Former teacher and mum-of-four Tatyana Bakalchuk has become the second Russian woman to own a billion-dollar business after building up her a Russian version of Amazon called Wildberries.
According to reports, her online retail firm Wildberries is ranked fourth in the list of Russia’s biggest companies and is now worth 918 million GBP.
Tatyana reportedly has a personal wealth of around 600 million USD (460 million GBP).
Russia’s second female owner of a billion-dollar business graduated from the Moscow Region State Institute of Humanities and Social Studies with a degree in English teaching.
Together with her husband Vladislav Bakalchuk, the couple started off by ordering clothes from German mail-order catalogue such as Otto and Quelle and reselling them to their fledgling client base.
Tatyana worked from her small flat while on maternity leave with her first child back in 2004.
She started moonlighting in retail with the money left over from her salary as an English teacher.
These days, the Wildberries CEO is in charge of over 15,000 employees and a large customer base in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Last year, the mum-of-four entered the Forbes list for the first time, becoming Russia’s 165th richest person.
However, her company is now reportedly worth 1.2 billion USD (918 million GBP).
Tatyana is now considered Russia’s second female owner of a billion-dollar business after Yelena Baturina, 55.
Netizen ‘Lidka’ said: “Good job, I wish we had more women like her.”
‘Citilink’ commented: “She deserves a lot of respect, especially with having so many children.”
‘SilvanaDrago’ commented: “This is amazing. They have a great online service with a huge selection of products, and it is easy to return items too. Very convenient, low prices and personalised discounts.”
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Story By: Anastasia Smirnova, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
