depending on the region and their activity. – Despite your young age, you have been working for NIBULON for a long time. Please tell us how you got a job at NIBULON or who influenced your choice? – I am almost a contemporary of NIBULON and the independent Ukraine. I got a job at NIBULON having graduated from the university. When I was a student at Vinnutsia State Agrarian University, Larysa Buryk, NIBULON’s Deputy General Director of Personnel, conducted occupational guidance for us. She honestly and reasonably explained us why it was prospective to work at NIBULON, thereby inciting me to visit Mykolaiv transshipment terminal and Lidiyivske RE production branch as part of an excursion in March 2009. The terminal’s capacity and its performance impressed us a lot. The meeting with Oleksiy Vadaturskyy impressed us the most. It was a weekend, but the General Director was at work and found time to meet us. He told students about NIBULON’s ideas to build a network of elevators with the total capacity of 2 million tons to store grain simultaneously and to build not just vessels but the entire fleet, to revive navigation in Ukraine and to make Ukraine a marine state. We wanted to become a part of his ideas. We felt his energy, his aim to move forward and to achieve success. We wanted to join his team. Oleksiy Vadaturskyy announced his plans to build the first river transshipment terminal along the Dnipro – Vitove branch (Cherkasy region). At that time, I decided to be a part of this team. Several months later, I, a mechanical engineer at Chygyryn production branch, participated in building this terminal and observed Oleksiy Vadaturskyy’s ideas were implemented. Another great manager, Serhiy Besedin, NIBULON’s Deputy General Director of Construction, turned these fantastic ideas into reality at the site. Vitove branch was officially opened on October 14, 2009, with the participation of Viktor Yuschenko, the President of Ukraine. The company put into operation five transshipment terminals the following year. I asked to be transferred to Vitove branch and worked as a mechanical engineer for two years until March 2012, when the company started to build its next Kozatska branch river terminal in Kozatske village (Beryslav district, Kherson region). I worked as the branch director from when the first pile was driven and during the following six years. – What was your contribution to Kozatska branch development, which enabled you to hold a position of Deputy General Director for Economy? – At the beginning of July 2012, the company officially put into operation the Kozatska branch high-tech transshipment terminal within three months, with the capacity to store 76 thousand tons of grain simultaneously. It was at the beginning of the new marketing season, and our plan for the first season was standard – to transship 150 thousand tons of grain. We have formed a new young team of about 100 people and received 67 thousand tons per year. We could search for excuses, referring to high competitiveness (Kherson Sea Trade port is located 60 km from the terminal) or many elevators and traders around us, but we had been taught to act differently. We have analyzed all the mistakes and improved our work as much as possible. We conducted constant trainings and qualification improvements for personnel. To increase turnovers and speed up the loading and unloading processes, we modernized passing places at the site, used an advertisement and met with potential agricultural commodity producers. We offered better conditions to store grain. We also highlighted the advantages of working with the company, namely a high rating, openness and transparency, quick payment, quick unloading of trucks, and the absence of queues. We did our best to demonstrate that NIBULON is a reliable business partner for agrarians. This enabled us to considerably reduce the time required to handle trucks at the elevator and to increase our client base. Consequently, the elevator received 221 thousand tons of grain during its second year of operation, which represented more than three capacity turnovers. During its fourth year of operation, this figure reached 327 thousand tons of grain, which is more than four turnovers. Considering that the volumes of receipts were high and the grain production in the region had increased, the company increased the capacity at Kozatska branch to 92 thousand tons in 2017. In the 2017/18 marketing year, the branch received 340 thousand tons of grain. Please note that it is very difficult work, requiring well-coordinated teamwork. June and July, the beginning of early grain harvesting, were busy months. The terminal managed to receive up to 100 thousand tons per month. This was almost a third of the annual program. It concerns not just the capability to receive grain of various types, but also to process quickly and to load it on river transport. – We have heard much about the elevator’s economy. How is it calculated? – An elevator is profitable when it makes at least two turnovers per year. In our case we should consider the elevator operation in its complex. NIBULON’s terminals operate in a single logistics system – storage, shipment, exports. That is why they are profitable. This proves the ratio of our statistics – the capacity to store 2 million