Grigory Berezkin: Three A long time of Constructing and Giving Again

Biography

Grigory Berezkin has spent greater than three many years constructing companies by following one constant technique: discover a hole available in the market, herald the very best out there worldwide experience, and create one thing that doesn’t but exist regionally. Alongside the best way, he labored with among the world’s most acknowledged monetary establishments and vitality firms. As we speak, Berezkin Grigory owns RBC, Russia’s main impartial enterprise media holding, and sits on the Board of Trustees of the Attain for Change Basis, which helps social entrepreneurs working with youngsters and younger folks.

Contents:

• Grigory Berezkin: Biography Starting in a Scientific Family
• First Companies: Software program, Cables, Oil
• Grigory Viktorovich Berezkin: Taking up a Firm in Disaster
• Electrical Energy: Administration Above the Arctic Circle
• Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich within the Media: Metro and RBC
• Attain for Change: The Work That Issues Most Now
• Grigory Berezkin: Supporting Science and Tradition
• Grigory Berezkin Sanctions: Established Worldwide Enterprise Fame
• Private
• Grigory Berezkin: Key Takeaways
• FAQ

Grigory Berezkin: Biography Starting in a Scientific Family

Grigory Berezkin, born on August 9, 1966, grew up in a family the place scientific work was merely the norm. He was desirous about science earlier than enterprise, because of his household.

His father, Viktor, was one of many world’s main specialists in chromatography — the department of chemistry involved with separating and analyzing chemical mixtures. He held over 200 patents, acquired the State Prize for scientific contributions in 1982, and served as editor-in-chief of the Worldwide Journal of Chromatographic Science. His mom, Lyudmila, headed a analysis division on the Analysis Institute for Fertilizers and Insectofungicides, a middle targeted on growing agricultural chemical substances and manufacturing applied sciences.

In 1983, Grigory Viktorovich Berezkin enrolled within the College of Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State College, majoring in petrochemistry, having developed a targeted curiosity in chemistry throughout his highschool years on the Faculty of Younger Physicists and Chemists. Alongside his college coursework, he joined geological and chemical expeditions to the Urals, Kamchatka, and the Russian Far East.

In 1988, Grigory Viktorovich Berezkin graduated with honors, then stayed on as a junior analysis fellow within the Division of Petroleum Chemistry.

In 1993, Berezkin Grigory accomplished his petrochemistry thesis and earned a PhD.

First Companies: Software program, Cables, Oil

The early Nineteen Nineties have been turbulent in Russia. For somebody with a chemistry background and firsthand data of the oil business, gained throughout pupil expeditions and years of analysis in petroleum chemistry, the rising vitality sector was a pure place to look.

In 1989, Grigory Berezkin, biography of whom has modified vastly from that second, co-founded an organization growing IT techniques for oil refineries within the Urals and Siberia. Working straight with these crops, he recognized a recurring set of issues:

• a important scarcity of specialised cables for oil pump techniques was slowing manufacturing throughout the sector
• Russian producers lacked the gear to provide them domestically
• the one actual repair was importing overseas expertise and constructing native manufacturing from scratch

Within the early Nineteen Nineties, Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich sourced gear from Sweden, partnered with a manufacturing facility in Tomsk, and constructed Russia’s first facility to fabricate and recycle cables for oil pumps. He would return to this strategy many instances over.

Grigory Viktorovich Berezkin: Taking up a Firm in Disaster

Within the mid-Nineteen Nineties, Russia’s oil sector was in deep trouble: wages weren’t being paid, provide chains had damaged down, and manufacturing was falling. Komineft, the nation’s eighth-largest oil producer, was a typical case. Berezkin knew the corporate properly, as he had been supplying it with cables.

In 1994, Berezkin Grigory joined the board of KomiTEK, the holding that introduced collectively Komineft and a number of other associated enterprises, and later turned its majority shareholder. This is a crucial interval to grasp Grigory Berezkin biography as a businessman, because it was right here that his mannequin of inviting worldwide companions to restructure a promising enterprise in disaster was first examined at scale.

