| Sergei Vorobiev | ||||||
Big business in Russia is all about robber barons, or so the press would have us believe, but a small group of successful western-minded business leaders have banded together to lobby for change. Their goal is to make Russia a civilized country by 2015, when their children will be leaving school and looking for work.
"There are three scenarios," says Sergei Vorobiev, managing partner of Russia's branch of international head-hunting company Ward Howell and chairman of the 2015 Club. "That Russia goes to the dogs and we leave; that Russia muddles through and we stay, but our children leave; and that Russia becomes a normal place where our children want to stay. We realized that we would have to actively work towards the last scenario."
At the start, 10 men, who had become successful either competing within or against foreign companies, formed the club.