Today, many people strive to open their own business and thereby gain financial independence. But the world of business is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. Special laws reign here, according to which only the strongest survive. It is not without reason that well-known entrepreneurs advise newcomers to always keep their eyes open, otherwise competitors will devour them in an instant.

But how do you understand what’s what in a world where big money rules? The answer is simple: study the experience of famous businessmen and draw the necessary conclusions. But for this you need to know who they are - the most famous entrepreneurs in Russia and abroad.

Who is an entrepreneur

First, you need to understand that, despite the fact that this concept is very common, many still do not know its true meaning.

So, an entrepreneur is a person who is engaged in any type of activity (production of things, provision of services or resale of goods) in order to obtain material benefits. At the same time, he is a leader who bears the burden of responsibility for the product, and also monitors all stages of production.

It is important to remember that an entrepreneur is a person with a strong spirit, because he always puts his money and reputation on the line.

History of entrepreneurship

The first businessmen appeared long before the introduction of money into circulation, in those distant times when market relations were built on mutually beneficial exchange. And those who were mothers and smarter always sought to sell their goods on more favorable terms.

Naturally, with the arrival of money, entrepreneurship became even stronger, because now it was possible to calculate the benefits much more effectively. Many have heard the saying “War is the engine of progress,” and so, the more conflicts there were, the more rapidly the market developed. In circulation were weapons, overseas goods, as well as slaves, which for a long time were considered a universal currency in many states.

But the word “entrepreneur” itself arose much later. It was introduced into verbal circulation by the French economist and philosopher Jean-Baptiste Say, and this happened in 1800.

Famous entrepreneurs of the past

Let's not remember the businessmen Ancient world, since there is no reliable information about them, and there is no particular benefit from their methods either. It makes more sense to consider those who achieved fame not so long ago, opening the doors to a world of enormous opportunity, or rather, the great businessmen of the 20th century.

The most famous entrepreneurs of the last century:

1. Thomas Edison. The name of this man is familiar to many to this day. Thanks to his innovative ideas, electrical appliances became the norm. The telephone is one of his first creations, for which he received 100 thousand dollars from Western Union. Among his other achievements, one can note the kinescope, as well as modernization. After himself, Edison left the General Electric company, which became one of the leading manufacturers electrical appliances in the world.
2. Henry Ford. The founder of the great Ford Motor Company, whose glory cannot be expressed in words. But Henry’s success does not lie in the automobile business, no. First of all, he was a great entrepreneur who always knew how to crush his competitors thanks to his ideas on
3. Bill Gates. It is difficult to find someone who does not know about Microsoft, because the Windows operating system is now installed on almost every computer. Although in 1976, when Bill Gates first discovered it, no one believed in the prospects of the new industry. The reason for this triumph was an unshakable belief in himself and in his dream, because when Gates had to choose between work and study, he chose the first without hesitation.
4. Founder of the fast food chain McDonald's. Ray was not a cook; moreover, he did not even come up with the menu in the first restaurant. The idea itself belonged to the McDonald brothers, but the far-sighted Kroc, sensing the benefits, bought all the rights to the company in 1961. After much effort, his network of branded eateries spread throughout the world.
5. Steve Jobs. Another genius information technologies, who dropped out of college to pursue his dream. Many people know him as the founding father of such a giant as Apple. Also, thanks to his ideas, Jobs managed to make his brand the dream of millions, which significantly increased his sales income.

Famous Russian entrepreneurs

As for Soviet times, all plants and factories were under the direction of the state, and entrepreneurs were equated with criminals. But with the collapse of the USSR everything changed dramatically. Now everyone could compete for their piece of the pie using their own techniques.

The most famous entrepreneurs in Russia:

1. One of his fortune is measured at 15 billion dollars. During his life, he tried many ways to earn money - from carpentry to oil trading. The latter brought him so much capital.
2. Roman Abramovich. This man was popularly nicknamed the “aluminum tycoon,” which is directly related to his line of work. Rabinovich himself believes that his success lies in the fact that he works tirelessly until he reaches his intended goal.
3. Even during Soviet times, Mikhail made money by speculating on theater tickets. Over the years, his income increased significantly, which allowed him to penetrate into more prestigious areas of business. Many famous entrepreneurs speak of him as a shark that will tear apart everything in its path.
4. Former leader Gazprom, which has concluded many important contracts for the sale of gas.
5. Elena Baturina. Famous Russian entrepreneurs are not only men, and Baturina is good for that example. This businesswoman owns several cement factories, as well as a network of the largest construction plants in Moscow.

Youngest entrepreneurs

IN Lately The younger generation is increasingly catching up with their mentors. Thus, many famous entrepreneurs in the world have barely crossed the threshold of 30 years, moreover, half of them are still teenagers.

First of all, we should note Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the social network Facebook. At the time of the opening, he was only 20 years old, which did not become an obstacle to world fame.

Tom Thurlow is a famous English entrepreneur who, at the age of 19, opened his own book sales network. It was he who released the famous Harry Potter series, which made him even richer.

