Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Hereha ( uk, Олекса́ндр Володи́мирович Гере́га; born 27 June 1967) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician currently serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 192nd electoral district since 12 December 2012. One of the richest men in Ukraine, Hereha and his wife
Halyna
Galina, Halyna, or Halina (russian: Галина; from Greek ''γαλήνη'' "Serenity") is an East Slavic feminine given name, also popular in Bulgaria and Slovenia during the period of Soviet influence. Galina is the standard transliteration fr ...
founded home improvement chain
Epicentr K
Epicentr K ( uk, Епіцентр К, Epitsentr K) is a national chain of stores in Ukraine that specializes in home improvement and gardening. The company is one of the first in Ukraine to introduce a chain of home improvement stores and has ...
in 2003. He is one of the richest men in Ukraine, with a net worth of $1.7 billion in 2021.
Early life and career
Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Hereha was born on 27 June 1967 in Horodok, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. His parents were factory workers. From 1984 to 1985, he served in the Soviet Army, and he subsequently studied at the from 1987 to 1990 before graduating from the
Lviv University of Trade and Economics
The Lviv University of Trade and Economics is a university in Lviv, Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the e ...
with a specialisation in organisational and administrative management.
Business career
Hereha began working as a schoolboy, working at the local bread factory and sovkhoz on school holidays. In 1991, he founded a ceramic tiling and plumbing fixture service, before opening a retail store in 1996.
In 2003, Hereha and his wife
Halyna
Galina, Halyna, or Halina (russian: Галина; from Greek ''γαλήνη'' "Serenity") is an East Slavic feminine given name, also popular in Bulgaria and Slovenia during the period of Soviet influence. Galina is the standard transliteration fr ...
founded
Epicentr K
Epicentr K ( uk, Епіцентр К, Epitsentr K) is a national chain of stores in Ukraine that specializes in home improvement and gardening. The company is one of the first in Ukraine to introduce a chain of home improvement stores and has ...
, a gardening and home improvement chain which also owns the Nova Line supermarket chain and the Intersport sports retailer. , 60 million people use Epicentr K's online services. Epicentr K has also forayed into agribusiness, owning its own production facilities and absorbing 19 production facilities in 2017.
The Hereha family has invested over ₴6 billion into agribusiness, with plans to invest an additional ₴2.5 billion in grain elevators. 20 livestock farms are owned by the Herehas. In 2019, they invested ₴3 billion into the development of a ceramic tile factory in Kalynivka, Fastiv Raion, Kyiv Oblast.
Hereha is one of the richest people in Ukraine, with a net worth of $1.7 billion according to Kyiv Post in 2021. According to the Pandora Papers, Hereha and his wife own five offshore companies in Cyprus.
Business activities in Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea
In 2018, it became known that the Hereha family had continued the operations of Epicentr K in Crimea following the peninsula's 2014 annexation by Russia. It was additionally discovered that they had been operating a company in Russia's
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally "under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Rus ...
. Hereha has claimed that he does not control Epicentr K in Crimea since the Russian annexation.
Euromaidan
Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protes ...
protests. He left the Party of Regions faction in February 2014.
In the
2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election
Snap elections to the Verkhovna Rada took place on 26 October 2014.
Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, had pressed for early parliamentary elections since his victory in the presidential election in May.People's Front. He founded the party in 2015. In the
2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election
Snap elections to the Ukrainian parliament were held on 21 July 2019. Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, these elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dissolv ...
, he was again re-elected as a People's Deputy, winning 45.95% of the vote and defeating his closest competitor,
Vasyl Humenyuk
Vasyl Protyvsikh ( uk, Василь Противсіх) (born Vasyl Vasylyovych Humenyuk, uk, Василь Васильович Гуменюк, born October 16, 1946Servant of the People. Following his election, he became a member of For the Future. He is a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on tax, finance, and customs policy.