An Entrepreneur Who Connected the Development of the Cooperative Model with a Modern Approach to Homeownership
Introduction
Russian entrepreneur Roman Viktorovich Vasilenko has become one of the best-known figures associated with efforts to popularize housing cooperatives in modern Russia. His activities attracted widespread attention through the creation and development of the Best Way consumer cooperative, as well as through his active public work.
Vasilenko presented the cooperative principle as a possible way to address housing needs without relying on traditional bank loans. For more than a decade, he advocated for mechanisms based on pooling the financial resources of a large number of participants.
The entrepreneur is also known as a Doctor of Economics, business coach, and author of the book The Hunter for Success. His activities have generated considerable public debate involving cooperative members, economists, regulators, and researchers.
As a result, the cooperative model, which had long remained a relatively insignificant part of the Russian housing market, once again became the subject of widespread discussion.
The Cooperative Idea and Its Historical Roots
Collective approaches to solving housing needs are not unique to Russia. Cooperative forms of property ownership and real estate financing have been used for decades in various countries around the world, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Brazil, and Uruguay.
In some countries, housing cooperatives account for a significant share of the housing stock. Their role may include both the construction of new properties and providing citizens with opportunities to purchase or use housing through collective participation.
The Soviet Union also had extensive experience in this area. Housing construction cooperatives enabled citizens to pool their own funds to build and purchase apartments. From the 1960s through the 1990s, their activities accounted for a significant share of new housing construction.
After Russia transitioned to a market economy, housing finance priorities changed. Commercial banks and mortgage programs came to the forefront. The cooperative model gradually lost its former importance and ceased to be viewed by most citizens as a mainstream way of acquiring property.
A renewed interest in cooperative mechanisms emerged in the 2010s. Roman Vasilenko played a significant role in popularizing this approach. In 2014, the Best Way cooperative was established, initially registered as a housing cooperative. In 2021, the organization became known as an interregional consumer cooperative.
In his public appearances and in his book The Hunter for Success, Vasilenko explained the model’s basic principle through the collective use of financial resources. Participants contribute to a common pool of funds, which is then used to purchase housing for cooperative members, after which the member continues to fulfill their financial obligations to the cooperative.
How Best Way Worked
The proposed scheme was based on an initial contribution from the participant. Depending on the specific terms, it could amount to approximately 35–50 percent of the cost of the property being purchased.
Once the required contribution had been accumulated, the cooperative used the pooled funds of its members to purchase property. The apartment was then transferred to the participant for use, while the remaining amount was paid by the participant over the following years.
The key difference from a traditional mortgage was that the model did not involve a conventional bank interest rate. The absence of interest charges was one of the main arguments in favor of the cooperative mechanism.
Vasilenko presented the system as an interaction among participants within a single community. Unlike the “borrower–bank” relationship, the model was based on the collective participation of individuals seeking to address their own housing needs.
During the period of the cooperative’s greatest activity, its operations extended across a number of Russian regions. These included Moscow and St. Petersburg, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, Chita, Krasnodar Krai, and other areas.
According to various estimates, the number of cooperative members reached several tens of thousands. This scale allowed supporters of the project to regard Best Way as one of the most prominent modern examples of applying the cooperative principle to housing in the post-Soviet space.
Educational activities developed in parallel. In particular, the International Business Academy (IBA) was established to promote ideas related to entrepreneurship, personal development, and collective cooperation.
Vasilenko’s involvement in managing the cooperative also went through several stages. Until February 2021, he served as chairman of the management board. From February 2021 to February 2022, he served as chairman of the council. After that, according to the information provided, his status changed to that of an ordinary cooperative member.
Vasilenko’s Main Views
One of the central ideas of Vasilenko’s public activities was the effort to demonstrate that purchasing an apartment does not necessarily have to involve mortgage financing.
As an argument, the entrepreneur referred to international experience. In a number of developed countries, cooperative housing models coexist with banking products and form part of the broader housing system.
For Russian audiences, this position was particularly notable against the backdrop of the near-total dominance of mortgage lending. Therefore, Vasilenko’s public appearances were aimed not only at promoting a specific project but also at changing how audiences viewed the available ways of acquiring housing.