Chad Hurley is the man who invented YouTube. At the age of 31, he sold his brainchild to Google for $1.65 billion, making him one of the richest people on the planet.

Women in tough business

There are many examples of women becoming successful entrepreneurs. Therefore, we will consider only the most famous representatives of the fair sex.

1. Coco Chanel. She changed the fashion world and also stole the hearts of many men. All famous entrepreneurs spoke of her as a reformer and saw her as a worthy competitor.
2. Oprah Winfrey. In addition to hosting one of the most famous talk shows in the United States, Oprah is also a talented entrepreneur. Many are confident that she is capable of turning everything that her hands touch into gold.
3. Mary Kay Ash. She founded the cosmetics company Mary Kay Cosmetics, and was also the first to introduce a network sales system into it.

The most unusual ways to make a fortune

Famous entrepreneurs are not only serious people, among them there are also those who go through life with humor. It was partly thanks to this trait that they were able to earn their first millions.

The German Robert Pot headed a garbage collection company in the city of Wuppertal for a long time, but this occupation did not bring a decent income. One day he was struck by a wonderful idea to organize a museum where the exhibits would be trash from the city. As practice has shown, similar business was able to bring him his first million.

Many famous entrepreneurs are happy to share their experiences, and some even publish books with invaluable advice. You should not miss the opportunity to read them, because such knowledge can change your life for the better.

To sum it up, many will agree that the main thing is not to give up and always follow your dreams. After all, this is the only way to achieve success, despite the difficulties encountered along the path of life.

Driving force modern economy, and also the reason for improving the well-being of society are entrepreneurs who, playing with competition among themselves, trying to earn more money, unwittingly have a positive impact on society. Successful entrepreneurs are also role models for many people, because... thanks to his incredible efforts, daily work, some of them become owners of large sums of money. We have compiled a rating of 9 famous US entrepreneurs (since this country is the source market economy and competition), which can be called a model of success.

On first place is undoubtedly located Bill Gates, one of the founders of the famous Microsoft company. From an early age, Bill tried to win in various competitions and promotions. At a young age, Bill Gates began writing his first programs for amateur computers. Thanks to painstaking work, as well as a considerable amount of luck, Bill Gates created the Windows operating system, which the whole world uses today. Thanks to the constant demand for his product, Bill Gates has become one of the richest entrepreneurs in the world (his wealth is greater than that of many countries). Due to the fact that Bill Gates was able to become a rich entrepreneur from a simple Harvard student, he is at the top of the ranking.

Second the place is occupied by a well-known Steve Jobs, founder of Apple. He can be called a truly great US entrepreneur, because... Thanks to his company, the first consumer computers appeared. Throughout his entire working career, Steve Jobs was haunted by failures and difficulties, before which he did not lose heart. Thanks to his determination, Steve Jobs' tablets and smartphones are the most popular and in demand today. Even after his death, devices created by Apple do not lose their popularity.

John Rockefeller ranks in our ranking third place. An American entrepreneur who lived in the 19th century built his business on oil. I'm using the time civil war in America, when both sides happily bought oil from John, he rose to a high level, possessing more than 3 percent of the GDP of the entire US during the oil rush.

On fourth the place is located Mark Zuckerberg, a well-established popular social network on the Internet – Facebook.com. WITH early childhood Mark was involved in programming and created simple games. During his student years, Mark wrote a program for recognizing user tastes for a music player (Microsoft offered $2 million for it). Also, at this time, Mark created the prototype of social. network - a site on which students could post their photos and vote for photos of friends. Today, Facebook.com is one of the leaders in traffic.

Fifth place is occupied by an entrepreneur from the USA Thomas Alva Edison, who improved telephones, telegraphs, and film equipment, and under his leadership the first commercial incandescent lamp (sample) was developed. It was Thomas who first suggested using the word “Hello” when picking up the receiver on a telephone.

Sixth takes up space Solomon Price, founder trading companies"FED-MART" and "PRICE CLUB", was recognized as the father of wholesale trade. Price was a talented leader - he was impatient, did not like idleness and bad job, always tried to go forward, which, of course, allowed him to get to the 6th line of our rating.

On seventh the place is located Ted Turner is a famous billionaire who built his fortune on entertainment stations: TBS, CNN, etc. Thanks to his determination, as well as incredible efficiency, Ted Turner can be included in the list of the greatest entrepreneurs in the United States.

Eighth the place is in your hands Oprah Winfrey, who made her fortune through TV shows. She went down in history as the first woman billionaire. Thanks to the fact that Oprah was not afraid of difficulties and decided to take risks so as not to become a simple TV presenter, her life is now described in entrepreneurship schools around the world.

Fred Smith, head of the famous company "Fedex", occupies 9 place. The company is the first of its kind to provide express delivery services. Fred went through a difficult path to his successful well-being, but in the end, we can call him one of the great entrepreneurs of the United States.

It has always been difficult to do business in Russia, but success stories still happen. Sometimes former serfs turned into tycoons thanks to their tenacity and entrepreneurial spirit. “The Secret” talks about five entrepreneurs from the times of the Russian Empire who managed to build a large business.