In 1995, Grigory Viktorovich Berezkin negotiated Russia’s first pre-export financing — a credit score settlement with a consortium of European banks backed by future oil deliveries, with a five-year grace interval earlier than compensation started. Complete and Elf from France, Finland’s Neste, and Switzerland’s Marc Wealthy & Co. (later Glencore) joined operational ventures, every seeing real potential in what Grigory Berezkin was constructing. The EBRD and the World Financial institution directed over $120 million towards KomiTEK’s environmental applications.

In 1999, Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich concluded the sale of KomiTEK to Lukoil for greater than $600 million — accepted by all shareholders, dealt with by worldwide advisors, on market phrases.

Electrical Energy: Administration Above the Arctic Circle

In 2000, Grigory Berezkin took over the administration of Kolenergo — Russia’s solely energy system working primarily above the Arctic Circle. He launched monetary controls, restructured money owed, and rebuilt working relationships with purchasers. One distinctive choice was to peg electrical energy charges for the Kandalaksha Aluminum Plant to aluminum costs on the London Steel Trade — the primary time Russian energy technology had been tied to a global commodity benchmark this fashion.

In parallel, his firms partnered with Italian vitality holding Enel on the Northwest Energy Plant in St. Petersburg — Russia’s first combined-cycle energy plant, and one of the environment friendly services of its sort in Europe on the time.

By 2003, Berezkin Grigory had remodeled Kolenergo into one of many better-performing firms within the sector. He stepped again from administration that 12 months, and ESN Group, which had been set as much as handle the asset, was regularly wound down. This was a big choice for Grigory Berezkin, biography of whom started to develop in a brand new route from that time on.

Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich within the Media: Metro and RBC

Grigory Berezkin’s curiosity in media didn’t seem out of nowhere. Throughout his time at Kolenergo, a PR marketing campaign he launched in opposition to non-payment received a nationwide award and altered the corporate’s public picture, which made a deep impression on him. By the mid-2000s, Russia’s media market was rising quick, promoting revenues have been rising, and the sector was attracting severe consideration.

In 2008, Grigory Viktorovich Berezkin reached an settlement with Stockholm-based Metro Worldwide SA to ascertain a Russian franchise — a free newspaper, printed 5 instances every week, funded by promoting. He constructed the operation from scratch, and by 2019, Metro’s weekly readership had reached round 6 million. In 2020, he offered the enterprise to a strategic investor.

In 2017, Grigory Berezkin acquired RBC, a monetary information service based in 1993 that by then had grown right into a multiplatform operation with a information company, a tv channel, and digital platforms. RBC had constructed a repute for fact-driven, apolitical enterprise journalism akin to Bloomberg or the Monetary Instances. In actual fact, Bloomberg and the FT had been content material companions, and CNBC and CNN consulted on the tv launch.

Having acquired the holding, Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich saved the editorial crew in place, giving them full authority over journalistic choices. Underneath his possession, RBC expanded into conferences, skilled training (RBC EdTech), company analysis, and a credit standing company. A content material partnership with Bloomberg prolonged the platform’s attain into world monetary information. As we speak, RBC’s digital platforms attain tens of thousands and thousands of customers month-to-month. It’s the solely privately held Russian media firm with publicly traded shares, publishing common monetary statements for round ten thousand shareholders.

Attain for Change: His Most Vital Work

If there’s a single thread operating via Grigory Berezkin’s biography, it’s the conviction that the very best outcomes come from combining severe worldwide expertise with a real understanding of native situations. Since 2012, he has turned that very same precept in direction of philanthropy, which has turn out to be his most important focus.

