Money and more: Evgeny Chichvarkin. Evgeny Chichvarkin lost another £2 million in the wine business Evgeny Aleksandrovich Chichvarkin for how many years

The ex-owner of Euroset flew to Jurmala with a beauty from St. Petersburg Businessman Evgeny Chichvarkin flew from Moscow to London eight years ago with his wife Antonina, son Yaroslav (he is now 17 years old) and daughter Martha (13 years old). The ex-head of Euroset emigrated, as he was accused of kidnapping and extortion. Five years ago, Chichvarkin was acquitted, but he did not return to […]

The ex-owner of Euroset flew to Jurmala with a beauty from St. Petersburg

Businessman Yevgeny Chichvarkin flew from Moscow to London eight years ago with his wife Antonina, son Yaroslav (he is now 17 years old) and daughter Martha (13 years old). The ex-head of Euroset emigrated, as he was accused of kidnapping and extortion. Five years ago, Chichvarkin was acquitted, but he did not return to his homeland. In London, together with a partner, he opened a wine business.

Eugene married his girlfriend Antonina in his youth, the couple was considered strong, Chichvarkin was never seen cheating and partying with young beauties. In an interview, he spoke only about the ways of doing business, protecting his personal life from prying eyes.

According to rumors, Chichvarkin divorced in the spring. Last weekend it became clear because of whom. The businessman flew to rest on the Riga seashore not alone, but with a fragile, pretty girl. At a secular party in Jurmala, Eugene lit up on stage with impromptu dances, to the performance of Garik Martirosyan and Leonid Barats. Having had fun, he did not leave his charming companion.

Chichvarkin, Barats and Martirosyan lit up on stage in Jurmala last weekend. Photo: Facebook

Olga Ryzhkova, a friend of one of the founders of Quartet I, Rostislav Khait, boasted to her subscribers of a photo with Chichvarkin and his girlfriend, signing the picture like this: “I have long wanted to meet Zhenya Chichvarkin - creative, courageous, extraordinary - and voila! He and his girlfriend Tanya (by the way, she, like me, is from St. Petersburg) are intelligent and cheerful, and they are also damn good at wine.”

The guests of the party said that Chichvarkin had an office romance. According to some reports, Tatyana is an employee of Evgeny's company. In an interview, he has long mentioned her as one of the most successful and diligent members of his team. Tatyana Fokina is the general director of Evgeny Chichvarkin's Hedonism Wines store, she previously worked as a PR director. In an interview, Evgeny said that his elite wine trading company quickly responds to customer criticism and promptly thanks for the positive feedback - and this is Tatyana's merit. They say that the family man Chichvarkin drew attention to Tanya, thanks to her professional qualities, and then could not resist the charm of the girl. Now Tanya is also enchanted by Chichvarkin's friends from Russian show business, among which this evening was, by the way, an old friend of the businessman Ksenia Sobchak.

16 min. reading

Updated: 28/05/2019

How many times a day do you talk on your cell phone? A couple of times, dozens? It is hard to imagine that until quite recently we did without mobile phones. For a conversation outside the home, one had to be content with telephone booths sparingly scattered around the city, and for a long-distance call - public telephone booths.

In our age of highly developed technologies and a fast pace of life, a mobile phone is simply indispensable. Their points of sale are now perhaps as common as pharmacies, grocery stores or refills. Surely you, my dear readers, have visited salons more than once or twice. mobile communications, either to buy a new phone, or just for the company.

Today we will talk about the Russian entrepreneur Evgeny Chichvarkin, co-founder of the legendary network of cellular stores Euroset. I want to say that this is one of the Russian entrepreneurs I respect most, who made himself from scratch on his own, without anyone's support, unlike the vast majority of today's oligarchs.

I think this name is familiar to you, because Euroset outlets have conquered the market not only in Russia, but also in the post-Soviet space in countries such as Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

At the moment, this company includes about 5,000 communication stores, but once it all started with a single store in Moscow on Leninsky Prospekt. Just imagine - 5000 communication shops!!!

5 years after the opening, Euroset became the leader in the retail sales market mobile phones and accessories with a turnover of 140 million dollars. Less than 10 years after the opening, Euroset occupied almost 40% of the Russian market cell phones. 2006 was a record year for the company in terms of the number of new outlets opened - the network expanded by another 1976 stores.

Under the leadership of Chichvarkin, the company has become the largest Russian operator retail mobile phones.

Euroset offers to buy not only cellular phones, but also order and pay for air tickets, tour packages, or pay money for satellite TV loans and traffic police fines. Thanks to the Euroset brand, Mr. Chichvarkin became fabulously rich. His current fortune is hundreds of millions of dollars.

Currently, Mr. Chichvarkin lives in the UK, and is referred to as the former co-owner of Euroset. He acquired the prefix "ex" and a new place of residence under certain circumstances, which we will talk about a little later.

Now we will talk about the main stages of life and the formation of a successful Russian entrepreneur, as well as the principles of doing business, Mr. Chichvarkin, which guided him on the way to millions.

Born or, according to Chichvarkin, "physically born", the future businessman in 1974 in the city on the Neva. Some sources indicate the capital as the place of birth, this confusion arose because Eugene was officially registered in Moscow.