Alexander Chichkin

The merchant of the first guild, Alexander Chichkin, changed the dairy market of his time. Before he opened the “Milk” store on Bolshaya Dmitrovka, the product was sold exclusively on the streets and markets. Over the course of several years, he managed to build a network. In 1914, he had 91 stores, two dairies and a curd and sour cream branch, and 40 butter stations. The plant processed 100–150 tons of milk per day. At the company "A.V. Chichkin" employed 3,000 people.

The entrepreneur paid a lot of attention to marketing: all the stores were lined with snow-white tiles, the clerks were dressed in snow-white uniforms, and there were people in the hall that had never been seen before. cash registers who guaranteed fair treatment of customers. Every evening, fresh milk in cans was ceremoniously brought into the stores, and yesterday's product was publicly poured into the sewer on the street in the morning.

By 1917, the enterprise's fixed capital amounted to more than 10 million rubles. After the revolution, Chichikov's entire business was nationalized. He was unable to avoid exile: he had to spend two years in Northern Kazakhstan until Molotov and Mikoyan rescued him from there. Then Chichkin became an ordinary Soviet pensioner, but still participated in the development of plans and projects for the development of the dairy industry in the USSR.

Stepan Abrikosov

The founder of the family, Stepan Abrikosov, was a serf; his family supplied sweets to the master’s table - marshmallows and apricot jam (hence the family name). In 1804, 64-year-old Stepan received his freedom and soon opened an artel family production in Moscow. They bought sweets here for parties and weddings, and soon they managed to open a fruit and confectionery shop. The Apricots' fame grew.

In 1820, after Stepan’s death, production passed to his sons Ivan and Vasily. But they were unable to maintain the pace set by their father. After 20 years, they lost production due to debt. It seemed that the famous family business had ceased to exist, but by that time Stepan’s grandson, Alexey, had grown up. He was a capable young man, with a particular interest in accounting. He decided to revive the family business and organized home production: The Abrikosovs again made jam, made sweets and baked gingerbread. To reduce the cost of production, he began purchasing fruit in Crimea, and later he was the first to establish year-round supplies of fruit to Moscow. His goal was to make production truly large-scale. As a result, after 30 years, by 1872? Alexey had 40 confectionery workshops, employing 120 workers. A total of 512 tons of sweets were produced per year.

Alexei's sons continued the business. They formed a partnership and built a factory. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Abrikosovs’ business became one of the leaders in the country’s confectionery market. Its annual turnover was 2.5 million rubles.

After the revolution, the family's enterprises were nationalized. In 1922, the factory was named after the Bolshevik Pyotr Babaev, but for several more years the name of the Abrikosovs remained on the labels to attract attention. Some family members managed to flee abroad, but others were unable to avoid arrest.

Peter Smirnov

Pyotr Smirnov came from a family of serfs who brewed and sold wine on holidays. Having received their freedom, Peter’s father and uncle decided to make the wine business their main business. Peter worked in this field since childhood: first he became a clerk for his father, and then founded a small winery.

The business of Peter Smirnov developed quickly: the number of cellars, factories, warehouses, stores increased, and brand recognition grew. The secret of success was the impeccable reputation of the entrepreneur and his good connections in the trade sector. He worked with relatives who did not dare to let him down or deceive him, and used only high-quality raw materials: spring water, alcohol from grain grains (not from beets), good fruits and berries.

Peter looked for the latter himself: he traveled to regional farms, obtaining unknown varieties. Smirnov's company produced wine, liqueurs, liqueurs, vodka and liqueurs - more than 400 items in total. The technical equipment of its factories was constantly updated, the enterprise quickly became the largest in the world and received international recognition. Smirnov became a supplier to the imperial court and received the right to place the coat of arms of the Russian Empire on labels (now the quality of his products was guaranteed by the state). He also supplied alcohol to the court of the King of Sweden and opened branches in London, Paris and New York.

IN late XIX century, Smirnov’s income fell sharply: the state decided to take control of the alcohol market and introduced a “wine monopoly”. He was still a very rich man, his fortune was estimated at almost 9 million rubles, but difficulties in business undermined his health, and he died in 1898. Peter's son, Vladimir, fled the country after the revolution and created the Smirnoff brand. In Russia, the brand was revived only after the collapse of the USSR.

Grigory Eliseev

Grigory Eliseev was born into a wealthy family. His great-grandfather also sold expensive foreign goods in Russia: wines, tropical fruits, oysters and truffles. To deliver them, the company had its own merchant fleet at its disposal: four sailing ships and a steamer. At the age of 32, he inherited a trading empire with a fixed capital of 3 million rubles. He established the Eliseev Brothers Trading Partnership and began managing the business at his own discretion. In the first year of operation, the enterprise’s turnover amounted to 64 million rubles.

One day, Eliseev came up with a daring idea: to organize an exhibition of vintage wines in Paris. It is difficult to surprise the French with wine, but the young entrepreneur succeeded. He was even awarded the Legion of Honor. The furor strengthened Eliseev’s position in the market.