tons simultaneously and the capability to export 4.6 million tons annually. In addition, we must fulfill internal contracts. To be not just competitive but to remain leaders in the sector, we work more efficiently, transparently and openly, directing towards an agricultural commodity producer. – What motivates you to keep such a crazy pace of work? – About 75% of volumes of an annual export program are processed during the first six months of the marketing year, when the river transportation works maximally (till the end of the navigation). June and July are the busiest months for early grain crops, September and October for late grain crops. The facilities work round the clock, without weekends and holidays, so that producers can trust us and be sure that they can harvest yield in time and transport it to an elevator without losses as well. We do much to convince agricultural commodity producers that their work will be rewarded. The company quickly makes competitive payments for grain received. The domestic market has been oriented towards NIBULON’s prices for all crops purchased by the company. NIBULON’s prices are posted on the company’s corporate website and are available for all users. Every year Ukraine increases the volumes of grain and leguminous crop production. It still lacks harvesters and trucks during harvesting. Big queues made by trucks at elevators can cause huge potential losses for every farmer. Thus, Oleksiy Vadaturskyy has set the task to avoid queues at NIBULON’s elevators by improving all the processes. We have formed a positive economic balance during those months. We realize the better we work during this period, the better a year will be. – Both trucks and machines are busy during the rush period. How do people feel during this period? How does it influence their encouragement and wages? – Certainly, people are extremely busy during this period. We try to create comfortable working conditions for them, to facilitate work and reduce load by using automated processes. All our employees receive competitive wages, equipped workplaces, and guaranteed social packages. During the rush period, the company sets bonuses based on volumes of grain received and grain shipped. The company encourages employees to speed up truck handling, loading of non-self-propelled vessels and hopper-cars, whilst meeting quality standards. Our employees realize their responsibility and understand that it is possible to earn more during rush periods. The company pays taxes, thereby influencing positively their pension levels. NIBULON makes payments to the state budgets at all levels, thereby making the social sector more protected and developed. – The company pays wages according to the following principle: the better you work, the more you earn, doesn’t it? – This is the main work principle for any reasonable employer aiming to achieve success. At the beginning I told you that it is always possible to find solutions, and there is always an alternative. Every employee searches for an optimal variant to correlate efforts made and time spent with the material and moral benefits received. To get maximum results, it is necessary to motivate employees, to involve them in managing the company so that they not just perform their duties but do it reasonably. Special bonus programs are developed. We have direct dependence – the better an employee works, the more money he/she earns. It is efficient, logical, and fair. Correct wages mean investment in the development. We realize that it is possible to invest less money and receive low results. More investment brings a better result. The company is interested in improving its operation results; thus, it increases wages. This improves labour productivity. The higher the labour productivity is, the more benefits each party receives.Speaking about competitiveness on the labour market, it is complicated for the company, as a transparent and socially responsible business, to compete with those who pay minimal legal payments and pay hidden wages without paying taxes. They neither have obligations before the state nor an employee. The company makes official payments subjected to taxation. Thus, 1 hryvna received by an employee is 0.51 hryvna of payment to the budgets at all levels. It is easy to count what benefits the state receives. By doing business transparently, the company fights shadow wages. – Hidden wages are not just the shadow economy and uncompetitive methods of struggle on the domestic market. What else does the company do to fight economic illegality? – Unfair competition concerns other types of activities, for example, logistics. When loading trucks in compliance with the maximum permissible gross weight of 40 tons, the company must compete with unfair carriers who violate the law and load 60 tons or even 80 tons. Nevertheless, the company is competitive, demonstrating its efficient operation. NIBULON has huge reserves. – Could you explain?