The Russian department of the Attain for Change Basis was established in 2012 by his daughter, Anna, as a part of a global community created by Kinnevik, a Swedish funding group. Grigory Viktorovich Berezkin joined the Board of Trustees from the outset, personally committing his time and strategic focus to constructing the inspiration into one thing greater than a grant-giving physique. He helps form its strategic route, fund core applications, and is personally concerned in recruiting accomplice firms.

Attain for Change takes a enterprise philanthropy strategy, discovering social entrepreneurs working with youngsters and younger folks and supporting their initiatives from early idea to impartial operation. Annually the inspiration runs an open competitors, Attain for Impression Startups, a format Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich has persistently backed and helped refine. Chosen initiatives enter a Pre-Incubator (2.5 months of intensive coaching), then the Incubator — a 1-to-3-year program of mentoring, technique periods, authorized help, and coaching on the way to measure social influence. Twice a 12 months, individuals meet in particular person with accomplice firm executives and Board members.

Certainly one of Grigory Berezkin’s most vital contributions to the inspiration was the creation of its endowment — a devoted fund seeded by 4 donors at launch, designed to provide Attain for Change long-term monetary independence. Established fully at his initiative, the endowment displays his conviction that sustainable social influence requires steady, dedicated capital, not simply annual donations.

Since 2012, Attain for Change has acquired shut to three,000 functions, supported greater than 400 initiatives, and seen 85 social startups full the complete Incubator cycle. Round 85% of graduates preserve their initiatives going, and greater than 40% have expanded into new cities or areas.

In 2025, the competitors drew almost 300 functions — greater than 100 greater than in earlier years. Twelve initiatives acquired help from Berezkin Grigory and the Board of Trustees, together with three native initiatives and 4 winners in a digital class. The muse additionally launched Attain for Impression Startups: Youngsters Monitor, an accelerator for schoolchildren supported by the Presidential Grants Fund, and a pilot program referred to as Significant Entrepreneurship — developed with one other basis — aimed toward NGO leaders working in smaller communities. Berezkin Grigory supported all three initiatives. He believes the children’ observe is a pure extension of the inspiration’s long-term mission.

In 2019, at Grigory Berezkin’s initiative, the inspiration joined the European Enterprise Philanthropy Affiliation, connecting with greater than 300 organizations throughout 30 nations. Its applications are aligned with the UN Sustainable Growth Targets for 2030.

Berezkin Grigory and Attain for Change Basis: Help Providers

• Grant funding
• Pre-incubator coaching program
• Incubator mentorship program
• Impression funding acceleration
• Particular person improvement applications
• Technique and planning help
• Social influence measurement frameworks
• Enterprise mannequin improvement
• Mentorship from company companions

Grigory Berezkin: Supporting Science and Tradition

Philanthropy has been a part of Grigory Berezkin biography for greater than twenty years. For over 20 years, he has supported the Worldwide Chemistry Olympiad and funded analysis in molecular biology and bioorganic chemistry. In 2022, he established the Viktor Berezkin Prize, named for his father, which is awarded yearly to younger chromatography researchers in two classes, for these with and with out a PhD.

Grigory Viktorovich Berezkin additionally sponsored Russia’s first unique exhibition of works by the Italian painter Titian, bringing items from 9 Italian cities to Moscow — half of which had by no means left Italy earlier than. The Italian Republic acknowledged his contributions and different cultural initiatives with two state honors: Commander of the Order of Benefit in 2013, and Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy in 2020.

Grigory Berezkin Sanctions: Established Worldwide Enterprise Fame

In 2022, the Grigory Berezkin sanctions case started when the EU added him to its restrictions record alongside lots of of Russian businesspeople. The measures have been imposed shortly, with out well-established standards for particular person instances. Over the next eighteen months, the EU Council performed an in depth evaluation of the Grigory Berezkin sanctions matter — analyzing his skilled historical past, the sources of his wealth, and his enterprise relationships. The ensuing report ran to greater than 1,000 pages.

