Cryptocurrencies will likely continue to settle into stable products, niches and uses, becoming a viable alternative to many fiat currencies. Successful Business spoke to Vladimir Vishnevskiy, the Director and co-founder of St. Gotthard Fund Management that specialises in asset management including cryptocurrency investments, for his thoughts and forecasts on the future of this market.
Why is cryptocurrency market capitalisation growing? Why do most people underestimate the importance of cryptocurrencies?
I think what we see today is a result of several factors that are currently present. One factor I would highlight is the macroeconomic situation in the world right now. With low rates and trust in government institutions arguably at an all-time low, as a result of unprecedented money printing that we have seen since the pandemic started in the US and Europe, I think the world is beginning to prepare for inflation in the longer term. This will inevitably be reflected in the price of real assets, not just classic ones like gold and real estate but also in cryptocurrencies.
It is a question of supply and demand. The fiat currencies, the ones that are issued by the central banks by just pressing a button, may soon be in oversupply. We believe that the whole monetary system that we went through in the past 40 years since the inflationary era in the 1970s, was the result of central bank independence. Whenever inflation went up, central banks raised interest rates in order to contain it. Since the global financial crisis, the supply of fiat currencies has been growing by approximately 12% per annum for more than 12 years. This is why alternative stores of value (gold, real estate, and bitcoin) are now being looked at.
On top of this, another factor that we consider key is the intergenerational wealth transfer. Just recently, there has been a survey showing that the younger generation in their 40s and 50s, who are now inheriting a lot of wealth from the Baby Boomer generation, are much more likely to invest part of their portfolio into this asset class because they see more value in it than in traditional assets like gold.
Lastly, the supply and demand relationship within the crypto sector itself has changed. This year we witnessed the “halvening” that happened in May: since then, every time a bitcoin is mined, the miner gets only half the reward compared to the period before. That obviously changes the supply significantly. At the same time, we have seen a large increase in demand because traditional on-ramps such as PayPal have embraced cryptocurrencies, and now close to 350 million of PayPal users have easy access to bitcoin through their mobiles. All of this leads to upward pressure on prices.
Why have you created the fund, and how can people benefit from participating in your activities?
The fund itself was created because our Cyprus investment office recognised a problem. Due to the negative interest rates in the Eurozone right now, we see that there are not enough investable instruments available to investors looking for a decent yield. Bank deposits do not yield anything. If one wants to invest EUR and receive a yield of 5-6%, then CCC-rated bonds (high-risk) would need to be purchased. Our company has been investing in cryptocurrencies for a while and we recognised that there was a solution within the space. From our viewpoint, investing in junk bonds is not that dissimilar a risk profile to crypto projects. Of course, the latter are riskier, but you have more upside if the project works out, and at the end of the day both are just businesses run by people. People who invested in digital projects like Facebook at an early stage did very well. The risk/ reward ratio of investing in those projects is better. So, what we wanted to provide is a simple and traditional way where people can safely invest in cryptocurrencies. Our fund only accepts euros and you do not need to buy and store cryptocurrencies, as we take care of that. More than 80% of the assets in our fund are held in secure custody which means that we not only offer a nice return and yield in terms of dividends that we may have but it is done with security in mind. Moreover, the risk is insured by a top insurance institution.
How can we make money? We have two main drivers we focus on. First is yield, so we only look at assets where a passive income-generating strategy can be implemented so that we can pay out dividends twice a year. Second is valuation; we rely on a team of highly experienced industry professionals to select projects with solid growth potential. Our investors believe in the cryptocurrency asset class as a longterm investment. They are also interested in receiving passive income as they cannot obtain it from other traditional assets anymore. Crypto assets can offer a big upside from what we have been seeing during the last 2-3 months. Gains of 100% or 200% are very much possible. This is impossible for fixed-income investments. In real terms, that is, after adjusting for inflation, if you have your money in fixed income, then most likely you are going to lose money. Assets going up in price and at the same time offering a yield are tempting for investors because they offer a less volatile risk profile than pure crypto exposure. Through the distribution of dividends every six months, in effect we are reducing the volatility of the investment. The fund will pay out its first dividend in January 2021. It has just reached an all-year high, by the way.
