Alumni Spotlight - Svetlana Grokhotova, MBA 2011

Svetlana Grokhotova, MBA 2011, has used her MU education to become a high-potential young telecommunications executive. Just 28 years old, she is CEO and Managing Director at Telestar.net, a Moscow telecommunications provider with 39 employees and 9,000 subscribers.  In her three years at the helm, she has managed to turn around the once-struggling company’s fortunes and return it to growth.

A member of Modul University Vienna’s first MBA cohort, Svetlana was awarded a scholarship by the Moscow City Government, which was provided by Vienna Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to begin a Master of Business Administration in Public Governance and Management in 2008.

‘’The MBA considerably changed my life and helped to deepen my knowledge, including sustainable development, social responsibility, program management and evaluation as well as intercultural communication, ‘’ she says. ‘’Joining this high competitive program at the age of 22 was a huge challenge!  At the time my classmates were holding top management positions and had impressive professional backgrounds.’’

On the contrary, Svetlana had just recently joined Moscow City Department of Family Youth policy after serving three terms in Moscow Student Government, and was running the division responsible for international cooperation. In the beginning, she feared that she would not be able to complete the program, but in fact the competitive international environment and comprehensive study program had a very positive influence and served as the best facilitator for her professional and personal growth.

In 2010, still a part-time student at MU, Svetlana moved to the Building and Reconstruction Department of the Southern Prefecture of Moscow as the prefect’s advisor where she prepared municipal decrees, orders, and reports for the legislature. Additionally, she oversaw energy-saving initiatives in construction projects and was selected to the change management team tasked with overhauling departmental administration.

This experience led to the topic of her master’s thesis at MU, which was devoted to energy program implementation in the Moscow household sector. Her chosen thesis topic had deep connections with her work, and her daily routine and was based on numerous case studies, programs analysis, interviews and surveys.  Unfortunately, not all ideas and suggestions identified in her thesis were implemented in the Moscow city energy saving program, as she left the governmental sector 7 month prior to her a thesis defense, however several legislative initiatives and case studies were put into practice and successfully implemented.  

Svetlana’s career got another boost when she decided to move to the private sector, joining telecom consortium Multinet Group’s legal department as an associate in January 2011. Her brief but intense stint at the firm, which provides broadband wireless internet access in the emerging markets in Africa, Asia and CIS countries, introduced her to the telecom sector.

In June 2011, Svetlana accepted the challenge of becoming CEO and Managing Director at Telestar.net, a Moscow telecommunications provider (fixed line and broadband internet). The company was struggling, badly in need of modernization and nearly bankrupt. Anxious to prove her mettle, Svetlana dove in. The road was rough at first: arbitration trials, criminal cases against former executives accused of fraud, and an onerous debt burden all loomed large. Nonetheless, in 2012 annual turnover was up 25 %, payroll jumped 30 %, and the firm turned a profit.

Under her leadership, by the end of 2013 Telestar.net showed  turnover of $2 million (US) – double that of 2011 – and 9,000 subscribers (up from 7,000 in 2011). Svetlana also diversified the company’s portfolio by introducing B2B services such as PBX and video surveillance. Her goal is to transform Telestar.net into a cutting-edge, client-oriented operation.  

The lessons learned and skills acquired at MU help Svetlana not only in her operation and organizational management, but also in many other aspects of her work. For instance, the creation of a socially responsible company and to make it a good corporate citizen is one of the company's goals. Some initiatives, like free services for Second World War veterans, blood drives, and local church sponsorship are already in place. The next milestones are the establishment of ten positions for disabled professionals and to assume patronage of an orphanage.  

In 2013, Svetlana was honored to become the member of International Women’s Forum, Russia. The IWF unites more than 5,500 thousand women leaders representing 6 continents and 33 nations, where members are committed to bettering global women leadership. Joining this organization became a new challenge and introduced new ambitious goals to her life. Currently Svetlana is the youngest member of IWF Russia. She is married and has a 2 year old son.