The entrepreneur and philosopher Navickas: about three million lent to a friend and to those who should “sit”

He is an entrepreneur-philosopher who likes to search for the laws of cause and effect, who likes to think, analyze various phenomena of life, processes and find answers.

It is the entrepreneur who says value a given word and trust as an invaluable asset. That’s why he once loaned three million to a friend without a promissory note.

After learning this story, I will want to see with my own eyes that person: Algirdas Navickas, the owner of the Iris company. Due to a strange coincidence, curiosity hit him during his company’s 29th birthday.

Twins company mindaugas

There are companies whose names appear to have grown in the bloodstream. Often they are not talked about, you just know they exist as if they were a guarantor of stability. Often it would not even be said whether it is a Lithuanian company or not.

And there are such entrepreneurs: you know what kind of company you run or run, but no more.

One of those companies for me is Iris, whose sign can be seen in all major cities for almost three decades.

And one of those leaders is its founder, A. Navickas, whom he knew next to nothing about until recently.

“I don’t think people might be interested in reading about my work,” says A. Navickas, one of the founders of the bathroom equipment and finishing materials marketer Iris, which speaks in a specific dialect typical of residents of Alytus.

Perhaps someone is trying to challenge, but the interlocutor can demonstrate with facts that this company was the first in Lithuania to start selling ceramic tiles and until now has been the leader in this field.

For those who want to better understand the philosophy of the company and its manager, I suggest you visit the Iris website, which presents the company’s goals, its work style, the people who work here, harmful habits and other devices. In fact, I still haven’t seen such a funny description of the company. Here you’ll discover that the company employs an impressive number of twins, up to 30 couples, that Mindaugas dominate, why blondes are protected and appreciated, and even why the toilet takes so long.

Inspired by Dzūkija and Irenaeus’ favorite flower

The iris, in other words, the Lithuanian iris is a lily flower, whose natural color, fields and forests, is yellow. In the forests and swamps of Dzūkija right now, its own bloom.

“Little by little, my friend with whom we started this business is Irenaeus, and we call him Iri. These were the two interfaces. At the time, it was also fashionable to call companies with female names. We think: if our field is decoration related to the creation of beauty, and the iris is a flower, then it has a double meaning, ”said one of its founders when asked about the idea that dictated the name of the company.

There are three Iris partners: A. Navickas, Ireniejus Mulerskas and Tadas Zdanavičius, already mentioned by Delfi.lt.

When the men started a business, they were only good acquaintances: they studied with Tadu at the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute (now Kaunas Technical University), and Ireniejus has lived in the neighborhood of a private house near Nemunas since childhood, which residents Alytus have long called the Resort.

About Vača pintada by V. Visockis

After studying radio electronics, already working at the Alytus refrigerator factory, he was recruited by the Soviet Army.

“Ja na Vachū broad jedu, vozvrasčiajus chachačia“Vladimir Visocki sang in his song” River Vača “(” I go to Vača crying and come back crying “).

Something similar happened to A. Navickas, who found himself in Vača sung by V. Visockis.

His service in that army is already shrouded in legends. On how he got into business there and taught the locals the secrets of planting and growing potatoes.

“I served by specialty, it was related to radio broadcast communications. In those days, stationary antennas were used to transmit information every 40 kilometers. You sit in the middle of a field in a fenced area, with you about a dozen soldiers and you alone, an officer. Food delivery per month. Civilization: Vača workers’ settlement was a few kilometers away, ”Algirdas, who was already in the Soviet army after sharing his studies, shared his memories of that time.

He laughs that only the radio connection was good there, and everything else … And somehow it was necessary to survive. He had a horse to carry water, but at first the poor had to feed. Therefore, at the initiative of Algirdas, rabbits, chickens, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage and other garden items were planted.
He recalled that the women of the village went to see the host soldiers.

“They called me Gorki for a few days. And those soldiers were mostly from Leningrad, Moscow, and they really didn’t understand what to do with that land, how to care for the harvest. There was a Belarusian, so he paid for the land nearby. Once, When I go downtown, I explain to the soldiers: “They cover the beds with film at night and remove them as early as possible in the morning.” I return, the women walk and praise: “And here are the farmers, and here there are the hosts. “It turns out that there was hail and destroyed the gardens of the entire town, and my soldiers forgot to remove the film and saved the harvest,” laughs Algirdas, who became a farmer in the army.

