Brilliant Eugene: milestones in the life of the former owner of Euroset, billionaire Chichvarkin. Evgeny Chichvarkin - biography Alexey Chichvarkin
Evgeny Aleksandrovich Chichvarkin (September 10, 1974, Leningrad) - Russian entrepreneur. Since 2008 lives in the UK.
Childhood, youth
The father of the future millionaire was a civilian pilot, and his mother worked as an engineer-economist in the USSR Ministry of Foreign Trade. Chichvarkin points out that his great-great-grandfather was Moksha by nationality. As a child, he bore the nickname Chicha.
In 1996 Evgeny graduated State Academy management of the specialty "Economics of motor transport management". During my studies, I traded on clothing markets(Cherkezon). 1996-1998 studied at graduate school State University management. True, he did not even come up with the topic of his dissertation.
Entrepreneurial activity
1997 - Together with T. Artemyev, he founded the Euroset company, which later became the largest cellular retailer in Russia.
2008 - Chichvarkin and Artemyev signed an agreement on the sale of Euroset to ANN. In the same year, Chichvarkin left the post of head of the board of directors of Euroset.
December 2008 - Chichvarkin flew to London.
January 2009 - a criminal case was initiated against Chichvarkin.
2011 - the criminal case against E. Chichvarkin was terminated. However, the businessman is afraid to return to Russia.
2012 - together with T. Artemiev, he opens the wine business "Hedonism drinks Ltd" in London. Artemiev owns the company, and Chichvarkin is an investor. In the same year, Chichvarkin announced a possible return to his homeland in 5 years.
Criminal case
In 2009, Yevgeny Chichvarkin was accused of kidnapping and extortion. This charge was related to the kidnapping in 2003 of the former Euroset freight forwarder A. Vlaskin, who was convicted of stealing telephones. Soon Chichvarkin was announced in international wanted list.
In June 2009, an extradition request for Chichvarkin was sent to the UK. The Westminster Court issued an arrest warrant for the businessman. But Chichvarkin was released on bail of £100,000. When the criminal case against Chichvarkin was dropped in Russia in 2011, the extradition case was closed in Britain.
Tips from Evgeny Chichvarkin for budding entrepreneurs
Draw a portrait of your client. But don't imagine people who don't exist in nature. Try to understand what will be the key indicator for your future business, helping you jump above others.
Your service or product must be unique. Uniqueness and uniqueness are an integral part of success. You constantly have to come up with something new or enhance the existing ones.
A professional talking brand can significantly help a business, while an idiotic one will only get in the way. If there is no money for branding, then write the name in black letters on a white background.
Use LiveJournal, Twitter, Facebook to promote your business. Chat on the forums. When advertising your company, keep in mind the possibilities of PR, flash mobs, virus campaigns and other highly intelligent, but relatively low-cost techniques.
In 2008, Chichvarkin headed one of the branches of the Right Cause party. He was in charge of branding the party. In 2010, the millionaire announced that he was no longer involved in this project.
Evgeny Chichvarkin adheres to libertarian views.
At D. Medvedev's inauguration, Chichvarkin presented the president with A. Rand's book Atlas Shrugged. According to Eugene, this novel is the bible of entrepreneurship. Admirers of the named book are A. Greenspan, R. Reagan and several other millionaires.
In 2010, the 60-year-old mother of E. Chichvarkin, Lyudmila, was found dead. According to the conclusion of the medical examiner, she fell and hit her head on the edge of the table. However, Evgeny Chichvarkin is sure that it was a murder.
In August 2010, Evgeny Aleksandrovich participated in a rally held in front of the Russian embassy in London. The named action was organized in defense of the 31st article of the Russian Constitution.
In 2011, Forbes included Yevgeny Chichvarkin in the list of 9 most unusual Russian businessmen.
Once Chichvarkin admitted that many take him for an idiot. He then added that although this is insulting, it is somewhat convenient.
Hobbies: exotic music and cross-country skiing.
Chichvarkin is married and has a son, Yaroslav, and a daughter, Marta.
Evgeny Chichvarkin maintains his personal blog.
Evgeny Chichvarkin- Russian entrepreneur. Co-founder and former co-owner salon chains cellular communication Euroset.
