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The biography of Leonid Monosov can be called anything but boring; the entrepreneur and investor has been behind such grand projects as the restoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which is today considered the most important church in Moscow and Russia in general.
However, he considers his turnkey residential development projects no less important; every year in the 2000s, Leonid Monosov's team made it possible for tens of thousands of Muscovites to celebrate moving into new homes. Building almost two and a half million square meters of housing per year was no small matter! Such was the scale of operation of the construction company, where the top manager held the position of CEO.
How did the career path of the man who became one of the most famous urban planners in Moscow begin? In this article, we will discuss the biography of Leonid Monosov and tell you about his educational background, as well as the difficulties and obstacles he had to encounter and how he managed to overcome them.
The man, who was to return the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to postcard views of the capital and replace huge vacant lots with residential neighborhoods, was born in 1958. He was born in the city of Mazyr, Belarusian SSR. Back then, the republic was part of the large Soviet country. When the kid was five years old, his father moved him to the capital of the USSR, where ruby stars were burning above the red walls of the Kremlin.
Unfortunately, they had to move without the mother of the family, who died earlier due to tragic circumstances. Leonid Monosov was raised by his father. This man took a very responsible approach to raising his son and insisted on him getting a quality education from an early age. To a certain extent, he influenced the boy's choice of career by turning his attention to construction, one of the most important industries in the Soviet Union.
The USSR was a country of grand construction projects. During the years when young Leonid attended School No. 315, Moscow was constantly changing; it was welcoming new broad avenues, high-rise buildings, monumental statues, and magnificent structures in VDNKh Park. It was no wonder that many young people dreamed of becoming part of such projects.
In 1975, Monosov chose an engineering program. He defended his final thesis at the Moscow State University of Railway Engineering and got a degree in industrial and civil construction. Thanks to his impressive academic achievements, the young graduate was able to get a job at Glavmospromstroy, a company that controlled the largest construction sites in Moscow. It was a powerful organization with a couple of dozen construction trusts and 70 thousand employees.
Could a novice engineer dream of assuming one of the main management roles in the company when applying for a job in 1980? We can only guess how far the young man's ambitions extended at that moment. Whatever the case, he had to start his career from square one. He became one of thousands of foremen working at Moscow construction sites.
Glavmospromstroy, where Leonid Monosov started his career, was literally reshaping the capital and expanding its borders. Many projects were of great importance to the city. For example, this organization built the Space Pavilion at the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy. It also built large industrial facilities, such as the Stankolit plant. Even entire cities were built through the efforts of Glavmospromstroy workers; one of them was the innovative city of Zelenograd, which was conceived as a science city for young savants and engineers.
As a foreman, the 22-year-old graduate was to manage a team of construction workers. Although it was considered a junior position, it involved several management responsibilities. But make no mistake, being a manager was not easy! The young engineer immediately encountered many difficulties, which eventually strengthened his character and helped him improve his organizational skills.
The young foreman's competent actions and commitment to the tasks at hand were rewarded with promotions; within a few years, Leonid Monosov was promoted to supervisor and then site manager. All his roles involved a lot of responsibility, difficulties, and stress:
• He had to gain authority in the workplace, as many of the workers were twice his age and looked down on the "pointy-head" who was put above them.• He monitored the quality of construction, handled labor discipline, and made his subordinates rectify defects and stay on schedule.• He dealt with material, tool, and equipment supply issues. There were constant shortages, deliveries were often delayed, and the lack of special equipment caused frequent downtime. Leonid had to search, demand, and fight with the management to get the supplies.
These problems were typical of the Soviet construction industry. Krokodil, a popular satirical magazine, regularly mocked builders because of these issues. Sketch comedy show Fitil frequently satirized the topic as well. The young foreman found himself caught between the hammer and the anvil; organizational issues prevented him from enforcing the plan, while the executives and the country demanded great deeds. Many of his classmates gave up and abandoned the "field work" in favor of peaceful bureaucratic jobs. But Leonid Monosov continued to strain his nerves at construction sites year after year.
By the turning point between the 80s and 90s, when the Soviet system gave way to the capitalist one, he was already in charge of a construction trust. Thus, Leonid managed to build a great career in just ten years — a so-called trust from the Soviet era could be compared to a modern business group within a conglomerate. For Monosov, this meant having a larger responsibility area and a much greater scope of work.
In the capitalist era that began in the 1990s, Glavmospromstroy broke free from state control and became a private joint-stock company. It changed its name to Mospromstroy and became a profit-making enterprise.
Not everyone was able to "integrate into the market" in those years. However, Leonid Monosov found use for his organizational talents. Solving one complex problem after another, he eventually managed to take over as deputy CEO at the company.
He remembers these years as the time of ambitious and unusual urban planning projects. During this period, Moscow acquired many new attractions. The most memorable project, according to Monosov, was the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The initiative to restore the cathedral, destroyed in the 1930s, was launched by the citizens.
