Chestnut Consulting is the "trading as" title of Brian Leonard, working on a self-employed basis, specialising in consulting on all aspects of business with the former Soviet Union (FSU).
Initially under contract to Oxiana Limited, the objective was to provide a Europe-based co-ordination office for dealings with potential investors, suppliers and other organisations situated on the continent.  By virtue of modern electronic communications, I was able to instantaneously send and receive administration, report and spreadsheet items to and from Oxiana's Tashkent and London offices.
This arrangement continued until October 1998 when, as a result of the market collapse in Russia and other CIS countries, Oxiana Limited initiated proceedings for voluntary liquidation.  Since that time contacts and registrations have been maintained with other investment agencies operating in the FSU.
In relation to a major cotton cultivation project in southern Kazakhstan, played main liaison role between Russian promoters and Israeli equipment suppliers in preparation of Feasibility Study.  This $50 million-plus undertaking envisaged the introduction of the cultivation of high grade cotton in a pre-selected remote area utilising patented drip irrigation techniques.  Additional on-site primary processing (ginning, etc) was planned, together with outwards spinning and weaving at Slovak partner factories.  During and after the visit to Israel with the interested parties (including crop insurance specialists) I had to demonstrate that the project, as planned, was insufficiently viable to attract the required level of equity and loan support.  However, I was also able to indicate areas where suggested restructuring and re-costing could deliver a more acceptable rate of investment return.
Chestnut Consulting has full office facilities, including telephone, fax, computers, scanner and ISDN Internet working.  In seeking suitable temporary or permanent work, this home office set-up remains available to be placed at the disposal of a potential employer.

Oxiana Limited was formed by Giulio Franzinetti as an investment advisory company based in Covent Garden, London.  Oxiana (originally called J Thorn & Partners Ltd) represented the interests of the Central & Southern Asia Fund in investment activities in Uzbekistan.  When the decision was made to open a representative office in Tashkent in July 1997, I was chosen to oversee the operation and to act as resident director.
My first task was to select a local head of office to facilitate activities.  A previous Uzbek acquaintance, Shukhrat Alimovich Kasimov, proved perfect for the position.  A former member of the Soviet OPEC support team in Algeria, Shukhrat had all the contacts and administrative experience to help secure official registration - including semi-diplomatic status - within three months of original application.  To date, this is the quickest completion known for an independent foreign organisation.
The work of the office consisted of investigating and reporting potential projects for foreign investments.  To this end, close ties were maintained with the Uzbekistan Post-Privatisation Investment Management (UPPIM) Fund, as well as with local representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).  Oxiana, as a fully independent unit, could often look into potential projects which UPPIM, due to organisational restrictions, could not approach.
Shukhrat and I recruited local office staff from zero.  At its height, the representative office employed a selection of nationalities (British, Uzbek, Russian, Korean and Jewish) on secretarial, legal, accounting, research, cleaning, cooking, security and driving tasks.  The working language of the office was Russian, with a high standard of English required for key positions.
Potential projects came to us in a variety of ways: from official government sources; from UPPIM; from personal contacts; from research; and from speculative enquiries.  Often starting with a supplied Business Plan in Russian, the first task was to translate and revise the Soviet-style contents into a format suitable for presentation to investors for an initial go/no go decision.
For the many speculative enquiries, I was empowered to turn down the propositions on first inspection.  Nevertheless, no applicant was turned away without advice on how to amend and improve the plan - especially the Marketing considerations - for potential re-application.