Starting a business amid legal and economic turmoil is associated with enormous risks and great opportunities. Oleg Belay is an entrepreneur who has first-hand experience in these matters. He and his partners founded the TRINFICO company in the turbulent 1990s, starting a business in a fundamentally new field for the Russian market. Although the entrepreneur was young and had no big start-up capital, he managed the business efficiently. As a result, the company gradually developed, keeping its services up to date and expanding its market presence. It managed to survive many crises and win against fierce competition.
Today, the entrepreneur is the company’s CEO and its majority shareholder. Oleg Belay’s biography is a story of determination, self-accountability, and responsible risk-taking. The businessman is modest about his role in shaping the investment group. He believes that the key factors behind its success are the team’s professionalism, effective management, and sustainable development of TRINFICO.
What Do You Need to Know About the Entrepreneur?
Belay Oleg Viktorovich was born and raised in Moscow. Although he attended an ordinary secondary school, he received a good education. His family background played a big part in it. The future entrepreneur grew up in a highly educated family. However, his parents had engineering degrees and were never involved in business.
On the other hand, Oleg became interested in the subject and had to extract information from various sources, as he had no one to teach him. He had neither influential relatives nor any connections in the business community.
Interestingly, his desire to become an entrepreneur did not prevent him from getting a quality education at MIET. His parents graduated from the same university. He considered many options but settled on this one. Oleg Belay successfully graduated from the Institute of Electronic Technology. For some time, he even considered working as a scientist. But his desire to start a business was stronger.
First Business Experience
Even in his student days, Oleg’s interests differed greatly from his peers. He was interested in various career fields and interacted with people from all walks of life. Soon, the students received offers to participate in big and small business projects.
His goal was never to work for someone else, even if it was an executive role. However, Oleg Belay knew he needed this experience to build his own business in the future. So, while still a student, he agreed to participate in various projects, demonstrating his obvious leadership potential. People around him said the entrepreneur took a serious approach to any problem and was wise and responsible beyond his years.
Soon, Oleg had the opportunity to co-found his own business. He opened a news agency with a partner that specialized in preparing journalistic materials. The agency covered the latest financial market news. Many reputable media outlets quoted its publications. It had every chance to succeed. However, the partners turned their focus to the investment field; they branched out into a new area and soon stopped their journalistic work.
Founding of TRINFICO
1993 was marked by the opening of the largest company ever co-created by Oleg Belay. TRINFICO began operating as a brokerage firm in the young but up-and-coming Russian stock market. The market was still in its formative stage and highly volatile, making building a business in this field particularly risky. At the same time, the market offered excellent prospects for rapid growth.
Entrepreneurs had to face the following problems:
- The regulatory framework was limited and constantly changing.
- There were no market regulations, such as competition laws.
- New financial instruments were constantly emerging, and companies needed to adapt quickly to provide relevant services.
- The competition was fierce; experienced and reputable foreign companies were entering the market.
- Russians did not trust the industry much; they had seen too many fraud cases before and had little understanding of the investment industry in general.
While it was relatively easy to educate the target audience, poor legal regulation deprived the business of stability. Companies had to adapt to ever-changing legislation constantly. They had to manage risks, try to stand out from the competition (which was only sometimes fair), and manage one crisis after another.
Business Inception and Growth
As an entrepreneur, Oleg Belay always knew how to make balanced decisions. Since its founding, he has handled the company’s finances and been responsible for asset protection and structuring. All leaders of the TRINFICO investment group efficiently developed the business as a team. As a result, a small brokerage firm quickly became one of the largest players in the market.
Soon, the company began working with assets of non-state pension funds. It quickly became a market leader regarding the volume of such assets under its management. Then, it signed an agreement with the Russian Federation’s Pension Fund. TRINFICO managed the assets of the state pension fund as effectively as those of non-state organizations.
While new financial instruments were entering the market, the company did everything possible to update its asset management services. This was the case with stocks, bonds, GKOs (“state short-term bonds”), futures, and other instruments. TRINFICO was always quick to develop relevant trading solutions and branch out into new territory.
The company’s growth was slowed down only by the large-scale economic crisis of 1998. Back then, investors lost enormous amounts of money due to the collapse of the GKO pyramid scheme. TRINFICO analysts could predict the collapse, but taking any measures and saving client assets in the unfolding situation was impossible.
Oleg Belay later confessed that the situation became a painful but valuable lesson for the company’s executives. Asset security measures, which had always been carefully observed, became an absolute priority for the company. It shifted its focus towards stable development. The investment group’s team constantly worked to diversify risks and find new ways to ensure client asset protection even in times of total instability.
Consolidation of the Investment Group
In 2013, TRINFICO’s management decided to consolidate the investment group. Oleg became its majority shareholder and took over as CEO. However, he simply continued to control the company’s main business processes. The entrepreneur’s functions had always been broader than his official responsibilities in his previous role. This had always been an important aspect of his work as an effective manager.
Oleg Belay built a productive vertically integrated management system and delegated responsibilities to key employees. However, he was still personally involved in planning and implementing significant strategies. Among other things, he integrated ESG principles into the company’s business strategy.
For many years, entrepreneurs have strongly advocated for the green agenda. He sees it not only as an essential concern for the environment but also as a way to make a positive social impact and ensure the company’s sustainable development. TRINFICO does not deviate from ESG principles even today when market leaders abandon their green strategies due to financial instability.
TRINFICO and Its Latest Achievements
Today, Oleg Belay’s investment group is one of the most prominent players in the Russian market. It regularly ranks at the top of professional ratings and provides its clients with the widest possible range of services—from asset management and structuring to crisis management.
Its upgraded non-credit rating once again confirmed the company’s outstanding performance. One reason for the upgrade was the adjustment of the investment group’s policy. In 2024, the National Rating Agency assigned TRINFICO an A+ rating for reliability and quality of services. The rating outlook is currently stable.
When assessing the group, the analysts took into account:
- Its experience in the market;
- The skills and professionalism of its team;
- The growing number of clients;
- The increase in business profitability;
- The group’s resilient liquidity risk profile.
The stable outlook indicates that the company’s rating will likely remain current. There is no doubt about that since TRINFICO’s development has been stable and sustainable throughout its history in the Russian market.
Oleg’s major role in the company’s progress is obvious not only to his employees but also to outside experts who repeatedly commented on his wise executive decisions. Analysts believe that one of the key factors in the investment group’s success is that its leader never tried to forcefully accelerate its growth. The majority owner of the company always understood that momentary leadership could come at a great cost. So, instead, he chose to follow a gradual growth strategy.
Charity and Social Responsibility
Oleg Belay is a well-known philanthropist who suggested starting a charitable foundation called VMESTE SMOZHEM (TOGETHER WE CAN). This organization grants social projects and NPOs that share its philosophy and priorities. Most notably, it supports non-profits that try to help the most vulnerable groups of the population. It also provides financial assistance to projects that work to solve the problem of poverty in Russia.
The entrepreneur is a member of the charitable foundation’s board of trustees. He views its activities as his business’s social responsibility. At the same time, he believes that charity should not be part of publicity and brand promotion. Instead of big PR campaigns, the businessman prefers to create practical solutions to local and global problems.
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