We talked to Volodymyr Tryhuba, owner of ST-PROZORO, about how the processes in his company changed during the war, and we are offering you to read our conversation, where you can find a lot of interesting insights both about the development of Ukrainian business in difficult conditions and simply about universal human values that help all of us to hold on and bring our common Victory closer.
Roman Denisenko: Has your strategic vision of the company's development changed significantly between before the war and now? What prospects for the development of your company and the industry as a whole do you see in the near future?
Volodymyr Tryhuba: If we take into account the main activities of the company, and we work not only in the direction of spare parts, accessories and components for automobile and tractor equipment, I could not say that the war somehow affected the development strategy of the company. The need for spare parts for machinery has definitely not decreased, at least we can clearly observe this from the results of our divisions.
Our client base is constantly expanding, and the company's strategy as a whole has not changed. It is constantly being corrected slightly, depending on what clients we have and what the market trends are.
In general, the company works in the same directions as before the war. That is, our task “to be closer to the retail client” has not changed. We have a sufficiently wide branch network throughout Ukraine. Before the war we had 22 representative offices, and during the war we did not shorten them, and even increased their number. Although we lost a few branches.
Roman Denisenko: So, the adaptation passed quickly?
Volodymyr Tryhuba: Of course, the turning point was in the first 2-3 months. At that time, much more territories of Ukraine were under occupation than today. When the aggressor’s troops were in Chernihiv region, Sumy region, near Kyiv, it was very difficult and unclear what to do. But after 2-3 months everything became stable. To be honest, I don't know exactly what factors helped us: perhaps a situational decrease in competition, because many people suspended their business at that time, perhaps we started to work more intensively, and thanks to that we quickly took our place. I repeat that we have lost several branches, in particular, in Melitopol. It was one of the best branches. We had to close the branch in Kharkiv, but currently the work there has been resumed.
I would not say that our turnover has decreased, but rather increased compared to the pre-war period.
We are stepping forward confidently. Anyway, we still need to work! We have employees, they need to support their families, they need to pay taxes to the budget, because it is essential to fight the aggressor! That is why we are working hard!
Roman Denisenko: It is known that one of the new directions in which you are now heading is the sale and support service of Chinese KATA tractors. Could you please tell us more about it? And tell, what other priority directions do you have at the moment? What are you focusing on?
Volodymyr Tryhuba: In fact, distribution and service of Kata tractors in Ukraine is not a new idea. People started doing this a bit earlier. We have been working with tractors since 2019. The need for tractors of this class, which existed, remains the same. Due to certain circumstances and revitalization of our work, our tractors have been sold at a slightly higher rate. Moreover, we have organized a kind of mini-conveyor of tractor assembly in Ukraine. The workshop occupies an area of about 1000 m2. This is not a complete assembly, but only a partial one. It is more efficient to transport partially disassembled tractors and finish assembling them here in terms of reducing logistics costs. Well, and it is additional workplaces. Today it is interesting, because Ukraine is an agricultural country, and our customers are private farms, public utilities, etc. Spare parts for automobile and tractor equipment, batteries, lubricating and operating materials, tires for various equipment – these are the key areas of the activities of the company! If we take into account all of our areas of activities, there was no drop in sales in any of them!
Moreover, during the war, just a year ago, we discovered a new area of activity – it is the production of fuel pellets. We acquired a line for the production of pellets and territory in Zhytomyr region. The conditions on the fuel and energy market in Ukraine and Europe over the past year have contributed to the development of this area of business.
Roman Denisenko: I would like to talk more about the convenience of Omega’s services for your company to hear honest feedback. Please tell me how comfortable do you find our selection program?
Volodymyr Tryhuba: Since 2014 I was the one who was an active user of your software product. I liked everything about it. I like the interface, the procedure for processing requests. Moreover, we were among the first who synchronized our software products in terms of exchange of information, catalog numbers, stock availability, prices. We were actually the first who achieved document management in our software products: we uploaded all the delivery notes into our program. This was no longer manual work, but an automated process. We met with your software product specialists more than once, our IT specialist was constantly in touch with your specialists when we set ourselves the task of integrating something common or facilitating the work. The response was quite fast.
Roman Denisenko: How convenient is it to use our service of returning goods? How often do you have to make a return, and what is most important to you in this process?
Volodymyr Tryhuba: How to avoid returns? You have to understand that customers are different, they order goods and then refuse them for certain reasons. Of course, there is a process of returns, and it is quite frequent. If we had one or two points of sale, it would probably be situational. It is more likely that a product will be returned from one of the 24 points than from two. This process works well in Omega, and we have no concerns about it.
Roman Denisenko: In these challenging times, we are grateful to the armed forces. We know that you and your team are also engaged in volunteering and the army. Please tell us more about that.
Volodymyr Tryhuba: I don't think we should boast about it; we do this quietly. In fact, we have been helping the army literally since the first days of the war. Our main warehouse with products is in Boryspil, and I am sure you have also heard that the aggressor's troops were literally near Kyiv, near Boryspil. There was a risk that goods would be lost or captured, or the warehouse would be hit.
We tried to plan to export the products to our western branches, but literally in the first few days, the military began to contact us. We simply gave them the lubricants and batteries on parole, without any documents, realizing that the equipment had to be launched and produced immediately.
In fact, we registered a large proportion of these goods, but we handed over a substantial amount of batteries, lubricants, and spare parts without payment. These were our first contributions to the common victory. So we were essentially volunteers. At present, we send some products to the military at no cost almost every day. We contribute to fundraisers, or if there is an official request from the military, we help directly, because we clearly understand that the need is great. We also sent cars during this period. In total, we donated approximately more than 2 million UAH to the MFU during this period. Again, we do not boast about it or demonstrate what we are doing. Good deeds should be done quietly, not for PR. Although we have badges of honor, various letters of gratitude, diplomas, certificates, flags with the signatures of the fighters. But we'll save that for history. Now, there is only one task – to help the MFU and bring our common victory closer. Everyone makes his contribution.
Roman Denisenko: What achievements of your company over the past year are you most proud of?
Volodymyr Tryhuba: The main achievement is that our company has not downsized, we are working, developing and living! We provide our employees with jobs, income, create such conditions that they do not need to go abroad in search of a better life. They work here, and I consider this to be our main achievement. We have not lost our team, and that is the most important achievement.
Roman Denisenko: Thank you for your attention! It was very interesting! All the best!