One way or another, Chichvarkin can safely say to himself: "I was born in the Soviet Union, I was made in the USSR." His father worked as a civilian pilot, and his mother worked as an economic engineer in the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

From childhood, Zhenya was attracted challenging tasks, he preferred not to stand in line for the skating rink, but to climb over the fence, both literally and figuratively. Chichvarkin began to engage in commerce while still at school, and he spent the proceeds mainly on musical recordings.

By the way, have you noticed that many financially successful people from childhood began to show interest in money?

I believe that this interest must be cultivated and encouraged in every possible way in children, introducing them to the financial world. , the owner of more than 220 companies, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, said that in childhood we often talked about business at family dinners.

Let's return to Chichvarkin. Despite good academic performance - and Yevgeny received almost only "fives" - he was not accepted into the Komsomol because of his "uncontrollability".

The times of perestroika, during which Chichvarkin grew up, cannot be called simple. I had to rebuild my thinking "on the go", because those who could not show flexibility, quick reaction and adaptation to circumstances, they simply remained out of work in this "hungry" time.

Therefore, we note a useful recipe from Chichvarkin No. 1: “Keep an active life position and show flexibility of thinking”

From 1990 to 1994 Chichvarkin went through a trade survival school. As a young youth, he plunged headlong into the period of the collapse of the USSR and the formation of a new market economy future Russian Federation.

He got his first entrepreneurial experience in the senior classes of a secondary school, buying Cosmos cigarettes for 70 kopecks and reselling them to his classmates for a ruble. Then there were records and nail polish.

The miserable pennies earned from resale in this way did not impress the young entrepreneur and he began to look for more profitable schemes for making money. So he began to resell things through thrift stores. For example, a sports suit purchased for 50 rubles in one store, he resold in another for 400 rubles.

Immediately after school, Eugene enters the State Academy of Management, where his mother and father studied (he studied there in courses). As a matter of fact, this educational institution was selected based on these criteria.

It is difficult at the age of 16-17 to consciously choose a university, or rather a profession, because HOW you can choose what you do not know or what you have never encountered. In this regard, the choice of Evgeny is no different from the choice of millions of people throughout our country, for many of whom the presence of a diploma of higher education does not affect the quality of life.

student life

The student life of Yevgeny Chichvarkin is associated primarily with the clothing market in Luzhniki.

According to the future owner of Euroset “Making money then became so easy that you didn’t have to do anything directly.”

One day he met his former classmate, which in the market in Stoleshnikov Lane traded dimensionless men's underpants. Someone else would most likely have ridiculed his classmate, but Chichvarkin decided to follow the example of his friend.

And here it started...

Eugene took on everything that could be bought cheaply and then resold elsewhere. These were razor blades, Snickers chocolate bars, glamorous Sophist o Twist fur hairpins, jeans, tracksuits, woolen tights, boots.

Perhaps it was easier to list what the enterprising guy did not trade. Even behind the counter of the clothing market in Luzhniki, Chichvarkin showed ingenuity - people bought from him even more expensive, because Zhenya represented the goods in at its best- ironed, while his competitors' goods were wrinkled.

He even put on women's dresses to draw attention to the product. Even then, realizing the full power of shocking, Chichvarkin further applied it everywhere - in the Euroset advertising company, in communication with staff, journalists and business partners.

What did an ordinary day of student Zhenya Chichvarkin look like, or rather, how did it differ from an ordinary day of other students?

An ordinary student, as a rule, woke up at 11-12 o'clock and barely had time for the last couple. Then he was idle until the evening, after which he dragged himself to some party, where he drank at someone else's expense, since he had “squandered” his scholarship for a long time.

Student Yevgeny Chichvarkin got up at 5 am to take the first train with bales to Luzhniki. There he sold all his goods for an hour and ran to the institute, being late for the first couple of minutes by 15. In the evening he put drinks to his fellow students whose scholarship had long ended.

Even then, Che, as Chichvarkin later became known, became famous in the market for being able to sell any, even the most difficult-to-sell goods.

This continued until 1994. That year, Chichvarkin stopped trading at Luzhniki due to the fact that the owners changed there, who raised the fee for trading places.

And then, in 1994, Chichvarkin opened a videotape rental shop opposite the institute's canteen. True, he did not last long, only a month and a half. It had to be closed due to low

After that, Zhenya returns to trading again, only now he does it with the wrong hands. He begins to involve fellow students in trading relations. The scheme was simple. He found goods at a low price in one place and sold them through his classmates at a higher price.

At that time, spontaneous markets were massively opened not only throughout Moscow, but throughout Russia. And everyone who lacked Money could earn some money in such markets. My parents did the same thing in the 90s.

My father worked as a bus driver. In the morning he took the watch to work, and in the evening he took the watch back. As a result, the middle of the day was empty for him. My parents used the bus as a point of sale. My mother went to Moscow and Poland to buy goods, and during the day she sold them in my father's bus, which he parked next to one of these spontaneous markets in our city and in neighboring towns.

So, Chichvarkin found people who were not averse to earning extra money. They bought goods from him and went to trade them in one of these spontaneous markets. Fortunately, for several years, Zhenya has accumulated a lot of contacts with shuttle traders who transported goods, mainly from Turkey.

“How lazy people are - they can’t travel two metro stops to buy a blouse for a dollar cheaper,” Chichvarkin is still surprised.

At the same time, our hero was “not in the habit” to trade on the market himself. Soon he returned to Puddle again, as Eugene calls Luzhniki, where he was called by a “group of speculators” to sell the goods they brought from abroad.

