Igor Kasaev

Moscow MGIMO can be proud of Igor Kesaev, who came out of its walls in 1988. Today the businessman ranks 35th among the two hundred richest people in Russia according to Forbes magazine. The university taught him the art of negotiating.

Kesaev learned his lessons well and earned $2.4 billion. There were no super-rich and influential relatives behind his back. He achieved everything on his own. The instrument for accumulating a huge capital was the group. It all started back in 1991, when the enterprising MGIMO graduate created a trading house with the same name. He chose the tobacco trade as the springboard for success. In the early 90's the main players in the market of cigarettes, making wholesale purchases from foreign supplier firms, there were two - oddly enough, the Russian Orthodox Church and a public organization that united veterans of the special services.