Asset management, institutional-level investment solutions, and high-return mutual funds — these are the areas of expertise of entrepreneur Oleg Belay who has been in the investment industry for more than thirty years. He is a co-founder, majority shareholder, and CEO of one of the longest-running investment groups in Russia. His TRINFICO company was founded in 1993, when the country’s stock market was just beginning to take shape.
This fact alone makes Oleg Belay’s biography worth reading — after all, he was among the pioneers of the Russian financial business.This man, who was born in the USSR and had to learn the ropes of the stock market on his own, managed to create a large investment company and become a well-known expert in the investment and asset management fields. The businessman’s experience will undoubtedly be of interest to budding entrepreneurs and investors. After all, it is not easy to create a company that will:
- manage multi-billion dollar assets;
- survive several crises;
- gain a good reputation among major institutional clients;
- become known for its innovative business approach and many impressive achievements, such as being the first AMC in the country to receive an ESG score;
- make its mutual funds so profitable that they will regularly be placed in the top three in their category;
- receive an ‘A+’ reliability rating;
- celebrate thirty years of its history with fresh plans for the future.
Read on to find out how TRINFICO was created, what milestones it achieved, and what factors contributed to the success story of an ordinary student who eventually became the CEO of an investment group.
What One Can Achieve Despite Being Born into an Ordinary Family
Belay Oleg Viktorovich was not an heir to a large family fortune. In fact, no one in his family was ever involved in business if only because it was impossible in the USSR. The boy was born in 1972 into a family of engineers who graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology. He had two younger brothers. He spent his childhood in Zelenograd, a small town near Moscow.
And yet, family plays a big role in the upbringing and personal development of any child. The top manager himself emphasizes this fact. In his interviews, he often says that “many values come from the family.” In his case, the family instilled in him a passion for learning, interest in new things, commitment to hard work, and determination.
His parents worked in advanced technology; being computer engineers themselves, they also influenced the academic interests of their son. The boy was a straight A-student in the exact sciences, he read a lot of books and was intereste in technology and programming. The family was also surrounde by other intellectual and knowledgeable people — engineers, programmers, and teachers — who could set a good example for the kids.
Apart from the exact sciences, the boy was also intereste in the humanities. He enjoyed reading history books and studying literature. All this helped him become a well-rounded person with a wide range of meta-skills.
The future businessman entered adulthood with a considerable wealth of knowledge. This wealth was much more valuable than any financial inheritance. The young man had something that could not be spent or lost — he had a sense of purpose and a desire to learn and explore new horizons.
First Business Experience
In the late 1980s, Oleg Belay went to the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology, choosing a major related to microelectronics. However, after receiving his degree, he did not pursue a career in engineering physics, as he had managed to become a successful entrepreneur by the time of his graduation. That said, the knowledge he gained at the university still proved to be useful. Being well-versed in computer technology, the young man quickly got the hang of electronic trading platforms. It was a very valuable skill at the time when the global computerization was yet a long way off.
Belay became interested in entrepreneurship when he was only seventeen. In 1989, when he started university, the USSR still existed, but was already declining. At the time, the state allowed Soviet citizens to create cooperatives, giving them the opportunity to engage in certain types of commerce. After a couple of years, Soviet citizens turned into Russians, the Soviet era ended, and all barriers to business were removed.
Belay was enthralled by the idea of building his own business. He tried his hand at several business fields and eventually decided to focus on finance. He pursued financial journalism for some time, and after that, in 1992, began to trade vouchers. He had friends with similar interests. Security markets did not yet exist in Russia in their classic sense, but Belay and his associates wanted to build one.
In 1993, they started a company called TRINFICO. The young businessman was twenty-one years old at the time. He and his partners had ambitious plans, but they could hardly imagine that in three decades their company would be managing multi-billion-dollar assets…
Brief History of the Investment Group: Key Achievements
Nowadays, the core activity of TRINFICO is asset management — the company oversees investments on behalf of its clients. However, it was initially started as a brokerage firm. At the beginning, its owners were trading vouchers, and then stocks, bonds, and derivatives using their own money. TRINFICO became an asset management company in 1995, and this determined its future business trajectory.
