Bahrain-based MTI adds VINT Consult as associate in Belarus

Belarus-based business advisory VINT Consult has been added as an associate of international management firm MTI Consulting.

Following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed at the end of May, international boutique strategy and management firm MTI Consulting has brought on board Belarus-based business advisory VINT Consult as a local associate – extending the Bahrain-headquartered firm’s affiliate network to some 35 countries across the globe. In addition, MTI operates its own offices in Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the UK and British Virgin Islands.

Established in Minsk in 2011, and led by Managing Partner Trofim Eremenko alongside fellow partners Ivan Pshenay and Timofey Polomannyy, VINT offers a range of provisions spanning strategy consulting, operational, marketing, financial, HR and business planning to clients in industries such as  agriculture, construction, energy, transport and logistics, and financial services among others.  More recently, the partners established IT offshoot VINT Solution.

According to the firm, it has already served more than 1700 clients since its inception, with a retention rate above 90 percent and a roster of over 50 long-term clients (those sticking with the firm for five or more years). In addition to MTI, and in a similar fashion, VINT has also in recent times been busy expanding its network abroad, with a flurry of MoUs agreed to with firms from the Netherlands, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Zimbabwe in just the past few months.

Among a host of other advantages, including on-the-the-ground domestic market intelligence, such international alliances serve the dual purpose of opening up both foreign markets for Belarussian entities and supporting inbound investments and entries, with VINT describing Belarus as an “ideal springboard” for scaling up a business thanks in part to its proximity to the EU and membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (together with among other states Russia).

“Having opened an office in Belarus, you can easily distribute sales channels in the EU, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey,” the firm states. “Due to the tolerance of the people, Belarus has no cultural and political barriers with any of the states. In addition, the availability of privileges for business and legislation protecting the interests of foreign investors makes it easy to enter the Belarusian market and then scale up in other countries.”

On the flip-side, solutions in areas such as strategy, re-structuring, process re-engineering, corporate finance, market research, and marketing devised by MTI Consulting will now be more readily available to VINT clients, with a mutual drive to provide “quality customer support in achieving high economic performance” and an intended focus on cooperation on projects with large industrial companies, IT and telecommunication firms, and the financial sector.

And VINT promises to bring something extra to the table. “Unfortunately, today, many consultants tackle engagements with long thought out approaches and templates,”  Eremenko stated in a recent interview with Consultancy.eu. “But often the template does not allow the use of the full potential of the situation. Creatoring (VINT’s term for high-level intellectual problem solving) will in the future remain as the only necessary fundaments of consulting services.”