IRANIAN IMPORTER ON "HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001292 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/IR AND SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2019 TAGS: BTIO IR TX PGOV PREL SUBJECT: IRANIAN IMPORTER ON "HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS IN TURKMENISTAN" Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia Reed Curran. Reasons: 1.4 (b) a nd (d). ¶1. (C) In an October 8 meeting with Iran Watcher, an Iranian ceramics importer shared his views on how to succeed -- despite the many well-known impediments -- as an entrepreneur in Turkmenistan. In a conversation in his office at the Iran Business Center, an attractive building dominated mostly by the offices of Iran Khodro, Abbas Mehrabian described how he has spent the past 15 years building his ceramics import business. He is now the biggest ceramic tile importer in the country, with agents in all five provinces of Turkmenistan. RENOVATION MANIA ¶2. (C) Mehrabian, a slender, soft-spoken man, described how he left Iran in the late 1980's to join a brother in Austria, applied (unsuccessfully) for a U.S. visa in Vienna, and then in 1993, saw a program on television about the former USSR and the flood of small businesses that people were setting up all over the region. He decided to come to Turkmenistan. His first undertaking was a small ice cream factory, which he built up and later sold. He noted a "remodeling craze" had taken hold in Turkmenistan following the break-up of the USSR, where apartment dwellers had been granted permanent occupancy (but not ownership) rights to their homes and began making significant improvements, particularly the kitchens and bathrooms. He noted the style and colors of ceramic tiles that Turkmen prefer, and began to import them from a factory in Iran. He now uses three main suppliers, in Tehran, Tabriz and Isfahan, and last year did several hundred thousand dollars in sales, claiming to have "no real competition" in his sector. (NOTE: Judging from the pace at which Turkmen continue to remodel their apartments, he is unlikely to face a lack of demand anytime soon. END NOTE.) THE SECRET? PATIENCE, PATIENCE AND MORE PATIENCE ¶3. (C) Mehrabian said that he would have given up long ago were he not extraordinarily patient by nature. He credited his decision to register his firm (with a partner) as a Turkmen, not Iranian, company as having been very helpful, relieving him of many of the bureaucratic delays and requirements imposed on foreign firms. He has worked around the lack of a banking system, the absence of various forms of commercial paper such as checks and letters of credit, by paying Iranian suppliers in cash, or devising informal credit arrangments with them. Although he is married to a Turkmen citizen, he cannot obtain Turkmen citizenship (there is no petitioning process in Turkmenistan whereby spouses may apply),and must renew his visa every six months. He said that during the past 15 years, he has only once encountered problems renewing his visa. ¶4. (C) COMMENT: Mehrabian is funding his step-daughter's university studies. She plans to study in San Jose, CA and was recently issued a student visa. He said that she first proposed studying in Russia, but he told her not to consider higher education "anywhere but in the U.S." He called himself a "huge fan" of the U.S. and President Obama. On the subject of Iran, he said the same patience that brought him success in Turkmenistan will ultimately allow the Iranian people to prevail and regain the civil and political freedoms they desire. He said that "the rulers of Iran are all elderly and won't be around forever. Once they are gone, the younger generation will prevail and things will change for the better." END COMMENT. CURRAN