By Cliff Peale
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Entrepreneurs in Russia have fewer barriers to running a successful company since perestroika became the policy of the former Soviet Union in recent decades, business owners there say.

But that doesn't make it easy.

At Delhi Flower & Garden Center, general manager David Durr guides Irina Natyokina around the grounds. (Tony Jones photo)

"It's a revolution not only in the economy, but in the mind," said Viktor Tiukin, operator of a series of car dealerships in St. Petersburg.

Tiukin is one of about 10 Russians visiting Greater Cincinnati this month, matched with a local business and housed with a local family. They want to learn not only about American culture, but also about how American businesses attract customers and get financing.

Sometimes, the learning goes both ways.

"It's great for them to come over here and see how we do it, but they often can't go back and put those things into practice, because they don't have the infrastructure," said Dave Neiheisel, president of Joseph Chevrolet in Colerain Township, Tiukin's business host for the visit.

"I've learned that doing business in Russia is a great deal more difficult than doing it here."

Those kinds of lessons are the goal of Community Connections, a program administered here by the International Visitors Council of Greater Cincinnati to bring visitors from former Soviet-bloc countries.

The program brings four groups a year here, two of them business groups. Another group is scheduled to be here this summer.

Hosting companies include Joseph, Delhi Flower & Garden Center, and Batteries Plus in Deerfield Township. The Russian participants also will travel next weekend to Washington, D.C. They have attended events here including the St. Peter & the Vatican exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center and a Broadway musical downtown.

Through global operations, big companies have learned some of these lessons. Procter & Gamble Co., for example, employs about 1,600 people in Russia - nearly all Russians - and operates a sprawling laundry plant near Moscow. Its sales in Russia alone total about $500 million a year, and are growing about 50 percent a year.

But for smaller companies, the problems of doing business in Russia are more threatening to the life of a company. For example, Irina Natyokina runs a garden and landscaping center in St. Petersburg called Seeds by Post. She now employs about 40 people at 11 locations.

At the beginning she had basic problems getting a big enough variety of seeds for her store. And the rules about running a family business were daunting.

"We started because I dreamed about owning a business. I wanted to be an owner," she said.

"We had very many rules, it was very difficult ... But it's a revolution now, and it's OK owning a business."

Tiukin said his business is doing well, with a third location slated to open this summer. He will then employ about 120 people, he said.

The fact that he's expanding means things are better.

"I hope to find some interesting directions about how I might develop my business in Russia," he said. "It was very difficult to survive at first. But right now, more or less everything is stable."

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E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com