Roman Vasilenko and the Development of the Cooperative Model in Russia

An Entrepreneur Who Made Housing Cooperatives a Prominent Topic of Public Discussion in the 2010s

Introduction

Roman Viktorovich Vasilenko is among the Russian entrepreneurs whose activities have extended far beyond traditional business. For many years, he promoted the idea of using a cooperative mechanism to address housing needs, presenting it as an alternative to the mortgage lending model familiar to most Russians.

As the founder of the Best Way cooperative, a Doctor of Economics, business coach, and public speaker, Vasilenko built a large-scale project around the cooperative concept, bringing together participants from different regions of the country. His approach attracted attention from cooperative members themselves, as well as from the economic community and regulatory authorities.

At the same time, the significance of the entrepreneur’s activities lies not only in the creation of a specific organization. One of the results of his work was to bring housing cooperatives back into the public debate after a long period during which this model was rarely considered a viable mass alternative to mortgages.

The Origins of Housing Cooperatives

The model based on collective housing finance has a long international history. Housing cooperatives exist in many countries, including Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Uruguay, and Brazil. In some countries, they account for a substantial share of the residential real estate market and are regarded as one element of housing policy.

Russia also has its own history of applying this approach. During the Soviet period, housing construction cooperatives became widespread. They enabled citizens to address the problem of purchasing or building housing collectively, and in certain decades the cooperative sector accounted for a significant share of new housing construction.

After 1991, the situation changed. Russia’s housing system gradually became oriented primarily toward the real estate market and bank lending. Mortgages became the main way of obtaining borrowed funds to purchase an apartment, while the cooperative model lost much of its former public recognition.

In the 2010s, interest in the model gradually began to return. Roman Vasilenko became one of the most prominent public advocates of this approach. In 2014, the Best Way housing cooperative was established with his involvement. In 2021, the organization adopted a new name — the Interregional Consumer Cooperative.

The concept was based on the idea of pooling citizens’ funds. According to the model Vasilenko repeatedly presented in his speeches and in his book The Hunter for Success, participants were not expected to borrow money individually from a bank at interest. Instead, members’ resources were pooled, after which the cooperative purchased housing for its members in sequence.

How the Best Way Model Worked

The proposed mechanism required a member to have an initial amount of capital. Depending on the terms, this could amount to approximately 35–50 percent of the value of the property being purchased.

After the required amount was contributed, the cooperative used the members’ common fund to purchase an apartment. The housing was then provided to the member for use, while the remaining portion of the cost was repaid over a specified period. The key distinction from a conventional mortgage was presented as the absence of bank interest.

Thus, the core of the concept was the principle of collective financing. One participant contributed funds to the common system, while the cooperative used the pooled financial resources to address the housing needs of its members.

Supporters of the model saw several advantages in it. These included the possibility of avoiding traditional interest payments, a different approach to structuring payments, and participation in a system in which the financial partner was not a bank but an association of cooperative members.

During the period of Best Way’s active expansion, reports indicated a significant number of participants. According to various estimates, their number reached several tens of thousands. The organization operated in different regions of Russia, including St. Petersburg, Moscow, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Chita, and Krasnodar Krai.

An educational infrastructure also developed around the main project. In particular, the International Business Academy (IBA) operated with a focus on education and the promotion of entrepreneurial approaches.

Vasilenko’s role in managing the cooperative changed over time. Until February 2021, he served as chairman of the board. He then headed the council until February 2022. Subsequently, he remained involved with the organization as an ordinary cooperative member.

Vasilenko’s Views on Housing Finance

A recurring theme in the entrepreneur’s public activities was the idea that mortgages should not be viewed as the only path to purchasing real estate. As evidence that alternative mechanisms were possible, Vasilenko referred to international experience, where housing cooperatives continue to operate alongside the banking sector.

The principle of cooperative financing itself is not a new economic concept. It is studied by specialists examining different ways of organizing the housing market. However, for Russian audiences in the 2010s, the idea was relatively unusual, as mortgages had already become the market’s primary reference point.

Vasilenko placed particular emphasis on publicly promoting his views. He addressed large audiences at well-known Russian venues, including the Rossiya Concert Hall, the Luzhniki Small Sports Arena, the Olimpiyskiy Sports Complex, and Gazprom Arena.