Evgeny Chichvarkin
Occupation: businessman, politician
Date of birth: September 10, 1974
Place of Birth:
Leningrad, USSR
Country Russia
Evgeny Alexandrovich Chichvarkin(September 10, 1974, Leningrad) - Russian entrepreneur. Co-founder and former co-owner of the Euroset mobile phone network. Since the end of 2008 he has been living in the UK, where he has a business. For some time he was the leader of the Moscow branch of the opposition party "Union of Right Forces".
In October 2011, Evgeny Chichvarkin was noted by Anastasia Zhokhova, the editor of the Russian version of Forbes magazine, as one of the 9 most unusual Russian businessmen - extravagant, eccentrics and eccentrics.
Evgeny Chichvarkin was born on September 10, 1974. By his own admission, "physically born" in Leningrad. Most sources indicate Moscow as the city of birth (a direct quote from Chichvarkin: “Formally, I was born in Leningrad, but registered in Moscow (my mother is from Leningrad, my father is a Muscovite)”). His father worked as a civil pilot, and his mother worked as an engineer-economist at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Trade (later at the Ministry of Industry and Trade). Speaking about ethnic roots, Chichvarkin pointed out that his great-great-grandfather was a Moksha.
After graduating from Moscow School No. 28 in 1991, Chichvarkin entered the State Academy of Management, from which he graduated in 1996 with a degree in Economics of Motor Transport Management. At the same time, he was engaged in trade in clothing markets.
From 1996 to 1998 he studied at the graduate school of the Academy.
Management of the Euroset company
On April 2, 1997, together with his friend Timur Artemyev, he created the Euroset company, which later became the largest Russian cellular retailer.
September 2, 2008 employees law enforcement conducted a search at the central office of the Euroset company, which was connected with the investigation into the kidnapping in 2003 of the former Euroset freight forwarder Andrey Vlaskin, according to Chichvarkin's defense, caught by the company's security service in thefts cell phones. On September 22, 2008, together with Timur Artemiev, he signed an agreement on the sale of 100% of Euroset to the investment company ANN, headed by entrepreneur Alexander Mamut. On October 24, 50% minus one share of Euroset was acquired from ANN by Vympel-Communications . The sale transaction was completed on February 3, 2011.
In 2008, he spoke in support of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.
On November 16, 2008, Chichvarkin headed the still unregistered Moscow city branch of the Right Cause party. He was also put in charge of branding the party.
On November 20, 2008, it became known that Chichvarkin left the post of chairman of the board of directors of Euroset.
Emigration
Before his departure from the country, he lived on Rublyovka in Zhukovka. December 22, 2008 flew to London. January 2009 investigative committee at the prosecutor's office Russian Federation opened a criminal case against Chichvarkin.
On March 2, 2010, he announced that he asked not to be associated with the Just Cause party anymore, since it was impossible to work in the project from abroad.
On April 3, 2010, Chichvarkin's 60-year-old mother, Lyudmila Chichvarkina, was found dead at home. According to the preliminary conclusion of the forensic experts, Chichvarkina fell and hit her temple on the edge of the table, but Yevgeny Chichvarkin believes that it was murder.
On May 11, 2010, on his blog in the Snob project, he published an appeal to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which he again accused the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs of intimidating and extorting money from him for the sale of Euroset in 2008, and also accused the penitentiary system of maintaining prisoners in inhuman conditions former leader Euroset security services of Boris Levin discovered hepatitis C during his imprisonment since 2008.
On May 30, 2010, during the Moscow Tea Party rally held by the Libertarian Party of Russia, a direct telephone line was organized with Chichvarkin, during which he supported the action in defense of a free economy.
On August 31, 2010, Chichvarkin took part in a rally in defense of the 31st article of the Constitution of the Russian Federation in front of the building Russian embassy in London.
In January 2011, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation dropped the criminal case against Chichvarkin. However, Chichvarkin said he was afraid to return to Russia because of the possibility of new persecution.
Since March 2012, together with his friend Timur Artemyev, they have opened the Hedonism Drinks Ltd wine business in London, where Timur is the owner of the company, and Chichvarkin is the main investor.
At the end of 2012, he said that he might return to Russia "in 5-6 years"; but only in the event of a change in the current regime.