Two years later, the entrepreneur bought a house on Tverskaya and commissioned the best specialists to turn it into an architectural miracle. The work was completed by 1901, then the “Eliseev Store and Cellars of Russian and Foreign Wines” was inaugurated. Gastronomic luxury was sold here: wines, fruits, sweets, colonial groceries, crystal. Everything was fresh, clean, High Quality. It was the country's first general food store.

The most famous product of Bure was the gift watches that the emperor gave to diplomats, officials and cultural figures. It is known that during the reign of Alexander III, 3,477 gift watches were awarded in the amount of 277,472 rubles, the vast majority of them were from the Bure company.

In addition, the company produced prize products for officers of the Russian army, as well as simple watches: they could be bought in the store at an affordable price. The brand has become very recognizable. In the works of Chekhov alone, the expression “the clock of the storm” appears more than 20 times. To maintain recognition at the same level, Pavel Bure and his descendants invested a lot of effort in participating in exhibitions, where their products won medals many times. By the beginning of the 20th century, the company occupied 20% Russian market watch products.

Business did not cease to exist with the revolution. He was saved by the fact that the production was located in Switzerland. The Bure company still exists today.

Cover photo: Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky Public domain, Wikimedia Commons, Library of Congress

In the 19th century, the country's business world changed significantly. The reforms were the reason for the success of representatives of the estates, previously limited in the right to conduct entrepreneurial activity. This is the time of the rise of the Vtorov, Morozov, Vogau, Ryabushinsky dynasties, the formation of the business of talented engineers N.I. Putilov and N.S. Avdakov, the heyday of other famous families. Implementing their projects, they did not disregard either the interests of the state or the needs of the people.

The 19th century holds a special place in history Russian entrepreneurship. The state leads legislative activity, trying to create favorable conditions for economic development. By the end of the century, the system of guilds established in the time of Peter the Great to systematize and regulate business activities, protect the rights of merchants and create class privileges had exhausted itself.

The trade taxation reform in 1898 established the enterprise as the object of taxation, and not the individual entrepreneur, as was previously the case. Increased competition in trade has caused business people to turn to the field industrial production. Transformations in the field of joint stock business established a limitation of liability and provided the opportunity to participate in commercial enterprises representatives of different classes.

The changes led to the fact that the business community was replenished with people from peasants, townspeople, nobles, foreigners and employees. Due to large-scale entrepreneurship, by the beginning of the 20th century, about 1.5 million people lived in the country.

The names of famous Russian entrepreneurs of the 19th century are still heard today: representatives of the families are famous for the introduction of progressive technologies, charity, and participation in political life.

Morozovs

Savva Vasilyevich Morozov (1770 - 1860) - the founder of the dynasty - comes from serf peasants in the village of Zuevo, Bogorodsky district, Moscow province. He achieved his success thanks to his personal qualities: hard work and business acumen. Having started working as a weaver in a factory, after getting married, he organized a small production with the help of his dowry, where he himself worked with his wife and sons. Savva sold silk fabrics and openwork ribbons created in the workshop in Moscow. The income allowed the entrepreneur and his family to buy out the landowner in 1820. Savva’s family had five sons: Elisha, Zakhar, Abram, Ivan and Timofey. An entrepreneurial spirit is characteristic of many of Savva’s descendants: the family is considered to consist of several branches, whose representatives became famous in textiles and other fields. In 1842, the Morozovs received hereditary honorary citizenship, which eliminated the restrictions imposed on peasants and urban inhabitants.

Over time, the Morozovs bought land, built new factories for the production of silk, wool and cotton fabrics, introducing into production modern technologies and mechanisms.

The first of Savva Vasilyevich’s enterprises grew into the Partnership of the Nikolskaya Manufactory “Savva Morozov’s Son and Co.,” which was run by the “Timofeevich” branch - his descendants youngest son, and included factories providing paper spinning, weaving, dyeing and printing, finishing, bleaching, and pleating production.

The name of the manufactory is associated with the “Morozov strike” of 1885 in the village. Nikolsky. Workers protested against low wages and high fines for violations. The protest was suppressed and some of the participants were arrested by the authorities, but the event had positive consequences for the workers. Under the leadership of Savva Timofeevich, new English equipment was installed, working conditions and living conditions of workers were improved.

The Bogorodsko-Glukhovskaya manufactory company was founded in 1830 and transferred by Savva Vasilyevich to his son Zakhar, who gave birth to the Zakharovich branch. The enterprise became the first enterprise in the form of a partnership in the central region of the country. It included spinning, weaving, dyeing, bleaching, thread production and peat mining.

The eldest son of Savva Morozov, Elisha, stood out and organized his own manufactory, which later acquired the name “Partnership of Morozov Vikula Manufactories with Sons.” Vikula Eliseevich played an important role in the formation of the enterprise and took over the reins from his retired father. This branch of the Morozov family - “Vikulovichi” - is named after him.