After analyzing the needs of the market and society, Belay came to the conclusion that Russia needed professional asset management services similar to those in Western countries. By the mid-90s, there were enough private individuals and business owners in the country who would be interested in such services. TRINFICO was already successfully operating in the stock and derivatives markets and this helped the firm attract its first clients.
The AMC began to build up its market share by delivering high ROI for its clients while paying great attention to risk management. The longer TRINFICO operated in the market, the better reputation it gained — the business stability of the investment group served as an indicator of its success.
In 2002, a pension fund entrusted its assets to the AMC, once again confirming its reputation as a reliable company. Over time, TRINFICO became one of the top 20 Russian AMCs in terms of pension assets.
In the 2010s, the group expanded its service catalog by adding private equity, investment banking, and real estate investments to the list. An important step at the end of that decade was the introduction of so-called “green investing,” or ESG, into the group’s business strategy. The National Rating Agency notes that TRINFICO was the first Russian asset management company to do so.
The year 2024 marked another milestone for TRINFICO, as it has listed its mutual funds on a digital platform called Finuslugi. Thanks to the “financial marketplace,” the company’s financial instruments are now accessible to relatively small investors. Moreover, the AMC celebrated another important event in 2024 when the National Rating Agency upgraded its reliability rating. The company’s updated rating now assessed as A+.
Life’s Work: Results of the Thirty-Year Career
Belay was on the top management team throughout the history of his company; he explore new directions and was able to build an efficient vertical organizational structure. From 1993 to 2008, he played the role of CFO. However, the range of his responsibilities was much greater than what the job description officially called for. From 2008 to 2013, as Corporate Finance Director, he had been developing new service offerings. For example, the company launched mutual fund operations during this period.
In 2013, the top manager assumed the responsibilities of CEO of the investment group. As CEO, he is now responsible for executive management, the overall business strategy, and high-level decisions.
Oleg devoted over thirty years — in other words most of his life — to TRINFICO. He has spent almost all of his adult years working for the good of the company. This is a life’s work in its truest sense!
The top manager says that when he first learned about the existence of stock markets, it awakened a sincere interest and inspiration in him. He has kept these feelings throughout his life.
What Matters in Business Is to Move Forward
So, what determined the success of the investment group? As the strategic leader of TRINFICO, Oleg Belay has always paid great attention to finding new directions for his company. Business for him is about continuous movement forward. If we analyze the words of the top manager himself, we can outline the basic principles that underlie his strategy:
- “Moving in the flow,” or following market trends without taking excessive risks. It is important to catch a fresh wave and ride it like a surfer while it is gaining momentum.
- Evolving in accordance with demand and market changes, that is, updating business tactics based on the current challenges.
- Setting new goals upon achieving the previous ones.
The top manager also recommends entrepreneurs to constantly improve their competencies and be ready to take on difficult tasks. He himself nowadays specializes in developing institutional-level investment solutions.
Work-Life Balance: No Easy Task!
Business requires constant attention, so it is quite difficult for the head of TRINFICO to maintain a perfect work-life balance. Nevertheless, he manages to find some time for ordinary human joys, such as family activities and hobbies, which in his case include philately, traveling, and motorcycling.
For Belay, family is a strong support system, a calm haven, and a source of motivation. Together with his wife, he raised two children, and now he enjoys spending free time with his growing grandchildren. Family values play a big role in his life. He speaks of his parents with affection and respect, and strives to instill in the younger generation the same sense of responsibility and determination that had helped him succeed.
Another important matter to which Oleg Belay devotes part of his non-working hours is charity. He considers it his duty to fulfill his civic responsibilities and contribute to the community. To tackle the poverty issue, the businessman founded the Vmeste Smozhem foundation (Together We Can). The idea also captured the interest of his colleagues; many of TRINFICO employees now volunteer at the charitable foundation as well.
