The founder of an online fashion start-up is now Russia’s richest woman, dethroning the wife of a former Moscow mayor, the Russian edition of Forbes reported on Thursday.
Tatiana Bakalchuk, 44, has amassed an estimated fortune of $1.4 billion, beating out 56-year-old Yelena Baturina’s $1.2 billion, it said.
Her site has since become the leading online business in Russia and other former Soviet Union countries, recording 88 percent growth in 2019 with revenues of 223.5 billion rubles ($3.5 billion).
Valery Fyodorov, the head of state polling agency VTsIOM, says the success of new, young, independent business personalities like Bakalchuk is the exception rather than the rule in Russia.
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She is “a sign of a change in the weather,” Fedorov told AFP.
Initially focusing on shoes and clothing, her business has expanded into food, books, electronics and health products, offering 15,000 brands.
Having become a major player in online retail in ex-Soviet states such as Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia, Wildberries entered the European market this year, bringing its services to Poland.
In March last year, it became the third most visited e-commerce fashion website in the world behind H&M and Macy’s, according to a study by SEMrush marketing analytics firm.
AFP
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