The most interesting success stories are always those about self-made men — about people whose success was made possible only by their own talents, hard work, courage, and ambition. The name of Russian businessman and investor Oleg Belay belongs to this list. Oleg is the head of the TRINFICO Investment Group. He became its co-founder and chief financial officer at the age of 21 and devoted most of his life to the company.

TRINFICO is one of the oldest investment groups in Russia. It was founded two years after the country's transition from the Soviet command economy to market relations. The company opened in 1993 and has been successfully operating for over three decades.

How did 21-year-old Oleg Belay and his equally young friends manage to launch such a serious startup? After all, there were no angel investors, no inherited capital, no investment knowledge to help them. Moreover, the Russia of 1993 had no stock market in its classical sense yet. It was still in its infancy. So, what is the secret behind this success story?

Knowledge as the Cornerstone of Success

Belay Oleg Viktorovich grew up in a family that was not particularly wealthy; it was a typical Soviet "social unit." Both of his parents were technical professionals and both graduated from MIET (Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology). Their family friends also belonged to the same social class; they were engineers, university teachers, and computer programmers (or "programmers of electronic computing machines" as they were called in the USSR). The family with three children was by no means rich. However, all its members valued knowledge and loved books.

The future entrepreneur was an excellent student and took interest in various subjects, including mathematics, physics, literature, and history. Growing up, he was an intellectually curious and well-read kid. This fact played a big role in his future business career:

• On the one hand, Belay was good at the exact sciences. This helped him become a professional trader and investor who could skillfully calculate risks and wisely assess the potential of financial investments.

• On the other hand, Oleg Belay also had a good knowledge of history and other humanities. This helped him gain a better understanding of people, life, and current realities and grow as a leader.

After graduating from school, the young man pondered for some time which university to choose. He quickly decided on the direction he wanted to follow — something related to physical mathematics and engineering. The problem was that Moscow had several high-quality universities where one could get a degree in that area.

In the end, Belay settled on the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology, the alma mater of his parents. He liked the fact that MIET specialized not so much in theory as in the practical applications of the exact sciences. Back then, this university also had an advanced program in the relatively new field of programming. And since his father was a programmer, Oleg was also interested in this profession. His knowledge of computer technology gave him a head start in the 1990s, when not many Russians knew how to work with stock market technical indicators.

As we can see, the foundation, on which entrepreneur Oleg Belay built his success story, was largely laid in his childhood and youth. Nowadays, the top manager believes that skills and knowledge are invaluable assets. It was the high level of expertise that allowed his team to reach the heights of the industry. When it comes to recipes for success, the businessman's advice is to continuously acquire new knowledge and develop expertise.

First Business Experience

Belay started university in the late 1980s. Mikhail Gorbachev announced perestroika and it opened up new horizons for ambitious and aspiring young people. Russians created cooperatives and conducted business activities all over the country. Oleg, too, became interested in a business career. He was only 17 when he made his first money.

For several years, he and his friend experimented with different types of business. The young men were excited about their prospects for the future! For example, they started a media company and tried their hand at independent journalism. The project was successful, but the partners dreamed of bigger things.

In 1991, all the barriers that stood in businessmen's way were finally broken, as the state announced its official transition to a free market economy. In the summer of 1992, the government issued privatization checks, which were known as vouchers. Russians began trading financial securities. Oleg Belay and three of his friends decided to start trading on the stock exchange.

Why were these years valuable to Oleg Belay? They added a few more building blocks to the foundation of his future success, such as courage, enthusiasm, and the willingness to experiment and explore new paths.

The investor's main approach was to boldly step into new ventures, and he continued to do so throughout his career. This approach became an important growth driver in the history of TRINFICO. For example, the company was the first to receive an ESG rating in Russia.