Under the management of the “Tver” Morozovs - descendants of Abram - there was an enterprise created by Timofey at the request of his father. The Tver manufactory produced about thirty types of cotton fabrics, which were in constant demand at Russian fairs and were also exported. The production was led by Abram and David Abramovich.

Social infrastructure grew around Morozov's enterprises: shops, baths, hospitals, schools, almshouses, stadiums. The legacy of the dynasty of factory owners can still be seen today on the streets of Orekhov-Zuev, Noginsk, Zheleznodorozhny and other settlements near the capital.

Researchers have noted various reasons for the success of dynasty enterprises, including:

• active entrepreneurial position;
• desire for mechanization of labor, emphasis on a high technical level of production;
• continuous modernization production capacity;
• refusal of foreign specialists and support for domestic education and attraction of Russian graduates to work educational institutions;
• creation of laboratories to connect theoretical and experimental science with production;
• a two-stage management model that eliminated the exclusive authoritarian influence of owners through the attraction of qualified hired management personnel;
• gradual awareness social responsibility to enterprise personnel.

In addition to textile production, the family participated in the activities of other institutions. Timofey Morozov was one of the founders of the Volga-Kama Bank, created in 1870 and occupying a leading position in the country until the end of the century. In the period 1868-76, he also served as chairman of the Moscow Exchange Committee, which collaborated with the state in matters of legislative activity in the field of trade and industry, regulated exchange trading, and issued certificates and opinions on trade matters. David Ivanovich built a railway line away from the main line Moscow - Vladimir, ending at the Zakharovo station, named after his grandfather and still existing.

Representatives of the family did a lot of charity work and supported the culture of the country. With the financing of the Morozovs, the Alekseevskaya Psychiatric Hospital, Morozovskaya Children's Hospital, Cancer Institute and other medical institutions were built. With the participation of the Moscow Merchant Society of Mutual Credit, whose founders included T.S. Morozov, the newspapers “Moskvich” and “Shareholder”, and the magazine “Bulletin of Industry” were financed. Varvara Alekseevna, the wife of Abram Abramovich, donated funds for the establishment of a free “Turgenev Library-Reading Room” in 1895, supported the newspaper “Russian Vedomosti”, took part in the creation technical base many educational institutions, for example, the Imperial Technical School. Sergei Timofeevich provided assistance to the artist Levitan, Savva Timofeevich did not leave the Moscow Art Theater without support. In short, in pre-revolutionary Moscow it was difficult to find a charity event or social institution, which remained beyond the attention and support of the Morozovs.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the fortune of the Morozov family, according to Forbes magazine, amounted to over 500 million dollars in modern equivalent, which puts them in fourth place in the list of the richest Russian entrepreneurs of their time.

On the eve of the October Revolution, according to historians, about 60 families of Savva Vasilyevich’s descendants lived in Moscow. After October 1917, the life of the Morozovs developed differently: some immigrated (Nikolai Davidovich, Sergei Timofeevich, Pyotr Arsenievich and others), but the majority remained in their homeland, where a time of trials and losses awaited them.

Ryabushinsky

The founder of the dynasty is the peasant Mikhail Yakovlev, who in 1802 arrived in Moscow from the Kaluga province, purchased a shop and became one of the merchants of the third guild. Subsequently, the family surname was changed to the name of the native settlement of the founder. The entrepreneur's interests lay in the textile industry: in 1846 he acquired the first weaving factory. The Ryabushinsky family business was brought onto the broad road by the middle son, Pavel Mikhailovich, who sold his father’s old manufactories and purchased a factory, equipping it with the latest technology.

In 1887, the family business was transformed into the P. M. Ryabushinsky Manufactory Partnership, the fixed capital of which was 2 million rubles. The company owned paper spinning, weaving, dyeing, finishing, and finishing factories in the Tver province. By the beginning of the 20th century, the enterprise’s capital had grown to 5 million rubles; in general, the family’s fortune was estimated at over 20 million rubles.

After the death of Pavel and his wife, the business was headed by their eldest son, Pavel Pavlovich, whose name is more often associated with social and political activities, however, it was under his leadership that the Ryabushinsky business continued to flourish at the turn of the century. Pavel, like his brothers, was educated at the Moscow Practical Academy of Commercial Sciences, a secondary education institution for training businessmen, administered by the Ministry of Finance. Four of the eight brothers worked together with Pavel: Sergei, Vladimir, Stepan and Mikhail. Entrepreneurs established themselves in the flax industry, invested in sawmills, and were engaged in paper production.

The family owned the "Banking House of the Ryabushinsky Brothers", which was later transformed into the Moscow Bank with the support of entrepreneurs employed textile industry. The Ryabushinskys recruited graduates of the academy where Pavel studied; Village children who, in addition to school, were trained at the expense of entrepreneurs in trade evening classes, were trained for junior staff positions.

The well-known plans of the Ryabushinskys characterize the brothers as far-sighted entrepreneurs who relied on investments in promising technologies.

