From 29 September to 2 October, EkoNiva's enterprises in Voronezh oblast hosted Intern 2024, an exciting team building event held as part of the Internship training project. The occasion brought together over 80 young employees representing the company’s different geographies and business areas.

From the very start of the meeting at Dobrino dairy, there was a warm and friendly atmosphere between Stefan Dürr, President of EkoNiva Group, and the team building participants. They were told about cutting-edge solutions in crop production and livestock farming, benefits of rural life and the holding's distinct corporate culture.

‘Opportunities such as this are rare – communicating with the founder of your beloved company face-to-face, getting inspiration from his professionalism and learning EkoNiva’s history first-hand’, shares Darya Bobenko, Agronomist at Sibirskaya Niva-Maslyanino.

The undoubted highlight of the meeting was the personal advice the President passed on to the younger generation.

‘I can fully relate to a quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe saying: “Whatever you do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it”. Dare to do what you love and keep studying! Not for the sake of marks and exams, but for your professional development. For the same purpose, I highly recommend all of you to learn English. By the way, when recruiting a new employee, I always consider other criteria rather than just the obtained degree. There are specialists who, although having passed all the university exams, cannot apply even half of the knowledge gained... So, even if students fail exams, they still can get a job at EkoNiva. If you have good brains and a sincere desire to work, we will teach you the rest!’ says Stefan Dürr.

The event programme further included a tour of EkoNiva’s dealership in Dobrino village and culminated in team building activities. The creative approach to them gave the participants plenty of positive emotions. The Internship training project was also marked by a visit to the cheese plant in Shchuchye village, where everyone could immerse themselves in cheese production in an entertaining format.

‘Intern 2024 offers EkoNiva's newcomers a great chance to get to know each other and make friends. Close interaction between livestock breeders, agronomists and service technicians broadens the understanding of our company culture. Above all, the team building brings our young employees into the spotlight, motivating them to go ahead with their professional journey’, shares Maksim Potapov, Head of Training and Development Department at EkoNiva-APK Holding.

The company launched the Internship project in 2016. Over eight years, 630 people have joined it, many of them later making a successful career at EkoNiva’s various enterprises.