How Evgeny Chivarkin got involved in mobile phones

It is not known how much the hero of today's article would have to trade in Luzhniki, if not for one event ... Immediately after graduating from the Academy, Eugene marries and leaves for a honeymoon, upon arrival from which he learns that his place in the market is occupied by other people.

At this moment, when it seemed that Eugene was left without a livelihood with his young wife, he was invited to work by his childhood friend Timur Artemyev. At that time, Timur, together with another partner, opened a mobile phone store. Things went neither shaky nor rolls. Then Timur invited Yevgeny Chichvarkin to use his talent as a salesman in his store.

Having nothing to do, Eugene went to work for Timur for the summer, in order to earn some money, so that in the fall he would return to trading in the market.

As you know, he has not returned to the market.

It so happened that Timur Artemiev did not see eye to eye with his partner, with whom they opened the Medikom store, in which Chichvarkin worked as a salesman.

But the views of Artemiev and Chivarkin completely coincided. As a result, the friends decided to open a new company in which they would be partners. So, on April 2, 1997, Euroset appeared. Timur took over all financial affairs, and Evgeny took care of sales.

The first store was opened ... But not so. At first, friends opened an office at the very beginning of Tverskaya Street. This office served as a point of sale. People came there through newspaper ads. Yes, yes... I specifically want to draw your attention to this. Chichvarkin and his comrades did not disdain anything.

When thinking about starting a business, many beginners immediately imagine a spacious store or boutique with a good repair, high glass windows, comfortable furniture, etc.

But as the history of the Euroset founders shows, before you can build a chain of stores with a total of more than 5,000 stores, start small. Find a product, rent an inexpensive office and start selling at least through newspapers or free classifieds sites, such as Avito.

Only after that, Evgeny and his partner Timur opened the first retail point of sale in the Electronics store on Leninsky Prospekt. A month later, they opened a third point of sale in Lubyanka.

Thus, Euroset has turned into a real chain of stores!

In this composition, they lasted until August 1998 ... And then the crisis began.

It was a dark time for many entrepreneurs. Thousands of businessmen went bankrupt at that time. However Chichvarkin not only survived, but also managed to open 2 more outlets by the end of 1998.

In 1999, Euroset stopped chasing the opening of new outlets and focused on improving those that already existed. In fact, there was nothing to open new points. The crisis of 1998 affected, the company could barely make ends meet.

Therefore, throughout the ninety-ninth year, Chichvarkin and his comrades increased their capital. It should be noted that the proposal “do not open new outlets” came from Timur Artemiev, who was in charge of finance. I say this to the fact that one head is good, but two is better.

Everyone is used to linking the success of the Euroset with Evgeny Chichvarkin. But it's nearly impossible to succeed alone.. Therefore, if we consider building a business from the point of view of success, then you need to be prepared to hire good professionals, and if there is no money for a professional, then take him as a partner.

I made the same conclusion on own experience. I am now developing my online store and I see that without a team it will never grow. At the same time, my store is still young and working capital not enough to take good specialists.

Let's return to Chichvarkin. In general, the 99th year was quite successful for the mobile phone market. As the saying goes, "There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped." The fact is that before the crisis of 1998, mobile phones were available mainly only to wealthy people. More precisely, not mobile phones, but cellular communication services.

With the onset of the crisis, cell phone rates skyrocketed due to the fact that all rates were in dollars. Naturally, mobile operators began to suffer losses and this forced them to urgently change their pricing policy.

As a result, two months after the onset of the crisis, MTS and VimpelCom halved their tariffs, and from January 1, 1999, they made incoming calls from mobile phones within the network free of charge!

During 1999, the main players in the cellular communications market reduced the cost of their tariffs several more times, and in the second half of 1999, they finally introduced per-second billing.

What did it lead to? To the boom of new connections from mobile operators and to the hype on mobile phones

At the end of 1999, Evgeny went abroad for the first time. But he does it not for the purpose of rest. He travels to Taiwan to find direct suppliers of phone accessories.

And here I want tell about one interesting case, which perfectly characterizes our hero. The fact is that he bought accessories for mobile phones in Russia from one of the wholesalers.

One day, while sitting in the office of one of these wholesalers, Evgeny had an urge to go to the toilet. While in the toilet, he saw empty boxes of accessories that were apparently going to be thrown away. The boxes showed the details of the supplier and various other shipping marks, which could not only contact the supplier in China, but also trace the entire path of delivery of this package.

Without getting up from the toilet, Che called one of his managers to dictate the details of the Chinese supplier. Before Chichvarkin left the toilet, the manager called him back with good news - he was waiting for a fax with a price list from the supplier.

Not much time has passed since the incident in the toilet, when Eugene was sitting in the seat of the plane, which was supposed to take him to a telecommunications exhibition in Taiwan, where he was going to arrange direct deliveries of various products for his stores.

What do I want to draw your attention to here? The entrepreneur's attention to detail. Perhaps someone else would consider digging through boxes lying in the toilet something low, dirty and humiliating. But not Eugene. It seems to me that Chichvarkin would not be ashamed to climb in these boxes, even if they were, pardon the expression, everything is in shit.

2000 - a turning point

Perhaps the year 2000 can be called a turning point in the development of the Euroset and, of course, in the life of our hero, Evgeny Chichvarkin!

Its subsequent development and success was associated with difficulties. More precisely, as a result of overcoming these difficulties, he was able to conquer new heights for himself and bring his company to new level.

