Who is really Tatiana Bakaltchouk, the richest woman in Russia?

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"Fall 2004.It is raining.Tatiana Bakaltchouk, English teacher, Moscow crossing in public transport - metro, bus, 10 minutes on foot - to recover a new package of 20 kilos of clothes from Germany ", this is how in 2012 startedThe text on the future billionaire and owner of the Wildberries online sales site, which started its activity while it was on maternity leave, and which will become in 2021 the richest woman in Russia.

In terms of activity growth during the year of pandemic, it arrived in second position among the billionaires of the world.She thus became the only woman business manager to enter the ranking of the wealthiest people of all time in Russia.An absolutely unique case for the country: a woman who, without experience, without state support, without initial capital and without powerful partners, has created a global company, has survived several financial crises and now competes with Amazon.This is how we talked for a long time about Bakaltchouk.

In reality, its history is much more complex and ambiguous.So how did she really become the richest woman in the country?

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An apartment strewn with boxes

In 2004, Tatiana gave birth to her first child, and almost immediately after, she decided to found a business.Before her maternity leave, she had worked as a English teacher, while her husband Vladislav was radio -ae.This is what legend said.

His choice of activity stopped on online sale.Tatiana has indeed decided to resell in Russia clothes of the popular German catalogs Otto and what."There was no possibility of investing money: there was just enough to develop a website," she said.And, as such, a real online market did not exist in Russia: only small electronic devices, household items and books - in short, things that did not require a detailed fitting and exam - wereinternet.Before Wildberries, clothes were practically never sold online.

At first, it was the family apartment that served as a office, which was literally filled with goods of goods.Tatiana was both the first operator, delivery man, administrator, and owner of the company.

However, her relatives tried to dissuade the young mother: no one would order internet clothes, they must be tried.But Bakaltchouk bet on having deleted preparing (previously, the online market in Russia only operated on this principle) and set a single increase for all.This was enough for the company to develop faster and faster.

In the space of a year, she rented a real office and began to actively develop.In addition to clothing from the catalogs, the store began to offer major European brands.In parallel, she offered to relatives of the subordinate positions: "I called my younger sister, then the collaborator [of my husband] Vlada.But there were more and more orders and we could not face, so we called on our knowledge, to our parents.My father was already retired, but he returned to work when we recorded the SARL.My aunt became an accountant.Almost the whole family came to the rescue ”.

"Originally, Wildberries had the idea of building the company as a family: many senior executives grew up in the company," observes Alexandre Ivanov, president of the National Association of Distance Trade.

The next revolutionary stage was free delivery and points of sale with fitting room throughout the country, which no one in Russia had never done before.Thanks to this, Wildberries began to develop faster than the market.In 2015, its income amounted to 29.5 billion rubles, in 2019 - at 117 billion rubles.At the same time, Tatiana Bakaltchouk remained one of the most secret business women in Russia and was extremely reluctant to speak with the press.Until recently, no one knew how she, a woman without experience in the business, had managed to build an online empire as complex and prosperous.

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The queen of the occasion and the useful relationships

"I have no diploma in mathematics or economics, I did not calculate anything in advance.I just had the idea and launched it, ”likes to repeat Tatiana.However, as journalists discovered in 2020, a plan existed, and the history of "woman without experience" is nothing other than a charming fairy tale.

When Tatiana decided to create her own business, her husband Vladislav Bakaltchouk was actually already an experienced entrepreneur, and not a simple radiophysicist.The website of the Wildberries online store, for which it was allegedly just enough money, was produced by the company in which it owned.Vladislav embarked on business in the late 1990s: at the beginning, he traded computers, then he created the Utech Internet service provider, and even later, the IFLAT supplier.Company sources say it was he who made key decisions within Wildberries.Among the parents of Vladislav is also Ion Bakaltchouk, a resident of Israel;He has been working for the twenty years for the International Computer Science Matrix Global Services as director of strategic sales and among his clients are the Israeli Defense Ministry as well as the staff of the armed forces of the country.

Bakaltchouk is herself of Korean origin (her young girl name is Kim).His sister Marina (Kim), who also worked at Wildberries, quotes among his relatives the niece of Sergei Tsoï, vice-president of the oil company Rosneft, while journalists qualify the latter's wife, Anna Kim(In Russia, she is a popular singer known under the pseudonym of Anita Tsoi) of "Friend of the family of Rosneft leader, Igor Setchine".The younger sister of Iouri Tsoi (nephew of Sergei Tsoi), Ekaterina, also supported the Wildberries partnership project, and another parent of Bakaltchouk, Nadejda Vorontsova (Tsoi), received a state subsidy of 150 millionrubles to manage it.

At the same time, Tatiana Bakaltchouk, even before the launch of Wildberries, according to the sources, sold second -hand clothes from Europe in a shopping center in the capital.The store then positioned itself as a point of sale with 1,000 used clothing models.

The Bakaltchouk deny that Tsoi and Kim families have been in any way involved in the development of their business.Nevertheless, in a recent interview, Tatiana admitted: "The story of a woman who has been made alone in the business world is prized as a role model".In addition, this bet was made consciously - when they have engaged public relations professionals.

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The "self-made women" are sold out

The Bakaltchouk have indeed decided to call on public relations specialists following problems with suppliers.Rumors then circulated, according to which Wildberries was about to go bankrupt.The head of one of the main suppliers testified: “Wildberries made people addicted to the discounts: nobody buys anything at high prices.As an offense, but online.It was the dumping that allowed them to double everyone.But this dumping is done at our expense ”.

It was therefore necessary to soften the attitude of suppliers, and public relations specialists therefore decided to position society through a profitable history: a former English teacher, who launched his business shortly after the birth of'A child (Tatiana will have three other children later) and made it the most prosperous digital company in Russia.Then, a big article on Tatiana and her business was published in Forbes - and it worked.Information on the businesswoman, until then, attracted a lot of attention, journalists crowded to meet her.Little by little, Bakaltchouk started to participate in worldly life.

Monetize crises

However, this is not the only thing that has contributed to the growth of its capital and to the fact that Bakaltchouk's personal fortune exceeded one billion dollars in 2021.It is actually on crises that she made her money.

In 2009, the entrepreneur signed her first major direct contract with a manufacturer: Adidas, who had significant stocks in his warehouses due to the drop in demand.Wildberries then contracted a loan and bought 3,000 pairs from the same model of sneakers."Liquidation purchases" then became an operational business model - the company bought manufacturers all that, for one reason or another, was not sold (due to faults, poor quality or alow demand).To do this, representatives went specially in Europe to find braded stocks.This was accompanied by an avalanche of comments from Russian buyers unhappy with the quality of the goods, but the company was still profitable.

The second world crisis beneficial to the company took place during the coronavirus pandemic, when online trade has imposed itself worldwide.Wildberries then hired 15,000 people (at the end of May 2020, the company had 53,000 permanent and temporary employees), and launched its sales in 9 CEI and Europe countries (including France).Thanks to this, Bakaltchouk's fortune increased by 1200%, reaching $ 13 billion.

Wildberries export turnover has also increased by 89%.Among the main exported products in Russia are the medical masks, the Pastila (traditional Russian confectionery) sugar-free, peanut butter, baby layers, t-shirts and the book a story of Russia for children.

In this other article, we explained to you how Russia earns money thanks to the cold.

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