Tatyana Bakalchuk is Russia’s richest woman with an estimated net worth of $7.4 billion.
She established an e-commerce retailer Wildberries, Russia’s version of Amazon that sells a range of items.
Bakalchuk is working on a payment platform to support Russia’s economy during international sanctions.
Back in 2004, Tatyana Bakalchuk invested $700 to launch a website for Wildberries, an e-commerce venture she initiated from her Moscow apartment while on maternity leave.
Today, Wildberries is likened to Russia’s Amazon, a thriving online retailer that raked in $6 billion in revenue in 2023.
According to Bloomberg, Bakalchuk is now Russia’s wealthiest woman.
Despite her significant wealth, at 48, Bakalchuk maintains a low profile and reportedly lives modestly – opting to rent a home rather than own one.
Bakalchuk was born in the Moscow Oblast region in 1975 and studied at the Kolomna State Pedagogical Institute.
She and her husband, IT entrepreneur Vladislav Bakalchuk, have seven children.
Wildberries began as a small business reselling clothes from Otto, a German retail company.
Bakalchuk shared with Bloomberg in 2018 that she used to handle deliveries herself in the company’s early stages.
“In the beginning, I did everything, gathering the products and delivering them to customers on the other side of Moscow by subway or bus,” she recounted.
As the company expanded, Bakalchuk started hiring delivery staff and renting storage space for more inventory.
Wildberries offers products from over 60,000 brands, including clothing, electronics, and household items, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
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