As I wrote above, 1999-2000 became a turning point both for the cellular communication market and for the mobile phone retail market. On this wave, the Euroset began to appear many competitors. And in 2000, Chichvarkin decided to unleash a price war.

He decided to reduce the markup on sold phones and accessories from 20% to 5%. His partner Timur Artemiev was categorically against this step, as he considered that with such an extra charge, the company could not become profitable. But he had to come to terms with this, since sales were Chichvarkin's area of ​​​​responsibility, and not his.

Eugene's calculation was simple: by reducing the markup, win on prices and thereby increase the number of sales.

In the same year 2000, Euroset took part in Expocom for the first time. In parallel with this, the partners decide to launch advertising campaign on the radio, in which the emphasis is on the new pricing policy.

And this is where the most “terrible” happens!

Why above I wrote in quotation marks the phrase is the most “terrible”? Yes, because everyone who surrounded Chichvarkin's eyes and ears climbed onto their foreheads after what they heard. Everyone thought he was crazy. Radio stations refused to accept advertisements with profanity. True, not all. there were those who put on the air this advertisement. And with those who didn’t bet, they decided to replace the letter U in the word oh ... to be replaced by the standard “piiiiiii”.

But Chichvarkin was firm in his decision. He really wanted to stand out and draw attention to his company. And it was one of turning points, because it was precisely at this moment that Evgeny Chichvarkin and Euroset began to regularly shock the public with their outrageous antics.

“Craving went not real. We pressed the pedal to the floor. And away we go."

In 2000, the number of Euroset stores increased from 11 to 27. Sales soared so much that Euroset became the market leader, which, of course, many competitors did not like.

Competitors began to use any methods, just to reduce the ardor of presumptuous young entrepreneurs. In 2001 alone, the company's warehouse on Tverskaya was closed 15 times with the help of the police, firefighters and other methods of the authorities.

Chichvarkin regularly received threats on his cell phone, prompting him to hire a bodyguard. But he did not give up his intentions. Moreover, he decided to strike back and “kill” his competitors. Of course, not literally, but figuratively.

Here again I want to emphasize the difficulties and character of our hero. Another in his place would have been frightened for a long time and sat without rocking. But the difficulties forced Zhenya to look for ways to overcome them, his brain was constantly working and finding new solutions.

He found a legal way to drown his competitors, who sent him policemen and firefighters. Chichvarkin opened several points of sale next to the competitors that interfered with him and reduced prices so much that all buyers left the competitors and went to the Euroset for phones.

Moreover, prices were sometimes reduced even at a loss. Usually competitors in such a game merged in a few months. Soon, this tactic became a trademark of the Euroset.

Chichvarkin killed his competitors at a price!

During 2002, Euroset, headed by Chichvarkin, managed to sign a dealer agreement with Samsung and Motorola. Thanks to these contracts, phones from Euroset stores of these brands began to be supplied directly, and not through intermediaries represented by other dealers.

Then, in 2002, the retail market for mobile phones appears new player – “Svyaznoy”, which over the next three years became the main competitor of the Euroset.

In 2002, Chichvarkin decides to spread his nets outside of Moscow and goes to St. Petersburg. To open his stores in this city, he had to face a lot of problems. In order not to let the metropolitan network into St. Petersburg, ten major players in the local market are joining forces.

However, even here Che finds a way out. He agrees with the city administration that he will sponsor the restoration of stations, for which he will be able to open exclusive points of sale in them.

And since the stations are located in the city center, the Euroset immediately received the most passable places in the town.

Well, one more thing significant event 2002, which I cannot miss, are the April Fools' actions of the Euroset. For the first time such an action was held in 2002, and later became an annual tradition.

That year, Chichvarkin decided to turn Tverskaya Street, where their central office-shop was located, into Red Light Street like in Amsterdam. To do this, Eugene hired models and put them in the windows of the store. The models were not completely naked, but in swimsuits. However, this was enough to make the passing men twist their necks, looking at the beauties. Euroset turned into Eroset for one day.

The following year, Chichvarkin decided to continue the experiment with stripping. True, this time he decided to undress the visitors of the Euroset. And this is what came out of it:

The April Fools' action of Euroset offered a phone as a gift to anyone who would strip naked to the company's anthem.

This trick of the co-founder of Euroset brought back to me memories of a British billionaire, an eccentric who, advertising his mobile company Virgin Mobile for half an hour in the center of London, waved his cell phone.

Well, it's better to "undress the customer than to "shod" him." With this, Chichvarkin is strict - the interests of the client come first. In Euroset, he introduced a rule for replenishing mobile phone accounts in the amount of 1 ruble.

In the case of various claims from the buyer, the manager urged the staff "not to bully", but to quickly exchange faulty item. Chichvarkin encouraged store managers to visit the salons of competitors in their free time, because if a lower price for a product was found than in Euroset, a premium was due.

Andresscode by Euroset

Another trick of the outrageous businessman dedicated to the first of April was remembered by all fashionistas and fashionistas. As part of the Russian Fashion Week, he staged his own anti-glamor show, which ended in a real scandal.

“Models” took to the catwalk in bright yellow T-shirts with obscene inscriptions and large bags. The bags contained beer, which the “models” began to pour on the guests of the show.

As a result, this provocative show ended in a fight, during which Chichvarkin, represented at this event by the designer, received several blows in the face from one of the disgruntled visitors, who was doused with beer.

