It’s good to have a business in a village. How to arrange woodwork with shipping to Europe

Vadzim Agalets established a woodworking enterprise in Hantsavichy District, where even state organizations are closing, and delivers goods to England and Germany. “Posrednik” left for Malkovichy in order to find out how one can develop godforsaken places.

The population of Hantsavichy District is about 30 thousand people. The majority of population is villagers. Economic situation is devastating. Many state enterprises are closed, including the once famous vegetable dehydration plant. The conditions are not the most favorable for a private business. However, a local businessman Vadzim Agalets managed to create a company that gets stable profit and exports goods to Europe.


“The city is cramped; it pressures me a little bit”

Malkovichy village is situated near a Hantsavichy-Luninets trunk road, whereas a woodworking enterprise “AversLes” is situated just near this road in a sandy wasteland. A few years ago this place had only an ownerless building of a service centre with no windows and no roof, but now the place is hustling and bustling with work: machines are buzzing and it smells of freshly sawn wood.

Vadzim Agalets is a modest man and is sincerely perplexed by the attention that his enterprise gets from journalists. He was born is a neighboring village Lusina. Before he started his own business he had been working in militia for 15 years. After finishing an industrial technical school in Pinsk he served in the Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR) in Minsk to stay and work there for 5 more years before being transferred to Hantsavichy: “I felt cramped there; the city pressures me a little bit. I love freedom, being in my own house and being a boss to myself”. He worked at a local police station and at the Department of Protection. “Here we have preferential pensions and can get them as early as at the age of 45. Of course, I’m not getting mine and won’t be getting it soon,” – laughs Vadzim.
Vadzim started his own business in his native village about 10 years ago, when he got interested in timberwork.

With time Vadzim decided to make money out of his skills. “I had a free lot near the house of about 0.45 hectares; so I registered it in my name for industrial use, installed a power station there, executed documents on ecology, and started working, - he tells. – First we were producing windows, doors, and garden and kitchen furniture. There were three of us on the staff”. However, gradually the choice of goods was amplifying, their quality was improving, and there no longer was enough space for production.


“There was nothing here at all”

The territory of the service centre in Malkovichy proved to be the perfect variant for production: it has a trunk road, a railway station, and an electric power substation nearby. However, it wasn’t that easy to acquire this building. “We used to handle the situation so that our district executive committee was selling ownerless buildings for one base amount, - tells Vadzim. – Initially, when I got this idea, I came to the district executive committee to be promised that I will be able to execute all documents. But afterwards, when we started studying the documents, it turned out that the building is not ownerless. To be qualified as ownerless it has to be kept in standby for 5 years so that to get ruined a little and get filched. The only thing left to do was to buy the building by auction at a tidy full price”.



Vadzim passed into the possession of a shop with the old sawmill at the territory of the service centre. Before him this building was rented by other people who tried to arrange industry there. “Three-four people rented it including some Minsk-based company. All of them worked in the same sphere – they were working with timber”. However, none of the businesses survived, and first the villagers were skeptical about the undertaking of another businessman.

But Vadzim started equipping the workshop. “Everything that was there was old, depreciated, and impossible to restore. The units that used to be there are no longer produced. I threw it all out and replaced with new equipment. Well, not absolutely new, but with the one that works”.

Vadzim says it’s hard for him to account for all misfortunes of his predecessors. But he notes that not everyone who starts a business is able to plan and see the real situation: “One should realize that results won’t come immediately; not even in the first year. It would seem that after you earn some money everything would be all right. But it’s not so; it is only getting more and more complicated. One cannot relax in this business… I have a staff and numerous clients that I cannot let down”.

Round timber

“We don’t throw away a chip”

Now the enterprise produces the entire spectrum of wooden construction materials. Practically everything is made from wood: patterned bar, roof-beam system, batten, blockhouse, imitation of bar, wall paneling, decking, and all production for building bathhouses. According to the owner, the peculiarity of “AversLes” manufacture is deep processing of wood.


It is the deepest wood processing from all possible. There are organizations that only deal with storing up wood or only with sawing, drying, planning, and making ready-made products or providing transport services.

Deep processing enables one to use forest resources carefully. Vadzim is concerned about quick and unpractical deforestation in the district. All timber from the territory of his enterprise, however, is transformed into ready-made production, and not a chip is thrown away. “I know about one plant not far from here that produces pallets from chips that go for fuel. We know what to do with waste products”.

Apart from that, such production method helps to get away from rivals. “We don’t have those who are involved in deep processing anywhere close to us. They just saw timber to get raw materials”. In general, the relations with rivals are good, Vadzim says.

An indoor workshop

“First Englishmen ask for photos of cabins for workers, where they eat and change into work clothes, and only after that they ask for product samples”

Apart from Belarus and Russia, “AversLes” also sells ready-made production to England and Germany.

“We don’t even need to export it anywhere; everything sells here, - assures Vadzim. – Even in the nearest districts: Hantsavichy, Luninets, and Pinsk. Now we sell our production at a construction market in Brest”.

