In the 1990s Igor Eremeev was an ordinary entrepreneur, and at the beginning of the new millennium he became not only a prominent figure in business, but also made a dizzying political career. In recent years, he was called one of the richest Ukrainians. Who knows what other heights the People’s Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada could reach if in August 2015 his heart did not stop.
Biography
Igor Eremeev was born on 04/03/1968 in the village of Ostrozhets, Rivne region of Ukraine. In 1985 he graduated from high school and entered the Institute of Water Engineers in Rivne. A year later, he interrupted his studies, going to serve in the Soviet army. In 1988 he resumed his studies, at the same time he worked as a laboratory assistant at the university. In 1992, he graduated from the institute, having received the specialty of a civil engineer, and in the same year went into business.
Together with a university friend, Stepan Ivakhin, Igor Yeremeyev organized the Kontinium enterprise in his native village, specializing in leather jackets. Newly made businessmen bought accessories in Odessa, leather - in Rivne, they hired local craftsmen for sewing things. The case did not bring serious profit, and then the guys decided to trade also in food. In 1993, the sale of gasoline was added to this.
Business development
In 1995, the company’s turnover grew significantly. Along with Continuum, the partners created a Western Oil Group joint venture and came up with the WOG brand, under which over four hundred gas stations are now combined. In parallel, the West Dairy Group trading house was founded. Today it consists of about ten enterprises producing cheese and whole milk products under the brands "KOMO", Optimal, "Dairy Motherland", "Gourmet".
In 2000, Igor Yeremeyev met with Peter Dymynsky, a major businessman in Western Ukraine. He helped the entrepreneur buy a number of assets, including shares of NPK Galichina, Lutsk Cardboard and Ruberoid, and Razdol Brick Works. Very soon, “Continuum” became a prominent business group in Ukraine, with assets in the agricultural, construction and energy sectors.
Politics
In 2002, Igor Yeremeyev became cramped in business, and he decided to engage in political activities. He became a People’s Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the Volyn Region. At the invitation of Catherine, Vashchuk joined the "Agrarian Party", the leader of which was Vladimir Litvin. He was a member of the parliamentary committee on fuel and energy complex and nuclear safety.
In the 2006 elections, people's deputy Igor Yeremeyev was unable to maintain his seat in the Rada and again reoriented to business. However, in 2012, when Viktor Yanukovych took the presidency, the entrepreneur again wanted to become a deputy. This time, Yeremeyev went to the Verkhovna Rada as a self-nominated candidate. He worked in the committee on customs and tax policy, remained non-factional. During the events of 2014, he often appeared on the Maidan. After the change of power, he founded the parliamentary group “People’s Will”, which includes twenty people, actively assisted ATO fighters.
Income
Igor Eremeev was one of the richest people in Ukraine. According to the journal Correspondent, in 2008 his fortune totaled $ 454 million. In 2014, in the ranking of the richest Ukrainians according to the version of the investment firm Dragon Capital and the magazine "New Time", the businessman took 56th position with a fortune of $ 133 million. In 2015, its assets decreased further and, according to the Focus magazine, were estimated at $ 95 million. At the same time, Forbes magazine reported a figure of $ 58 million.