Thus, during the First World War, Sergei and Stepan established the Moscow Automobile Plant Partnership - an enterprise that was transformed into ZIL in Soviet times. A year after its foundation, the plant was supposed to produce the first batch of trucks under license from the Italian company FIAT. The equipment was created, albeit behind schedule, but the plant was not fully completed due to the events of 1917. Projects for oil exploration at the Ukhta fields and for the creation of machine-building enterprises in the Urals.

In the financial sphere, the brothers’ plan to create a bank of “world scale” is known through the merger of the Moscow Bank with other large institutions: the Volzhsko-Kama and Russian Commercial and Industrial Banks.

In addition to managing family affairs, Pavel Pavlovich was passionate about socio-political processes, took an active part in the life of the country, consistently defending his position:

• collaborated with the “Union of October 17th”, with which he subsequently broke off due to disagreement with the policies of P. Stolypin;
• published the newspapers “Morning”, “Narodnaya Gazeta”, “Morning of Russia”, where he outlined his vision of the prospects for the development of the state.

The entrepreneur saw the path of development of the country in combining the Old Believer traditions of pre-Petrine Rus' with the institutions of Western capitalism, and warned the intelligentsia against being carried away by socialist ideas. Ryabushinsky fully supported the events of February 1917, because he believed that they opened up the opportunity for businessmen and industrialists to influence the political life of the country.

After the revolution, the brothers emigrated; the descendants of Pavel Mikhailovich’s daughters live in Russia.

Vtorovs

Alexander Fedorovich Vtorov came from Kostroma townspeople, lived in Irkutsk and, being a merchant, led wholesale trade manufactured goods, furs, gold, and was engaged in financial transactions. Success in business allowed him to move to the 1st guild in 1876, and in 1897 to move with his family to Moscow and receive hereditary honorary citizenship. Alexander Alexandrovich remained to conduct business in Irkutsk, without stopping interaction with his father and brother. The elder Vtorov’s brother, Pyotr Mazhukov, worked in Chita. Alexander Fedorovich successfully married off his daughters, becoming related to wealthy Moscow families.

Together with his son Nikolai, Alexander Fedorovich founded an enterprise that later became known as the A.F. Partnership. Vtorov and Sons”, which:

• traded in textiles and tea;
• supplied the treasury with raw materials for the production of smokeless gunpowder;
• owned commercial real estate in the cities of Siberia and the Urals;
• carried out manufacturing production;
• conducted foreign trade operations in Mongolia.

Nikolai Alexandrovich was distinguished by his extraordinary thinking and chose to invest promising industries and enterprises, the effectiveness of which allowed him to increase his father's fortune.

At the end of the century, Nikolai Alexandrovich focused his interests on gold mining, but did not ignore other areas of activity: he expanded the list of textile enterprises, his factories produced military uniforms and ammunition, created the Moscow Industrial Bank, was engaged in the production of dyes, and worked in other industrial industries. The Electrostal Share Partnership founded by Vtorov became the first such plant in Russia and gave birth to the city of the same name.

Nikolai Alexandrovich was helped in the management of some enterprises by his son, Boris. The result of his fruitful work was the largest fortune in the country, which surpassed the wealth of other famous families and was estimated at over 700 million modern dollars.

Nikolai Alexandrovich was killed in 1918, his family moved to France. Alexander Vtorov left Irkutsk in 1917.

Wogau

The founder of the business, Philipp-Max von Vogau, arrived in 1827 from Germany. Despite his noble origins, he was poor and was initially forced to serve “on errands.” Having no prospects in his homeland, he accepts Russian citizenship and seeks better life in Russia. The reputation earned here in 1839 gave Maxim Maksimovich the opportunity to marry the daughter of the textile manufacturer F. Rabenek. The Vogau dynasty of Russian entrepreneurs dates back to this time.

With the participation of the brothers Friedrich and Karl, Maxim Maksimovich opens an office that first sells tea, household and household chemicals, and then moves on to import sugar, yarn and cotton. The company has grown trading house"Wogau and Co", which was under the control of the family until the October coup. In addition to the brothers, their sons-in-law Erwin Schumacher and Konrad Banza, nephew Moritz Mark, and Max’s sons Otto and Hugo took part in the family business. The enterprise reached its peak of development during the period of management of Hugo Maksimovich, the son of the founder of the dynasty.

In addition to conducting large-scale foreign trade operations, the family invested in the financial sector and industry:

• with the participation of Vogau, the “Moscow Accounting Bank”, “Russian for foreign trade bank”, “Riga Commercial Bank” and insurance company “Anchor”;
• the family controlled enterprises in various industries; its interests included ore mining, metal smelting, cement production, chemical and textile production;
• together with Knop, searches were conducted for deposits of platinum and oil in the Urals and copper in the Caucasus.

The family's way of life was common for the German bourgeoisie: they professed Lutheranism, lived in the neighborhood, and preserved the traditions of their people. In 1900, five of the eight members of the company's board of directors remained German citizens, so when the war began, the Wogau found themselves in difficult situation. Some enterprises suffered from pogroms, and government supervision was established over the company's activities. The family was forced to sell the leading businesses.