The army major wanted the men to share the good they had raised.

“They used to say they could kill some rabbits or turn their heads, put a bucket of sauerkraut.” I had a meal, but I didn’t take it home. Since I ate with the soldiers and did not have a free ration, I contributed by buying what I needed: rabbit chickens, seeds. If he had given it to the authorities, he would have robbed everyone. If he was destined to establish an order, then that order was like that ”, Algirdas disobeyed the supremacy of the army.

So once a week all the soldiers serving with Algirdas ate rabbit or chicken. And he always had other goodies grown in the garden.

The city boy says he raised rabbits in his own home and asked his mother how to grow vegetables.

“I had to plant potatoes, I tried it close. The soldiers were surprised to say that they planted potatoes with a shovel and did not believe that we could grow them. But from the third time, the grooves were straightened, ”said Algirdas.

According to him, there was nothing else to do. He says he tried to resist fingervščinai, because then it becomes a system: “Either you resist it or you become a participant in it. You expect the soldier to follow what you said, but when you are not there, he will meet the requirements of the “old”. I fought by all means. I’m glad I left my personal weapon in Gorky’s safe because if I had it, I don’t know what it would have been like. There are few people and there have been all kinds of situations. “

Bought a runner seat

After the army, A. Navickas began working in the Alytus branch of the Kaunas Computer Technology Production Association. The computer equipment had to be repaired in the computer centers. He worked here for five years, then at Alita for three years as the head of a computer center.

At the start of the cooperative era, he initially opened a computer game room with friends in Alytus.

When economic relations with Russia were severed, two commodity exchanges were established in Lithuania: the Baltic and Lithuanian exchanges.

“After throwing away the last money, we bought a broker’s seat on the stock exchange and started trading. We traded as much as we could. But those exchanges didn’t last long,” the interviewer recalled.

During the privatization, the men collected family investment vouchers and bought the facilities of a haberdashery store in Alytus.

“We were still participating in the commodity exchange, but we were already beginning to think about specialization,” he said.

At that time, Belarusian tiles were being transported from Grodno to the Alytus market. But for them it was, it was not, and the demand was stable. The newly created entrepreneurs went to the Minsk plant to negotiate large quantities.

“It just caught our eye then. What you offer, you buy everything. We even traded Indian linoleum, which was lined with felt. Very quickly we started looking for different mosaics in Western Europe. Inflation is high, I have to think about whether to sell today, because tomorrow I will sell more expensive. Think about what to do with that money. And it seems that that threshold no longer understands how that can be, and that price keeps going up and up. And think how much that price can go up. Then the idea of ​​opening a change came up of currency in our store. At first we took the money to the bank, and then we decided: who would take it to us, if we would buy $ 400 a day today, and tomorrow we could sell it for 430. We began to keep the currency bought because the bank’s rules did not They prohibited it. We realized that this is a way to protect ourselves from inflation, “recalled the interlocutor three decades ago.

The gang did not want to be alone

During the fierce times of privatization, many groups broke out in Alytus.

A. Navickas laughs that perhaps because he was young, stupid, and therefore brave, he managed to avoid a gang racket.

However, he makes no secret that he was caught not only in sight of the enraged Plikiai gang in Alytus, but that much more serious problems arose in Kaunas when the first Iris store opened there.

The Kaunas scammers seemed to decide to tax Alytus entrepreneurs. At that time, A. Navickas requested the first independent security service in Lithuania, the Office of the Commissioners. Recordings were made during meetings with the Kaunas bandits. It was only later that the interlocutor discovered that after meeting with the bandits, the security guards secretly escorted him from Kaunas to Prienai.

“It was only after a while that I realized that I had evaluated the situation quite superficially. I did not realize what the risk was, and the Commissioners’ Office, which helped me, knew this very well. Perhaps he He also saw him young, stupid and protected me. And somehow the case of the residents of Kaunas was solved. Apparently, they were warned not to touch us and there were no problems left.

We were probably too small for the Vilnius brigade, our store was on the corner, so there were no incidents.

Local gangs appeared in Alytus. Very well said that you will have to pay.

