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Tomas Fiala, 36; $100 million; #2 Richest, #4 Most Influential

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When Tomas Fiala came to Ukraine as a 22-year-old in 1996 to set up an office for Czech brokerage Wood, he intended to stay for three years at the most.

But upon arrival, he had a déjà vu experience that gave him a competitive edge.

Dmytro Nikonorov

“Ukraine was obviously passing through the same phase as the Czech Republic had some years before,” he told the Kyiv Post.

Surviving the 1998 crisis then gave him the confidence to set up his own investment banking and brokerage group, Dragon Capital. In May, Dragon Capital celebrated its 10th anniversary.

The shock of 1998 also taught him a lesson in the importance of financial conservatism that paid off in the 2008 crisis. “We expanded market share and kept the team together,” he said.

He looks back fondly on his first major deal. His first offering of a large stake, in Rohan brewery in 2000, to Interbrew, brought in $16 million, quadrupled the value in four years.

“But I and a lot of business people are very happy with the initial impressions of the [Prime Minister Mykola] Azarov government’s economic program. Yanukovych has changed.”

– Tomas Fiala.

As a native Czech and beer connoisseur, he had grasped early on that, with beer consumption only 10 percent of central European levels, there was huge room to grow.

He says diplomatically of Rohan: “The beer has changed, but it’s still a good beer.”

Fiala also regards the growth in beer consumption as a positive for public health: “Better beer than vodka,” he said.

He names as his undisputed professional highlightthe sale of a minority stake to Goldman Sachs in 2007. Today the company employs 180 people.

Fiala is bullish about Ukraine’s prospects coming out of the crisis, forecasting at least 4 percent growth this year.

In 2005, Fiala said he considered quitting his business in Ukraine if Viktor Yanukovych came to power that year; instead, Viktor Yushchenko ruled for five years.

“There were certain people in his entourage who did not seem positive for the country,” he said of Yanukovych in 2005.

“But I and a lot of business people are very happy with the initial impressions of the [Prime Minister Mykola] Azarov government’s economic program. Yanukovych has changed.”