What is the minimum amount of investment in the fund?
€100,000.
Is there any guaranteed income? What percentage would you pay as a minimum guarantee?
There is no guarantee. Our aim is to pay out above 5% per annum (in EUR!) as a dividend, while offering our investors full participation in the growth of the crypto market capitalisation. Our fee structure is the classic 2/20, meaning a 2% management fee and a 20% performance fee with a 5% hurdle and a high watermark.
What is the investment horizon needed for an investor to invest their money, and when can they withdraw their funds if required?
The recommended investment horizon is 3 years and longer because the cryptocurrency ecosystem is still very young. The difference between our fund and many other funds is that it is liquid. Every month the investors can buy in and sell out.
Looking ahead, what is your forecast regarding cryptocurrencies over the next 12 months?
In the past two years, there has been a great deal of behind-the-scenes investment into this space from the corporate world, such as big U.S., European and Asian venture funds, especially into industry infrastructure and security. The result has been that in 2020, companies such as Square and PayPal now offer bitcoin to their customers. At the same time, big asset managers like Fidelity and smaller hedge fund managers have been supporting and buying bitcoin because they are now comfortable with the industry infrastructure available. We think that over the next 12 months, this trend will likely continue.
Calendar-based forecasts are difficult, but it would suffice to say we are very positive on the whole cryptocurrency complex. As we speak, the market capitalisation of crypto is $700 billion, and bitcoin makes up more than 60% of that. This is a very small number in relative terms. The biggest stocks from developed markets are worth considerably more. If you compare cryptocurrencies to gold, about $11 trillion worth of gold has been mined to date. This shows you the proportions that we’re talking about. The value of cryptocurrencies could rise fivefold from where we stand right now, and it would still be worth less than half that of gold.
St. Gotthard Global Fund SPC – Digital Asset Income & Growth SP
The investment objective of the Fund is to provide investors with a regular cashflow by investing predominantly in a portfolio of worldwide income-generating digital assets, with a portfolio target yield above that of traditional financial assets.
We bring to your attention an editorial article published in January issue of SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS magazine. The magazine is published on a quarterly basis since 2011.
This year is special for our magazine. We will celebrate our 10th anniversary in April. This issue is also special: for the first time in the publication's history we publish an issue in English only. It is addressed not only to the Russian business community, but to the wider expat business community of Cyprus.
VESTNIK KIPRA is known as a bridge between Russians and Cypriots. 25 years ago the first Russian-language newspaper was launched on the island: the Russian words “Vestnik Kipra” mean “Cyprus Messenger”. Our www.vkcyprus.com is the only Russian-language daily publication in Cyprus; together with our online platform, we have also kept a newspaper as a digest of the most important and interesting news and articles that we publish online on a daily basis.
The SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS Magazine was created to help the Russian-speaking businesspeople learn more about conducting business in Cyprus, new laws and regulations, analytics, forecasts, opinions, and professional analysis. Time has shown that this magazine has played an important role in the life of the business community.
We decided to publish an issue in English for two reasons. First, the issue is devoted to new technologies. In Cyprus, people of different nationalities are engaged in this sphere. We aimed to provide an opportunity to each of them to read our articles and interviews. The second reason is to expand our readership in our landmark year: we are celebrating our 10th anniversary in 2021 and we wanted to deliver a copy of our magazine that can be read by any business person on this island: Cypriot, Russian, German, Lebanese, British… anyone who lives and works here.
There is as well a digital edition of SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS. You may visit www.sb-cyprus.com to read all the articles we have in this issue. The website used to be “Russian-only”; as of January 2021, there is also a dedicated section in English.
In 2021, we also celebrate the first anniversary of the SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS Leaders’ Club. The first meeting of this club that unites business owners of different nationalities was organised in January 2020. Last year was difficult, that is why the Club’s online and offline activities were even more important for building new partnerships and extension of our members’ business network. You may read more about this club at the end of the magazine and get in touch if you share our values and goals and would like to be part of the Leaders’ Club activities.
On behalf of the entire Successful Business Magazine team, I would like to wish you all a productive and successful year 2021 and to share the following quote by Michael Jordan: “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
I would like to conclude this editorial with an ancient wisdom, one of many by Epictetus: “The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.”
Editorial Board:
Andrey Pavelko
Natalia Kardash
Igor Nossonov
Andrey Korneev
На сегодняшнем заседании Кабинета министров правительство должно утвердить новую версию бюджета страны на 2021 год. В него включили предполагаемые расходы на поддержку жителей и бизнеса, необходимую в свете нового повсеместного карантина.
В новом варианте учтены замечания оппозиционных партий, в основном, ЭДЕК и «Гражданской платформы», благодаря чему правительство должно получить еще четыре голоса в парламенте. По информации издания Philenews, в новом тексте бюджета речь идет о поддержке трудящихся и компаний в формате единовременного пособия. Интересно отметить, что в предыдущем варианте бюджета, который был отвергнут парламентом 17 декабря, не было расходов на пособия из-за нового карантина, так как сам карантин тогда еще не был очевидным фактом. Вместе с этим, несмотря на давление, которое испытывают государственные финансы, увеличились бюджетные средства на деятельность некоторых министерств, которые могут пострадать от нового карантина. С другой стороны, стало известно, что некоторые расходы, которые были заложены в предыдущей версии бюджета, в новом варианте отсутствуют ради большей экономии.
В новом бюджете выросли дотации государства молодым семьям, которые приобретают жилье за городом. Вероятно, что условия этой программы станут мягче, чтобы больше человек могли ей воспользоваться. Специальное пособие начнут выплачивать жителям сельской местности, которые работают в городах. Также бюджет предполагает больше трат на «зеленую энергетику», то есть на создание ветряных и солнечных энергетических парков с тем, чтобы покрыть потребности в электроэнергии для деревень и удаленных районов.
На социальную политику в новой версии бюджета вообще выделено больше средств, чем обычно. Оппозиционные партии заручились гарантиями правительства на введение минимальной пенсии и минимального размера оплаты труда для всех профессий с 1 января 2022 года. Минимальная пенсия будет закреплена законодательно правительственным законопроектом, который парламент утвердит перед самороспуском накануне майских выборов.
According to the Financial Mirror there are three industries that could revitalise the Cypriot economy in 2021 and beyond.
ECOMMERCE AND ONLINE SERVICES
In Cyprus, over 79% of the population now use the internet, but only 31% of Cypriots made online purchases in 2019 according to the latest data. As a result, web-based trading remains a relatively small industry in Cyprus, but this means the sector is prime for growth. In 2021, expect businesses to embrace eCommerce, this can help them attract new customers, enter business in new markets, and cut costs.
MANUFACTURING
Manufacturing now accounts for over 5% of Cyprus’ GDP. But, although the manufacturing industry is already a key driver of the Cypriot economy, its impact is only set to increase over the next decade, with experts believing that manufacturing could account for 15% of the economy by 2030. Now the government has put incentives in place for investments and provided state funding for research-oriented products. So, expect huge investments in the manufacturing sector in 2021.
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT)
The Cypriot government believes that ICT could be incredibly useful for increasing productivity and fuelling economic growth in the country. As a result, the government is investing huge sums of money in tech startups as part of the 2019-2023 national strategy on Research and Innovation known as "Innovate Cyprus". The fintech market in particular is vibrant in Cyprus, with cloud solutions particularly gaining traction. Recently, Cyta, epic, Primetel and Cablenet all began to offer cloud computing services. Although 2020 was a tough year for the Cypriot economy, there are plenty of reasons why investors and business owners should be optimistic for 2021 and beyond.
According to the Financial Mirror there are three industries that could revitalise the Cypriot economy in 2021 and beyond.
ECOMMERCE AND ONLINE SERVICES
In Cyprus, over 79% of the population now use the internet, but only 31% of Cypriots made online purchases in 2019 according to the latest data. As a result, web-based trading remains a relatively small industry in Cyprus, but this means the sector is prime for growth. In 2021, expect businesses to embrace eCommerce, this can help them attract new customers, enter business in new markets, and cut costs.
MANUFACTURING
Manufacturing now accounts for over 5% of Cyprus’ GDP. But, although the manufacturing industry is already a key driver of the Cypriot economy, its impact is only set to increase over the next decade, with experts believing that manufacturing could account for 15% of the economy by 2030. Now the government has put incentives in place for investments and provided state funding for research-oriented products. So, expect huge investments in the manufacturing sector in 2021.
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT)
The Cypriot government believes that ICT could be incredibly useful for increasing productivity and fuelling economic growth in the country. As a result, the government is investing huge sums of money in tech startups as part of the 2019-2023 national strategy on Research and Innovation known as "Innovate Cyprus". The fintech market in particular is vibrant in Cyprus, with cloud solutions particularly gaining traction. Recently, Cyta, epic, Primetel and Cablenet all began to offer cloud computing services. Although 2020 was a tough year for the Cypriot economy, there are plenty of reasons why investors and business owners should be optimistic for 2021 and beyond.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like). It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like). It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).
There has been only limited progress made in countries that have implemented a partial lockdown this winter. This means that unless the widespread distribution of the vaccine begins, we do not forecast an appreciable decline in new cases without a full lockdown.
FORECAST FOR 2021
1. The vaccines being developed and now deployed by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Astra Zeneca/Oxford appear to be the best hope of combatting the pandemic in the short term. We cannot say for certain if there are longer-term adverse impacts from the vaccine, or whether the virus will mutate or not. But as a public health response, this is presently the only rational hope for a return-to-normal scenario.
2. We do not believe enough of the vaccines will be distributed within 2021 to make a significant difference in terms of returning to “normality”. Still, this is the first step to a recovery, assuming the vaccine works and the virus does not mutate.
3. We know that the virus spreads through aerosol and liquid distribution. Therefore, we can understand that prudent policy measures against its spread include personal distancing; using face masks and possibly gloves; avoiding crowded spaces and spaces such as restaurants where being without a mask is impossible. We can infer that cities which are more congested in terms of public transport, large building blocks, frequently-used elevators and escalators, and enclosed spaces with poor fresh air circulation are all environments where the virus can spread rapidly.
4. Given (2) and (3), we believe that the first 5 months of 2021 will see high incidents of new cases, absent a real lockdown. We do not believe the partial lockdowns are effective because the rate of
5. New hope will return around MayJune as the summer season kicks in again. However, the continuing problems seen mean that tourism destination countries such as Cyprus or Greece will be lucky to receive more than 35-40% of 2019 arrivals. This is still well below break-even capacity. Nevertheless, the summer of 2021 offers the first hope of a resumption of normal life, at least for a limited time.
6. The long disruption in normal business operations means that many more enterprises will close in the first half of 2021. The only mitigation against this will be further public spending.
7. Operations in October – December 2021 will depend on the progress of vaccine distribution and public health measures still in place. We do believe that maintaining strict measures will be politically impossible given population fatigue. We will probably hit a Fourth Wave then.
8. From the summer of 2021 onwards, the focus will increasingly return to public debt and macroeconomic stability, and the economic progress of at-risk countries such as the United States, Greece, Italy, France, and others will be re-assessed with a new eye. There should be, hopefully, a strong growth resurgence in Q2 and Q3 2021 to avoid threats of a serious public debt meltdown. The long-term trends, however, are unpalatable.
Philipp Ammerman
Financial consultant, Director Navigator Consulting Group Ltd
pga@navigator-consulting.com
There has been only limited progress made in countries that have implemented a partial lockdown this winter. This means that unless the widespread distribution of the vaccine begins, we do not forecast an appreciable decline in new cases without a full lockdown.
FORECAST FOR 2021
1. The vaccines being developed and now deployed by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Astra Zeneca/Oxford appear to be the best hope of combatting the pandemic in the short term. We cannot say for certain if there are longer-term adverse impacts from the vaccine, or whether the virus will mutate or not. But as a public health response, this is presently the only rational hope for a return-to-normal scenario.
2. We do not believe enough of the vaccines will be distributed within 2021 to make a significant difference in terms of returning to “normality”. Still, this is the first step to a recovery, assuming the vaccine works and the virus does not mutate.
3. We know that the virus spreads through aerosol and liquid distribution. Therefore, we can understand that prudent policy measures against its spread include personal distancing; using face masks and possibly gloves; avoiding crowded spaces and spaces such as restaurants where being without a mask is impossible. We can infer that cities which are more congested in terms of public transport, large building blocks, frequently-used elevators and escalators, and enclosed spaces with poor fresh air circulation are all environments where the virus can spread rapidly.
4. Given (2) and (3), we believe that the first 5 months of 2021 will see high incidents of new cases, absent a real lockdown. We do not believe the partial lockdowns are effective because the rate of
5. New hope will return around MayJune as the summer season kicks in again. However, the continuing problems seen mean that tourism destination countries such as Cyprus or Greece will be lucky to receive more than 35-40% of 2019 arrivals. This is still well below break-even capacity. Nevertheless, the summer of 2021 offers the first hope of a resumption of normal life, at least for a limited time.
6. The long disruption in normal business operations means that many more enterprises will close in the first half of 2021. The only mitigation against this will be further public spending.
7. Operations in October – December 2021 will depend on the progress of vaccine distribution and public health measures still in place. We do believe that maintaining strict measures will be politically impossible given population fatigue. We will probably hit a Fourth Wave then.
8. From the summer of 2021 onwards, the focus will increasingly return to public debt and macroeconomic stability, and the economic progress of at-risk countries such as the United States, Greece, Italy, France, and others will be re-assessed with a new eye. There should be, hopefully, a strong growth resurgence in Q2 and Q3 2021 to avoid threats of a serious public debt meltdown. The long-term trends, however, are unpalatable.
Philipp Ammerman
Financial consultant, Director Navigator Consulting Group Ltd
pga@navigator-consulting.com
Центральный банк представил отчет по состоянию кредитов и депозитов в банковской системе Кипра. Жители острова охотно доверяют свои деньги банкам и берут в долг на потребительские нужды и покупку жилья.
Депозиты
Объем депозитов в кипрской банковской системе зарегистрировал чистый рост почти на 191 миллион евро в ноябре 2020 года, увеличившись до 48 миллиардов евро (с поправкой на колебания валютных курсов) по сравнению с чистым снижением на 114,2 млн евро в октябре 2020 года. Годовой темп роста составил 0,1% по сравнению с -0,5% в октябре 2020 года. Процентная ставка по депозитам домохозяйств осталась неизменной на уровне 0,09%. Соответствующая процентная ставка по депозитам нефинансовых корпораций зафиксировала снижение до 0,11% по сравнению с 0,13% в предыдущем месяце.
Кредиты
Общий объем новых кредитов зафиксировал снижение до 263,3 млн евро по сравнению с 281,4 млн евро в предыдущем месяце. Новые кредиты на потребление увеличились до 15,7 млн евро по сравнению с 14,4 млн евро в октябре. Объем новых ипотечных кредитов вырос до 96,6 млн евро по сравнению с 83,9 млн евро в октябре. Новые кредиты нефинансовым корпорациям на сумму до 1 млн евро увеличились до 42,7 млн евро по сравнению с октябрьскими 32,2 млн евро. Новые кредиты нефинансовым корпорациям на сумму свыше 1 млн евро снизились до 96,4 млн евро по сравнению с 137,2 млн евро в предыдущем месяце. Непогашенная сумма общих кредитов в ноябре достигла 31,3 млрд евро. Годовой темп роста составил -4,4% по сравнению с -4,1% в октябре 2020 года. В Центробанке отметили, что мораторий на выплату кредитных взносов, введенный указом министра финансов в марте 2020 года, оказал влияние на эти изменения.
Ставки
Процентная ставка по потребительскому кредиту снизилась до 2,96% по сравнению с 3,12% в предыдущем месяце.Процентная ставка по кредитам на покупку жилья сократилась до 2,1% (в октябре 2,14%). Процентная ставка по кредитам нефинансовым корпорациям на сумму до 1 млн евро выросла до 3,23%, а по кредитам нефинансовым корпорациям на сумму свыше 1 млн евро выросла до 2,93%.
MISSION POSSIBLE is a course of Russian language that is addressed to busy people who want to learn Russian but do not have time for regular lessons. There is a closed group in Facebook where the lessons are uploaded on a daily basis. The course is prepared in a way that the students do not need much time to follow it. They move slowly, but every day they learn something new and - with small steady steps - they progress faster than an average student who has lessons twice a week.
There are two groups - for beginners and for advanced learners.
Big Things Happen When You Do the Little Things Right
The beginners' course allows students to quickly start reading and talking in Russian. The advanced course will help to speak basic Russian with confidence, it offers mainly conversational practice. These very intensive courses give fast results because of a combination of three factors: experience and passion of your teacher, well-prepared text, audio, video materials, and modern techniques of memorizing big volumes of new data.
Every morning a video lesson will be published in this group, during the day it will be followed by 3-5 posts with theoretical information, practical advice, links to free online resources, Russian songs, movies, cartoons, documentaries. We recommend to allocate 10-15 minutes a day for your studies. If you have more time, review the materials that you have already watched, repeat the words, watch again our educational videos. If you follow this link, you can watch the first lesson of our course.
The Contents
This 90 days course consists of:
The fees
You may pay monthly - 99 euro
Or you may prepay the whole course - 150 euro
Expected results
The results for beginners: on completion of the course you will speak and read basic Russian, you'll know approximately 300 keywords, recognise in speech about 500-600 words and be able to construct over 1000 sentences using this vocabulary.
The results for the advanced group: we'll increase your active vocabulary (the words you use in speech) to 700 words and your passive vocabulary (the words you recognise in speech) up to 1000 words. You'll repeat all main grammar rules, learn by heart useful phrases and sentences.
How to join the group or ask more questions?
The nearest facebook groups start on the 1st of Febuary 2021. Please send an email to nk@vkcyprus.com or a whatsapp/viber/telegram message to +(357)99 587156, write your phone number and name. Please also indicate whether you'll join a group for beginners or a group for advanced students.
YOUR TEACHER
Busy people think that learning a new language requires years of hard work. That is why many of them do not even start, being sure that they will give up soon because they know – the main value is their time, and they do not have much time for any long-term commitment. This course was created to help.
Many businesses have Russian clients. Executives need to take these clients out for lunches and dinners, need to network not only with business people but with their families and friends. Basic knowledge of Russian would facilitate these duties, good knowledge of Russian would help to get new clients and friends.
How many times have you thought it would be nice to know some basic Russian? I’d like to say – the time has come! Do something about it!
Natalia Kardash
Information about the teacher, author of the course:
VESTNIK KIPRA COMMUNICATIONS GROUP is a group of companies working with the Russian community of Cyprus. The most important fields of activity are publishing, education, event management, PR, consulting in business development and communications. The newspaper VESTNIK KIPRA offers all local Cyprus news in the Russian language, the SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS magazine provides the Russian-speaking businessmen in Cyprus with the latest information, several websites and social networks are updated with recent Cypriot news.
CONTACT DETAILS:
Natalia Kardash
e-mail: nk@vkcyprus.com
Tel. (whatsapp, viber): +357 99587156
Feedback, comments and recommendations from students from beginners’ and advanced groups
I absolutely loved this course and I’m glad I made this decision; it is probably the best I have made. I have been wanting to learn Russian for quite some time now but never made the first step thinking it was intimidating. This course has not only taught me how to speak and write in Russian but also to sing and think.
It is amazing how Natalia indeed managed to keep everyone interested and alert, looking forward to the next lesson. I found this course to be very helpful down to every detail, Natalia is very methodical and has put together an incredible series of material. The course is interactive using graphic material making it fun to study and learn.
Maria Economidou
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The results are amazing. What has been achieved in 30 days is formidable! Natalia has a wonderful teaching system that really works. I have been communicating with my clients and colleagues in Russian and the impact was significant.
Everyone appreciated my new skills and they could not believe that I have been learning Russian only for a month. It seems that with these lessons a new universe of opportunities opened both in my business and personal life. I would definitely recommend this course to others. Natalia is very professional and enthusiastic, her method of teaching makes learning Russian relatively easier.
Dengiz Kursat
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I found important Natalia’s warmth, positive approach and general enthusiasm. Russian is very scary so creating a feel good/comfortable atmosphere is very helpful to learning.
This course is an excellent gateway to Russian led by a warm and enthusiastic teacher. We not only learned loads of great vocabulary and useful phrases but also got an insight into Russian culture and geography.
Thoroughly recommended.
Tim Drohan
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This course is different from others. I will recommend it from all my heart!
It has nice presentations, with many and diverse information not just about grammar and language, but about the culture, history, geography, mentality.
And the fact that one of the main activities is constant repetition, gave us confidence and made the lessons seem much easier.
Flori Moisa
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Natalia Kardash courses teaching Russian to beginners are the best value one could find! The online course was excellent. My Russian-speaking family members were quite surprised at the progress I made in 30 days.
Natalia Kardash herself as a teacher, her methodology and her personalized approach is the difference between this course and others. She is with her student every day, bright, smiling, cheery and full of enthusiasm. Perhaps the most important element is her positive attitude, always pushing forward, accepting students' mistakes without showing any frustration. Always encouraging, never criticising, helping her students get over their difficulties.
Leonard Delunas
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Joining the advanced group was a great opportunity for me to refresh my Russian vocabulary and grammar and be able to adapt in real life conversations that will be useful in the future for my development.
It goes without saying that I will recommend to other students. The personal approach and the attention to the personal needs of each student makes all the difference.
The course is tailored made to the exact needs and specifications of each group and what they want to achieve in the long run.
Christophoros Teggeris
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Most important was the timing of the course and its compact duration. One month’s time – I found it very attractive.
I would definitely recommend the course to my friends. It was well structured, well presented, compact and productive.
Best investment I could have made with my time during one month!
Vrej Bekarian
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The course was very interesting and helpful. I recommend it to other people who are interested to learn Russian. The most important for me in this course was the fact that I could study from the comfort of my house and at the time I choose.
I value and appreciate Natalia’s patience to help me with any difficulties I had. I am convinced that basic knowledge of Russian is helping much in business, I am Hyatt hotel manager, we have many Russian guests. Withing a month I could learn enough words to start “small talks” without clients.
Yiannakis Ioannou
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The course was well planned, learning materials are easy to access with the basic objectives of training, particularly audio that can be downloaded and listened to offline.
Natalia is a fabulous teacher, I am looking forward to taking more online classes. Our teacher loves interacting with us, she is teaching with passion, excellent preparation, flexibility, organizations skills, intensive work.
I liked learning about geography and history that I have never found in other courses.
Anna Luciano
Please watch samples of video materials used during the course MISSION POSSIBLE
Sample of a video that is usually used during an intensive course "Russian in 1 month" but will be given free of charge as additional material to the students who'll subscribe to Mission Possible course.
Sample of a reading lesson (there are 8 lessons like this) that allow people who do not know Russian to start reading easy words within the first 7-10 days of the course.
Sample of an introduction video that is offered before students watch a part of the movie offered during the course. There are 8 lessons like this, and 8 parts of the movie that help to increase your vocabulary.
This is the way we learn new words. There are 20 lessons like this, they help to learn 100 first words.
This is a sample of a lesson that helps people to learn Russian questions.