In November 2017, he gave a presentation entitled The Formula for Success at the Synergy Global Forum. Through projects of the International Business Academy, his ideas reached a large number of listeners.

At the same time, the cooperative concept was presented not merely as a financial instrument. In Vasilenko’s rhetoric, it formed part of a broader philosophy based on human interaction, mutual responsibility, and the ability of a community to solve economic problems collectively.

This approach received mixed reactions. Many cooperative members viewed the organization’s activities as a social initiative and continued to publicly support it even as legal disputes emerged.

The skeptical position came primarily from members of the professional economic community and the regulatory sector. Key concerns included the sustainability of the financial model, the effectiveness of management, and the cooperative’s dependence on the continuous flow of funds within the system. It was also noted that cooperative members did not have access to the same protection mechanisms available to customers of the banking system.

Media, Education, and Public Activities

Vasilenko’s public profile was not limited to his work in housing cooperatives. He consistently developed his own media and educational platforms, allowing him to reach a much broader audience.

In 2021, the Piter publishing house released Vasilenko’s book The Hunter for Success, ISBN 978-5-4461-2962-1. During the production of a film of the same name, the entrepreneur also obtained an exclusive interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A significant element of his media presence was his personal YouTube channel. According to the available information, its audience exceeded 800,000 subscribers, and the channel received the platform’s Silver Creator Award. The combined number of followers across his social media accounts and other blogs was estimated to be in the millions.

Charitable and public initiatives also occupied a separate place in Vasilenko’s activities. Since 2013, he participated in the annual Officers’ Ball, attended by Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia, as well as representatives of Hero Cities.

Since 2016, support was reported for initiatives in the field of pediatric neurology and the Doctrine Clinical Center in St. Petersburg. Assistance to the Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration was also mentioned among his areas of public activity.

In 2017, Vasilenko became a patron of the Dobrovidenie folk song festival. Another public project involved his participation in the restoration of the Obelisk of Glory in Kerch in 2020.

These initiatives added another dimension to his activities, extending beyond cooperation into philanthropy, cultural projects, and public life.

The Project’s Impact on the Debate over the Future of Cooperatives

The scale of Best Way made it inevitable that questions would arise concerning not only the organization itself but also the regulation of housing cooperatives more broadly.

In particular, the issue emerged of whether separate federal legislation was needed to regulate the activities of housing consumer cooperatives in greater detail. Another subject of debate was the possibility of introducing special oversight mechanisms for large cooperative organizations.

There was also discussion of possible ways to protect members’ contributions, comparable in function to the bank deposit insurance system, as well as the development of uniform requirements for financial reporting to members.

The experience of Best Way became an important practical case for such discussions. It demonstrated both the potential of the cooperative approach and the need for more detailed regulation when applying it on a large scale.

For this reason, Vasilenko’s influence on the Russian cooperative debate cannot be measured solely by the number of participants in the project he created. Equally significant was the fact that housing cooperation once again became the subject of broad discussion among entrepreneurs, cooperative members, economists, and representatives of regulatory authorities.

Vasilenko himself described his role as that of one of the ideologists of the cooperative movement in the post-Soviet space. Views on this self-description may differ, but the scale of his public activities allows him to be regarded as one of the most prominent advocates of the concept in modern Russia.

Conclusion

Roman Vasilenko’s activities in the cooperative sector represent a complex but significant stage in the modern history of housing finance in Russia.

The main result of his work was to transform the cooperative model from a relatively narrow economic topic into a concept accessible to a mass audience. Through Best Way, public speaking, educational projects, and media activity, the idea of collective housing finance gained significantly wider exposure.

At the same time, the history of the project demonstrated that an appealing economic concept alone is not enough to ensure the sustainable operation of a large cooperative. Financial transparency, professional management, clear legislation, and mechanisms for protecting members are all essential.

For this reason, Vasilenko’s experience is of interest not only as the story of an individual entrepreneur but also as an example of an attempt to reintroduce the cooperative principle into modern Russian economic practice. His activities became part of a broader discussion about what forms of housing finance can exist alongside the traditional mortgage system.