Magnit and HSE Graduate School of Business launch the second cohort of the Leadership Program for Middle Managers
The first cohort of Leadership Energy. Compass took place from October 2022 to April 2023. Over seven months, 43 business unit and enterprise leaders completed courses in change management, negotiation, critical thinking and decision-making, customer centricity and design thinking tools, strategic leadership under uncertainty, professional team building, and entrepreneurial thinking.
Throughout the program, participants actively engaged in a project track, applying design thinking tools in practice: studying customer experience, conducting interviews, generating and testing hypotheses, and developing prototypes. The project defense was held in April before Magnit Group’s senior management.
The jury reviewed projects on current business topics, including referral recruitment programs, logistics and product delivery, increasing average basket value through additional point-of-sale sales, expanding specific product categories, and analyzing customer behavior during holiday preparations. All projects received high evaluations from top management for their practical applicability and depth of analysis. The team that worked on improving sales in checkout zones was recognized as the best.
Anna Bobrova, Member of the Management Board and HR Director at Magnit, noted the participants’ strong engagement and self-organization, which demonstrated key corporate competencies.
Elena Faber, Director of Magnit Corporate Academy, emphasized that most of the projects hold real potential for implementation:
Elena Faber
Director of Magnit Corporate Academy
Project-based work became the driving force of the program. It enabled participants to unlock their ideas and hypotheses, apply their knowledge in real time, and identify new areas for business improvement and growth. It is crucial for the company to bring employees’ ideas to life, and we are committed to supporting and promoting their implementation.
Magnit aimed to strengthen cross-functional collaboration and develop skills essential for business success in the ‘new normal.’
Vladimir Presnyakov, Chief Operating Officer of Magnit Cosmetic, highlighted the new level of communication achieved by the project teams during the program:
Vladimir Presnyakov
Chief Operating Officer of Magnit Cosmetic
During training, project teams interacted closely with the company’s headquarters, processed large volumes of data to make the best decisions, and gathered insights from different departments, allowing them to see problems from multiple perspectives. I believe this marks the beginning of a new culture — one that values, discusses, and embraces diverse ideas.
Concluding the program, Ruslan Ismailov, Member of the Management Board, Deputy CEO, and Director of the Retail Network at Magnit, congratulated all participants:
“Executing plans is never easy. The project teams presented their ideas with confidence and offered their own vision of how to move the business forward. I can already see that we are looking at the business from a new perspective — which means better decisions will follow. I would like to thank the Corporate Training Center of the HSE Graduate School of Business for developing and implementing a program that helped prepare high-quality, impactful projects.
Deputy Director for Corporate Education at the HSE Graduate School of Business
Participants of the Magnit Group program completed a unique educational journey. We hope that the knowledge, skills, and networking gained will help them achieve outstanding professional and business results in their current and future roles. We are grateful that Magnit Corporate Academy chose the HSE Graduate School of Business as a partner for implementing such a large-scale leadership development program. The second cohort of Leadership Energy. Compass has already begun in May. Congratulations to our graduates, and best wishes to all new participants for an inspiring, productive learning experience — full of experimentation and professional growth.
About Magnit
Magnit is one of Russia’s leading food retailers, the largest by number of stores and geographical coverage. The company operates in about 4,000 localities, serving nearly 16 million customers daily.
Operating a multi-format model — including convenience stores, supermarkets, pharmacies, and drogeries — Magnit had 26,731 stores across 67 Russian regions as of June 30, 2022. Its cross-format loyalty program has over 63 million members.
Magnit is a unique player in the Russian retail sector. In addition to retail operations, it produces food under its own private labels, runs agricultural and confectionery enterprises, and operates major greenhouse and mushroom complexes. Its logistics network includes 45 distribution centers and 5,412 vehicles.
Magnit ranks among the world’s largest public companies in the Forbes Global 2000 list and is the top private employer in Russia, according to Forbes. The company employs around 359,000 people.
Founded in 1994 in Krasnodar, Magnit has grown from a small regional retailer into one of the largest companies in Russia. The company’s headquarters remain in Krasnodar. Magnit conducted an IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 (delisted in August 2022). Currently, 66.8% of Magnit’s shares are in free float and traded on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX: MGNT).
According to reviewed IFRS 16 results, Magnit’s revenue for the first half of 2022 amounted to 1.136 trillion rubles, with EBITDA of 128.4 billion rubles.