By the way, when the scammers spoke, they didn’t say those words that would be proof of a direct racket.

He offered help if there was a problem. The conversations sounded like two normal people were negotiating a business. Although I provoked, the former commissioners registered, they explained to me that if nothing is known about the racket, it is just a dialogue about nothing, about the weather.

So they came, we talked, and three days later an explosive was placed in the window and it exploded. The glass was shattered, but no one was hit. I called the first one who came to me. I tell him: “It seems that we have agreed that he will protect us, now it is his job to find the one who did it. Because we have suffered losses, that is what will compensate them.”

It was like a game: they played theirs and I played their own games. But if I had been very scared, I don’t know how things would have ended there. It was only later that it became clear that they were mad at each other, and by placing the explosive in front of the store, one side demonstrated what it could do. But we never paid Alytus, Kaunas or Vilnius and everything ended well, “recalled the interlocutor those moments.

Dividends: only after sixteen years

Speaking to the Dzūkija businessman, it was possible to get the impression that money was flowing in the streams at the time. But the interlocutor disagrees, “It was never that we did not know where to put the money. We could buy many products, but we did not have the money. It takes a long time for that money transfer circle to turn. If you had to mortgage your apartment Private to the bank, what kind of surplus are we talking about? And it was also necessary to continue investing. We paid the first dividends when the company was sixteen years old. We always miss them. We said to the suppliers: “Can we accept that we reimburse the goods In a year? “This is how we talked to the Spanish and they agreed,” the interlocutor is still grateful for the confidence shown.

Spain and Italy are tile countries. The closest ties connected Alytus’ entrepreneurs with Spain. Iris’s first order was for 16 containers loaded with tiles. Algirdas laughs that the Spanish have never experienced this: “A buyer who has never visited them suddenly buys such quantities of tiles. They were impressed. I sent a man to see what was going on here. I would say that if we had more products, we would sell more, but we don’t have the money to buy them. Despite our rather primitive interpretations, it suited them well. And we keep our word. And they believed in us. We used to postpone payment for a year and buy other goods for that money. “

In both Spain and Italy, there are around three hundred manufacturers: among them several dozen of world fame, and around one hundred focused on the middle and upper class.

“We chose from the catalogs for the first purchase, there were completely unconscious options, but when you don’t understand it, it looks beautiful,” recalls the interviewer with a smile.

Business card – tiles

I opened the door to Iris’s boss’s office with the preconception that the products sold by the company are not cheap.

“When you say it’s not cheap, you talk about how you look. This is an unverified opinion. But nothing wonderful. We’ve also thought about it this way before: if you set up a store not in a barn, but normally it has to be expensive. Not necessarily. Most of our range is in the mid-range segment, but we also have luxury products. There are also golds and this is not a golden parody, but they are really beautiful, “says the businessman and recalls here that when he built the house was convinced that he liked it, but was not suitable at all, but there are people with different opinions, different tastes, different visions.

Iris was the first tile seller on the Lithuanian market. For those who think differently, Algirdas says: “I think someone will try to dispute this, and I even know what, but in fact, even before those 16 containers, a Swiss citizen came to us and introduced himself to a representative of fifty of those factories. He belonged to this group of first-wave sellers, those who resent everyone or sell five times as much. Then they were expelled for smart business. Switzerland has been transporting tiles from Spanish trains for an unimaginably long time. We paid the money, but I can’t imagine how he didn’t cheat on us. Apparently we were lucky. When we brought him in, no one had exchanged tiles on those scales yet, only later did he start transporting others. They have become representatives of various manufacturers, “said the owner of Iris, without naming competitors.

So much so, he says, and now no one is wearing tiles. Iris also supplies tiles to other retail chains, but they don’t want to talk about it in public.

The chips are Iris’s business card.

“It just came to our attention then. We have the most experience in this area because we have people working from the beginning. We have many other products, but we have been selling tiles for 29 years and others for only 20 years,” explains the interlocutor.

History of Chinese tiles

Among the Italian and Spanish tokens sold by Iris, you can also find German tokens. One of its strongest partners is the Poles.