Nevertheless, demand for production went outside Belarus’ borders.

Active sales to Russia were going on for some time. Later building materials became cheaper there; but now, because of the sanctions and fall of the Russian ruble, many Russian enterprises are standing, whereas demand for building materials is still high. Market is open again for “AversLes”. “It pays to sell certain produce there. One doesn’t have to pay VAT on exported goods, so work for export is advantageous in general”.

The enterprise didn’t specifically look for markets that are situated far abroad, but didn’t miss such opportunity when it appeared. It is already two years that “AversLes” exports decking to England and fence screens to Germany.



Cooperation with England has also started through some acquaintance Vadzim had with a man, who exported wicker baskets to Europe. And that is where demand for decking appeared. “Last year we sent one lorry with the produce to England and it came to the client’s liking. We will be working with England during the next season, too”. Vadzim tells about the cultural differences in the approach to production.


Vadzim approves of such approach: “They want the worker, who produces goods, to be satisfied. It indicates something to them. They understand that no one will let them down or deceive them. It’s a little different in our country. We want to have money and have goods, no matter where and in what conditions they were produced. However, there is certain relation between conditions and result. If I was buying something I would also get interested how it is produced”.

The territory of the enterprise

“No one conceals how much they earn”

Business in rural area has a number of peculiarities. Vadzim says that it would be more expensive in urban setting, whereas he has his enterprise near the developing pieces of woodland, which permits to save money on travel expenses. “AversLes” is closely cooperating with forestry: the company provides services for developing pieces of woodland and gets round timber for the earned money.

The enterprise also has a peculiar situation with the staff: it doesn’t always have manpower on site. Alcoholism is a nuisance for many directors. However, Vadzim managed to establish an active and united team, so there are people who have been working with Vadzim since the first day.

The majority of workers come from Lusina village. Special transport gets them to Malkovichy (about 15 km) to work. “Every morning an UAZ bus takes the workers from Malkovichy to drive them home together. It is both convenient for me, since no one is late and there is no need to look for my workers anywhere; and both good for the wives, who thank me for driving their husbands directly back at their houses, so that their husbands don’t get engaged in something”.

All the other members of the staff come from Malkovichy. Mainly these are the members of the local Baptist Church. “A presbyter of this church has been working with me, so he brought up his parish. I am satisfied with their work; they are never late. If they need something they always ask and do not take anything without permission”.



The problem of stealing in the enterprise is dealt with openly. “I never refuse to give some board or nails to anyone. The workers know that it is easier and cheaper to ask, since no one will say no. There is no sense in stealing”.

Workers get an average Belarusian salary, and bonuses are distributed on the basis of work result of each worker and of profit as a whole. The workers get full benefits package.


“They [the workers] see everything and understand that no one is hiding anything from no one. It encourages them to earn bigger bonuses. I don’t pay them bonuses on the sly, but do it openly for them to see how much each of them earns”.


“I operate machine tools as well as work on manipulators”

During the working week Vadzim can be easily spotted in a workshop or in the street in working clothes. Visitors do not recognize a boss in him.



“I cannot absent myself from work. The workers have already used to my constant presence together with them, so if there is some problem they immediately ask me how to deal with it. I suggest and show them some solution. I know where and which board goes; where can I get it, and where can I find something. The workers know that it’s impossible to trick me and dodge with me”.

During the working hours Vadzim rides his UAZ off-road, which is the most suitable transport for the local roads: “It is convenient if I need to drive to a piece of woodland”.



Vadzim is keen on hunting, but not always finds time for his hobby. “My friends are surprised: it seems that I am a boss to myself, and can arrange a day-off whenever I like… My son is growing up, so my plan is that he will be busy with the company, while I will be busy with hunting”, - laughs Vadzim.


Plans for developing the godforsaken place

Vadzim demonstrates small cozy hotel rooms that he has equipped in a non-production building of the former service centre. For now he doesn’t earn money on that; the rooms are for friends and acquaintances. But he plans to open a recreation area for truckers and motorists there. “I will open a parking lot for vans and for any type of cars here. There are showers and rooms for those, who want to rest”.

A hotel room

The ground floor is under renovation: there will be a banquet hall with a kitchen. The plan is to rent it out for celebrations and corporate events. In future Vadzim would like to build a manor house nearby. “And here, - Vadzim shows up at wasteland, - we want to lay out a park”.
A lodge for a guard is lined with timber and looks like a summer rest house much admired by those who enjoys secluded rest and wild nature. Inside there is a berth, a TV-set, a microwave oven, an electric kettle, and Internet. “Soon we will put such houses on the market”, - says Vadzim.

A lodge for a guard

“It’s cheaper to work honestly”

They say that it’s almost impossible to run a business honestly in Belarus, but it seems that Vadzim manages to do it. Employees and villagers speak of him with deep respect and find him to be a man of high principles and attentive to the needs of other people.


In the future Vadzim wants to upgrade the equipment and mechanize the enterprise. As to the present problems in the economy, the main thing is to hold out and not to stop the production.