The head of the largest Russian mobile handset retailer Evgeny Chichvarkin was born in Moscow in 1974. His father is a pilot and mother works as an economist for the Ministry of foreign economic relations. As a young man Evgeny was an ordinary student fond of music, parties and unintelligible books.
His way to success started in 1996 after graduating from the State Academy of Management as a specialist in management of economy. In 1997 Chichvarkin established Euroset Company and became its director along with his colleague Artemyev. Today Euroset is one of the Russia’s leading dealers for major mobile network operators.
As soon as the company was founded, the first sales office opened in Moscow. From the very beginning the company staked on the retail sector and gradually extended its range of products. Most Russians remember far-reaching advertising campaigns Euroset conducted in 1999, however, the company turned into a fast growing one only after its development strategy had been changed and low prices on mobile phones appeared to serve as a basis for it. In 2002 the number of sales offices increased several times and made up 100, the next year 117 offices more opened and 2004 beat the record with 800 new sales offices of the company.
Within the period of 2001-2004 Euroset concluded several agreements with vendors and became an official partner of such companies as LG, Motorola, Samsung, Siemens, Sony-Ericsson, Sagem, Philips and Pantech. This new policy implied direct work with mobile phones manufacturers; therefore the company had an opportunity to achieve products without an extra charge and followed its rule of providing customers with cheap phones.
2003 turned out to be a landmark in the history of the company: Euroset’s new offices opened in Russian regions. Economic indexes of the company that year were of maximum level in this business field in Russian cities.
In 2004 Euroset opened its 1000th sales office in Grozny. Nowadays the company’s main activity is the retail sale of mobile handsets, digital cameras, CD and MP3 players, DECT-phones, accessories and subscriptions to mobile network operators. The company has been awarded with Superbrand -2005 and EFFIE 2005.
In 2008, he was forced to sell his stake in Euroset and leave Russia for London after pressure from the country's law enforcement agencies.
In 2012, Chichvarkin opened Hedonism Wines, a wine store in the heart of London.
In the spring of 2018, on Piccadili Street, together with Artemiev and renowned chef Olli Dabu, he opened the Hide restaurant, which received one star from the famous Michelin restaurant guide. According to media reports, these businesses do not bring stable profits, are in a difficult financial situation and are highly dependent on the founder's regular investments.
Personal life
Wife (ex, divorced in May 2016) - Antonina. Children: son Yaroslav (born in 1998) daughter Martha (born in 2006).
Actual wife - Tatyana Fokina (without registration of marriage since 2010) - manager of the wine store "Hedonism Wines" and the restaurant "Hide" (born in St. Petersburg, graduated from the philological faculty of St. Petersburg State University). Child: daughter Alice (born in 2015)
Sources:
www.people.rambler.ru
Olga Pletneva (updated by Mikhail Vesely)