The businessman says that he tried to sell tiles from other countries, but it turned out that it was not worth it: “I will tell you about the Chinese tiles. Take it, pour water and run through. I ask them why this is so. And they said, “But you didn’t say you didn’t have to.” There is no way that quality is not understood, there is no other understanding at all. Because if they want a price and they don’t tell you how to be, they will do it the way they want. It was necessary to try, but until you discover these incidents, it is not worth doing. Who needs frustrated buyers? Finding manufacturers is not difficult, everyone is happy to buy their products. We have been exploring both Brazil and the Netherlands, but sometimes it is enough to look to know that you do not have to buy. “

About the rich poor

When asked if he had ever been cheated, not resolved, the businessman mentioned a strange paradox: “And what to call cheating? If we sell without payment because there is such a market, we are always taking risks. You lose money not because someone wants to cheat, but because the buyer does not pay to count and loses it himself. But if we are talking about deliberate deception, that was not the case. But there were losses, especially in the Russian market, because the crisis came, they bowed, they could not pay. But if we put the numbers together, they are the biggest losses in Lithuania, where we mainly trade. What crises or misfortunes occurred when they affected the buyers and had the appropriate consequences. “

Even later, while walking through the sales room, A. Navickas mentioned a paradox that, according to him, he faces not only him, but also other merchants, builders or manufacturers: wealthy buyers are often late or do not want to pay anything. they have privileges and can do it.

Millions lost in Russia

Looking at the company’s annual turnover curve, impressive growth can be seen before the crisis. The years before the crisis are particularly surprising. The businessman admits that those numbers have no longer been reached.

“Before the crisis, we also participated in re-exports. We bought tiles in Spain and Italy and sold them throughout Russia. It is interesting that in that market we even competed with the producers themselves: they transported their products and we, theirs, scolded us, but there was such a game. Now we do not intend to reestablish those relations with Russia, and there is less enthusiasm, “admits the businessman.

He also quotes here the classics of Marxist Leninism, which said that when you have nothing, you lose nothing. And then things change.

“Our products are still trapped at Russian customs. Russia confiscated 10 million litas tiles, which we had purchased for this market. Local producers decided to keep accounts with those who import them and hinder and used customs to help. We won the case against the Russian customs, but the crisis began and those tiles remained in Russia, there was nobody to sell them to. To this day, those remains are. This was the biggest loss here, “said the businessman about the loss of several million litas.

Iris’s boss assured that he was still suffering not from the amount of money lost.

“The most painful thing for me in this situation is injustice. Everything was wrong there. Imagine what it means for Russia to win such a case. But for those who have succeeded, that case has no consequences, because we have not risked litigation and demanding compensation from the Russian state. I do not think it is possible to achieve this in Russia. By the way, like in Lithuania, “compared the interlocutor.

Games you don’t like

Having turned his business into the main Lithuanian cities, Algirdas has always remained faithful to Alytus. Here is your main office, here business ideas are born. He says that in Vilnius everything is too far from nature for him.

“Would living in Vilnius be more beneficial for business? If you think your business is in Vilnius, then maybe, but if you think your business is everywhere, what is the difference? After all, I work in many places, the heads of our departments are also scattered in other cities ”, the businessmen presented their arguments.

A. Navickas admits that he says he is not active in business and other activities. He says he has called repeatedly, but he has arguments for that.

“It just caught our eye then. But I really don’t understand the principles by which it flourishes there. When I work here, I know that I direct all my thoughts and efforts to one goal. So I don’t want to be superficial elsewhere, and I can’t afford to So much attention to doing something meaningful. This is the dilemma here. I can go as a guest, but that’s enough. But that’s just a moment.

Another thing is that there are people in several of those clubs and organizations who, in my opinion, if they are not already sitting behind bars, should end up there. So if I was there how should I behave?

Close your eyes and play as if we are all beautiful. I’m not saying everyone is like this. But for some, that game is suitable, and for me it is not ”, the interlocutor did not hide his position.

Written and unwritten rules

While creating the company, A. Navickas gathered a group of four comrades. There are still three working so far and there are no major disagreements between them.

