According to a survey conducted earlier this year, excursions to industrial enterprises are among the most popular activities for our members. Responding to these wishes, the Club decided to put more focus on industrial excursions this year and arrange for members to visit famous Belarusian companies, as well as our members’ production sites.

The season of industrial excursions in our Club has been opened by visiting the Belarusian Automobile Plant in Zhodino on April, 29. During this excursion every member could have a look at the heavy machinery production with his/her own eyes, and see the pride of Belarusian auto-industry – Guinness Book of Records the biggest dump truck in the world BelAZ – 75710 with nominal capacity of 450 tons.

In order to keep within 1,5 hours of sightseeing, it is necessary to move around the territory of the plant, where more than 9000 people work, by transport, in our case – by bus. This allows you to get an idea of the scale of the plant-city in a short period of time, as well as get acquainted with current and historical achievements of BelAZ.

The strongest impression, of course, leaves the exhibition area of the plant, which presents samples of vehicles produced by the plant with the lifting capacity from 30 to 450 tons. The stand provides an excellent background for impressive photos, both next to the giant machines, and on the machines themselves, which our participants could not resist taking advantage of. You can also have a look at the experimenting workshop for assembling extra-heavy dump trucks, and see one more example of BelAZ-75710, but in an unfinished state.

Besides the main attraction of the plant – the giant machines themselves – the excursion plan included a tea party with special local biscuits in the shape of a BelAZ dump truck, and also a visit to the plant’s history museum, where we could learn the plant’s history, watch a video about BelAZ trucks working in quarries, and appreciate the plant’s equipment and gifts from all over the world. At the end of the excursion the participants could make a wish, holding a key of a huge BelAZ dump truck in their hands – according to the factory legend, the wishes made “on the key” will come true for sure. And a souvenir mini-BelAZ presented to everyone will be a visible reminder of this excursion.

We hope that our trip to the BelAZ plant pleased both small and large participants and set everyone up for the next events, as another visit to the industrial plant is already planned!

“There are more registered small entrepreneurs per 1,000 people in Belarus than in the EU”. And “The emergence of ‘hidden champions’ was only possible because we did not have privatisation”. Those two statements by our referent and guest of honor Pavel Vladimirovich Daneiko are very peculiar and seemingly contradict everything we, as it seems, know about the Belarusian economy.

Why these statements surprisingly accurately reflect the state of things in Belarus and how they give the opportunity to look at the events in the country and its current status quo from a completely different angle – this and many other things the Club members could learn thanks to the report of our expert, filled with unambiguous and non-standard statements. Pavel Vladimirovich told not only about macroeconomic processes, but also about the history of formation, strengths and weaknesses, strategies and emerging problems of the private sector, especially small and medium enterprises in Belarus. In doing so, he presented a sometimes unexpected but interrelated picture of the situation in the country. The presentation was followed by a lively discussion, during which the topic of the report was explored in more detail, so that Mr Daneiko’s presentation became a kind of master class for all present. Our guest presentation is available to Club members in the “For Members” section.

Also during the evening the Club expressed special thanks to Office Solutions company and its General Manager Alexander Shalaiko for the gift of 2 modern, ergonomic office chairs to the Representative Office of the Club. This gesture was a kind of praise and acknowledgment of the work done, and also a stimulus for further active work.

The Club will be repaying the trust placed in it with an unusually large number of events this month. Thus in April our members can choose between five events.

The evening traditionally ended with relaxed networking and exchanges as part of a festive buffet.