In April 2016, he announced plans to start positioning and branding the Open Russia organization.
Criminal prosecution
On January 14, 2009, the investigation issued a decision to bring Yevgeny Chichvarkin as a defendant. He was charged with part 3 of article 126 (kidnapping) and paragraphs “a”, “b” of part 3 of article 163 (extortion) of the Criminal Code. In late December and early January, summons were sent to Chichvarkin several times with a summons for interrogation, but since the investigation could not contact him, he was accused in absentia. After that, he was put on the federal wanted list.
On January 28, 2009, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow authorized Chichvarkin's arrest in absentia. On March 2, the Judicial Collegium of the Moscow City Court ruled that the decision of the Basmanny Court should be left unchanged, and the cassation appeals of the lawyers - without satisfaction[.
On March 12, Chichvarkin was put on the international wanted list.
On June 17, 2009, the Prosecutor General's Office sent a request to the UK for the extradition of Chichvarkin. On 27 August Westminster Magistrates' Court issued an arrest warrant ordering him to appear in court. On September 7, Chichvarkin was forcibly taken to court, but on the same day he was released on bail in the amount of 100,000 pounds.
On September 22, extradition hearings were held, the judge scheduled a hearing on the merits for December 1, Chichvarkin was again released on a previously posted bail of 100,000 pounds, his documents giving him the right to travel abroad were confiscated.
On December 1, Westminster Magistrates' Court adjourned the extradition hearing to August 2, 2010, granting the defense motion, which required additional time for translation from Russian into English a large number documents on the case, as well as the preparation of a list of witnesses whom the lawyers intend to call in court.
On August 2, 2010, the Westminster Magistrates' Court postponed the hearing on Chichvarkin's extradition case to September 13. On September 13, the Westminster Magistrates Court scheduled the main hearing in the Chichvarkin extradition case for March 21, 2011.
On January 24, 2011, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation terminated the criminal case against Chichvarkin, on January 26 his international search was terminated, and on February 17, the Westminster Magistrates Court closed the extradition case.
views
Adheres to libertarian economic and political views. At Dmitry Medvedev's inauguration, Evgeny presented him with Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. In his blog in 2008 he wrote about this novel:
Ayn Rend Atlas Shrugged. I would like to say something special about this book. This is the real bible of entrepreneurship. It was written for 12 years by our former compatriot Alisa Rosenbaum and was published in 1957. I think this is the most powerful work, both in essence and in meaning, written in the 20th century. Despite the fact that the novel is really very large, it is in constant demand. Over the years, more than 5 million copies have been sold, and more than 100,000 copies a year are still sold. It is impossible to give a short summary, but the main idea is that the capitalist system, in fact, is not only a system of the highest justice, but also the highest morality. The novel describes an epic fantasy about how social populists came to power in the United States, leading the country to chaos, famine and civil war. Throwing off responsibility is very naturalistically described, lower and lower in the management structure railway, from the boss to a drunk driver, which leads to a terrible tragedy in the tunnel. It is very similar to the Russian regions during the period of the decomposition of the Soviet system. Ayn Rand spent 5 years writing John Galt's final speech. It reflects the concept of rational egoism and individualism.
Ayn Rand's fans are Alan Greenspan, Ronald Reagan. And among a few million people - people with an income of more than a million dollars in the United States - this book is more popular than the Bible. I highly recommend reading this brilliant work. In Euroset, this book can also be read during the working day.
Evgeny Chichvarkin created from scratch the largest retail chain selling mobile phones Euroset. Today this brand is known to everyone. Having achieved dizzying success, in 2008 he sold the business to entrepreneur Alexander Mamut and moved to London. He was prosecuted in Russia in 2006-2012. In 2012, the criminal cases against Chichvarkin Yevgeny Aleksandrovich were completely terminated. Currently, the entrepreneur permanently resides in England, engaged in the wine business.
The latest history of Russia in the late 20th - early 21st century is interesting material for young entrepreneurs to study the origin, development and formation of a business from scratch, as they say, from scratch. When the only knowledge that could be relied upon was the experience of foreign capitalists. Given the domestic mentality, not all successful Western and Eastern business models have taken root in Russian land. Then I had to act on my own, develop my own strategy, change tactics along the way. It was necessary to become bold and arrogant, free and purposeful, resourceful and creative in order to win. Such a person is the former co-owner of Euroset, businessman, millionaire Evgeny Chichvarkin, whose biography is full of stories that can form the basis of a detective, tragedy, comedy, and step by step instructions to create a business.
The young and daring generation of the 90s
As the hero of this article himself tells, he considers both capitals of Russia - Moscow and St. Petersburg (at that time Leningrad) to be his place of birth. The baby was born in Leningrad, after which he immediately moved to Moscow. Where the new citizen of the USSR Chichvarkin Evgeny Alexandrovich was registered. Date of birth - September 10, 1974. Like this unusual story very unusual person.
A prosperous Moscow family (father is a pilot, mother is an economist), a cloudless childhood, student youth within the walls of the State Academy of Management (graduated in 1996), youth at the turn of a change of eras - these are the standard milestones of the beginning life path future star Russian retail. The young generation of Russia in the 90s of the 20th century had a unique opportunity to build their lives the way they wanted, to make their wildest dreams and ideas come true. In the context of emerging new economic relations young, poor, but daring guys, who soon became known to the whole country, entered the stage. They were able to as soon as possible build business empires, become millionaires and billionaires, make people talk about themselves and reckon with themselves. This turned out to be Evgeny Chichvarkin, an extraordinary, eccentric, talented, hardworking and very charming guy.
E. Chichvarkin about success: "Uniqueness and originality are an integral part of success"
Euroset is an explosive retail project
According to Yevgeny Aleksandrovich, the idea of creating a mobile phone salon belonged to his childhood friend, housemate Timur Artemyev. They have developed a successful tandem with a harmonious division of spheres of influence. Timur took up the organizational and financial side of the issue, Chichvarkin immediately took over the sales and promotion of the brand. In 1997, they registered a company called Euroset. The name does not have any mysterious history occurrence, just beautiful word without much semantic load. A few years later, it became known to literally every person in Russia. Starting with several stores in Moscow, by 2007 Euroset had about 2,000 points of sale in Russia. The company has set its sights on retail sales low cost mobile phones, offering low prices and fast service. The history of Euroset is interesting and instructive. What allowed the brand to become one of the largest retailers in the country so quickly?
If we focus on the most interesting components of the company's development strategy, we get something like this:
- Aggressive promotion policy. Euroset, having come to the regions, opened points in large centers, and in pavilions at bus stops, and in stalls in the markets. The goal was the same - to capture all the most advantageous positions in terms of customer traffic. The point of sale opened in the shortest possible time, with minimum investment, immediately start earning.
- Ability to conduct business wars. It is known that regional phone sellers met Muscovites unkindly, if not hostilely. There were even cases of arson of Euroset pavilions. Chichvarkin defeated everyone by answering maximum reduction prices, the opening of new stores and the absorption of competitors.
- Features of personnel policy. Chichvarkin is known as a stern and eccentric leader who always personally kept his finger on the pulse, invisibly present next to every manager of the company. He repeatedly said that every employee should bring maximum benefit to the company. Evgeny Alexandrovich liked to personally visit stores to check the quality of the work of employees. Such checks often ended badly for some workers. Perhaps not always fair. Chichvarkin himself speaks of this with his inherent directness and self-irony: “I fire idiots and bastards with pleasure. I quickly form an idea of a person. True, it is not always right. His original letters to the company's employees, which are worthy of a separate publication, also went down in history. It is said that he did not pay salespeople a fixed salary, offering only a percentage of sales. A controversial decision. But, be that as it may, the employees of Euroset had a powerful motivation for personal sales and were always in good shape.
- Advertising policy. Chichvarkin has always personally participated in the development advertising campaigns, slogans and selling texts. Euroset advertising is so original and scandalous that it requires a separate chapter.
- Evgeny Chichvarkin, being an educated and inquisitive person, always attached importance to constant self-development, reading special literature and learning. At the same time, his active nature is very accurately reflected in the words of Richard Branson: “To hell with everything! Take it and do it!
E. Chichvarkin about money: “People work to get money. Money is a means of achieving freedom. If the money you earn with pleasure allows you to fill your life with impressions and satisfy your passion for knowledge, life is a success. If you work in such a way that you don’t see white light, why are you working?”
Information for reflection: today it is rather difficult to open a mobile phone salon and make it successful, despite the high profitability of the business. It is necessary to take into account many factors, including the leading positions of large federal players in this market.
Advertising on the verge of a foul
Advertising slogans, videos and actions of Euroset were so provocative that they even fell under the ban of Rospotrebnadzor. It seems that in today's reality they would simply not see the light. The bet was made on a play on words with the use of obscene language. The company's banners featured phrases in which part of the word was replaced by ellipsis, but any native Russian could easily read what the advertisement wanted to convey to him.
No less eccentric was the action "Come naked and get a phone for free!". Despite the absurdity of the proposal, the action was a success. Naked people really came to the salons and received telephones. Still, Chichvarkin knows the domestic mentality well, being himself capable of extraordinary deeds.
You can have different attitudes towards such outrageous approaches, but the fact remains: with a minimum of costs, promotional events had a huge public outcry and an excellent result in terms of sales. Evgeny Chichvarkin brought elements of show, outrageous, entertainment, laughter into business advertising. And won. Chichvarkin generally has an excellent sense of humor. Once, when asked where the company got additional funding, he replied: “We are powered by the energy of space.”
E. Chichvarkin on business promotion: “Buying should be an adventure. A person should have something else besides the goods. For nothing in our urban world, a person is ready to pay more than for impressions.
Intrigues, scandals, investigations
With the name of the businessman Evgeny Alexandrovich Chichvarkin and his brainchild Euroset is connected scandalous story with a criminal focus. Since the details and details of this case are very vague and not known to the general public, it is best to talk about it with a great deal of caution, dryly stating the facts and not drawing conclusions.
In 2006, a criminal case was opened against a businessman on charges of violating the law when importing mobile phones. The case was related to the detention at the customs of a large batch of Motorola phones for Euroset. Soon the criminal case was dismissed for lack of corpus delicti. In 2008, a criminal case related to kidnapping was again opened against the businessman. Chichvarkin was even put on the international wanted list. As a result of many years of proceedings, all charges against the entrepreneur were dropped, and the criminal prosecution was completely terminated in 2012.
In 2008, the founders and co-owners of Euroset Evgeny Chichvarkin and Timur Artemyev sold the business to a large businessman Alexander Mamut, according to various sources, for $300-400 million. A little later by the new owner retail network became VimpelCom-Communications.
Chichvarkin left Russia in 2008, flying to London, where he currently lives.
Life after Euroset
During the heyday of Euroset, Yevgeny Chichvarkin's fortune was estimated at $2.5 billion. According to Forbes magazine, Chichvarkin has not been included in the 200 richest businessmen in Russia for a long time. According to information from various sources Now the state of the entrepreneur is estimated at less than $ 1 billion.
Living for many years in England, Evgeny Aleksandrovich is engaged in the business of selling wine. He opened a stylish wine shop, Hedonism Wines, which offers a wide range of wines and other alcoholic beverages. Chichvarkin is again doing what he likes and enjoys. With his characteristic curiosity, he delved into the study of all the nuances of a new activity. The businessman spends a lot of time in his store, personally changing vinyl records on the turntable and meeting customers. You can see how this happens in this video.
E. Chichvarkin about customer service: "If a person is disgusted (or ashamed) to serve, let him work as a watchman in a wasteland."
Russian businessman and English entrepreneur
Evgeny Chichvarkin, whose biography contains both dizzying ups and rapid falls, remains a very open and easy-to-communicate person. He is not inherent in snobbery and star disease that affects many successful people. His non-standard and eccentricity is manifested in his views on life, appearance way to formulate and express thoughts. Using extravagant techniques in business that shock the public, Chichvarkin remains a modest and calm person in his personal life. His personal life is not a subject secular gossip and rumors. He has been married for a long time, has a daughter and a son, and is quite happy. And he is also an unusually charming, witty and cheerful person.
In one of the interviews, Evgeny Alexandrovich summed up the intermediate results in such a peculiar way: “I had a moment in my life when I was scared, it seemed to me that my life would end soon. I thought very quickly what I had done and I thought that I had done everything perfectly. I did amazing. Much better than I could have done. Made a lot of mistakes, but did so many good deeds.”
