The medical equipment produced in Kazakhstan will conquer the Russian market next year. For five years, the production of the company "Terra Vita" has become one of the best domestic brands and has more than 200 items.

How the company went to success and how the school teacher turned into a successful businesswoman in an exclusive interview was told by the director of LLP "Terra Vita" Nasihat Isabaeva. It is worth adding that the company "Terra-Vita" from Semey for five years twice won the republican contest "The best goods of Kazakhstan".

- Nasikhat Kabdygalievna, I know that you are a teacher of Russian language and literature in the past. How did it happen that you went to another channel?

- I started my business in 1997. I had a baby. Because of problems with the health of the baby, I was forced to leave school, I had to take care of the child. But I still had to make money somehow. The child demanded not only attention, but also expensive treatment. And here we with my husband, he worked as a doctor, decided to develop a pharmacy business. I opened one pharmacy first, then the second one. Investments were then small -  1000. USD It was very difficult initially.

Earlier when there was nothing in Kazakhstan, we went for medicines to a neighboring country. In the Russian pharmacies and wholesale companies you could find everything from medicines to medical equipment and furniture. And I always thought, why do not we make medical equipment and medical furniture by ourselves. It seemed that this is an impossible dream, but years later I received a license for the wholesale sale of medicines. Then she created a company for the wholesale sale of imported medical equipment. And 20 years later I started the production of domestic medical equipment.

- And now, you can say, your dream came true?

- Yes, but not immediately. I have been going towards this for quite some time. In general, I think that an entrepreneur needs to visit various exhibitions, from which one can scoop a lot of information. In 2007, I created LLP Terra Vita and the following year I went to a medical exhibition in Germany. We did not finish the production, I just went to see it. I brought a lot of necessary information. There were many ideas, but as always, there was not enough money. And she began to manufacture disposable sterile bedding, gowns and caps. But then it turned out that this niche is occupied by the Pavlodar company "Merusar". And we moved in a different direction. I had resolved the puzzle by this time, and I realized what exactly and how I should do it. I asked the specialists of one of EKR plants to make a sample cabinet for medical institutions. They did it, but I did not like the work - the product was rough and painted horizontally. Then I began to look for a welder myself. Then the master explained to me that it was necessary to paint this furniture with polymer paint. In theory, everything was, it was necessary to test in practice. I collected the team slowly.

At first there were 5 people, then 10, we rented a space and began to produce ourselves. At first, we rejoiced at each accomplished couch, cabinet. I ran to any hospital, compared it to Russian counterparts, I looked at the thickness: how it was dyed and bent. Gradually began to do and work on quality. No one in Kazakhstan was engaged in the production of medical equipment before us. And this niche was ours.

- And what about education: philological and medical education are very far apart.

-"Well, that's a separate story." Of course, education was required and therefore despite my Balzac age, I went to study. She entered Karaganda University "Bolashak", the faculty of pharmacology. In general, I have a special attitude to education and I have studied it conscientiously. Although at that time university diplomas were "sold right and left". I graduated university honestly and successfully in 2010, in the same year received a license for the production of medical equipment. The license gives an opportunity to register products in Kazakhstan. The registration process takes a very long time. Almost two years they registered each of them. I also required certification of the goods. To this end, we annually received "CT KZ" - this is the percentage of Kazakhstan content in the manufacture of products. We should fully use Kazakhstan material, but since we have not all raw materials, the percentage of content for the main line of patronage is 67-70%. Every year we confirm that we are Kazakhstani commodity producers. And in the manufacture of our products, we try to make maximum use of domestic raw materials. We buy the metal from JSC "ArcelorMittal Temirtau". But the polymer paint has to be imported, it is made only in Turkey.

- And what was your first registration? What novelties do you plan to produce in the future? And how many products does your company produce today?

- Firstly, four types of products were registered in Kazakhstan: a multifunctional bed, a four-section and a three-section bed, mobile bactericidal four-lamp and two-lamp irradiators. This equipment, which comes into the room and sterilizes. The plans are to produce five or six more items, which must be registered in Kazakhstan. It will be an operating table, a functional bed with electromechanical adjustment, a generic bed (this is a gynecological chair that can easily be converted into a generic bed). In Shymkent LLP "Kazmedpribor" produces such ones. But our products, like everyone else, will be copyrighted. For example, we want to use "ashpiel" in our production. This is a very durable material from crab paper. In addition, it is lighter and has an antibacterial coating. We intend to use this particular "ashpiel" in the production of multifunctional beds. And there are a lot of such novelties that we want to produce. Our desire does not always coincide with the material and technical capabilities. But we continue to work.

