Kristina Sporykhina
Luiza Buchelnikova
Polina Leonova
Daria Tarasova
Dina Kochegarova
The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)
Ekaterina Ivanova
Keep this story going! Share below!
Kuninskaya Farm is a perfect example of a company based on honesty and traditions, sometimes working even at a loss of profit. The company is constantly improving, despite a hostile business environment. It needs to be said that it works on enhancing the quality of their products, offering the best to people.
The gap between the poor and rich people is so big in Russia that it looks like two different countries living in one. Kuninskaya Farm is trying to bridge this gap by changing the way business works. Kuninskaya Farm adheres to most of the sustainable development goals, integrating both the environmental and social concerns in its business model. Being a local responsible business pioneer that listens and takes care of its stakeholders, Kuninskaya Farm sets an example of a sustainable business in agriculture.
First of all, the main inspiration for the company founders are their children. The owners want their family business to flourish over the years. The company also wants to be an example for others, showing that honest business based on international principles of sustainable development can exist even in a transitional market economy of Russia. "All of this is due to the fact that our CEO Oleg Vladimirovich Buchelnikov is very concerned about education of our employees. Even without being able to get a proper education in villages and towns, people can find such an opportunity in our company, as well as internships", told us Maria Borisovna Buchelnikova.
Kuninskaya Farm invests in the professional growth and on-the-job training of its employees a lot, and people admire it, as it gives them a chance for a better life, which results in very high loyalty, insignificant staff turnover and high motivation. They also invest in infrastructure and healthcare, which results in increasing of living standards and development of Medyakovskoe site and also tax incentives that company receives from the local government. And while government is busy working with other countries and global companies, Kuninskaya Farm is trying to change local business, help people in need and invest in local farming. Now people have an opportunity to communicate with business more, to make changes in the place they live in.
Even if is true that most businesses in emerging markets still pursue the Friedman's doctrine, Kuninskaya Farm tries to focus on sustainable development goals and corporate social responsibility, which they include in their business strategy. Significant amount of their net profit is spent on fighting poverty, promoting good health and well-being as well as responsible production and consumption. Kuninskaya Farm also benefits from the fact that they outperform local competitors, the so called "hidebound organizations", as customers became aware of their responsible business model, which helps Kuninskaya Farm to adapt to a volatile Russian agricultural market.
"As I said earlier, our company is very concerned about the impact we do to both the society and environment. We invest in eco-friendly production and job safety, which makes people want to work for us. We were surprised to discover that the main question candidates ask on the interview is how can they affect society in a better way, and we are trying to create the proper conditions for such desires", emphasized Maria Borisovna Buchelnikova. In general, Kuninskaya Farm developed a kind of symbiosis – they invest in the well-being of the place, and its people contribute to the development of the business.
Get stories of positive business innovations from around the world delivered right to your inbox.
Buchelnikova Maria Borisovna, Financial Director and the Founder
The main activity of Kuninskaya Farm is a closed cycle of cultivating and selling grain crops. They do tillage, sowing, harvesting and further processing. This company handles agricultural land with an area of 10,000 hectares. They cultivate: wheat, oats, peas, barley, sunflower and buckwheat. The farm was established in 2010 in Novosibirsk, Russia.