The city planner says that there were many problems to solve. On the one hand, people wanted the cathedral to look as close to the pre-revolutionary drawings and photographs as possible. It took a lot of work with archival materials to examine every detail. On the other hand, it became clear that many pre-revolutionary solutions would not be applicable at the end of the 20th century — they were simply outdated and did not meet modern quality standards. The decision was to restore the cathedral while preserving its historical look and equipping it with modern amenities at the same time. It was difficult for the builders to combine these requirements, but in the end, they did a stellar job of it.
Apart from projects of public importance, Mospromstroy was also involved in the construction of commercial buildings. Monosov proved that he had commercial acumen, entrepreneurial skills, and the talent to lead a company of a new format. This was noticed not only by his colleagues, but also by competitors.
In 1999, Leonid Monosov received a life-changing offer. As the second-in-command at Mospromstroy, Leonid solved complex and important problems, but he felt like he had hit a glass ceiling in his career. This was when the top manager received an invitation from another large construction company, which also used to be a major state organization in Soviet times. Its name was Moskapstroy; it was founded in 1957 and later became a joint-stock company and a powerful engineering enterprise.
The shareholders of Moskapstroy offered Monosov the role of CEO. They gave him a blanket permission to make any structural changes in the company and introduce new business ideas.
The newly appointed CEO began his vigorous activity. He created a finance and investment department in the enterprise. The company turned its focus to large-scale residential development in new metropolitan areas. One of its new business principles was to provide a full range of construction and engineering services — it built entire neighborhoods on a turnkey basis. Moskapstroy also took on infrastructure development projects. Everything, from design to handover, was executed by the main company and its numerous subsidiaries.
The results were not long in coming. During the years when Leonid Monosov was in charge, Moskapstroy's financial indicators surged. Within just a few years, they were tripled. The company's turnover was astounding; it absorbed 300 billion rubles a year. Residential complexes were springing up like mushrooms after the rain. Moskapstroy built 2.4 million square meters of property annually!
Leonid Monosov is one of those businessmen who are not afraid to explore new horizons. In the 2010s, he became increasingly interested in the investment side of property development. When analyzing the market, he noticed that private investors did not pay enough attention to construction projects, which hampered the growth of this market segment. This gave him the idea to get into investing.
Today, the investor considers housing construction to be the most promising sector. After all, what matters to people most is to have a roof over their heads. Investing in this area is not only profitable — it also solves important social issues.
That said, the spheres of interest of Moskapstroy-TN JSC, where Leonid Monosov has been holding the position of vice president since 2022, also include other investment areas. For example, the company's portfolio includes shopping and business centers in popular locations.
The entrepreneur is optimistic about the future and sees investing as a promising business strategy.
Interestingly, Monosov considers it important to develop not only Moscow, which has turned into a giant metropolis and continues to expand, he also believes it necessary to make every city and town in the country comfortable to live and work in.
For more than forty years, Leonid Monosov worked from dawn to dusk, completely immersing himself in big projects that gradually reshaped Moscow. It is not easy to find time for personal life with such a tight schedule. Nevertheless, the top manager managed to build a strong family.
He has two children, and his son already has children of his own. Leonid's son Andrey and daughter Alina have made impressive careers in finance and management. Just like their father, they began their professional journeys from junior positions.
The businessman and investor devotes his free hours to sports and fishing. He often gives to charity but prefers not to disclose any details; he believes that good deeds love silence.
Andrey Monosov was born in 1981, when his father had just started working as a foreman. He graduated from the same School No. 315 in the Sokolniki district. Then, inspired by his father's career, he got into the Moscow University of Civil Engineering. However, since it was already a free market era, he chose his major in the spirit of the times and decided to study economics and management.
After graduation, Andrey joined a large real estate development company as a junior employee and began his persistent climb to the top. His efforts were successful; in 2013, the young man stepped into a senior leadership position.
Andrey is raising two children, leads an active lifestyle, plays sports, and sometimes hunts.
Alina Monosova was born in 1990, graduated from Moscow Economic School and MGIMO, and studied for a year at Regent's University London. She specializes in management, finance, and international business.
Alina is a multifaceted person and her interests are not limited to her professional field. Although she built a successful career — taking on the roles of vice president in one company and chief investment officer in another — she still finds room for other activities in her life. For example, she received a degree in psychology and even ran a successful coaching project at one point. But then she decided to keep her business focus on property development and view psychology only as a hobby and a path to understanding herself and others.
For some time in her early twenties, Alina worked in the television industry. Working on Channel One did not ignite a spark in her; she found that the media business had more limitations than room for creativity. Alina chose to put her creative ideas into practice on her own; today, she runs a telegram channel about fashion industry trends and events. This interest of hers, just like psychology, has no commercial purpose — it is simply another one of her hobbies.
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