- If one carrier transports 40 tons, and the other transports 60 tons of cargoes over the same distance, the tonne-kilometer cost of the second carrier will be by 1.5 times higher than the first one. Actually, it is not true.Work efficiency is achieved during a certain period based on the quantity of tonne-kilometers that can be transported by a carrier. A carrier can load 60 tons per trip, demonstrating better results than the company, but it makes fewer trips during a period. If a carrier does not make trips regularly, it will not be more efficient over a period of a month. Overloaded trucks face technical problems. Thus, they break down and wear out, so that making carriers must spend money on repairs. The entire profit can be spent on this. The same situation is repeated the following season. We forecast everything and always analyze beforehand. The company always loads trucks in compliance with the permissible level, tries to make as many trips as possible, uses trucks efficiently, increases its output coefficient, reduces the movement of empty trucks by taking additional cargoes. Consequently, the company wins against competitors. Concerning elevators, we increase their operational efficiency. Tentatively speaking, the economy of a small elevator with three employees working on demand is quite different. NIBULON’s elevator has about 85 employees who work constantly; thus, the company’s expenses are higher. The company’s elevators can process 4.5-5 thousand tons of various crops per day and 6-6.5 thousand tons of a certain crop. Please note that Kherson grain processing plant can receive 2.5-3 thousand tons of grain per day.- When starting the investment project to revive rivers and redirect cargoes to river, NIBULON called on other businesses to do the same. None wanted to start it, realizing that it would require hundreds of millions and much time. Have you calculated the economy at that time? Why nobody followed the company’s example? – Oleksiy Vadaturskyy did not hide that the investment project required much money, efforts, time and work which had never been done before. He said that the project would be implemented within 10 years. That was true. It is complicated to find a businessman who will invest money in long-lasting projects, but it is possible if a person believes in his strength, team, and the country.It is not a secret that large domestic businesses use foreign capital. Business representatives realize that it is prospective; everyone agrees and even envies. Nevertheless, they do not want to risk. They understand NIBULON’s efficiency and its competitive advantage. Foreigners will not allocate money in long-term projects, because they want to get profit “here and now”.It goes without saying that even Oleksiy Vadaturskyy could not predict the obstacles created by authorities, and People’s Deputies, the Revolution of Dignity and war in the east of Ukraine, the annexation of the Crimea and a part of Donets and Luhansk regions, the spread of coronavirus pandemic and other force majeure. He trusted his team and the calculations and pragmatic steps made by them, involved international financial institutions and foreign governments, as well as many domestic partners. He loves Ukraine with his whole heart and believes in its potential and strength, thereby starting to fight for its development. I have been witnessing it since 2009. I realize how difficult it is. Being born in the independent Ukraine, it is weird to see people, who rule the country, try to do everything to prevent NIBULON and similar companies from developing. Their rules established on the market are uncompetitive, laws adopted prevent the entire sectors from developing, so all the efforts made by real patriots come to nothing. We publicly announce that it is necessary to create transparent and equal conditions for domestic and foreign companies. Business entities are obliged to pay taxes. Domestic shipbuilding and navigation must be developed; rivers must be dredged. Sewage water discharge from vessels afloat, approved by the Law No. 1054-IX “On Inland Water Transport” dated 03.12.2020, must be prohibited. Small rivers must be revived, because water will soon become the most expensive source in Ukraine. Vessels must fly the national flags in coastal areas, as no other countries allow vessels to fly foreign flags on their own territories. The state policy prefers ignorance, causing the decline of the entire sectors and Ukraine’s degradation as a whole. The company started to develop infrastructure on the rivers, to transport cargoes by its own fleet and saw the prospects in river transportation. NIBULON has invested more than USD 35 million in the shipbuilding sector and USD 2.3 billion in Ukraine’s economy since it commenced operations.Based on our calculations, 1 employee of the shipbuilding sector gives work to 10 employees of other sectors, such as metallurgy, machine engineering industry, etc. It is a great multiplication effect which promotes the sustainable development of Ukraine’s economy. I am used to scaling and simplifying data. NIBULON’s team is goal-oriented. The company’s strategy is accurately calculated. It is always possible to find a solution. The leaders demonstrate their strength, confidence, and intellect. I would like Ukraine to have more such well-coordinated teams. If the Verkhovna Rada, the Cabinet of Ministers or the President had had a strategy and had realized how to implement it, Ukraine would not have made the list for two hundred countries worldwide by gross domestic product volumes.I believe and I am sure that we will build a powerful and happy country.