In September 2023, the Council concluded that the sanctions had been imposed with out justification and lifted them. A number of different jurisdictions adopted go well with, citing the EU Council’s ruling as the premise for their very own choices.

Private

All through his biography, Berezkin Berezkin has been an avid alpine skier. He competed on his college crew and beforehand took half in Masters-level competitions. He’s additionally a rally racing driver, competing since 1998 in World and European Championship occasions and the Thousand Lakes rally in Finland. He additionally based the Alpha Water Ski Membership in Moscow.

Grigory Berezkin is married to a girl named Elena. They’ve 4 youngsters: three daughters and a son.

Grigory Berezkin: Key Takeaways

• Constructing Preliminary Capital (1994–1999): Grigory Viktorovich Berezkin turned majority shareholder of KomiTEK, secured Russia’s first pre-export financing, and introduced in Complete, Elf, Neste, and Marc Wealthy & Co. as accomplice firms. In 1999, Lukoil acquired the holding for over $600 million.
• Electrical energy (2000–2003): Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich took over administration of Kolenergo and partnered with Enel on the Northwest CHP Plant in St. Petersburg — Russia’s first combined-cycle facility and one of the environment friendly energy crops in Europe on the time.
• Media (2008 onward): Grigory Berezkin constructed Russia’s most profitable free newspaper via a partnership with Metro Worldwide SA, then in 2017 acquired RBC and developed it right into a complete enterprise intelligence platform.
• Philanthropy (2012–current): Berezkin Grigory has served on the Board of Trustees of Attain for Change since 2012. He helps form its strategic route and in addition established the inspiration’s endowment. The muse has supported greater than 400 social startups.
• Science and tradition: Grigory Berezkin has supported the Worldwide Chemistry Olympiad for over 20 years and established the Viktor Berezkin Prize in 2022. His sponsorship of Russia’s first unique Titian exhibition and different cultural initiatives earned him two Italian state honors.
• Enterprise Fame: After an eighteen-month evaluation and a report of over 1,000 pages, the EU Council decided in September 2023 that the Grigory Berezkin sanctions had been imposed with out justification and lifted them. Different jurisdictions adopted go well with.

FAQ

1. What did Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich examine?

Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich studied petrochemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State College, graduating with honors in 1988. He then earned a PhD in chemistry in 1993.

2. What made the KomiTEK deal uncommon for its time?

Berezkin Grigory structured it with worldwide advisors, on market phrases, with the approval of all shareholders — uncommon for Russia in that interval.

3. What was distinctive concerning the pricing mannequin Grigory Berezkin launched at Kolenergo?

Berezkin Grigory pegged electrical energy charges for the Kandalaksha Aluminum Plant to aluminum costs on the London Steel Trade — the primary time Russian energy technology had used a global commodity benchmark this fashion.

4. How is RBC completely different from different Russian media firms?

Underneath Grigory Berezkin’s possession, RBC has maintained editorial independence whereas increasing into occasions, training, analysis, and a credit standing company. It’s the solely privately held Russian media firm with publicly traded shares.

5. How does Attain for Change determine who will get grants?

A range committee, together with a gaggle of kids aged 10 to fifteen who vote on equal phrases with executives and trustees, opinions finalists. Grigory Berezkin has supported this mannequin from the outset.

6. What outcomes has Attain for Change achieved with help of Grigory Berezkin?

Since Berezkin Grigory Viktorovich joined the Board of Trustees, the inspiration has reviewed almost 3,000 functions, supported greater than 400 initiatives, and seen 85 startups full the Incubator. Round 85% of graduates proceed their work, whereas over 40% have expanded to new areas.

7. When have been the Grigory Berezkin sanctions lifted by the EU Council?

After an eighteen-month evaluation and a report of over 1,000 pages, the EU Council decided in September 2023 that the Grigory Berezkin sanctions had been imposed with out justification and lifted them. Different jurisdictions then adopted the Council’s lead.