In 2003, the number of Euroset stores doubled, from 186 to 328. True, this nearly cost Euroset its life. The fact is that in order to open new branches, money is needed, which was taken mainly from sales in the capital region.

At that time, Svyaznoy, headed by Maxim Nogotkov, sat tightly on the tail of Chichvarkin and Euroset. Euroset's profit in Moscow and St. Petersburg was falling, which made it more difficult for the company to pay off loans taken from banks for development and purchase products for sale.

Yes, and branches in the regions were unprofitable. All experts unanimously agreed that Euroset did not have long to live. At this moment, Chichvarkin declares a state of emergency in the company under the slogan: "Everything for the front, everything for victory."

Eugene personally traveled to those regions where things were going especially badly and put things in order there. As a result, Euroset managed to overcome the black streak and it began to rapidly break away from its competitors.

2004 - The number of outlets tripled compared to the previous year to 1,117, while the company's turnover amounted to 970 million dollars. In the same year, Chichvarkin sent out a colored letter to his employees for the first time, which the employees later began to post on the Internet and they became a popular online joke.

But I am telling you this more in order to once again emphasize the originality of Evgeny, his non-standard, bold and provocative approach to doing business, which is undoubtedly one of the most important driving forces.

Chichvarkin's approach to personnel management requires separate words. Eugene is very fond of Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged, which he considers the real Bible of entrepreneurship. So in the "Euroset" this work could be read during the working day.

2005 – 3111 salons of which 257 outside of Russia. The company's turnover amounted to $2.6 billion. Such rapid growth, more than 2.5 times compared to the previous year, was due to the fact that Euroset began to buy up smaller companies of competitors, which were also represented on the market by chains.

Chichvarkin acquires such companies as "Bastion", ("Network of communication salons of Russia"), "Techmarket", "Ultra", "Mobile World", etc.

The year 2005 was also remembered for the mobile phone market by the first large customs confiscations, which led to a crisis and an increase in the cost of phones.

So, 10 trucks with contraband mobile phones were detained for a total amount of more than 10 million dollars. Several planes were also detained at the Sheremetyevo airport with smuggling.

All this caused a crisis in the market, as the companies that imported phones decided to lie low and stopped sending new products in Russia. As a result, Chichvarkin and other market players simply had nothing to buy.

Phones soared in price from 10% to 40%. Euroset, as the largest player in the market, had the worst of it. However, this time the problem made the company even stronger as a result, since Evgeny and his partners decided not to buy phones on the domestic market anymore, but to buy them abroad and import them on their own.

Beginning of the End

With the growth of profits and influence, Euroset began to attract attention. The promoted brand, which brought a stable income, did not allow its creator Chichvarkin to live in peace sweet life bourgeois.

I will submit the following facts without comment, so to speak, in a telegraph line:

• “On March 29, 2006, 167,500 telephones for the Euroset worth 530,000,000 rubles per point were seized at the exit of the Sheremetyevo customs territory”
• “On August 24, 2006 the case was closed due to the lack of corpus delicti period some of the telephones were destroyed by the Euroset period 117,500 telephones were returned to the Euroset”
• "On September 2, 2008, the central office of the Euroset was searched"
• "September 22, 2008 Chichvarkin Artemiev signed an agreement on the sale of the euroset point"
• "November 20, 2008 Chichvarkin left the post of chairman of the board of directors of the station"
• "Dec 22, 2008 chichvarkin flew away london point"
• "Jan 2009 a criminal case was initiated against Chichvarkin"
• "On March 12, 2009, Chichvarkin was declared an international wanted list"
• "Jan 2011 criminal case closed period"

Chichvarkin was charged with kidnapping and extortion under the relevant articles of the Russian Criminal Code. The case involved the kidnapping. former employee"Euroset", caught by the security service of "Euroset" in the theft of goods.

The disgraced businessman himself, according to the Kommersant newspaper, claimed that his criminal prosecution in Russia could be connected with attempts to force him to sell the company.

In 2011, by decrees of the President of Russia, two police generals were fired, whom Chichvarkin called the organizers of his persecution. The top managers of Evroset, who were illegally detained, sued the Russian Ministry of Finance for large amounts of compensation.

So is it a happy ending?

During a video bridge organized by RIA Novosti, Chichvarkin admitted that he would love to return to Russia, because "this is my homeland," but he fears new persecution. “I can return if, through direct elections, new elite that will make beautiful, free and strong country, that is, never, ”he summed up.

However, in Foggy Albion, Mr. Chichvarkin is not bored. During his stay in England, he improved his knowledge foreign language, began to communicate more with children and even learned to play polo.

In addition, Chichvarkin decided to try his hand at the UK market in the wine business. In March 2012, together with the same Timur Artemiev, he opens the Hedonism drinks company. Artemiev is the owner of the company, and Chichvarkin is the main investor.

As for Euroset, having changed a number of owners and managers, the company still remains a quite profitable business. The former image "from Chichvarkin" was replaced by a new one - in December 2010, Ivan Okhlobystin, a well-known director, screenwriter and actor, became the creative director of the company.

Since March 2011, the company began rebranding: the yellow terrier, which has retained the corporate canary style of Euroset stores, has become the new symbol of the chain.

In the same 2011, Forbes magazine noted the efforts of Chichvarkin, calling him one of the most unusual Russian businessmen.

Euroset owes much of its success to the charisma of its corporate ideologist. The image of the eccentric Chichvarkin spread to the entire strategy of Euroset, which also worked to attract buyers.

