From the bicycle to a startup, Alona always in the saddle
The determination of a cyclist and a great vision. Alona Andruk has leveraged her athletic tenacity to succeed as an entrepreneur. Today, as founder and CEO of Take Off Ltd, she is revolutionizing the fashion market by rewriting the rules of the fashion supply chain.
Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Andruk spent Part One of her life as a professional cyclist. Always “in the saddle,” she divided her time between training and racing from 1998 to 2013, and participated in the 2012 London Olympics. When describing those years, she says: “I traveled a lot and learned a lot. Cycling may seem like an individual sport, but that’s not always the case. In actual fact, you are part of a team and you have to be able to work with others, so in that sense it’s a lot like management.” Andruk then decided to leave the world of professional sport before she turned 30, citing a lack of motivation: “I felt like I had nothing left to give and I left without a Plan B, but I was sure I would come up with something.”
Andruk laid the foundations for Part Two of her life by launching a start-up in 2013, which by 2018 had already hit ten million in turnover. She says: “I started from scratch, with no business studies under my belt. That’s why I felt the need to go back to school.” So, she took on a personal challenge and dedicated herself to her studies. First at the Bologna Business School and then at Bocconi, where she earned an Executive MBA in 2022. Meanwhile, her company, Take Off Ltd was, well, taking off. Says Andruk: “I’ve seen all the waste that happens in the fashion supply chain. Warehouses full of unsold garments destined for disposal after months or years. This led me to look for a solution that would give a second life to stock, from individual garments to accessories forgotten by the fashion industry.” Take Off was born out of a desire to solve a problem. A business with a turnover of 40 million by 2022 that buys, distributes and resells the stock from fashion houses and clothing companies. “We are active in 35 countries, mainly in Eastern Europe, such as Ukraine, where we supply large stores, outlets and e-commerce sites with high-quality items, often made in Italy, from more than 150 brands. All at an affordable and sustainable price,” she adds. Circular economy and more inclusive fashion.
Andruk won the 2022 Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for her idea and is now working to expand her business into new markets. “We’ve faced many challenges. We grew from six employees to 50, overcame the pandemic with closed shops and blocked shipments by launching the digital platform Bundlex. Then came the war in Ukraine, which was a shock. But we didn’t give up and we’re still here.”
She keeps pedaling, uphill too.
As for being a leader and a woman, Andruk stresses that she has had to work on communication and adapt to the role of CEO. “I’ve learned to delegate and I understand the importance of guiding the team in the right direction and trying to convey my desire to always improve.” On prejudice, she says: “There were times when I felt I was treated differently from the men I worked with, but I always believed in my abilities, and the results I achieved were proof of that.” Her advice to young women entrepreneurs: “Dream big and work hard to make your dreams come true.”