At the Onset of the Investment Business

When starting to trade stocks, Belay and his associates knew virtually nothing about this business (not unlike other Russians for that matter). The entrepreneur mentioned in his interviews that they learned about stock market trading and investment... from Hollywood films. They had nowhere to learn how to trade. Bookstores had just only started to sell translations of business literature and those were mostly general knowledge books. Their authors explained what stocks were and how they differed from bonds as if to schoolchildren. There were no practical tips on technical analysis or descriptions of investment strategies in these sources.

Belay and his friends learned to trade on stock exchanges in practice. Every day they discovered something new. Trading strategies, tactics, and risk management — all these things had to be learned with practical experience. The Russian market itself was "semi-wild" in those days. Financial instruments that were popular in the Western world were slow to enter the local markets. On the other hand, voucher trading was flourishing in Russia.

Despite many challenges, the team managed to build decent capital by 1992. The following year, 1993, they decided to open a brokerage firm. It was named TRINFICO.

Soon, voucher trading was over, but by that point, the Russian market had already welcomed stocks and bonds. The company began working with classic securities, and by 1995, it entered the derivatives market. However, the firm truly gained momentum only when it welcomed its first savings client. TRIFINCO transformed from a small brokerage firm into an asset management company and began overseeing other people's funds.

Soon, it reached a new level and started to work with institutional clients as well. Many reputable organizations, including pension funds, chose it to manage their assets. By 2024, TRIFINCO became one of the largest private investment groups in Russia. 

Looking back, Oleg says that he and his colleagues did not do anything unimaginable; they simply knew how to give the market what it needed at a particular moment. In other words, they tried to be the first to respond to emerging demands by offering relevant services, such as asset management, investment banking, private equity, etc. This was an essential component of their success.

Another important factor in their advancement was a combination of reasonable caution and bold progressive decisions. Being responsible for client assets, TRIFINCO always paid great attention to risk control. At the same time, the company's strategy was not overly conservative. It also involved analyzing trends and exploring new market niches. The financier notes that throughout the thirty years of its history, the company always used the most relevant instruments and was never afraid to look beyond the horizon.

The Role of the CEO in Business Development

The milestones in the biography of Oleg Belay are inextricably linked with the achievements of TRIFINCO.

• From 1993 to 2008, that is, for fifteen years, he served as chief financial officer. However, his workload in this role went outside the scope of the job description. His responsibilities included various management tasks and the development of new business segments.

• In 2008-2013, the top manager served as head of corporate finance. During this period, the main achievement of the company was to add investment banking and private equity solutions to its list of services. Belay was the one managing the development of these segments.

• Since 2013, Oleg has been the chief executive officer of the TRINFICO Investment Group; he is now in charge of its strategic management.

Today, the founder of TRINFICO, Oleg Belay, continues to study financial trends and integrate them into the group's operations. His main tasks as CEO are to determine the business development strategy and to preside over the management of all company structures. He has built a vertical management structure that allows the group to run its business processes like a well-oiled machine. At the same time, the CEO plays an active role in the work of the company; he personally looks into the most important cases and discusses them with his employees.

Heading Towards Sustainable Development

In 2024, the National Rating Agency assessed the reliability of TRINFICO at the A+ level. The experts noted the company's long history of impeccable operation, as well as its sustainability, stability, excellent risk management, and resilience to liquidity stress events.

Two other important performance indicators were the high-quality decisions and the increased profitability of financial instruments. The group's team delivers institutional-level expert solutions. The brand's open-end mutual funds are among the most profitable in the Russian market; they often rank in the top 3 of a particular segment.

A major milestone in the group's history was the introduction of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) principles. It should be noted that this strategic idea belonged to the CEO of the group, Oleg Belay. He took notice of "green investing" back in the mid-2010s, when it had not yet become a widely accepted practice. He appreciated not only the economic potential of the ESG concept, but also the philosophy behind it.

The entrepreneur himself supports the idea of sustainable development and social responsibility in business. It is part of his life philosophy. Belay is not only a businessman. He is a philanthropist and a thoughtful person who cares about his fellow citizens and the future of the planet and humanity in general.