For example, in 2006, the Siberian branch of the Euroset company released a gift calendar with photographs of its top managers in the nude style.

I would like to note a non-standard approach to doing business, both for Eugene himself and for his employees. I do not consider this calendar as the height of marketing thought. Moreover, other companies, such as Pirelli, have been practicing this for a long time.

But still, it's better than doing nothing at all, sitting and waiting for buyers to come to you. This is how many entrepreneurs do business. When I go to shopping centers, sometimes it amuses me to look at the sad faces of bored sellers, to which buyers come only on weekends.

His golden Vertu mobile phone (note, the word without quotes, because the cell phone was really made of precious metal), coupled with jeans and red sneakers - here is the usual replicated image of extravagant Eugene.

No, this is not kitsch, but a means of self-promotion, because Chichvarkin admits that he will put on a tailcoat immediately if the business elite suddenly changes their suits for worn jeans!

Stand out, stand out and stand out again! So bequeathed to us by the Great Che.

In conclusion of this article, I want to give you a few quotes and sayings from Mr. Chichvarkin, which will help you even more to understand how to do business and become successful entrepreneur:

Video: Evgeny Chichvarkin - about business, emigration, politics, wine, haute cuisine and gender

Creation successful business is as much an act of art as sculpting a sculpture or painting a picture. This is easy to verify by looking at the success stories of the largest entrepreneurs. This article will discuss one of them. We will tell you who Evgeny Chichvarkin is and why he can be safely called a genius.

Biography of a businessman before emigration

The life of one of the most eccentric domestic businessmen is full of bright events:

1. He was born in 1974 in Moscow (according to other sources, in St. Petersburg) in an intelligent family. Father is an aviator, mother is an employee of the trade ministry. According to Eugene himself, his ancestors had Finno-Ugric roots;
2. He received his secondary education at Moscow School No. 28. For the next seven years, he studied at the State Academy of Management (specialist and postgraduate studies);
3. During his studies at the university, he began to study entrepreneurial activity. Like many in the early 90s, he stood in the market and sold clothes;
4. After graduating from graduate school, he decided to engage in the trade of mobile phones that had just appeared in the country at that time. To this end, he paired with his old friend in 1997 opened a store Euroset» ;
5. For five years, under this brand, 92 outlets were opened in Moscow alone. By 2007, more than 5,000 branches were operating in 12 CIS and Baltic countries. Such commercial success made Chichvarkin the owner of a fortune of 1.6 billion dollars;

But this celebration of life in Russia could not last long.

Why did Chichvarkin leave Russia?

Growing commercial and political weight led to conflict with those in power, because of which Evgeny even had to leave Russia.

But first things first:

• In August 2005, the businessman was accused of illegally importing goods worth $100 million into the country, but some time later the charges were dropped. Thus, werewolves in uniform made it clear that for a quiet life you need to share generously;
• The following year, a batch of phones from the world famous manufacturer Motorola was detained, allegedly due to non-compliance with sanitary and epidemiological standards. The leadership of Euroset regarded such a step as raiding;
• In March 2007, an information war against the company began in the pro-government media. There were allegations of tax evasion on an especially large scale;
• In September 2008, searches began at the organization's headquarters. Under pressure from the security forces, 100% of the Euroset shares were sold to a businessman more accommodating with the authorities Alexandru Mamut at a price several times lower than the market price;
• As Chichvarkin himself stated in an interview with Yuri Dudyu (video at the end of the article), the real reason pressure on him was his unwillingness to give part of the profits to money-hungry corrupt officials. And in 2009 he moves to London, where he remains to this day.

Political activity of a businessman

A talented person is talented in everything. It is easy to verify this truth by looking at political career mobile phone dealer:

• On the eve of the 2008 presidential election, he openly supported the candidacy of Dmitry Medvedev. The businessman then naively hoped for changes in the event of the arrival of a relatively young manager;
• In the same 2008, he became the head of the new liberal-capitalist party Right Cause. However, he did not stay long in this role: his departure from Russia prevented him from doing party work;
• While already in England, Chichvarkin published an open letter on the Internet addressed to the President of Russia, in which he complained about the raiding by the security forces and the lawlessness of the law enforcement system in the Russian Federation;
• In 2010, he took part in the Moscow Tea Party project (analogous to the far-right American Boston Tea Party project). Unable to visit the country, he gave the speech remotely;
• He also openly supported civil movement"Strategy-31", aimed at protecting freedom of assembly;
• In the Crimean crisis, he openly sided with Ukraine. Moreover, for some time he planned to join the new government of the country (but the plans never came true).

Who killed Chichvarkin's mother?

In April 2010, the businessman was struck by terrible news: his mother was found dead in a Moscow apartment:

• It was found that death was caused by a blow to a blunt object. As such, the investigators assumed the corner of the table;
• According to anonymous sources, the woman was addicted to the bottle. An autopsy showed changes in the body characteristic of alcoholics. She probably had a hard time parting with her son;
• Initially, investigators did not put forward versions of violent death. But the son from London, who repeatedly received threats from the security forces against him, refused to trust the justice authorities;
• The lawyers sent a request to the prosecutor's office for further investigation of the case, which was carried out in August 2010;
• Currently the death of Lyudmila Chichvarkina remains a mystery . The official version says that everything happened by chance. But among the critics of the current government, there is an opinion about a political contract killing. The corrupt elite allegedly thus took revenge on the disgraced entrepreneur, who hid well abroad.