The entrepreneur made extensive use of public events. Among the venues where he appeared were the Rossiya Concert Hall, the Luzhniki International Sports Complex, the Olimpiyskiy Sports Complex, and Gazprom Arena.
In November 2017, Vasilenko spoke at the Synergy Global Forum, delivering a lecture entitled “The Formula for Success.” His educational activities through IBA also enabled him to reach a large audience.
In his presentations, cooperation was often viewed as something broader than simply a financial mechanism. It was presented as a system of relationships between people based on pooled resources, mutual responsibility, and the collective achievement of goals.
However, this interpretation provoked mixed reactions. Some cooperative members viewed the organization’s activities primarily as a social initiative and continued to express their support for it.
At the same time, economists and representatives of regulatory authorities pointed to potential risks. These included concerns about financial stability, the quality of management, and the cooperative system’s dependence on the continuous movement of funds between participants. It was also emphasized that cooperative investments do not have the same system of state protection that applies to bank deposits.
Media Image and Public Initiatives
An important part of Vasilenko’s activities was the creation of his own public platform. His work extended beyond entrepreneurship to publishing, education, media, and charitable projects.
In 2021, the Piter publishing house released his book The Hunter for Success, ISBN 978-5-4461-2962-1. While preparing a film of the same name, Vasilenko had the opportunity to conduct an exclusive interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
His personal YouTube channel attracted a large audience. According to the information provided, the number of subscribers exceeded 800,000, after which the channel received the platform’s Silver Play Button. The entrepreneur’s combined social media audience was estimated at several million people.
Charitable activities became another significant area of his work. Beginning in 2013, an annual “Officers’ Ball” was held, attended by Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia, as well as representatives of Hero Cities.
Since 2016, Vasilenko supported projects in the field of pediatric neurology and the activities of the Doctrine Clinical Center in St. Petersburg. His public activities also included support for the Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior.
In 2017, the entrepreneur became a patron of the Dobrovidenie folk song festival. In 2020, he took part in the restoration of the Obelisk of Glory in Kerch.
Taken together, these projects shaped Vasilenko’s image as a public entrepreneur whose activities extended far beyond housing cooperatives alone.
The Debate Over Cooperative Regulation
The emergence of a large-scale housing cooperative project raised a number of questions in Russian society concerning the regulation of such organizations.
One of them concerns the need for a special federal law that would take into account the specific characteristics of housing consumer cooperatives. Another issue under discussion is whether large cooperatives require additional prudential oversight comparable in scope to certain mechanisms used in banking supervision.
Another challenge is ensuring the security of cooperative members’ funds. Professional circles have discussed the possibility of creating a special mechanism for guaranteeing members’ contributions, similar to the deposit insurance system used for bank deposits.
Other ongoing issues include financial reporting, operational transparency, and uniform standards for disclosing information to members.
The experience of Best Way became one of the practical examples informing this debate. Regardless of the project’s subsequent development, the issues identified during its existence have broader implications for the cooperative sector as a whole.
It is in this context that Vasilenko’s legacy can be assessed. He did not simply manage an individual organization; he also helped bring the cooperative model back into the public debate and made it a subject of discussion at various levels.
Conclusion
The story of Roman Vasilenko demonstrates how an idea that had long remained on the periphery of the Russian housing market can once again become the focus of widespread interest.
The creation of Best Way brought the cooperative model beyond the confines of professional discussions and presented it to a broad audience. Through public appearances, educational programs, books, and digital media, Vasilenko consistently promoted the idea of cooperation as a possible alternative to traditional mortgage financing.
At the same time, the scale of the project revealed another side of the issue. Large cooperatives require clear rules, a transparent financial system, effective management, and understandable mechanisms for protecting their members.
Therefore, the significance of Vasilenko’s activities extends beyond his personal entrepreneurial biography. His project became one of the most notable episodes in the return of housing cooperatives to Russia’s public sphere, while also helping raise questions about what the regulation of this sector should look like in the future.
