Alessa Grissin. Alpha Grissin’s Main Strength – Its People

Interview with Alessa Grissin, owner of the Alpha Grissin group of companies

Alpha (later Alpha Grissin) was founded in the 1980s in Greece and since its inception has been engaged in the import and distribution of equipment, specializing in the supply of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), air conditioners, stabilizers, rectifiers, batteries, diesel generators, inverters and building management systems. Since the 2000s, Alpha Grissin has expanded its activities beyond Greece, spreading to countries such as Bulgaria, Ukraine and Cyprus, becoming a significant player in these markets. Of particular note is the strategic cooperation of Alpha Grissin with the world's leading manufacturer of critical digital infrastructures - Vertiv Corporation, which has been going on for 35 years.

In recent years, Alpha Grissin has expanded its business to the Central Asian region, opening offices in Tashkent and Almaty, which prompted an interview with Alessa Grissin, owner of Alpha Grissin.

Aliossa, good afternoon. Has anyone mentioned that your name sounds similar to the Russian name “Alyosha”?

Some people do call me that. I was born and raised in Greece, where I still live. We have a tradition of naming our children after our ancestors. My grandfather was called Alyosha; he was born in Kharkov – Ukraine. Unfortunately, we never met because he died during the war in 1942. So, although I was named in his honor, no one in our family speaks Russian.

You are the owner of Alpha Grissin, but the company’s history dates back to the 1980s. Clearly, you couldn’t have been its founder…

Alpha Grissin, then known simply as Alpha, was established by my father. He came from a very poor family and achieved everything on his own. He started by selling cars, then moved into retail air conditioning, and later we ventured into uninterruptible power systems.

And when did you join the company?

I studied abroad, in London and Boston. Then I returned to Greece, served a year in the military, and afterwards began reforming the family business. Thanks to my international education, I was more aware of market trends. It was then that I established Alpha Grissin as a group of companies. We discontinued some areas—like air conditioning—and focused on what I call “infra-technologies,” a term derived from “infrastructure” and “technology.” So in 2004, Alpha Grissin was formed, though its product, team, clients, and network date back to 1980.

How would you describe the specialization of Alpha Grissin today?

We believe that by working with our primary vendor—Vertiv—we provide critical digital infrastructure. Essentially, we integrate equipment, software, and analytics to enable our customers to operate essential services optimally and continuously every day. With our portfolio of energy and IT infrastructure products, we address a wide range of challenges and issues at modern, complex commercial and industrial facilities.

I understand that you have long transformed into an international company?

My first business venture outside of Greece was in Bulgaria. The geographic proximity, along with many Greeks investing in Bulgaria at the time, encouraged us to take a new step. This expansion began in 2004. In 2008, we entered the Ukrainian market. I still remember that period with strong emotions—I regarded the project in Ukraine as my own child. Ukraine is a large market, and although we faced many challenges over the years, we not only maintained our position but also continued to grow even during very difficult times.

Did your success in Ukraine lead you to expand into other CIS countries? Into Central Asia?

Yes. The support of my supplier Vertiv makes it possible for any market to find a competitive offer. I analyzed several potential markets for expansion and settled on the Central Asian region. I believe that this market, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, has a huge perspective. Let's not lose sight of the markets of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, which we also include in our sphere of attention. I think we came at the right time. I do not want to use the definition that the market was underdeveloped. Rather, I would define it as a great potential for our business.

When we talk about Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, we are talking about a consolidated population of approximately 60 million people. Kazakhstan is a country with a GDP of 250 billion, Uzbekistan is about 100 - 110. This is certainly a great potential for growth, and we are ready to invest in this market. Now our first priority is to educate customers and clients so that they use our products and our services more effectively.

What is the main strength and competitive advantage of Alpha Grissin?

There are several reasons. Partnership with Vertiv is a very strong and professional support. Client portfolio as a confirmation of our successful work. The fundamental condition is my personal expertise, I know our business from A to Z. But the main secret of success is the Alpha Grissin team. I sincerely believe that a company is its people. It is not a shareholder, it is not a CEO, it is people who make the company.

How many people currently work at Alpha Grissin?

There are 160-180 people in the group in all the countries where we operate. In Central Asia, which we talked about, we have 12-15 people, but we are growing fast. We are investing. The market is growing exponentially for our products, our services, and we need to adapt very quickly. Flexibility is the key to success. We invest in people at the right time to keep up with the growth of the market.

You talk about exponential growth. Is artificial intelligence one of the reasons?

Yes. It is here and it will be here forever. I think we haven’t even scratched the surface of what AI can do, but I can tell you that the need for AI is growing exponentially. The need for data storage is huge. So we made a strategic decision at Alpha Grissin that we need to focus on hyperscale data center infrastructure, colocation, and telecommunications. I think we’re going to see orders of magnitude more data processing in the next 10 years than we have today, which will drive massive growth in computing power and the infrastructure that supports it.

What new markets are you exploring for yourself?

We will be expanding our presence in Central Asia and Armenia will most likely become a new target market.

What are your plans for the near future?

At the beginning of 2025, having arrived in Almaty with large teams of Vertiv and Alpha Grissin, we decided to hold a partner event this spring to share with Kazakhstani IT companies international experience of cooperation, or rather, collaboration of partners, a key project distributor and a leading global manufacturer in the field of building critical digital infrastructures in data processing centers (DPC), communication networks, as well as in commercial and industrial enterprises.

Author: Pavel Zingan

Source: pavelzingan.md

p.s.: The partner event took place on April 25, 2025. You can read more about it by following the link .