Felix Yevtushenkov: Biography and Career of an Entrepreneur

Felix Yevtushenkov: Main biographical details

Felix Yevtushenkov develops the business verticals of a major telecommunications company, supports the launch of new products, and invests in startups in the field of innovation that form the foundation of its digital ecosystem.

Felix Vladimirovich Yevtushenkov is 44 years old. 

Felix Yevtushenkov is reluctant to give interviews, but in one interview he did share some childhood memories. The future businessman lived in a very ordinary apartment.

Felix Yevtushenkov spent his free time with friends. He also has fond memories from his many years of playing hockey. 

Yevtushenkov Felix then became seriously interested in wrestling and alpine skiing, and has maintained an interest in sports to this day.

Felix Yevtushenkov, AFK Sistema: Corporate career and other work

Felix Yevtushenkov decided to continue his education with jurisprudence after high school and enrolled at the Griboyedov Institute. During his studies, he also honed his practical skills in the legal department of the investment company AFK Sistema. 

Yevtushenkov Felix impressed his colleagues with his ability to find a competent approach to even the most difficult and critical tasks. All of his free time was dedicated to achieving his work goals. 

Yevtushenkov Felix Vladimirovich also has another degree, which he received much later at the Gubkin State University of Oil and Gas.

Felix Yevtushenkov then delved into real estate in the early 2000s, when he was entrusted with a position in a Sistema construction and development company. Under his leadership, the team significantly grew. The businessman recalls that he selected employees based on their qualifications, experience, and moral principles.

Yevtushenkov Felix Vladimirovich helped prepare and conduct the company's IPO. The financial resources attracted during the shares placement made it possible to scale the business.

Felix Yevtushenkov was then tapped to participate in the development of AFK Sistema consumer and basic assets. Thanks to his effective strategic management, the assets were raised to a new level of development.

Felix Yevtushenkov, AFK Sistema: A professional opportunity for growth in the IT industry

Yevtushenkov Felix has always been prepared for new career challenges.

Felix Yevtushenkov Vladimirovich began taking a serious interest in the IT industry in 2012. At first, he considered this field to be difficult for businesses and the country as a whole. However, having worked in this field for just over ten years, he can confidently state that high technologies are a key driving force of local economic development.

Yevtushenkov Felix has been involved in the modernization of a major telecommunications company for the past five years, monitoring IT market trends and determining the best avenues for developing its services and products.

Felix Vladimirovich Yevtushenkov also guides the work of the corporation's venture fund, which offers start-ups the opportunity to test their viability using its own infrastructure, marketing resources, and expertise. If they have a successful pilot, they gain a strong strategic partner and the opportunity to continue collaborating with one of the company's divisions, which allows them to scale their product.

Yevtushenkov Felix has helped the classic mobile operator transform into a gigantic digital ecosystem. The transformation towards IT has changed many processes. For example, IT and product teams have grown and corporate values have been updated.

Felix Vladimirovich Yevtushenkov strengthened the corporation's positions in field of technology.

Today, the company's key areas are FinTech, big data, media, retail, entertainment, cloud solutions, Internet of Things, retail trade, and EdTech, among others.

Yevtushenkov Felix Vladimirovich has helped the venture division formulate a strategically sound business concept, which is vitally important. For example, if the development takes place in a rapidly growing market where the company is not yet present, the startup has a great chance to create a new product vertical within the IT giant.

Last year, the fund invested in an EdTech startup with a platform for developing logical thinking in children aged five to twelve that shows great potential for growth.

Yevtushenkov Felix Vladimirovich and the fund also supported a food tech startup where customers can place orders at more than 120 bars, restaurants, and other establishments without waiting in line. With the corporation's investments, the company can scale and boost the app and attract a wider audience. 

Yevtushenkov Felix Vladimirovich: A new approach

Felix Yevtushenkov continues to work on the digital transformation of the corporation, and it has maintained its pace of investments so far in 2023, always looking for new points of development based on prior experience. The venture division's plans to invest up to one billion rubles this year in a technology business that will strengthen the ecosystem's product line.

