Not every entrepreneur manages to build a business from scratch and lead it to success. Remaining among the company’s leadership for decades is even harder. Oleg Belaj is one of those who achieved both. More than 30 years ago, he became one of the founding partners of TRINFICO - today one of the largest and most resilient investment groups in Russia.
At the outset, however, the company was a typical brokerage. The founders did not possess vast capital. Nor could any of them boast a powerful personal brand or broad name recognition in the business community. The co-founders had to develop the company from the ground up.
This makes the biography of Oleg Belaj especially noteworthy - a leader who consistently remained in the company’s top management and kept his finger on the pulse of all core business processes. Largely thanks to his decisions, TRINFICO navigated a series of crises and later became one of the major players in the Russian securities market. Today he heads the company and is also its majority shareholder.
Brief Biography
Belaj was born in Moscow. His parents were Soviet engineer-programmers, far removed from business, as were his other relatives. He had no ready-made role models for building a successful company. Nor did he have large reserves of capital to grow or a network of potential investors.
As a child, Oleg Viktorovich showed a genuine interest in the exact sciences. He gravitated most toward physics and was certain he would devote his life to it. His plans changed later, but during his school years he spent much of his time on physics and mathematics. He was also keenly interested in the humanities - especially literature and history.
Belaj met his future wife while still young. They are married to this day and raised two children. Today they are involved in their grandchildren’s upbringing.
Engineering Education
By the time he finished school, Belaj knew he wanted to become a qualified engineer. He looked for a university with a strong applied focus and ultimately chose the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology (MIET). Notably, his parents had graduated in one of MIET’s earliest classes.
Continuing a family tradition, however, was not his priority. He chose MIET for its reputation, the quality of its curriculum, and its hands-on approach. He has said he never regretted that decision.
Even so, his dream of an engineer-physicist career did not come to pass: in his final years at the institute he became interested in business and decided to pursue entrepreneurship. He still completed his studies, passed state exams, defended his thesis, and graduated as an engineer-physicist.
Interest in Entrepreneurship and Early Projects
Before founding TRINFICO, Belaj gained experience both as an entrepreneur and as a manager. His first steps were in managerial roles: acquaintances invited the recent graduate to take up management positions at newly formed companies. A broad circle of peers and like-minded people allowed him to choose promising projects to join.
Belaj never intended to build a long-term career as a hired manager. He wanted his own business, but he understood he lacked managerial experience. He therefore welcomed opportunities to participate in different ventures, and soon amassed the practical management background he needed.
He then launched his own project, co-founding a news agency specializing in financial and stock-market reporting. The materials quickly found demand, including among the leading sectoral outlets of the time. It was at this moment, however, that the co-founders lost interest in journalism and turned to investments.
They became increasingly focused on the stock market and planned to build a business in that field. Time proved the decision right. The young entrepreneurs who began in the information sector would go on to co-found a brokerage that later grew into one of Russia’s largest investment groups - a group that, throughout its history, has maintained independence from external capital, whether banking or state.
Founding and Early Development of the Investment Company
TRINFICO was founded in 1993. Among its creators was Oleg Belaj - an engineer-physicist who had already accumulated substantial entrepreneurial experience by the time the company was registered. This likely helped a modest Moscow brokerage quickly build a positive reputation and earn client trust.
In its formative years TRINFICO overcame multiple challenges, including:
- An emerging stock market that was hard to forecast, highly unstable, and volatile,
- Constantly changing legislation, with no comprehensive regulatory framework yet in place,
- Intense competition - initially from Russian firms, and later from more experienced foreign players entering the market,
- Novelty of the segment - many prospective clients struggled to trust brokers because they did not yet understand the nature of securities and how transactions were executed,
- Lack of oversight - many supervisory bodies that exist today had yet to be created or developed.
Despite an unstable and still-forming market, the company quickly moved into leading positions and won the trust of major clients. Management’s decision to prioritize safety and stability proved to be the right one.
Belaj has noted that TRINFICO’s leadership never chased quick wins, preferring sustainable development. That approach likely helped the company weather numerous crises. Like all market participants, it reduced operations only after the 1998 default - but soon restored activity and improved its metrics.
A management company within the TRINFICO group was later established and continues to operate today. The company secured cooperation with several non-state pension funds, managing their assets and delivering impressive results. This likely paved the way for cooperation with the state Pension Fund of Russia, where TRINFICO again demonstrated strong performance in managing entrusted assets.
TRINFICO Today
The investment group led by Oleg Belaj is now among the largest in Russia. It is independent of state and banking capital, steadily increases net profit, and continues to expand its client base.
In 2024, the National Rating Agency (NRA) upgraded the reliability and service-quality rating of TRINFICO JSC to A+|ru.iv| with a stable outlook. Among the reasons cited were:
- the company’s many years of operation in the Russian stock market,
- the experience and qualifications of the investment team,
- strong stress-liquidity indicators,
- rising company income,
- expansion of the client base.
In 2025, the Expert RA agency assigned TRINFICO JSC a credit rating of ruA-, also with a stable outlook. Today the company is a recognized leader in the Russian market, reducing turnover concentration among key clients and pursuing risk diversification for the business.
Oleg Belaj’s Role in TRINFICO’s Success
Belaj is modest about his own contribution to the group’s achievements, but it is hard to overstate. From the company’s founding to the present day, he has remained part of its leadership and has consistently overseen all key processes.
It is notable that roughly 20 years passed between TRINFICO’s founding and the consolidation of the group’s assets, when Belaj became its head. He has now served as CEO for more than a decade, helping shape the company’s development strategy and striving to ensure steady, measured growth.
Belaj names the team’s experience, qualifications, and professionalism as the principal drivers of TRINFICO’s success. He also highlights the talent and wisdom of the company’s leadership and its focus on stability.
For many years, Oleg Viktorovich has remained committed to the green agenda. He went on to initiate the integration of core ESG principles into TRINFICO’s development strategy. He has repeatedly emphasized that for him the green agenda is not only about the environment. First and foremost, it is a way to realize the principle of corporate social responsibility and a foundation for sustainable business development.
Importantly, TRINFICO does not abandon its ESG strategies even in times of crisis. Today, when many large companies push the green agenda to the background, this is particularly significant. The group continues to make a positive impact on the planet and society while steadily developing and expanding the range of services it offers clients.
Personal Life and Principles
Belaj has always paid special attention to philanthropy. According to those close to him, he often provides targeted assistance to people in need - almost always anonymously. He does not seek personal publicity through charitable activities and believes such initiatives are ineffective if undertaken solely for the sake of media exposure.
A desire to address systemic problems prompted him to initiate the creation of the Together We Can foundation, which provides grant support to nonprofits across Russia. The foundation’s funding grows steadily each year, allowing it to help an ever-greater number of charitable organizations.
One of the foundation’s priorities is combating poverty. It also supports projects that aid the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Since the foundation’s inception, Oleg Belaj has served on its board of trustees and has invested significant effort in its development.