Olga Yurchenko is a successful businesswoman and a happy mother of three children. At the same time, she shows an active life position, cares about the city in which she lives, and worries about its future.
We decided to learn more about her thoughts about Odessa and life principles in general.
Olga, you expressed very vividly in social networks about the revival of Odessa. Tell me, why do you think that now is the right time for the revival of Odessa?
Today, unfortunately, there are such events that make people think about the imperfections that surround them. Odessa is a tourist city, there are always a lot of people here. This is a model, and not only a city where fun, rest and sun reign, but it is a territory with a rich history, where there are a lot of beautiful places and absolutely authentic people, characters, cross-religious and inspired. At the same time, Odessa can be better - it is very beautiful and should be preserved as it is. It depends on many factors, partly not on us, because there are many visitors here. But if you respect and love your home, those who enter it will respect your home.
It is necessary to revive now, first of all, historical buildings - museums, and courtyards that show authentic Odessa. In addition, there are a lot of residential buildings and areas that are in a deplorable condition and nobody pays attention to them until something bad happens. It seems to me that at least 30 percent of the general old fund must be resuscitated. Yes, it is very difficult, these are dilapidated buildings that were built a long time ago and using second-line technologies. Here, most likely, it is necessary to select a team of people who clearly technologically understand how to do it, so as not to cause any damage.
Today they say that the entire historical center must be preserved. Someone says that it should be made completely pedestrian, someone says that you should fight for every stone. What do you think should be done with all these buildings, and do they all need to be preserved and in what condition?
My personal opinion is that the center cannot be built up, it is excluded. It is useless to do some external repairs and restoration in the case of Odessa, since sooner or later it will have to be redone from the inside. In our case, I noticed that such a technology is often used - the building is completely demolished, the facade is preserved, the project is completely preserved and it is restored in its original form
Do you prefer the option when one wall is left?
No. That is, each building has its own architect, its own project, and, of course, we understand that no one is reconstructing these buildings with budget funds. This is business, these are companies that will continue to use these objects for good purposes. I believe that they should be preserved in their authentic form. How it will happen technologically depends on the contractor company.
I believe that it is necessary to preserve historical values and in any case not to make another club option. In the circle of my communication there are companies that are interested in entering and working on the territory of Ukraine. Odessa, in general, territorially, is a very interesting and profitable city for business, including investment. And I believe that such projects should be implemented, but I would organize them in a slightly different way - every large business that exists in the territory of our city can allocate some percentage for the preservation of territories. What the city government cannot do, the business must take on. There are many beautiful places that need to be refined and restored. If it is divided territorially, I believe that this is an absolutely real project, where everything can be done in the context of the budget plus business support.
And what is the investment appeal?
This is a port city, this is a monumental import, there are no logistics costs, customs processes are more dynamic. And then, there are quite a lot of tourists and people who like Odessa, they not only want to have housing here, but also to find prospects in business.
You talk a lot about how it would be possible to help the garden. Have you ever thought of going into politics?
I was involved in politics for a while - I can't say that I liked it there. For me, politics is a little different from what is happening now in our country. But if you take the correct understanding of what a politician should be, then yes, the idea is interesting. Diplomacy, foreign economic relations, the fact that you can do something for the good. Plus, it gives an opportunity to help other people, there are some social projects that, being a businessman, are more difficult to organize. From there it becomes easier. But our politicians engage in PR for budget funds, the same built benches, repaired fences or reconstruction - this must be done a priori, we pay taxes for it. Everyone can come and shout: "I'm very cool, I spent your money there", but to bring money from the outside and make everything work for the benefit of society - you have to make an effort.
Speaking of investments, tell us how you got involved in the perfume business?
The beginning of my career was related to trade, I went from a merchandiser to a manager, a territorial manager and a national manager. I understood the entire product branding system and how this product works. At a certain stage in my life, I realized that I could and wanted to run my own business. And so, it turned out completely by accident, I started cooperating with the Ajmal company (UAE) with her and my career began, later I connected all the oriental perfume brands, registered the trademark and we started to deal with distribution, which is still working today.
