Igor Rybakov

Igor Vladimirovich Rybakov (Игорь Владимирович Рыбаков; born 16 May 1972) is a meta-entrepreneur who co-owns the Technonikol industrial corporation. He appeared on Forbes's 2021 list of the world's wealthiest people with a net worth of $2 billion. He is an author, actor, showman, singer, and producer.

Rybakov is a philanthropist who focuses on education. He founded the non-profit Rybakov Family Foundation in 2015.

Early career
In 1988, while he was still in high school, Rybakov earned 1,400 Soviet rubles by working with a student construction brigade, which at the time was comparable to the annual salary of an engineer.

First company
In 1992, he founded Technonikol with his classmate Sergei Kolesnikov. In November 2018, Rybakov and Kolesnikov won the 2018 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award in Russia. They attended the gala awards ceremony in Monaco in June 2019.

Children
In 2000, Igor and Ekaterina Rybakov's daughter, Polina, was born.

Writing
In 2017, Thirst—a business philosophy by Rybakov—was published and won PwC's Business Book of the Year in Russia award in 2018.

Forbes Ranking
In 2015, Rybakov was included for the first time in the Forbes rankings with a $450 million net worth.

Music
In 2019, Bloomberg reported the release of Rybakov's first music album Summer Has Been Going Away (Russian: «Уходило лето»).

Film career
In 2019, he produced a short film "Fair Play".

Fundraising for his Alma Mater
In January 2020, the billionaire created an endowment for his home school #56 with a $1 million donation. Rybakov said, “I am a grateful graduate of my school #56 and I want to complete my lesson at school, to give my eternal human thanks!”

Social entrepreneurship and communities
The Rybakov family interacts with international organizations such as UNESCO and the World Bank. UNICEF has designated the catastrophic weakness of preschool education as one of its global priorities, and estimates that about half of all young children in the world do not have access to pre-primary education.

Social entrepreneurship
The Rybakov Preschool is a project to create an international network of kindergartens and preschools that emphasises new forms of early childhood education. The program is based on the approach recommended by the UNICEF Education Development Bureau. Rybakov Preschool establishes a conducive learning environment in their preschools and provides continual special training for their teachers.

The Rybakov X10 ACADEMY is centered around entrepreneurs and the course “Entrepreneur Yourself!” from X10 ACADEMY and billionaire Igor Rybakov, which was rated #4 in the “most popular courses on Coursera among learners from Russia in 2019.” Also, “Entrepreneur Yourself!” was included in the TOP 10 most popular global courses launched in 2019 (per the aggregate data for 2019 from the Coursera online education service).

Media
Igor Rybakov is the world's first billionaire who also creates video blogs. He sees direct access to an online audience as a way to pass on the skills and practices that made him successful to as many people as possible. He shares his business experience and secrets of successful entrepreneurial thinking. As of June 2020, his YouTube channel has over 750 thousand subscribers.

"Billionaire's Thoughts" is the flagship show of Rybakov's YouTube channel where he hosts weekly guests from trending news stories and shares his thoughts on the most pressing issues of the week.

"Rybakov Talks" is a special format for meetings and discussing the future of education.

Thirst is Rybakov’s first book, which won PwC’s Business Book of the Year in Russia award in 2018. It focuses on Rybakov’s business philosophy illustrated by the story of Technonicol’s creation.

Social art practice
In April 2020, Rybakov announced that he would sponsor a monument to the heroic healthcare workers treating COVID-19. The project’s is funded by Rybakov and artist Alexey Sergienko. They believe the modern medical industry cannot have just the protective, auxiliary function. Rybakov and Sergienko want to bring to the world’s attention that after the pandemic, the medical industry has become the most important industry to shape humanity, and each healthcare employee today is a new type of hero. Pediatrician Leonid Roshal was one of the contest judges for the best monument.

In November 2019, there was a private opening for the most expensive art object in Russia—the Money Throne X10. A glass throne with a million dollars is exhibited at the Museum of Emotions in Moscow. The throne was made of heavy-duty glass and filled with a million dollars by Sergienko and Rybakov. According to its creators, the Money Throne inspires people to increase their wealth and create socioeconomics where everyone is a beneficiary.

In 2019, Bloomberg reported the release of Rybakov’s first music album Summer Has Been Going Away. According to Rybakov, music is a universal language that makes it possible to communicate certain experiences and conditions that conventional languages simply cannot, and as it is universal, it does not require translation. “Music stimulates intellectual activity that helps me to search and discover new business opportunities,” Rybakov said in a phone interview for Bloomberg.

Business
Igor Rybakov is a meta-entrepreneur. His approach is based on venture financing models to invest in industrial and technology companies and grow socioeconomic ecosystems on a global level out of them. Rybakov believes that formats of organizing technology business as Silicon Valley will be replaced by new formats like multinational platforms that generate business ecosystems around them.

In 2019, Technonicol Corporation had $1.7 billion (103.7 billion rubles) in revenue. The corporation has 53 manufacturing facilities in 7 countries (Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Italy, Great Britain, Germany), 22 offices in 18 countries, 18 training centers, and 6 research centers. It was founded in 1992 by Rybakov and his classmate Kolesnikov. The business started as a trading company: young entrepreneurs purchased raw materials, delivered them to factories, and resold products produced at affiliate factories. The first office in Moscow opened in 1993. From 1994 to 1999, they expanded into the various regions of Russia, as well as the other CIS countries. Today, the company has 90 sales offices in Russia and the CIS countries; its product line offers more than 20,000 unique items. The company's products can be purchased in 150 countries. In November 2018, Rybakov and Kolesnikov won the 2018 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award in Russia. They attended the gala awards ceremony in Monaco in June 2019 together. From 2010 to 2018, TECHNONICOL doubled its productivity. In 2019, Technonicol was included in the top 200 largest Russian private companies Forbes and was ranked at 114th place.