How do people become millionaires if they don’t have rich patrons and they don’t have a huge inheritance? As can be seen from their biographies, they simply were not afraid to do what others did not believe in. They looked for new ways, came up with new businesses and joined in various adventures.
One of these people is Oleg Leonov, a private investor with a multi-million dollar fortune. And he achieved everything thanks to his entrepreneurial abilities. Now he is known as the founder of the first discounter of Dixy Group of Companies in Moscow, co-owner of Dixy-Uniland, founder of the engineering company GIP Group, and his name is listed in the honorary ranking of the richest people in Russia.
Biography
Oleg was born in 1969 in the city of Chisinau, in an ordinary family. True, in one interview, he said that he had an unusual combination of blood: there are Uzbek roots and Jewish ones. When Oleg was very young, parents moved to live north to do business there: they sold deer skins and leather jackets.
Leonov received secondary education at the Magadan school, and then went to study in Leningrad and entered the Leningrad Institute. Pavlova. In the evening he studied, and in the afternoon he worked wherever he had to.
It was in the university that a situation occurred that prompted the student to the first type of business and allowed to create a good initial capital. This was a case that someone would not pay attention to, but Oleg took advantage of it.
Once in the institute’s corridor a cabinet was accidentally overturned, from which many letters of applicants dropped out - they asked for courses to be prepared for admission to the institute. He could not organize courses, however, he found how to satisfy this demand: an enterprising student decided to print "cheat sheets" that would help schoolchildren prepare for entrance exams.
Leonov was able to organize a group of successful students and professional tutors who prepared brochures. Then they were printed in a printing house, found the addresses of those who needed such material and informed them that the preparatory information was for sale. The "cheat sheet" includes tasks in biology and other subjects that were passed on admission to the university. Leonov had a rather large client base, and parcels with brochures scattered throughout the Soviet Union.
Moreover, at a low cost, he set a decent price for one copy. This just made it possible to make good money. So at nineteen years old Leonov made a fortune - at least at that time it was.
Businessman career
Later, the young businessman switched to printing and mailing catalogs, which at first included only perfumery, then household appliances were added. He distributed gas pistols, VCRs, automatic caller ID numbers, food processors and other imported wonders throughout the country, which were in great demand at that time.
The next stage of Leonov’s entrepreneurial activity is the organization of the company “Russian Parcel House” in 1991.
In 1993, Leonov’s company was transformed into a distribution company, Uniland. I must say that by this time he had not yet managed to finish high school. The company supplied Russian customers with products from Schwarzkopf, Henkel, Unilever, Wella, Pierre Cardin and other foreign manufacturers. In 1995, a branch of Uniland was opened in Moscow, and then in Yekaterinburg.
The young businessman did not rest on his laurels - he is trying by all means to expand the business. Soon, a central warehouse opens in Leningrad and a convoy of vehicles for transportation between countries is created. Customs issues are being resolved, business processes are being improved.
The annual turnover of Uniland is growing rapidly - up to 80% per month. However, the 1998 default even affected such a powerful company: revenues fell five times, which forced the founders to seek a way out of the situation.
Leonov saw him at the opening of the Dixie discounter, which sells groceries and consumer goods. Most likely, this action was dictated by the idea that whatever crises would not fall on people, they would eat every day and use essential goods too.
This project turned out to be successful, and in 2000 the Dixy network was already opened in St. Petersburg, and in 2002 in Chelyabinsk. What does this give its owners? The annual income is more than five hundred and fifty million dollars from one hundred and twenty stores. And if you consider that by 2006 the number of Dixie stores had grown to four hundred, you can imagine how much the annual turnover and owner’s profits increased accordingly.
However, this did not stop Leonov from selling his business and starting a completely new business. In 2007, he sold Igor Kesaev a controlling stake in Dixy. And he founded the engineering company Global Infrastructure Project Group, whose main activity was property management. In 2018, there was information in the press that the businessman was no longer related to this company.
Currently, Oleg Leonov is the general director of the Avtorai company, which is engaged in the repair and maintenance of motor vehicles. He owns the company with his partners.