Hugo took part in the financing of the founded P.P. Ryabushinsky of the newspaper “Morning of Russia”, who criticized government policy in economic sphere and closed by the authorities “due to its harmful direction.”

The fortune of the Wogau family, acquired over 90 years in Russia, was comparable to the wealth of the Morozovs and, according to Forbes, amounted to about 500 million dollars in modern terms.

After 1917 most of the Wogau emigrated from Russia. Today, the descendants of Hugo’s son, Maxim, who remained here, who has been a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) since 1919, live in the country.

Entrepreneurial engineer N.S. Avdakov

Nikolai Stepanovich was born in 1847 into the family of a military doctor assigned to the Kura Regiment stationed in the Caucasus. The Avdakovs' ancestors lived in the Vladimir province and, for the most part, were clergy. Nikolai was educated at the St. Petersburg Mining Institute, from which he graduated in 1873. The Main Mining Directorate sent Avdakov to work as a mine engineer at the Rutchenko Coal Company, located in the Yekaterinoslav province and created with Belgian capital.

A small rating of famous Russian and foreign entrepreneurs represents businessmen who have made a fortune from scratch. All of them are distinguished by their originality of thinking: some of them were helped to get rich by an interesting project, others by “shares-for-shares auctions.”

Technomessiah

This is what Elon Musk is often called for his ability to predict trends in the development of new technologies. He is one of the most famous modern entrepreneurs, owns high-tech companies SpaceX and Tesla Motors, and co-founded SolarCity and PayPal. He is worth $20.9 billion and is ranked 53rd on the 2018 list of the world's richest people. And in the ranking of the most influential people on the planet - in 21st place. The main projects that Musk is currently engaged in are the creation artificial intelligence, transport system Hyperloop (high-speed train in a tube), designing spaceships and creating a human colony on Mars.

He opened his first business while studying at the University of Pennsylvania, organizing an underground night club. In 1995, Elon and his brother opened the Zip2 yellow pages site. Four years later, they sold the business for $307 million; Musk earned $22 million, because he only owned 7% of the company. Of these, 12 - invested in the payment project electronic system PayPal. In 2002, the company was sold, and Elon earned $180 million.

In 2002, Musk opened Space Exploration Technologies, known to the world as SpaceX. He himself invested $100 million, and also attracted investments from private investors and the DARPA agency of the US Department of Defense. In 2006, NASA signed a contract to send 12 cargo shipments at a cost of $1.6 billion. In 2008, the company's Falcon 1 spacecraft docked for the first time with the space station.

Chinese Ali Baba

Jack Ma is China's most famous entrepreneur; he is in 20th place on the Forbes world list with a fortune of $43.1 billion. His family was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, so Jack barely managed to get higher education. He worked for a long time as a teacher and translator from English.

In 1999, Ma founded the online portal Alibaba, which sold Chinese goods. In 2003, the auction resource Taobao was organized. Through two platforms, the group controls up to 80% of China's e-commerce. In 2014, it held an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange; the Ali Baba Internet portal raised $25 billion, becoming the most successful in the world.

Best Japanese Investor

The richest Korean in the world and the richest person in Japan in 2017, Masayoshi Son, was ranked 88th in the Forbes ranking of entrepreneurs with $15 billion in assets.

He was born on the island of Kyushu into a poor Korean family of a moonshine fisherman. As a child, when they found out that he was Korean, according to Son, sometimes they threw stones at him. Like all his relatives, he bore the surname Yasumoto, but when receiving citizenship in the 90s, he decided to return his family surname. Officials did not register him for a long time, citing the refusal by the fact that there is no such surname in Japan. Then his wife, a Japanese citizen, changed her surname to Song, and he took advantage of this.

He made his first serious money in 1979, while studying at the University of Berkeley. Son suggested that the physics professor develop an electronic voice translator, which he later sold to Sharp for $423,000. He was the world's richest man for three days and also holds the record for instant bankruptcy - about $70 billion was lost in 2000 when the dot-com collapse.

Son founded one of the world's largest telecommunications companies, Softbank. He has also invested in approximately 600 companies. The most successful and famous of them are Alibaba, Yahoo, the Japanese operator cellular communication SoftBank Mobile, US cellular operator Sprint Nextel. Son is one of the most famous entrepreneurs in the information technology sector.

One of Softbank's latest investments was in the development of the world's first emotion-sensing robot, PEPPER. These bots are now used in almost all developed countries peace. In 2017, he bought leading developers of dynamic robots - Boston Dynamics and Schaft.

From Chukotka to Chelsea

Roman Abramovich is in 12th place on the Forbes list with a fortune of $9.1 billion. He was the governor of Chukotka for 8 years and made a good contribution to the economy of the region. He is now Russia's most famous entrepreneur thanks to the Chelsea football team, which he bought in 2003. At the end of May 2018, he received Israeli citizenship.

