Childhood & Early Life
Roman Avdeev was born on July 17, 1967 in Odintsovo, Russia. He was raised in a modest but very united family. He received his education from a regular city school. He began to receive good grades only during the last years of his studying.
After finishing school, he entered Moscow Power Engineering Institute. According to Roman Ivanovich, his choice was quite random. Like many young guys in the USSR, he was fond of radio electronics, and the technical university seemed the best solution.
During his second year at the university, he was drafted into the army. He received his diploma of higher education only in 1994.
Continue Reading Below
Career
Roman Avdeev first tried his abilities as an entrepreneur in 1989, after the law on cooperation was established in USSR and trading activity of individuals ceased to be considered a crime. Roman Avdeev founded a cooperative store that produced decoders for televisions.
Avdeev's business career was successful from the very beginning, and the goods supplied by his company were actively sold in Leningrad and Moscow. Avdeev also established contacts with the Ukrainian plant called Elektronmash, after which his business was expanded significantly.
Then he had the ideas about banking as a separate business area. In 1991, private business finally became a legal reality, and in 1994 Roman Avdeev acquired Credit Bank of Moscow, or, more precisely, he received a documentation package, a small office and 14 employees. The bank existed only officially, but it was not really operating.
Roman Ivanovich considered that it was possible to turn a bank into an independent business. Avdeev immediately acquired it with funds taken from an already existing enterprise. Today, Credit Bank of Moscow is ranked 9th in Russia in terms of net assets and is ranked 17th in Russia in terms of net profit, according to the ratings of Banki.ru web portal.
A little bit later, Avdeev bought the controlling shares of the sugar factory which was located in the Lipetsk region. He also purchased the nearby land, which was ideally suitable for the agricultural needs. In the 2000s, the manufacturing company called ‘Chernozemye’ was founded on that territory. It supplied about 3% of the total Russian sugar. By the mid-2000s Avdeev sold his shares and again invested them in Credit Bank of Moscow.
In 2005 Avdeev became the head of ROSSIUM Concern LLC. Three years later he participated in the purchase of land in the Moscow region. Together with his partner, Avdeev purchased 6 hectares of land and created a construction market with more than 500 sales points.
In 2008, he began to develop the corporation called ‘Sever-Les’ located in the Arkhangelsk region. It included 18 companies engaged in the timber industry. Subsequently, the corporation with the annual revenue of 65 million USD was sold. The money was invested in another project.
In 2008, after selling all the shares of ‘Chernozemye’, Avdeev obtained a considerable amount of money that he decided to capitalize in Credit Bank of Moscow. At that time, it was ranked approximately 70th in the list of institutions with the largest assets.
In 2010, Avdeev established a real estate agency which was named ‘Domus Finance’. The company has been specializing in making deals on real estate sales both from the primary and secondary Moscow markets. The company has an extensive staff of highly qualified employees. Today, the real estate agency is implementing over two dozen major projects.
Continue Reading Below
In 2012, Avdeev founded the company called ‘Ingrad’. Its main specialization is the erection of high class residential complexes in Moscow and in the surrounding areas.
In 2012, Credit Bank of Moscow was a huge success. The EBRD and IFC assets were invested in its capital. It was also included in the list of top 20 largest domestic banks.
In 2013, Avdeev became the owner of Veropharm pharmaceutical company, but a year later he sold it.
In 2015, Roman began to develop ROSSIUM Concern LLC. As a result, it turned into an investment holding including not only banks, but also other institutions involved in financing, commercial property trade, and pharmaceutical products manufacturing.
In 2016, Credit Bank of Moscow was included in the list of top 10 biggest banks of the Russian Federation. Roman Ivanovich is still the main owner of this bank, and is also one of its supervisory members.
Awards & Achievements
In 2012, Roman Avdeev was awarded with ‘Hurry to Do Good’ honorary medal. It shows a huge contribution to the protection of civil rights stated in the Constitution.
In 2014 Avdeev was recognized as the Banker of the Year.
He was also presented with the Legend of Industry award.
Roman was named the Best Investor according to RBC.
Continue Reading Below
Roman Avdeev is ranked 56th amongst the richest people in Russia according to Forbes magazine.
Personal Life & Legacy
Presently, Roman Avdeev lives in his hometown of Odintsovo together with his third wife, Elena.
At the moment, the banker is one of the two multi-child billionaires in the world. He has 23 children. 19 of them were adopted.
Roman Avdeev believes that parents should not over-control the younger generation. Once he also admitted that he did not intend to leave his property to his children. According to Avdeev, any parent is obliged to give his or her child the basic understanding of "what is good and what is bad". Also he thinks that it is vitally important to give a confident start and freedom of life choice to his children. Education will provide children with the necessary life tools.
In his personal blog he once mentioned that family occupies the main place in the scale of his life values. He believes that orphanages should not exist; every child should grow up in a family. But while it is impossible to put it into practice, he continues to help children who do not have families.
Famous businessman regularly contributes to social causes. He created his own fund called ‘Kindness Arithmetic’ («Арифметика добра») that helps to satisfy the educational and other needs of children. The fund is currently realizing various programs helping children to fulfill their potentials, to prepare them for future life, to train them in different subjects before entering universities.
Roman Avdeev is fond of sports but he has never wanted to make it a part of his career. Due to his temper, he cannot be passionate about the same thing for a long time that is why he is always trying to do something that he is interested in during certain moment.
He loves cycling, jogging, and even quite extreme kinds of sport such as mountain skiing and climbing. He believes that sport is necessary for forming the character of a person, as it provides an invaluable experience of overcoming one’s weaknesses and fears.
Due to his love of sports, he even bought a soccer club called Torpedo («Торпедо») promising to return it to its native Streltsov stadium after reconstruction.
He is passionate about philosophy and considers it to be extremely useful in the sphere of business. Roman easily quotes ancient and modern philosophers during his numerous interviews thereby demonstrating that philosophy is more than just his hobby; it is his true passion.
Roman Ivanovich Avdeev takes pleasure in sharing his thoughts about charity, history and other subjects of interest keeping his own blog. Moreover, he writes articles for Forbes and for other magazines.