For more than nine years, Chichvarkin has been living away from his homeland - he has long settled in London, where he does business and builds his personal life, in which last years happened big changes. The first wife of Evgeny Chichvarkin, Antonina, who shared with him in the past not only joyful holidays, but also bitter everyday life, acquired the status of “former” some time ago.
Together with her and two children - son Yaroslav and daughter Marta, the businessman moved to London in 2016, and he did this not of his own free will, but in order to avoid punishment for extortion and kidnapping, which he was accused of by the Russian authorities.
In the photo - Evgeny Chichvarkin with his first wife and son
Chichvarkin married Antonina at a young age, and their family was always considered strong - Evgeny was never seen in romances on the side and flirting with other women.
Eugene and Antonina
After the charges were dropped from him, the businessman still did not return to Russia, and not so long ago he divorced his first wife and married a second time - Tatyana Fokina, director of his wine store, opened by Yevgeny in the British capital several years ago.
In the photo - Chichvarkin and his second wife Tatyana Fokina
The second wife of Chichvarkin is much younger than her chosen one and his first wife, she comes from St. Petersburg, from where, after graduating from the philological faculty of St. Petersburg State University, she moved to London. She not only manages her husband's store, but also manages the Open University project, created by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in which she managed to work before moving to London.
Before meeting Chichvarkin, Tatyana Fokina did an internship at a PR agency for some time, worked for one Russian businessman, and in 2010 she met Evgeny, who was looking for a partner to create a store that did not exist at that time.
In the photo - Taptiana Fokina
The businessman admitted that before he came up with the idea to create a wine store, he wanted to open a bathhouse, whose clients would be his compatriots, but he doubted that this business would be profitable.
According to Yevgeny Chichvarkin's wife, at first she was surprised by the concept of Yevgeny's store - huge bottles of very expensive wines were to be displayed on its shelves, including a twenty-seven-liter Rioja worth fourteen thousand dollars.
Chichvarkin says that Tatyana did a lot for his company, and at first he drew attention to Fokina precisely because of her professional qualities. Tatyana says that the themes of art, food, wine have always been close to her, so she created a store where customers see not only a variety of wines, but also elements contemporary art. In addition, there is always good music which makes the wine selection process even more enjoyable.
In the course of working together, Eugene could not resist the charm of his future wife, fell in love with her and made a marriage proposal. The businessman's friends are delighted with his young wife and speak of her as a sweet, intelligent girl.
While the newly-made Chichvarkin family is not going to have children and continues to successfully develop its business - in 2017, Chichvarkin took 905th place in the ranking of the thousand richest residents of the UK, and his fortune was estimated at one hundred and twenty million pounds sterling a year.
Tatyana and her husband spend most of their working time in the office above their liquor store, and before work they have time to play tennis. Their working day is full of negotiations, meetings, communication with clients, work with suppliers and company employees.
AT free time Eugene and his wife visit cultural events, meet friends, like to go to the theater or to an exhibition.
Daria Nikitina
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Today, according to Forbes magazine, Yevgeny Chichvarkin is no longer among the 200 richest people in Russia, which means that his fortune is less than $ 500 million. But this authoritative magazine still considers Chichvarkin one of the most eccentric Russian oligarchs. Not without reason.
In this article:
Flights in a dream and in reality
Eugene is unusual already for the reason that different sources indicate two places of his birth: one - Peter, and most - Moscow. We believe the majority, since Chichvarkin's father was a pilot, but his mother worked in such an unusual ministry as foreign economic relations. Eugene himself claims that he was actually born in St. Petersburg, but mentally he is a Muscovite.
On the one hand, little Zhenya wanted to feel the feeling of flying, like his father, but on the other hand, he understood that it was impossible to fly in this world in a big way. We need finance. Peers later recalled that Chichvarkin the schoolboy earned his first pocket money on an elementary scheme: bought and sold. He himself did not smoke, but for older classmates he bought their favorite cigarettes in the district (then it was in short supply) and sold them at a small margin. Such earnings made the young Chichvarkin think about who to become after school, and he honestly asked adults: who earns and how much today?
