Ulf Schneider celebrates 15 Years in the East

Back to News

Moscow, 10 August 2016 – Managing Partner and Founder of SCHNEIDER GROUP, Ulf Schneider, recently celebrated his 15 year anniversary of being in Moscow and the East. On this occasion he reviewed his accomplishments and contributions in the Russian-speaking countries

In 2001 he arrived to Moscow as the CFO of the global insurance company, Allianz. Having completed his main projects, he decided, in 2003, to stay in Russia and open his own business. He founded a company, at that time named RUSSIA CONSULTING, to support foreign companies with Russian accounting. The company grew rapidly over the years, adding more service lines to its portfolio and opening offices in St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Almaty, Minsk, Warsaw, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Aktau, Berlin and Astana. His various other activities in Moscow and in the other regions also began to increase.

Early on he started to support Malteser Moscow, a charity of Germany origin that assists citizens of Moscow and the surrounding areas in need. Both personally and through his company, he not only sponsored their activities financially but also through active participation in and promotion of their activities.

Additionally, he supports several charity projects via the Rotary network, through which he has also discovered new regions and businesses that have influenced his own work.

Travelling is one of the big advantages that has accompanied his professional success, and Ulf has often combined business trips with the opportunity to get to know other countries. He has also fallen in love with many regions of Russia, and Lake Baikal is a place that has become particularly close to his heart. He made several close friends there with
“My job in Moscow and the East actually helped me in global thinking, embedded in acting locally.”
“Malteser in Moscow does an excellent job for people in need and gives thousands of Muscovites new hope in their life. I am proud I have a chance to support them.”
“Rotary accompanied me almost all my time in Russia. It helped me to make friendship with people all over Russia and to better understand the country and its wonderful culture.”
“When you see Lake Baikal you understand Moscow and business is only one part of Russia.”
“SCHNEIDER GROUP is a good example of what is possible across borders in the East. I am very proud to be part of 500 extremely committed team-players who contribute to overcome borders and bring people and businesses from different countries together. I can truly say my job is my passion.”
“Already in my youth I was proclaiming a united Europe. Today I have a broader view on this with the common economic space from Lisbon to Vladivostok. I see this not only from a business perspective, but as a chance for better understanding among all countries involved.”
“With the OWC-Publishing House I see a great chance to contribute to information and investigation based publishing about opportunities in the East.”
whom he has kept contact despite the distance, and he still tries to visit as often as possible.

When the weather allows it, Ulf enjoys riding to work on his bike, and has even infected his colleagues with his hobby; the employees of different offices have been on several long bike trips together. The highlight of these was the trip along the border of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine in 2014. Besides the sport and the beautiful countryside, a driving force behind this event was to bring his colleagues from all three countries closer together, and to not let the political friction poison inter office relations.

As the Managing Partner, Ulf Schneider understands that one of the driving forces behind the success of his company is the collectiveness of his team. He supports this with frequent corporate parties and team building events. He tries to participate personally in as many of these as possible.

Besides is own business, Ulf Schneider is engaged in the work of the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce (AHK), and for several years was a member of the board and head of the tax committee. He is committed to improving communication with the government and collaboration with officials of the authorities in order to form sensible legal regulations for a more business friendly environment.

Another concept Ulf feels strongly about is the development of a single economic zone from Vladivostok to Lisbon. Together with other like-minded people he founded a work group where the idea is discussed and developed further. He has promoted this concept of harmonizing the framework for international business at several events.

To compensate for his large work schedule, Ulf Schneider has taken up some of his old hobbies and pursued his passions. He started playing the Violin again, an instrument which he began to learn in his youth and which helps him to relax and focus. When traveling between Europe, Asia and America, the plane is obviously the main means of transport. The urge to sit on the captain’s seat became so big that Ulf decided to take flying lessons. This was a new challenge which he undertook, and in 2015 he received his light aircraft pilot license. Whenever possible, he looks for airfields to fly in a Cessna. His longest solo trip so far was from Germany to the North cape in Norway, and in the USA he also flew himself to a business seminar.

In autumn 2015 he decided to enter the publishing sector and became the majority shareholder in the traditional German publishing house, OWC-Verlag für Außenwirtschaft. Together with the existing team he is modernizing the company to bring their business forward. One of the first initiatives was the launch of the magazine ‘IranContact’. After lifting of the sanctions, Iran became an interesting market for many European companies, and to get to know it better Ulf has traveled to Teheran several times to meet with the German-Iranian Chamber and various local businessmen.

With all his different activities and interests, Ulf Schneider’s home is not only in Moscow but in many locations of the Eastern region, and he plans to continue to develop professionally and personally in all of these countries.