“The situation with freedom of speech has not affected the work.” An apolitical bookmaker from Ukraine left the market from Belarus because of the war, being satisfied with Gleb the ambassador – On the spirit of the times – Blogs
They will see if Belarus will meet “in the mainstream of the upper strata of the population.”
In the 2.5 months since the start of the war in Ukraine, hundreds of foreign companies have left Russia and Belarus, not wanting to work on the territories of the aggressor countries and, in fact, financially corresponding to hostilities. In early March, FAVBET, one of the priority companies in Europe specializing in betting and gambling in Belarus, decided to end its activities in Belarus. FAVBET was created in Ukraine and continues to operate in this country during the war.
Tribuna talked to the head of the company’s PR department, Ksenia Tyurikova, about leaving the Belarusian market and the possibility of returning to it, the closure of the Belarusian branch of the Ukrainian portal SportArena, and patriotism.
– The international group FAVBET was founded in 1999 in Ukraine. Over the years, experience has been gained, understanding of the vector of brand development, its strength in different locations and the extent to which the audience of locations is interested in the products we supply. The logical stage of development was the entry into the markets of post-Soviet countries. In 2012, Belarus was chosen for operation. In this country, the brand was presented offline and online: we are talking about our own networks of betting halls, partner cash desks, including casinos, advertising and marketing products.
In December 2021, we made the decision to close the offline network. This was dictated primarily by the concentration on the online segment.
– A few months later you completely left Belarus. Why?
– This is the position of the business and the whole team. The business was founded in Ukraine, and in this situation we do not require the moral right to comply with the requirements.
Was this decision difficult?
– This is an essential part of the life of the brand, given the large amount of invested resources. The FAVBET brand is closed in Belarus as such: a refund has been implemented, wages have been paid, taxes have been paid. Today the brand is successfully developing in other, democratic markets.
– Did the people who collaborated with you in Belarus remain in your audience?
– Some people from Ukraine, of course, remained – we do not abandon our own. Potentially paid off, paid all due amounts.
– Maybe some of the Belarusians stayed to work in the company, for example, remotely?
– Yes, there are some. Many Belarusians left Belarus before the war and are successfully working on other projects of the companies. In fact, now there are dozens of people.
– When the company a decision was made to leave the Belarusian market, did all employees accept this news with understanding? Or were there still people who adhered to the position that this should not be done?
– FAVBET is a brand that was born in Ukraine, therefore, of course, all our thoughts are with Ukraine. If we are talking in general about the company’s attitude to the events in Ukraine, to the Russian attack, including with the territory of Belarus, then our position was unequivocal. Moreover, many employees of our company were located in the territorial defense and armed forces of Ukraine. And when the question arose whether he left Belarus or not, there was no doubt. We have a very patriotic country and company.
The only question that people had was how you discussed the processes further and in a way that did not offend customers and employees. We found an approach to the client, with the help of professional communications and dialogue, convincingly convinced that no one belongs without money. Within a month, the IT team, for example, did everything to make delicate decorations bear any consequences.
– Is the decision completely balanced, or is it an emotional concentration against the background of the war?
– The emotional component has already met, but met with a cold mind and a clear war after the start. FAVBET is a large international company where decisions are made carefully, after discussion by the top management of the company. Naturally, the company suffered significant financial damage, but reputation and life are priceless.
– Recently, the Ukrainian sociological group “Rating” held poll the attitude of the country’s citizens towards world leaders, given the negative attitude towards Alexander Lukashenko, is 96 percent of the respondents. Does your company also have a negative attitude towards Lukashenka?
We have not conducted such a survey. Our company was apolitical and remains so. We do not make harsh statements in the direction of parties, presidents, regimes. But we have a positive attitude towards the majority of Belarusians.
– Did you feel comfortable working in Belarus after August 2020, or did you already know then that you need to change something?
– We tried to take a position of neutrality, without politics. In fact, they were surrounded by business. It is no secret how the situation with freedom of speech is in Belarus, but this has not affected the work of the company in any way. Nevertheless, after August 2020, in the light of all the events that began and are observed now, we began to realize cases of change.
– One of your ambassadors in Belarus used to be a football player Alexander Gleb. What will he say about participating in cooperation with him?
– FAVBET cooperates with American teams, federations and sports ambassadors in each country of its representations. In our company, Belarus was a partner of a number of football clubs (Dynamo Brest, Rukh, Arsenal, Isloch), outstanding football players Artem Milevsky and Alexander Gleb were FAVBET ambassadors. Gradually curtailing business in Belarus, the company, of course, reduced affiliate programs and did not prolong contracts.
As for Alexander Gleb, we are very pleased with the cooperation. He showed himself to be a true professional, the same as on the football field. We repeated the contract with him in 2019, it was designed for two years. During its existence, there were a number of interesting projects. The film “Our BREAD” was created (according to a source with the leading state TV Anna Eismont, whose phone signal was recorded on Ploshchad Peremena on November 11, 2020, on the evening when Roman Bondarenko, who later died from an injury, was beaten there – approx. Tribuna.com) the film “Our BREAD” – about the history of the legendary football player.
– Your company was infected by the Belarusian branch of the Ukrainian sports website SportArena. After the start of the opening of the site sportarena.by, there is a lot of work. Why?
– FAVBET was excluded and received some degree of exclusive partnership project. According to the chosen model, FAVBET’s expenses for placing direct advertising and other image manifestations were sufficient for sportarena.by’s infrastructure: payment of salaries, payment for servers, photobanks, and other expenses. With the departure of FAVBET from the Belarusian market, after the analysis, it was concluded that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find the same partner – in the future, in the near future. That is why it was collectively decided to close the project (on the site sportarena.by from the moment the work is completed until the closing time, it is called that “Ukrainian media resource [SportArena] not with the position of the UK of the Republic of Belarus in supporting the aggressor country and promoting perfidious agreement with Russia in Ukraine” – ed. Tribuna.com).
At the same time, sportarena.by was an absolutely free project in terms of editorial and commercial policy. We especially know that the editors of the Ukrainian SportArena supervised more in the foreground: exclusivity in style, forms of providing materials, design, technical aspects, and so on. They didn’t even interfere. Moreover, the team in Belarus was very reliable and professional.
– So far, as far as I understand, FaverageBET is not going to return to Belarus?
– Until the direction of the vector of development of Belarus in the mainstream of the upper strata of the population, we do not even discuss the return. We help the Ukrainian army and at the same time refuse those projects that contribute to the financing of aggression. We will never work in a country where part of our taxes will go to support the army involved in the aggression against Ukraine.
A photo: betting ratings.ru