Intel named ASBIS to be the authorised distributor of Intel branded products in Eastern European Region for year 2000.

Sergey Kostevich, president of Asbis, a Cyprus-based component distributor, says: "The demand is there. It is just a question of fulfilling it." Mr Kostevich, a Belarusian academic researcher, is an example of entrepreneurial drive. He started his business supplying friends and acquaintances in Minsk. Now he employs 280 in a region-wide network which is this year forecast to have a turnover of $260m.