07/01/2025
Tatyana Bakalchuk, the entrepreneur behind the e-commerce giant Wildberries, is the richest self-made woman in Russia, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated net worth of $7.4 billion (over ₹61,000 crores). Famously compared to Amazon, Wildberries has matured into Russia’s largest online retailer, merchandising over 60,000 brands in segments of clothing, electronics, and household goods.
Tatyana found success from modest beginnings in 2004. The former English teacher started her enterprise during a maternity leave with just ₹32,000 in seed money to support her growing family. Partnering with her IT-professor husband, Vladislav Bakalchuk, and his friend, she crafted an online platform from their small apartment. At first, she was tied with the German retailer Otto and was photographing and listing clothes online, doing logistics herself, and using public transport for dispatch.
At the time states the workforce numbers more than 48000 people and an annual turnover of ₹50,000 crore. Tatyana owns 99% of the company, and the rest 1% belongs to her husband. The platform is now operational beyond Russia in places like Germany, Italy, and France. Although she has a fortune, Tatyana remains largely in the background, living in a rented home and shunning the public eye.
Her story is a mark of taking chances and a series of brave decisions. The first opportunity she seized was during the 2008 financial crises when she bought unsold Adidas inventory worth ₹9 lakh on credit, selling it over the next two years. In 2020, responding to the pandemic, she recruited 12,000 additional workers to ensure timely home deliveries, thereby invigorating the growth of her company.
Tatyana’s business savvy attracted the interest of President Vladimir Putin, who assigned her the task of creating a domestic alternative to the international SWIFT payment network.
