Well, finally. Everything we wanted to know about the Skolkovo School, but that was being kept from us. Ruben Vardanyan, chairman of the board of Troika Dialog and, as he is called, the “engine of the Skolkovo School,” in his interview with Vedomosti:
— We discussed with you the business plan for Skolkovo, which some consultants wrote and others refined. Now the first facts about the project are emerging. How closely do they match what was written in the business plan? On the key parameters: income, expenses, endowment, venture fund, pace, deadlines. — You are interested in the revenue and expense sides. That is, of course, very important, especially for a nonprofit partnership. But in my view, much more important is the very fact that $120 million was raised in a country where there are no tax breaks at all, that 18 companies and private individuals believed in this idea, and that people like [Mikhail] Kusnirovich, [Leonid] Mikhelson, [Alexander] Abramov spend their time and energy on it and enjoy doing so. That Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s Minister Mentor, a man who has already achieved everything in life, spends his time on a Russian business school and comes here to Russia every year. We are creating an entirely new project with a new system of governance, introducing a new educational model. Have we deviated greatly from what we planned? If you look at the details, then yes, significantly. In essence, no. The model is correct—it works. And we got good students. Now, as for income and expenses. We spent several tens of millions more than we had planned. We were off by a factor of two on executive education revenues because the crisis happened. When you try to assess the Skolkovo project in monetary terms, that is, of course, also a valid approach, but in the end this is not about money! — Skolkovo is not a charitable project, is it? — It is a charitable project. None of the founders will get their money back. But for the first time in Russian history, Russian and Western businessmen have done something together, creating a real, functioning public-private partnership in which the “state and private business” link has genuinely worked. And not at all out of a desire to get money from the state into their own pockets. full text here When I read this, at first I wept with emotion. How lovely. What nobility! Kusnirovich, Mikhelson, Abramov, and Vardanyan invested their own money. Their hard-earned money. Pure as the driven snow. Let us immediately cast their bronze busts and install them on the lawn in front of the Skolkovo School. And grateful students of future generations will gaze with reverence at the stern profiles of the founding fathers who gave their last penny to Raise Effective Managers. And then I remembered: hold on a second. The Skolkovo School project costs $500 million. Of that, half is that very heart-rending sacrifice by the founders (as we can see, they have so far raised only half), and another $250 million is a loan from Sberbank. That same loan that was issued on unclear terms against unclear collateral. And both the Skolkovo School and Sberbank flatly refuse to disclose the loan terms. (After all, this is a school of a new type, a new model. So to speak, new standards of transparency.) So why did Ruben Vardanyan modestly forget to mention Sberbank’s role? Apparently it is not advantageous for him to recall the loan they took out, which, I assume (and this has not been denied), was issued on non-market terms and still will not be repaid. Why spoil his own mood? And besides, this gives one pause for thought: perhaps what we call remarkable managerial ability is really lobbying ability? Specifically, in the realm of shadow lobbying. As for me, as a shareholder of Sberbank, I am extremely surprised by the highly cynical position of Mr. Engine_of_the_Skolkovo_School. Helloooo, Mr. Engine! I would like you first to repay the loan taken from my bank, and only then describe the project as “charitable,” to be viewed from the standpoint that “in the end this is not about money.” If it is not about money—repay the loan, and then revel in your own importance. For now, this is what it looks like: - We spent more than we planned; - We miscalculated our approach to tuition pricing; - We lied to everyone that tuition costs €92,000 a year and that someone would pay it; - But none of that matters, because Sberbank will book one huge fat loss, while we will get to present ourselves not merely as post-Soviet oligarchs, but as “a socially oriented business thinking about the country’s future.” Beautiful. On November 3 there will be a meeting of the committee for interaction with Sberbank’s minority shareholders, of which I am a member. I will raise the issue in the strongest possible terms. After such sweet statements about the project’s charitable nature, no one will convince me to “just take their word for it” that the loan will be repaid on the original terms. I still propose casting a bronze bust—but not of Vardanyan and company. Of the Unknown_Sberbank_Shareholder. With the inscription: Your name is unknown, your money will not be returned.