To make the portrait of a businessman more complete, let's supplement it with a few bright touches from the facts of his biography:

1. When choosing between health and money, he chooses the latter. In one of the interviews, he admitted that back in the 90s he stood in the cold for the sake of momentary profit. Because of this reckless act, he froze some of his fingers so that they now lost sensation;
2. He never hid that he was a smuggler. According to him, in the early 2000s, all market participants were guilty of selling "gray" phones, and he is no exception;
3. He also openly admitted the fact of giving bribes to people in uniform. Without this, as Chichvarkin assures, it is impossible to do business in our country;
4. Despite living far from his native places, he remains a patriot and still does not participate in any way in the local English life. And all because of the hopes for changes in Russia and a possible return in the distant future;
5. He named as his idol. And the point is not only in the brilliant business strategy of the latter, but also in the ability to look great at his age.
6. Businessman leads his page on instagram, he has over 180 thousand subscribers.

What is Chichvarkin doing now?

For about a couple of years, the merchant lived in England solely on personal savings. But the business vein allowed him to get used to the new place:

• In August 2012, he opens a wine shop " Hedonism Wines". From the very first days, the institution gained fame as a favorite place for the London elite;
• Works in the alcohol boutique team former employee « Harrods”, the legendary department store of the English capital. Also among the employees there are Italians, Chinese, Spaniards, French, Scandinavians and, of course, Russians;
• The volume of the initial capital investment amounted to several tens of millions in foreign currency. What profit the store brings to its owner is one of the most slippery topics, to which he prefers to answer very evasively;
• According to popular opinion, the liquor store is nothing more than a hobby that brightens up the life of an expat. Despite the lack of high margins, the boutique is a place of attraction for celebrities, including Russian speakers.

In addition to trading in expensive wine, Chichvarkin continues to engage in social activities. In particular, in August 2017, he launched a campaign to raise money in support of the presidential candidacy of Alexei Navalny.

This person could safely count on receiving the title of "Hero of Capitalist Labor", if such existed. After all, for more than 20 years he has been equally good at selling clothes, telephones, and alcohol. That's who Yevgeny Chichvarkin is, who, like many talented Russians, was forced to leave his homeland. But he still hopes for a return and the coming transformation of the country.

Video: E. Chichvarkin visiting Dudya

In this video, the businessman himself, in an interview with Yuri Dudyu, will tell why he had to leave Russia, under what circumstances he had to sell the business:

Evgeny Chichvarkin is a talented entrepreneur, founder of the Euroset chain of stores. In the mid-2000s, the authoritative Forbes magazine included this man among the businessmen of Russia, and in 2008 he named him one of the most eccentric and extravagant millionaires on the planet.

Childhood and youth

Evgeny Alexandrovich Chichvarkin was born on September 10, 1974, in the city of great opportunities - Moscow. Developing the theme of the family, it is worth noting that the parents of the future businessman were in no way connected with business and commerce. The father of the founder of the Euroset holding was a pilot civil aviation, and her mother worked as an engineer-economist in the Ministry of Industry and Trade (formerly the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR).

Among other things, the parents were from the two largest cities in Russia, and therefore the businessman often calls himself a half-Leningrader-half-Muscovite. Speaking about his origin, once Eugene also noted that his distant ancestors belonged to the Mokshans.

AT youth Eugene masterfully combined school with a wild life. In conversations with media representatives, the businessman often said that he found time for parties, homework and reading books on philosophy.

After graduation high school the future entrepreneur entered the State Academy of Management. In this university, an ambitious young man began to study the economics of vehicle management. However stingy student scholarship there was always a shortage, and therefore very soon Eugene found a part-time job at the local clothing market.

Here the guy looked from the inside at the world of retail, understood the laws of the "street economy", and also gained the necessary experience in working with clients. In 1996, Evgeny entered the postgraduate course of the State Academy and, in parallel with his studies, began to hatch plans to create his own business.

In April 1997, Zhenya, together with his friend Timur Artemyev, created a company called Euroset, which subsequently began to grow rapidly and develop rapidly.

Business

The first Euroset store was opened on Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow. The company was mastering a completely new market for Russia, since no one had heard of cellular retail in the country before. Most people used pagers as their primary means of communication. In the next couple of years, the Euroset network of salons began to grow rapidly. The first points of sale appeared outside of Moscow. Some time later, representative offices of the company began to appear even outside of Russia.

Evgeny Chichvarkin - head of the Euroset company

In this regard, 2006 was a record year, when in just twelve months 1976 new salons were formed throughout the country. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Evgeny developed the concept of advertising for his company, which was based on the use of outrageous, extraordinary and deliberately provocative marketing moves.

Worthy of mention, for example, are such scandalous PR campaigns as “Undress for the phone” and “Miss Breasts”. Such an approach drew great attention to the Euroset company and laid the necessary basis for all subsequent successes. The network of mobile phone stores was growing rapidly, but it was at this moment that serious scandals began to flare up around Chichvarkin's business. It all started with accusations of lowering customs duties when importing phones into Russia.

In addition, the Euroset company was at the center of proceedings related to the disappearance of its former freight forwarder Andrey Vlaskin, who had previously been convicted of stealing mobile phones.

In 2009, Chichvarkin was charged under the article "Kidnapping". Going back, it is worth noting that back in 2008, Evgeny Chichvarkin actively supported all political campaigns and, however, a couple of years later, he radically changed his political views.

