ML: As co-owner of INLINE Technologies Group, one of Russia’s largest IT companies, you were contacted by a friend about the idea for the world’s first sustainable caviar. What made you decide to switch from IT in Russia to producing caviar in Switzerland?
KS: I like challenges and new projects and I enjoy doing business in different countries. Yet for some reason, until Kasperskian, all my involvement has been within the IT industry, probably because I was comfortable in a field where I had 27 years of experience.
When my Swiss friend, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, called me six years ago with a proposal, my first reaction was: “Why are you calling me about caviar?”
He replied that I am Russian and caviar should be in my heart. On top of that he offered to participate in a unique project which had not yet been done anywhere in the world – the production of the first truly sustainable, cruelty-free, fresh caviar – and without have to kill any fish. It was a new endeavour, and I accepted it.
Moreover my partner Peter is the former chairman and CEO of the Nestlé Group – and former chairman of Formula One – and an environmental enthusiast who knows probably better than anybody else in the world how to produce and market high-end organic food. So it would have been silly on my part to walk away from such an opportunity.