“We just realized that anything could happen. We discussed principles that would mean how we would behave in the future. They were clearly defined: a partner leaving a joint venture would be in the worst position. On the other hand, we did not want the number of shares that we had outside the same. I think the principle of equality is wrong. As we constantly lacked money at the beginning of the business, we said: “The more you believe in the future of the company, the more you invest.” We have constantly increased our contributions and our structure It has been such that the one who has invested the most has control. There is another unwritten rule: resolve disputes by consensus. However, if this is not possible, the decisive voice is held by the owner of the majority of the shares, “he said. the interviewer about internal rules.

It is true that one of the comrades who started the business together decided to separate, that was the decision.

It does not bother the competition.

When asked about increasing competition, the interviewee answered the question:

“And what is the measure of competition? Until we have it, we cannot measure, so we talk about the way we see ourselves. I don’t have that vision. I have to look for evidence of whether that competition is increasing. Emotionally, I can say that, but it would already be a step to explain why you are losing. But if you don’t see it, competition is a natural condition that is and always will be. And that is natural. You can’t complain about that, because if you do, you’re complaining about life. If you fail to be better, you will be worse. And competition, taxes and government: all this is and will be, who to bother with. And if you think you can change something in the competition, you do it. “

Interested in causes and consequences

A. Navickas says that the most interesting activity for him is thinking. That thought is as much about creating positive emotions as self-expression.

“All this gives me pleasure, like flowers for my wife Laimute,” he laughs.

He is interested in the law of cause and effect, the search for a connection between these two concepts. For him, it’s interesting when considering both his new home and his client’s home and fishing, let’s say why a friend catches a fish and he doesn’t. You can look for that connection everywhere: at work, at home, in nature. And it can be done anywhere.

Three hobbies

A. Navickas, who looks sporty, confirms that sport is always with him: during his studies he was judo and karate was banned in the anime, and until now – beach volleyball.

“Since I didn’t learn to dance well in my youth, my wife Laimute and I closed the gap about twelve years ago: we danced entertaining dances,” says a businessman loyal to Dzūkija.

And the most important and constant occupation is investing in securities.

“For me, it is an attempt to take risks, touch the unknown, find something new, and the most interesting thing is to turn all the unstable and unpredictable factors into something that can be calculated and controlled.” This process is very interesting for me and the result is satisfactory ”. A. Navickas revealed another of his hobbies.

Three monologues

A monologue on millions borrowed and trust

When I was six or seven years old, a neighbor’s father approached my mother and complained that she had severely beaten her two-year-old son and asked her to take action.

Mom called me and asked the guest if that was the case. I said no. Then he said to the neighbor that he believed me. We don’t talk about it anymore.

With two classmates at my parents’ house, we were preparing for the high school exams. How much do we prepare, how much do we talk about more important issues. Around 11 p.m. The father of one of them sprouted at the door. He says, “Very well, I just came to check.”

He didn’t understand how a father could humiliate such a son. Does he and his son know anything about trust?

Trust forces. You can also lend to a good acquaintance or friend without a debt note. If you lose money, you lose a friend. Which loss is more painful? Money is just money.

Once the wife asked if we could lend her friend something, how to do it and if it was worth doing. To the question, “Would you borrow if you weren’t sure you would surrender?” She replied, “I would borrow.” We borrowed He gave up.

Monologue on politicians, government and fire in Alytus

Power that I want to believe and trust. Politics and reputation are inseparable. But I wonder if there are more than two or three politicians who protect the reputation in Lithuania.

Classical prostitution is more acceptable to me than politics, because the former is condemned and exists underground, and the latter is justified in public.

I don’t understand politicians, I don’t want to understand and I don’t trust them.

When it comes to the Alytus fire, the most important thing is that the high government fought back. What’s the difference to her, whether it’s important to provide a firefighter respirator with goggles or headphones? And the fire, in his opinion, was no longer that big. Not at the republican level, but at a lower local level. Perhaps the Alytus people could have done it themselves?

A monologue about major buyers.

Your question about major buyers was very important to me. Something initially prevented him from answering.

I always hear this question as if it were everyone’s aspiration and the grace it brings to serve the government.

I respect the authorities, but not all the specific representatives of those authorities. When a government representative, while visiting the municipality of Alytus, does not drive down the sidewalk to the door, but stops in front of the sign prohibiting traffic, then I will begin to respect him as a personality. And then I will not forget if we serve that personality in any of our stores.