He lost his parents at the age of four, growing up in his uncle's family in Ukhta. In 1974, he moved to another uncle in Moscow. Since the 90s he has been involved in mediation and commercial activities. In 1993, Abramovich worked with Boris Berezovsky, becoming a trader at Noyabrskneftegaz. Thanks to their closeness to the Yeltsin family, in 1995 they established the Siberian Oil Company. In 2005, Roman Abramovich sold 73% of the company's shares to Gazprom for $13 billion and was the richest man in Russia for a whole year.

From beer to can

Many people probably don’t remember about Tinkoff beer, but everyone knows the largest online bank of the same name. One of the most famous entrepreneurs in Russia, Oleg Tinkov, ranks 43rd in the Russian Forbes ranking with a fortune of $2.2 billion.

He earned his first money by selling scarce goods bought from foreigners. From 1993 to 1997, his company Tekhnoshok was engaged in the sale of electronics. Having sold the company for $7 million, he invested it in the production of dumplings under the brand name “Daria”. The business was sold for $14 billion in revenue. The businessman earned about 200 million from beer. Since 2005, his main project has been Tinkoff Bank. This is the first and largest online bank specializing in remote servicing. Net profit in 2017 reached 19 billion rubles, income growth was 73%.

Dear contact

The youngest successful entrepreneur In Russia, Pavel Durov ranks 56th in the Forbes ranking in the “200 richest businessmen in Russia” section. His fortune is $1.7 billion.

During his studies, he led a forum for students. In 2006, using his own developments and taking Facebook as a model, he created social network"VKontakte". The brand is now valued at approximately $1.5 billion. In several tranches, by 2014, the network was completely sold to Mail.Ru Group. Durov’s only asset today is the Telegram messenger, whose monthly audience is 200 million people. In 2013, the businessman emigrated from Russia. Together with the development team, Pavel travels around the world, working on Telegram and never staying more than 1-2 weeks in one country.

The last oligarch of Russia

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was born in Moscow into a family of chemical engineers who worked all their lives at the Moscow Kalibr plant. This is probably why he also decided to enter the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology named after D.I. Mendeleev. He graduated from the institute with honors and worked there for some time.

In 1987, he earned his first money by organizing an entrepreneurial structure at the district Komsomol committee, which was engaged in the sale of computers and alcohol. The main business was cashing out budget money. In 1989, Khodorkovsky and his partners created the Menatep Bank. He, together with another top manager of the bank, Nevzlin, becomes an adviser to Russian Prime Minister Ivan Silaev. And he meets Chernomyrdin, who became the chairman of the Russian government in 1992.

In 1996, as a result of loans-for-shares auctions, Menatep acquired 45% of the shares of YUKOS, the second largest oil company and the first in terms of oil reserves. Competitors were not allowed to participate in the auction for formal reasons; the bank paid $159 million, only 9 million higher than the starting price. Then another 33% of shares were purchased at auction, an additional issue was carried out and the state block of shares was diluted. As a result, Menatep received 90% of the shares of Yukos.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky optimized the management system of the oil company and introduced numerous methods of “tax optimization” into practice: from direct understatement of the tax base, transfer prices to the sale of oil under the guise of “well fluid”. Almost all of these methods were used by all Russian oil companies. However, only Yukos was punished for this.

Many experts believe that the reason for the criminal prosecution was Khodorkovsky’s political activities. Khodorkovsky financed the opposition parties of the State Duma - the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Union of Right Forces, and Yabloko. In a 2014 interview with the Financial Times, he said he had negotiated constitutional reform with different factions. The powers of the president were to be reduced, and Khodorkovsky planned to become prime minister.

Second young

Alexander Romanenko has not yet been included in the Forbes lists - his greatest achievement is getting into first place in the ratings of young Russian famous entrepreneurs. His fortune is estimated at $185 million. Currently engaged in venture investments, founder of the ITech Capital and AddVenture II funds.

First successful business- sale of express payment cards for communication services. Having occupied 60-80% of the Moscow market, he earned his first few million dollars. In 2003, Alexander initiated a project - the Qiwi terminal payment service. Currently it is a company with a turnover of 10.6 billion rubles.

Pharmaceutical King

One of the richest Russians of that time, Vladimir Alekseevich Bryntsalov, who thundered throughout the country in the 90s, has long moved away from shocking. A condition that is best years was estimated at $2 billion, by 2007 it shrank to 100-250 million and continued to decline. The latest well-known business project is the reconstruction of the Caucasian Riviera complex for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

In 1987, he created the Bee cooperative, which was engaged in the production of honey. Together with the Moscow Chemical and Pharmaceutical Plant named after Karpov, he began to produce medicines based on honey. He bought the initial stake of 12% for 500 million rubles, paying in cash. After that, he bought shares from workers, acquiring control of the country's largest pharmaceutical company. Based on the plant, the Ferein company was created, which in those years produced up to 30% of medicines. After numerous scandals, the company was liquidated in 2008.

Vladimir Alekseevich Bryntsalov was a deputy of the State Duma of two convocations, a candidate for the presidency of Russia in 1996.