In 2014, when tragic events began in our country, it so happened that I was invited to another project, which gave me the opportunity to register my charity fund and help those families who were forced to move from the east of the country.
And how does your investment activity work?
Naturally, any person involved in business wants a certain growth, and I am no exception. If I see any promising projects, I take them on. To say that a talented person is talented in everything is probably not the point, but very often very interesting projects come to me from outside. I started attending various investment-oriented events in different spheres of activity. And very often different requests are received. That is, I am a kind of connecting link between the foreign economic market and what Ukraine can and is capable of. I have a circle of people and companies who want to work in Ukraine, but for one reason or another they cannot, so I registered a company engaged in investment activities.
Tell me, are you a workaholic?
It's been seven years since I even asked myself this question. My morning begins with work, and my night ends with work, and in my sleep I also periodically work. But, I really enjoy what I do. Of course, sometimes there are some mistakes, some force majeure situations, but I perceive all this as certain life lessons that every businessman goes through in one way or another. Business is subject to risks, but those who do not take risks will never rise.
When do you have time to take care of your family? You have 3 children... When do you find time for them?
Each woman realizes herself in a different way: someone is happy to be a housewife, cooks delicious food, is engaged in raising children, someone is happy in business, in what he does, someone is happy to be a loving woman without children and fully devote himself to his man Therefore, it cannot be said here that if a woman does not spend 100% of her time with her children, she is a bad mother. Every child will be happy next to a happy mother.
When my youngest daughter was about 2 and a half years old, I had to go to the United Arab Emirates for six months. I left for the first time, my mother was with the children, and I was very worried. When I returned, my eldest daughter told me that "the most important thing is that you be happy."
They are, of course, already used to it. Yes, they are always bored, but I want to show them an example with my work, my aspirations and my results. I always say to children: "The whole world is at your feet, everything you want is possible." They look at how I work and I really hope that they will achieve even greater success.
I really want my children to have a good education and a happy future, so everything I do is for the benefit of my children. It is very important to me that they grow up to be people with a capital letter. Educated, polite, with a sense of honor and duty, first of all, to themselves.
How do you resolve conflicts with people? Do you have conflicts with people, in business, or with your life partner?
No, I'm not hysterical. I can get upset, I can be silent for a while, but I never start scandals. If the conflict occurred in business, then I must have arguments why the truth is on my side, and I will explain it. Of course, the conversation takes place on a more serious note, but there were no shouts or the like in my practice.
In addition, you touched on the topic of a partner: I will never say something like "you got me", or something similar, I was brought up differently. In my family, my father was the most important and most important person. Until he sat down at the table and allowed us to sit down, we did not sit down - and we also did not get up from the table until he got up. Of course, a man in a family is the basis, the backbone. If the daughter has respect for her father, everything will always be good for her, because this will be the right relationship with the world around her. In addition, I always remember that "a word is not a bird - you will not catch it if it flies", and people often let themselves down on emotions.
How can we learn to be conflict-free and solve problems if we do not know how to do this at the level of the family, not at the level of the Verkhovna Rada?
Unfortunately, we have an internally unstable situation. People are angry and upset, they are in bad conditions. Even if there is no conflict, the surrounding people can show aggression. I recently got into a minor accident through no fault of my own, and the people who were on the street, not understanding anything, were already leaving with aggression: "What, couldn't they find a second place?". There is no sympathy, no sympathy, no mutual respect. I always say: if a person behaves aggressively on the road, or is simply angry and behaves in a non-standard way, you don't know what happened in his life, what tragedies happened. We must see the value of a person, understand that this is the same person as you. It doesn't matter if he is homeless or drives a Maybach - absolutely all people deserve attention. And if you can help, then on your part, you must do it.