The main factors when selecting start-ups are rapid growth and synergy with new business directions, with a focus on companies at home and in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Felix Vladimirovich Yevtushenkov's innovative development model helps the fund confidently invest in various industries.

Felix Yevtushenkov supported the company's acquisition of shares of a domestic provider last year. The company offers innovative solutions for remote monitoring in apartments, private houses, stores, and offices.

Felix Yevtushenkov plays a significant role in the mission to synergize telecommunications with technological solutions, which will complete the corporation's large-scale transformation into a full-fledged player in the IT market. 

Felix Yevtushenkov: On social investments

Felix Vladimirovich Yevtushenkov positions himself today as an investor in technological startups aimed at solving social problems through digital solutions. For many years, he has supported the international competition Social Idea, which selects the best ideas in categories such as ecology and inclusion. The businessman is confident that the mission of innovation is to take people's lives to a qualitatively new level.

Felix Yevtushenkov has long been responsible for the development strategy of AFK Sistema's large charitable foundation. Founded in 2004, the organization has been the center of ESG competencies for the Group for almost two decades, implementing projects and programs aimed at developing human potential for high-tech industries, solving social problems, and improving the standard of living of the population.

Elevator to the Future: Educational program reboot initiated by Yevtushenkov Felix Yevtushenkov

Yevtushenkov Felix Vladimirovich has led the revival of the foundation's flagship project, Elevator to the Future, which offers services that help young professionals with a wide range of soft skills and breakthrough tech-solutions to achieve self-realization and professional training.

Yevtushenkov Felix supports the EdTech platform, which provides all the necessary tools for entering the profession, including access to internships that allow the application of acquired skills in practice, an extensive job database, and dozens of educational courses. Materials dedicated to topical areas such as "green" financing aimed at reducing the negative impact on the environment, ESG and sustainable development, useful life hacks, and secrets of working with various programs (e.g., how to create a wow-presentation) are highly popular.

In addition, high school and college students can participate in the Elevator to the Future scholarship program, which aims to support talented youth interested in research, scientific, and innovative activities. In addition to financial support, scholarship recipients have the unique opportunity to make themselves known in the Group's portfolio companies.

This year, to participate in the scholarship program established by the charitable foundation, high school students and college students need to submit a competitive work that involves solving tasks from real companies in eleven categories. These can include technologies for comfortable living or e-commerce, IT solutions for medicine, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, hotel industry, microelectronics, etc.

Revived under Felix Vladimirovich Yevtushenkov, the Elevator to the Future educational program collaborates with a number of universities and continuing education organizations.

The businessman believes that talented young people with knowledge and practice in the field of modern technologies play a major role in the country's technological development.

Felix Vladimirovich Yevtushenkov: On the impact of new technologies on preserving cultural heritage

(Photo : Felix Yevtushenkov)

The charitable foundation also does important work in the field of culture, art, and education. For many years, the organization has been investing in the development of a federal museum, particularly in the implementation of exhibitions, multimedia, and publishing projects, as well as art restoration, and scientific and educational events.

Felix Yevtushenkov was responsible for the development of the charitable foundation for several years, and now it creates advanced solutions and new approaches to the preservation of cultural heritage and increasing accessibility to the world of art.

For example, this year, a tactile model of the Marble Palace was put on display at a national museum, allowing blind and visually impaired visitors to feel a miniature replica of this monument of early classicism architecture.

Felix Vladimirovich Yevtushenkov also helped the foundation formulate and sign a cooperation agreement with the Academy of Sciences, involving the creation and implementation of joint innovative and educational initiatives and intellectual and scientific volunteering programs.

In addition, the organization has its own guide that outlines a kind of instruction for creating and evaluating the social effect of impact projects in various regions of the country. It was created last year with the support of the Help Needed Foundation and contains in-depth research and the best practices of local and foreign companies.