Roustam Tariko (; born March 17, 1962) is the founder of

Russian Standard Vodka Russian Standard ( rus, Ру́сский Станда́рт, r=Rússky Standárt, p=ˈrusːkʲɪj stɐnˈdart) is a major Russian company producing the vodka brand of the same name. The brand was founded by Roustam Tariko in 1998. History The ...

. He also founded Russian Standard Bank, a credit card operation and a term life insurer in Russia. In 2009, Tariko's net worth was estimated at $1.1 billion.

Biography

Early life

Born in the town of

Menzelinsk Menzelinsk (; ) is a town and the administrative center of Menzelinsky District in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the Menzelya River near its confluence with the Kama, from the republic's capital of Kazan. Population: 15,800 ...

Tatarstan Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital city, capital and largest city i ...

on March 17, 1962, Tariko moved to Moscow to study at the age of 17. He graduated in 1989 from the Economics faculty of Moscow Institute for Railway Engineering and got an MBA from Institut européen d'administration des affaires in France in 2000.Roustam Tariko's Biography
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Entrance to the business world

The economic reforms of the 1980s created new business opportunities, which Tariko recognized and took advantage of. Unlike many other Russian businessmen who created their empires through the

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

of state enterprises in the early 1990s, Tariko built his company from scratch. While studying, Tariko had a part-time job as a

street cleaner A street sweeper or street cleaner is a person or machine that cleans streets. People have worked in cities as "sanitation workers" since sanitation and waste removal became a priority. A street-sweeping person would use a broom and shovel t ...

. According to Tariko, he had to get up early to start his shift and clear the snow, even when the temperatures fell at −20 °C. Already at this point, Tariko had an eye for making money, as his first business venture was a small cleaning company which he had established with two friends.Banking on a vodka empire. Interview:Roustam Tariko
The Sunday Times

Hotel Renovation

Starting working part time as an independent guide while still operating a cleaning service Tariko made an arrangement with a large government hotel. Clients of the guide service had been complaining about the condition of the hotel rooms. Tariko's arrangement was that in exchange for a portion of room rents he would renovate some of the rooms. This service to clients and hotels became an expanding portion of his enterprises eclipsing cleaning.

Expansion

In the late 1980s, Tariko began importing

Kinder Surprise Kinder Surprise (Italian: ''Kinder Sorpresa'' or ''Ovetto Kinder''), also known as Kinder Egg or Kinder Surprise Egg, is a milk chocolate consisting of a chocolate egg surrounding a yellow plastic capsule with a small toy inside. Manufactured by t ...

and

Ferrero Rocher Ferrero Rocher ( , , ; stylized in all caps) is a brand of chocolate and hazelnut confectionery , confection manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero SpA, Ferrero. Michele Ferrero is credited as the product's creator. Each Ferrero Rocher bal ...

chocolates to the Soviet Union and selling them for rubles. Previously, such goods were only available in hard currency stores closed to average Russians. Tariko parlayed his success in selling Italian chocolates into an exclusive contract to import the Martini brand. Record sales of Martini enabled him to grow his company Roust Inc. into the leading importer of premium spirits in Russia. Building on his success, Tariko wanted to build a Russian consumer brand which would "embody the vibrant spirit of Russia." Tariko reportedly wondered why Russia, the biggest vodka market in the world did not possess a domestically produced premium vodka brand. In 1998, Tariko, through his Russian Standard Company, brought to market

Original, the first genuinely Russian premium vodka. It became an almost instant success, and quickly established itself as the number one brand of its kind in the country. In 1999, Tariko expanded his empire into the banking business by founding Russian Standard Bank. Today, the bank is the market leader in consumer finance and the country's largest consumer lending bank. Due to Tariko being under Ukrainian sanctions, the

National Bank of Ukraine The National Bank of Ukraine ( ; NBU []) is the central bank of Ukraine. Created in 1991 from the Ukrainian operations of the Soviet Gosbank, the NBU employs over 12,000 people, making it one of the largest employers in the financial sector in ...

revoked the banking license and liquidated Russian Standard Bank's subsidiary in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

"Forward Bank" in March 2023. According to an investigation by the

Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( ; abbreviated as SBU [] or SSU) is the main Internal security, internal security agency of the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government. Its main duties include counter-intelligence activity and combati ...

part of the profits of Forward Bank went to prepare and finance the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, as well as to finance the activities of the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, aimed at weakening Ukraine. In total, the companies belonging to Tariko's holding company

Russian Standard Corporation Russian Standard Corporation () is a holding company owned by the businessman Roustam Tariko. It holds the stock of the following companies: * Russian Standard Company, the producer and distributor of Russian Standard Vodka. *Руст Инк. (Rou ...

now employ over 25,000 people.

Net worth

In Forbes magazine's "World's Richest People" ranking of 2009, Tariko was listed at number 647 with an estimated wealth of $1.1 billion.

Personal life

Roustam Tariko is

unmarried Civil status, or marital status, are the distinct options that describe a person's relationship with a significant other. ''Married'', '' single'', '' divorced'', and ''widowed'' are examples of civil status. ''Civil status'' and ''marital stat ...

and has five children. The mother of Tariko's twin daughters, Eva and Anna, is Tatiana Osipova. Aliona Gavrilova is the mother of Tariko's third child, a boy, named Roustam Junior.Brett Forrest
A NEW BRAND OF RUSSIAN MOGUL
// Vanity Fair Two more children, Leo (b.2020) and Rosa (b.2021) were born to him and Yulia Polyachikhina.

Notes

References

External links

List of Russian billionaires
(in

rubles The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are su ...

)
Biography at Forbes World's Richest People

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tariko, Rustam 1962 births Living people Russian food industry businesspeople Russian billionaires People from Ufa Governorate Drink distillers INSEAD alumni