Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

$1.036 billion
Married with one son
Interests: grain production, storage and shipping

Oleksiy Vadatursky is co-owner of the Mykolayiv-based Nibulon agribusiness concern, which during the 2000s has expanded growing operations throughout Ukraine and increased exports abroad.

The firm has been helped to invest in development and achieve growth by attracting foreign loans.

This year it secured a $50 million credit from the EBRD to build elevators and terminals. In addition, Nibulon plans to increase its grain cargo fleet to better move its product abroad.

Vadatursky is one of Ukraine’s most decorated businessmen, growing Nibulon from 1991 from a small company into an agribusiness empire with two dozen divisions located in eight of Ukraine’s 27 regions.

The company is today among the country’s biggest grain exporters, and one of only three to receive an export license from the government this year.

Vatadursky, who is the son of collective farmers from Odesa Oblast, graduated from the Odesa Technological Institute in 1971 with a degree in chemical engineering.

During the Soviet era he specialized in bread production and distribution in Mykolayiv Oblast.

He has received dozens of awards during the 1990s and 2000s, including “Hero of Ukraine” and “Man of the Year” (2006) for his contributions to the development of Ukraine’s agricultural sector.