Today, the Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg is one of the hundred richest people in the world, in the Russian ranking according to 2018 he ranks ninth. The entrepreneur and manager heads the Skolkovo innovation fund, a modern science city near Moscow, and runs the Renova group.
Carier start
The future successful businessman was born in the western Ukrainian Drohobych in 1957. His father is a Jew, one of the few survivors in the family after the 1944 genocide, his mother is Ukrainian.
At school, Vitya stood out as a capable and purposeful student. The young man continued his education at the Moscow Railway Institute at the Faculty of Computer Engineering. Studying was easy for a provincial, but sometimes there was not enough money for living in Moscow. Then I had to earn extra money as a loader at a meat processing plant or a confectionery factory. Having received a red diploma, the graduate entered the postgraduate course at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
The first place of work of Vekselberg was the Konnas Design Bureau from 1978 to 1990. Here he made a good career from an ordinary employee to the head of a laboratory. In 1990, Victor opened his first companies. One promoted software, the other sold non-ferrous metals abroad. The profit was very good, it later formed the basis of the future financial empire.
Renova
Together with their student friend Leonid Blavatnik, who by that time had moved to the United States, they opened a joint business in their homeland. The new Renova company bought office equipment in Europe and exchanged it for vouchers. At the time of global privatization, the business partners became the owners of two aluminum smelters. Further investments allowed Vekselberg to expand his influence in the field of non-ferrous metals and earn a fortune. Then the aluminum tycoon turned to the oil industry and became the main shareholder of TNK. Today Renova is a business group and has factories in 36 regions of Russia and abroad. In addition to oil refining and non-ferrous metals, she is engaged in the chemical industry, mechanical engineering, construction, telecommunications and air transportation. It is noteworthy that 80% of the company's investments are long-term investments in the Russian economy.
In 2006, Renova decided to enter the international arena and acquired the assets of two Swiss diversified companies. The Swiss Ministry of Finance accused the businessman of violating the exchange law and had to pay a considerable sum to withdraw the claims from the authorities.
Other projects
In 2010 Vekselberg heads the Skolkovo center near Moscow. He explained his interest in this event with the opportunity to participate in the development of five promising areas of the economy at once: energy, computer programs, biomedicine, space and nuclear technologies.
In addition to innovations, Viktor heads the board of directors of the Russian aluminum company Rusal; he has devoted two decades to the management of the Tyumen Oil Company. In addition, the businessman owns shares in the Russian "International Financial Club" and real estate in different countries.
Social activity
In 2004, Victor established the Link of Times Cultural and Historical Foundation. The organization is engaged in the return of cultural heritage objects to their homeland, the organization of exhibitions and the creation of new museums. Exhibits are purchased in private collections abroad, as was the case with the works of the famous jeweler Faberge.
Not forgetting about his roots, Vekselberg participates in the work of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia. In addition, he is a member of the Council of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of the country and the Association of the Mining and Metallurgical Complex.
How does he live today
In the personal life of the billionaire, one woman has been present for three decades - Marina Dobrynina. Love between young people arose as a student, when they decided to get married. The spouse rarely appears with her husband at events. For many years she has been involved in charity work in the Good Age project, helping people with mental disorders find their place in society. The wife gave Victor two children, in the family they were brought up in modesty. Daughter Irina works with her father, son Alexander develops his own technologies.
Recently, the billionaire began to expand the scope of his business and invested in the development of agricultural holdings in the Komi Republic. Similar projects have already yielded results in the Moscow region, Perm, Sverdlovsk and Chuvashia.