Then we plan to make a robot toilet. A novelty that does not exist in Russia. The robot-toilet will perform all the functions and even more. A very convenient thing for paralyzed people confined to bed, it will be expensive at the beginning. Industrial production is planned for the next year. Now we are at the stage of registration of operating tables. The operating tables are sold by one or two enterprises, but we are changing our own. In general, in our Kazakhstani market, all operating tables are mainly imported. Slowly we will displace them. Another of our novelties is laboratory furniture made of plastic. No one in Kazakhstan does it. In 2012 I went to Togliatti, I signed an agreement with the Russian plant "Lada-List" and from there imported polypropylene sheets. They began to make laboratory furniture. Metal furniture is heavy, and laboratory furniture made of plastic is light and durable. I was very happy when I found out that now it's not necessary to go far for polypropylene, they started to make them in Shymkent, but they have colours so far unpretentious. If such colours are chosen, as in Togliatti, you can produce classy laboratory furniture from this plastic.

In 2012, we suspended the release of new products. Now we have strength and opportunities, we will continue to replenish the range of their products. Now we produce over 200 names of medical furniture and over 10 items of medical equipment. The turnover of the company is 120-130 million tenge per year. While small for our production, but with the introduction of new and new products in the current and next years, it is expected to increase this figure.

- You plan to increase production volumes. If yes, then when?

- We have our own base area of 700 square meters. In the future, our company, I think, will be their group of companies. Let's assume, organized by myself, my children, close people. Group companies will always survive.

- As I know, you have plans for export. What products are going to impress foreigners?

- Yes, we envisage exporting products to Russia. In addition, we want to register some of our positions in Russia. For example, our novelty a robot toilet, no one else, but us produce it in the CIS. And a drying cabinet that sterilizes medical instruments. By the way, these cabinets can be used for sterilization in hairdressing salons and manicure salons. We plan to exhibit our products in large cities of Russia. In the spring I was invited to an exhibition in Novosibirsk. Then I could not go, renting a place, a trip would all cost a lot. In principle, the rest of everything we produce, they have, but we are not afraid to compete.

- And what about your "human capital"? After all, in order to produce such equipment you need "brains"?

Unfortunately, I do not have the opportunity to maintain a large staff. It would be desirable, of course, to have own large testing laboratory, the research staff, the test assembly shop, so that there is sterile purity for approbation of something. I have plans, but so far we manage at small scale. To develop this or that idea, we involve specialists from the design institute. A lot of things we can do ourselves. Suppose I saw abroad an apparatus similar to an air conditioner, which is turned on during the operation. It sucks the contaminated air out of the operating room, dumps it to the street, from there sucks in fresh air, disinfects it and delivers clean air to the operating room.  You can produce a device that looks for a patient's veins and much more. I acquired a new equipment - a thermoplastic automatic device that pours products from any plastic. We want to "pour" disposable cups-pimples for tuberculosis dispensaries. And earlier all this, including tablets, bed backs was imported from Russia.

- For 5 years we managed to achieve high results and become one of the best commodity producers in Kazakhstan. In the contest "The best goods of Kazakhstan" you participate every year and twice became the winner in the nominations "The Best Innovative Project of 2012" and "The Best Industrial Product of 2016". How can you explain this success?

- We work with each of our products individually. As they say, we invest the soul, all the time in search of the best. We carefully work on quality. Because this is our bet on the future. For all products we have a 13 month warranty. But they serve for three to four years. We are ready to take into account every remark. Quality is our first priority. For example, our furniture, unlike imported furniture, is not demountable, but all-welded. Import look, there is a framework of fine metal, of course, it will be cheaper. But over time, all screws are blurred, and our all-welded design will last a long time. Now it is more advantageous for Kazakhstanis to buy from us. Because it will be costly to import from the outside. Transportation costs and logistics are expensive and the main postulate, we are here and you can ask from us.

- "Thank you, Nasikhat Kabdygalievna, for paying attention to us". I wish you further success and prosperity to your business!