The reason for this was pressure from the official authorities, who insisted on the sale of Euroset and allegedly extorted money from the entrepreneur. Anyway, in September 2008 profitable business on the sale of mobile phones was still sold.

Chichvarkin agreed to the proposed conditions and transferred the full package of shares to the ANN investment group and the entrepreneur. A month later, the millionaire left the post of head of the Euroset company and flew to London.

Yevgeny Chichvarkin left Russia in 2008. Two years after moving to the UK, the businessman started selling wine, in particular, he opened the Hedonism Wines alcohol store in London, with a total area of ​​700 sq.m. It is known that the range of alcoholic beverages is estimated at 8.5 thousand items (this list includes exclusive brands). In June 2017, for the first time since its founding, the company made publicly available an estimate showing the profit of the store. According to the results of 2015-2016 fiscal year it amounted to £352 thousand.

Personal life

Chichvarkin always carefully concealed his personal life from prying eyes. It is authentically known that for a couple of years the former head of Euroset was a caring father and loving husband. The businessman's wife's name is Antonina. It was she who gave the entrepreneur two children - son Yaroslav and daughter Marta.

In March 2016, rumors appeared on the Web that the businessman had divorced, and in August this information was confirmed. New sweetheart Evgenia became a girl named Tatyana. Together with her, the man flew to Jurmala in the same year, where he introduced his companion star friends-, and Olga Ryzhkova. It is worth noting that the businessman's girlfriend made a good impression on her friends.

Evgeny Chichvarkin now

In July 2017, the founder of the Euroset network of communication salons, in an interview with a journalist and blogger, spoke about his rivalry with, about a deal with conscience and how he built a company on smuggling.

In August, the businessman, who left Russia for London in 2008, began raising funds to support the election campaign. The money, according to the entrepreneur, will be used to open new headquarters in the regions and print leaflets. Among other things, Eugene published in

Former Euroset co-owner Yevgeny Chichvarkin has been put on the international wanted list, Marina Gridneva, official representative of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

Evgeny Alexandrovich Chichvarkin was born on September 10, 1974 in Moscow. His father was a pilot and his mother was an economic engineer at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations.

In 1991-1996 Evgeny Chichvarkin studied at State Academy management in the specialty "Economics of management on motor transport". In parallel with his studies, he was engaged in trade in Moscow clothing markets, in particular, he managed several outlets in the market in Luzhniki.

In 1996, Evgeny Chichvarkin entered graduate school at the academy, where he studied until 1998.

In 1997, together with a childhood friend Timur Artemyev, Chichvarkin created the Euroset company. In the future, Chichvarkin and Artemyev were written about as co-owners of the Euroset company, while information about exactly what share of the company belonged to each of them was not disclosed.

In 2001, Chichvarkin appeared in the central press as the manager of the Euroset trading house, and in 2002, as the director of the Euroset trading network.

The rapid growth of the network of Euroset communication salons began after a change in the development strategy, the main direction of which was a sharp decline mobile phone prices.

By 2002, Euroset was already among the top three leaders in the Moscow market in terms of retail sales mobile phones, accessories and contracts mobile operators.

From January to December 2002, Euroset opened more than 100 communication stores, in 2003 another 117 stores were added to them.

In 2004, the company opened more than 800 new communication stores.

From 2001 to 2004 Euroset became an official partner of such companies as LG, Motorola, Samsung, Siemens, Sony-Ericsson, Sagem, Philips, Pantech. In February 2004, the Euroset company launches digital cameras, MP3 players and DECT phones.

Since 2004, Yevgeny Chichvarkin has been mentioned in the press as the chairman of the board of directors of Euroset.

In 2005, Euroset began to open not salons, but chain stores, they were opened in 1934. According to the magazine "Money", the company's turnover in 2005 amounted to 2.6 billion dollars.

In 2005, Euroset acquired a network of mobile communication salons "Techmarket" and the Voronezh company "Networks of communication salons of Russia", which allowed it to move into the category of the largest Russian companies retail.

In 2005, due to a scandal involving smuggled mobile phones seized by customs, Euroset became the object of attention from law enforcement agencies. In August 2006, the smuggling case against Euroset was closed for lack of corpus delicti.

In June 2005, Euroset was awarded the Superbrand 2005 award, in October it received the Brand of the Year / EFFIE 2005 award, and in December - the Company of the Year in the nomination " Business reputation". The activity of the company is marked by the Diploma of the Russian Fund for the Protection of Consumer Rights.

According to 2006 data, Euroset included 3,150 stores, and in 2007 their number in 12 countries - Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan - was already 5156.

In February 2004, Evgeny Chichvarkin was awarded the "Person of the Year" award in the "Head of the Retail Business" nomination. Winner of the national stage of the competition "Entrepreneur of the Year" (2005), held by Ernst & Young, in the Trade nomination.

In mid-January 2009, Chichvarkin was charged with extortion and participation in organizing a kidnapping. According to investigators, in early 2003 Boris Levin, Euroset's vice-president for security, Andrei Yermilov, his deputy, and Sergei Katorgin, a security officer, together with other defendants in the case, kidnapped Andrey Vlaskin, the company's freight forwarder, who was suspected of stealing a large batch of cell phones. Chichvarkin was charged in the framework of this criminal case, since, as is believed law enforcement, the kidnapping of the freight forwarder and extortion were committed with the knowledge and consent of the then co-owner of Euroset.