by
Barbara Kram, Editor | March 14, 2006
Diomid Bashkinov, president
of RB Enterprise Inc.
DOTmed 100 Spotlight
RB Enterprise Inc.
"I only buy, I don't sell in America. I am just a buyer for the Russian end user,"
Diomid Bashkinov said somewhat apologetically. But the president and owner of DOTmed 100 RB Enterprise Inc. is one of the few business people with the knowledge and skill to crack the complex Russian market. Its over-regulated system is a vestige of the days of the Soviet Union.
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"Government hospitals have a lot of restrictions on how they spend their money," Bashkinov explained. "Government facilities--which is 90 percent of medicine in Russia--are obligated to buy only from official representatives of the [manufacturers]...usually from authorized distributors from European offices."
RB Enterprise has peeled off just enough red tape to uncover its niche selling used ultrasound and CT equipment, parts and service information to private hospitals and to government hospitals that can tap private insurance money for those purchases.
"It's so regulated, it's very hard to sell in Russia. I've been doing this for 12 years and I still don't know everything," said the mechanical engineer and native Russian. "Not many people sell in Russia. People try but don't succeed--not because the equipment is not good or at the right price--but because more important than the quality and price of the equipment is compliance with all the regulations. Even for people who speak Russian it's very hard."
He told a typical story about importing an ultrasound machine and probes: "In order to clear a medical device through Russian customs, you need to supply a registration from the minister of health for that device. The invoice needs to comply completely with this registration," he said. "So for instance, if you register an ultrasound machine with 20 probes, but bring the machine into Russia with just four probes, they will say this is not the machine in my book because it doesn't have the right number of probes!"
His advice for others trying to sell into Russia? "Go through me!" the entrepreneur suggested.
