Olga Makarova, a co-founder of the agency, has relocated to the UK to head the new office, handing over responsibility for Moscow operations to Alexander Lomizov.

Makarova said: “The UK plays an important role as a coordination market for global research. Having been intensively developing our research coverage recently – from the US and Europe to the Asia Pacific region – we foresee our London office developing as a gateway to further expansion.

Before launching Bojole in 2006, Makarova worked agencyside as research director at IMCA. Before that, in the early 1990s, she worked as a consumer insights manager for international FMCG companies Frito Lay/PepsiCo Foods and Reemtsma/Imperial Tobacco.

Bojole offers fieldwork, data processing and analytics services, and has a 70-seat CATI centre in Moscow. Current clients include VimpelCom, Kapersky, Gazpromneft, Wimm-Bill-Dann, Nestle, Coca-Cola and Kimberly-Clark.