Eduard Volodymyrovych Shifrin (alternative spelling: Shyfrin) ( uk, Едуард Володимирович Шифрін; russian: Эдуа́рд Влади́мирович Шифри́н; born 12 July 1960) is a Ukrainian entrepreneur who is a co-owner of the

Midland Group The Midland Group is an international trading and investment holding company. Registered in Guernsey under the name Midland Resources Holding Ltd, the group owns a number of subsidiaries across the agriculture, manufacturing, real estate, shippin ...

. He is a resident in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Biography

Early life and education

Shifrin was born in

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

Soviet Ukraine The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

, the son of

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

professor Vladimir Moiseyevich Shifrin. In 1976–7 he came first in the National Ukrainian Physics Olympiad. From 1977–1983, he attended the

Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys The National University of Science and Technology (MISiS) (russian: Национальный исследовательский технологический университет МИСиС) is a public technological university in the field ...

, becoming a metallurgical engineer. He later returned to school and obtained a PhD in metallurgy in 1992.

Business career

From 1983 to 1993, Shifrin worked in

Zaporizhia Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запоріжжя) or Zaporozhye (russian: Запорожье) is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zapor ...

at the steel company Dniprospecstal, rising from assistant foreman to manager of the steel plant and then head of marketing. He then rose to prominence as a

business oligarch A business oligarch is generally a business magnate who controls sufficient resources to influence national politics. A business leader can be considered an oligarch if the following conditions are satisfied: # uses monopolistic tactics to domina ...

in newly independent Ukraine, taking control of privatized steelmaker

Zaporizhstal Zaporizhstal ( uk, Запорізький металургійний комбінат «Запоріжсталь») is Ukraine's fourth-largest steel maker with an annual capacity of 4.5 million tonnes of steel, 3.3 million tonnes of pig iron, an ...

. He co-founded, with Alexander Shnaider,

, a holding company headquartered in

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

that embraces interests in steel (including Zaporizhstal, Ukraine's fourth largest steel mill), shipping, real estate, agriculture and sports. Together they own a share in The St. Regis Toronto and formerly owned

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

and a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

team,

Midland F1 Racing Midland F1 Racing (also known as MF1 Racing, or simply "Midland") was a Formula One constructor and racing team which competed in the 2006 Formula One season with drivers Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro. The team was created by the renami ...

. In the 2006 edition of the ''

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday news ...

'', Shifrin was listed at no. 59 with an estimated wealth of £920 million. In ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine's ranking of "

The World's Billionaires ''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking by documented net worth of the wealthiest billionaires in the world, compiled and published in March annually by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March ...

" in 2009, Shifrin was ranked 559th with an estimated fortune of $1.3 billion. In 2013, ''

Focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

'' magazine estimated his net worth at $893.3 million, making him the No. 20 richest person in Ukraine.

Writing career

In 2006, together with his late father, Shifrin published a book titled ''The Theory of Metallurgical Processes'' for which he was awarded the State Prize of Ukraine. In 2018 Shifrin's book ''From Infinity to Man: The Fundamental Ideas of Kabbalah Within the Framework of Information Theory and Quantum Physics'' was published in Russian, with an English edition being released in 2019. In 2019, his children's book ''Travels with Sushi in the Land of the Mind'' was published in English. In 2020 it was named a Distinguished Favorite by the Independent Press Award for Juvenile Fiction. He is a sponsor of

Jewish Book Week Jewish Book Week is a literary festival in London, held annually in February and March, that explores Jewish literature, ideas and culture. The festival was founded in 1952 and since 2012 it has been presented at Kings Place. It is organised by t ...

. He regularly writes articles about the Kabbalah of Information for the Jerusalem Post.

Philanthropy

In 2003 he financed the reconstruction of the oldest synagogue in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

and Jewish educational center dedicated to his late father. He also co-sponsored the construction of synagogues in Moscow, Volgograd, and Zaporozhye. He sponsors over 60 Chabad educational classes for children. He served as regional vice-president of the

World Jewish Congress The World Jewish Congress (WJC) was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations. According to its mission statement, the World Jewish Congress' main purpose is to act as ...

Personal life

Shifrin and his wife live in

with their three children.

References

External links

Midland Group website

Zaporizhstal website

Eduard Shifrin, World Jewish Congress Vice-President

Travels With Sushi website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shifrin, Eduard 1960 births Living people Businesspeople from Dnipro Ukrainian billionaires Ukrainian Jews National University of Science and Technology MISiS alumni Ukrainian oligarchs Zaporizhstal Formula One team owners Ukrainian businesspeople in the United Kingdom Kabbalah Laureates of the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology