Serial entrepreneur, former deputy general director of the Ginza Project, Kira Baybakova, shared with Cosmo the story of her formation in the restaurant business, talked about a new trend in ecotourism and named 5 principles for achieving success.
As far as we know, at the age of 18, your brother entrusted you with organizing your mother's birthday, and the holiday turned out to be grandiose: with tents, fireworks and a performance by Dmitry Malikov. For such a young girl without any experience in this field, this is a very serious breakthrough. Tell me, did you expect to be so involved in this area?
No, I didn't expect it at all. When my mother had an anniversary, my brother suggested that I organize it. The budget was tight, but I knew I could go beyond it. In fact, I even saved money. I ordered a tent, catering, made an agreement with Dima Malikov, organized fireworks for the entire Rublevka, fire shows, a cake with flowers. I managed to organize everything at the highest level and I started to do small events for my brother's friends. I made one birthday for his friend, where the group "Beasts", 50 Cent and foreign DJs performed. Further in America, I made an event for my niece with an invited guest LL Cool J.
At some point in time, I opened my own event company and did similar events. After a certain time, such parties began to decline, since all the guys began to leave abroad - it has already become fashionable to celebrate a birthday in Saint-Tropez.
Two years later, you launched a large fitness center in the Ukraine Hotel. How did you find yourself in the position of commercial director of a fitness club after organizing events?
My friend Dmitry Babanov, the general director of the World class network, offered me this position. He went out from there and began to build the Royal Wellness Club - a fitness club and Spa with a swimming pool. I was not only a commercial director, but organized the sales department, together we completed the construction site, recruited fitness trainers, prescribed programs, pricing policy.
And then I moved to the Ginza Project and got stuck there for six years (laughs).
What has the restaurant business taught you during this time?
Taught everything. Ginza is a space where you are in touch 24 hours a day. I was a manager, a lawyer, an accountant, and a courier, I made visas - that is, I did everything. The management company does not have a clear division, since restaurateurs are a creative story.
But it was a very cool school. When I left Ginza, I realized that in this area I can discover, create, build, for me this is not a problem. I knew how the kitchen works from the inside, what to do, what mistakes to avoid.
Of course, I got myself bumped up: the suppliers threw in, did not meet the deadlines or exceeded the budget. The main thing here is not to make global mistakes.
Your new project is glamping. What prompted you to open a new direction, because it is radically different from your projects?
Pandemic. Even before the coronavirus, I started looking at different businesses. For example, I fully studied the business of kindergartens; the birth of my daughter, who is now 4 years old, prompted me to do this. I was interested in this topic from the inside, because I was looking for kindergartens and developing places for my child. And I realized that there are very few worthy locations in Moscow, and what is expensive. I am raising my daughter and I want to give her a carefree, happy childhood.
When the pandemic began, I realized that there was no need to go into public catering and gardens. This is how the idea of glamping was born, because it was in demand even before the pandemic, but not in this way. We began to study this area, looking for a cheap business with a quick payback. There is even a company that already makes turnkey tents-houses. They are quickly erected and inexpensive.
In 2017, your long-awaited child was born - Alice. How has your life changed with the birth of your daughter?
I was expecting my child for 8 years, I did more than 30 IVF in different countries. It was hard work. When the pregnancy came, I didn’t believe it. Therefore, in business, I became more aggressive, because I want to clearly and quickly see the result, I have no free time. If earlier I could afford to relax, now I have a clear strategy - I want to work for the next five years and then devote more time to the child, to be with her more.
This is after the birth of a child. You have derived the formula for female entrepreneurship - IQ + EQ + LQ? How did you come to this?
I sat and thought: how can I do so to quickly achieve my goals? Before, I was always tough and quickly found a common language with men. But at one point she decided to listen to herself and her feminine energy - a certain intonation, compliments to a man and a gentle insistence on her own brings more results.
What are 5 basic principles for achieving success?
The first is self-confidence. I believe that this is one of the important qualities: if you are not confident in yourself and do not go towards your goal, then you will not achieve anything.
The second is the ability to take risks and accept your mistakes. If you know how to accept your mistakes, then you will achieve something anyway. There are many people who, after the first miss, give up, go into depression and change their field of activity. Okay, well, the restaurant didn't work, for example, so what? Business is a risk, always. You must understand that you are at risk. Working on mistakes gives strength, on the contrary, it's cool. One of the partners once said to me: “Cyrus, the one who is not mistaken does not work,” and this is true.
Further - sociability and honesty. I believe that there should be transparency always and everywhere - in any business and in any relationship. You must make sure that you come out clean from the water, no matter how it is - your reputation will always catch up with you. In Russia, any business is built on relationships. Big deals, big corporations - it's all about personal relationships.
The fourth is self-love. You need to love, respect, give yourself a rest and not allow yourself to burn out. Probably, I was burned out, because before the birth of the child, I thought that I could do anything. I never thought about myself, I never took care of myself. I always had a job, a home, a husband and that's it.
And the last thing is development: you need to develop all the time, everywhere and always. You need to know what is happening in the world, you need to follow the trends. I believe that for a woman who develops and knows what is happening around her, it will always bear fruit.