Perhaps for this reason, Zhenya did not follow in his father's footsteps, he tried to find his wings on the ground. And the example of his mother inspired him more, he decided to enter the State Academy of Management. BUT practical school During his studies, he began to comprehend this very management at the then famous Luzhniki market. What he just didn’t sell there - from vodka to clothes of very dubious quality. But personal charm allowed both wholesalers and not very demanding buyers to sell all this goods. It was then, and is now called the word business. But such a business was interesting for Chichvarkin only as a start. Moreover, the earnings allowed the student to feel comfortable at traditional events for young people: parties, when meeting girls, and also buying ... No, not cars and other luxury items, but also smart books. It was the latter that allowed Zhenya to understand that it is possible to fly in this world not only as an airliner pilot, but also to earn money to fly in an airplane in a business class cabin.
The path to the Euroset
Yevgeny Chichvarkin graduated from his academy in 1996, but became its own graduate student. What for? The young businessman needed time to come up with something interesting. Enrolled in graduate school former student, as expected, two years, but he never defended his dissertation. He later admitted that he did not know what. And it is clear why: in 1997, he already had a clear goal. Together with a friend Timur Artemyev, they registered a new brand for Russia - Euroset and its first store in Moscow. Before dissertations here?
The first five years passed with relative success: new stores and outlets were opened, but there was no total triumph. And only in 2002, when Euroset made a bet on reducing prices for mobile phones and established direct contacts with the world's largest companies that produce them, it became the leader of the Russian market.
But that's not all. Euroset significantly expanded the range of products: in addition to mobile phones, players and digital cameras appeared on the shelves. As a result, the company made a serious breakthrough in its market segment, becoming number one. Branches appeared in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, and in 2004 Evgeny Chichvarkin himself became the “Person of the Year” according to authoritative Russian business publications. And one more significant figure: about three billion dollars - this was the turnover of Euroset in the next year - 2005. So the dream came true?
Euroset, which drove Chichvarkin into the network
Success in business is dangerous, it sometimes gives a person a sense of omnipotence and the illusion that he can speak on an equal footing with strong worlds this. Chichvarkin did not escape this temptation.
Attacks on his empire by law enforcement agencies were made periodically. And the businessman beat them off for the time being. In particular, in 2006 he managed to put in place such a formidable institution as the “K” department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Its employees confiscated a large batch of telephones from Euroset under the pretext that they could cause "harm to the health of citizens." The phones were returned, the zealous policemen were punished, some were even imprisoned, but Chichvarkin also allowed himself to speak out against them publicly and, as he usually does, not quite with the normative vocabulary. It was a short-sighted act - our Chekists do not forget such a thing. Even if they were not swearing at them, but at "allied".
As a result, Euroset became the subject of close interest of law enforcement agencies. In 2008, a large-scale search was carried out at the company's headquarters: for some reason, the security forces decided to deal with a five-year-old case involving the kidnapping of one of the former employees of Euroset and, allegedly, extorting money from him. Previously, this same employee himself was in the rank of one accused of stealing several tens of millions of rubles from Euroset.
By that time, Evgeny Chichvarkin had made another serious mistake, by the standards of today's Russia. He decided to get involved in politics, but it turned out that he did not enter this political history, and got into it. In 2008, he not only joined the Right Cause liberal party, but also headed its Moscow branch. The authorities regarded this as another challenge.
The pressure on Chichvarkin began to grow rapidly. Very not stupid Yevgeny did not want to repeat the fate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
For this reason, he and his friend and partner Timur Artemiev quickly sold their Euroset: already in September 2008, another owner of Euroset became Russian oligarch, Alexander Mamut, who a month later resold a controlling stake in Vympel-Communication. This is how a commercial multi-pass turned out. And almost immediately after that, Chichvarkin left for London, realizing that it would not end with just a run-in. And he was absolutely right.
Already in January 2009, the Basmanny Court of Moscow, famous for many cases (the so-called “Basmanny justice”), decided to arrest Yevgeny Chichvarkin in absentia. In absentia - because he was already in England. In March, the Prosecutor General's Office put Chichvarkin on the international wanted list. However, English justice was in no hurry to transfer the disgraced businessman into the clutches of Russian colleagues. In the end, it all ended in blizzard. In January 2011, the Investigative Committee of Russia closed the case against Chichvarkin, and his prosecution through Interpol was stopped. It was said: you can return to Russia.