Oscar Hartmann: short biography and success story of the Russian billionaire and philanthropist

general information

Oscar Hartmann is a serial businessman and a well-known person in the financial world. This person is quite young, although he already knows from his own experience what assets and liabilities are, how profit differs from income, and how annual turnover is formed. According to Forbes, Oscar Hartmann is one of the richest people on the planet. The businessman owns more than 20 companies, and he continues to increase the volume of assets.

The businessman lives in Moscow, he is a caring husband, brother, son and father. In addition to work and family responsibilities, the entrepreneur manages to do other things. Oscar's main hobbies:

• Reading books;
• playing sports;
• Traveling around the world.

Hartmann is confident that everyone can become as successful and rich as him. To look into the future without fear, but with joy, you should listen to this person. He gives practical advice suitable for Russian realities.

Biography of a billionaire

There is a myth according to which only those who had excellent starting conditions can become rich. Hartmann believes that everything is not so, and proves with his own experience: the initial data does not matter, only perseverance and the desire for the goal are important. Anyone who is able to work hard and think in the right direction can reach social heights.

Oscar was born in Kazakhstan, in a small town. Date of birth: May 14, 1982. The family was not rich: the mother worked as a teacher, the father as an engineer. The entrepreneur has a sister and 2 brothers, so his parents can be called large. The businessman’s mother and father spent a lot of time at work, and the boys were left to their own devices. Perhaps that is why they became independent.

It cannot be said that overprotection was practiced towards children; rather, on the contrary. This is how Oscar and his brothers and sister developed the ability to solve problems by relying only on themselves. The future millionaire went to first grade in Russia. Several years passed, and the family decided to return to their historical homeland - Germany. There he received his secondary education, and then entered a private university of management. Otto Beisheim, located in a rural area, and graduated with a degree in International Academy. During this period, Oscar was already earning money by delivering correspondence.

Even while studying in elementary school, the boy found himself an interesting and profitable occupation. He collected broken toys that would soon end up in a landfill and repaired them. Of interest were mainly products with mechanisms:

• cars;
• robots;
• clockwork animals;
• aircraft;
• helicopters.

Sometimes it was possible to make only one out of several toys, but the boy was happy about this. Later in an interview, Oscar said that he made money from this, but the activity could not be called a business. And the boy did not set a goal to get a big income.

For him, the process itself was important: bringing old things back to life. Oscar sold repaired toys.

NPetroff

Oscar Hartmann, age 36 (birthday May 14, 1982), founder of KupiVIP, Aktivo, CarPrice and many others.

Born into a family of Russian Germans in Kazakhstan. At the age of 7 he moved with his parents to Germany. Graduated from the WHU School of Management (Germany) with a degree in International Economics, and an MBA program at the University of Hawaii (USA).

He started working at the age of 11, delivering newspapers and magazines. He worked all the “regular” jobs: from a warehouse to a gas station. My first own business was an online store that first sold sports nutrition, then other popular products - for example, weight loss belts. This business had to be closed when it was necessary to perform alternative civilian service.

From 2004 to 2006 he worked at the BMW representative office in Malaysia, and from 2006 to 2008 at the Moscow office of the Boston Consulting Group, nurturing the idea of ​​his own business. In 2008, he founded the online shopping club KupiVIP.ru, selling clothes from world brands at discounts.

In April 2011, the company attracted a record $55 million in investments for the Russian market. In August 2011, the British version of Wired magazine ranked KupiVIP.ru in first place among the hottest Moscow Internet startups.

On November 24, 2021, as part of the EY international competition “Entrepreneur of the Year 2016” in Russia, he received a special prize “Master of Investments”.

Oscar Hartmann's net worth is estimated at approximately $200 - $300 million. You can read our partners' publications about the Oscars here.

Personal life

Oscar Hartmann is married to Tatiana Hartmann. They met when Oscar came to Moscow to exchange experiences while studying.

Tatyana is Hartmann's faithful ally in all areas of his work and personal life. Tatyana Hartmann does not often appear in gossip columns and probably devotes most of her life to her family. She is a happy mother of three children; The Hartmanns' eldest son is 8 years old, their daughter is 5, and the youngest is 1 year old. Believing that the basic business qualities of an individual are laid in childhood, parents pay great attention to their upbringing.

Oscar, who has created more than 20 successfully operating companies over 10 years of work in Russia, dreams of stabilizing his eventful and stressful life, and devoting as much time as possible to his family and children.

Biography of Oscar Hartman, source

Training and career start

In addition to “reanimating” old products, the boy earned money in other ways. He worked as a loader and as a gas station worker, and the millionaire knows from his own experience what physical work is. After graduating from the University of Management, Oscar moved to the United States because the University of Hawaii, which he enrolled in, was located there. The young man met his future wife Tatyana in Moscow, where during his studies he was sent to exchange experiences.

The entrepreneur is sure: he was very lucky with his life partner, and it’s good that she met her during her student years, when life was not yet planned out minute by minute and there was an opportunity to calmly think in order to make an informed decision. It often happens that in adulthood, work and other worries leave no time to build relationships, and as a result, beautiful and successful people remain lonely.

When Oscar graduated from university, the doors of many prestigious companies were opened to him. However, he was thinking about his own business, and the idea of ​​being an employee all his life did not attract the future millionaire. To gain initial experience, the young man worked for some time at the Moscow branch of the Boston Consulting Group concern, as well as at the Malaysian representative office of BMW.

Now Oscar assures that what frightened him most was the prospect of working for years in someone else’s company and not being able to create his own. He did not want to work under the management of other people, even in a large prestigious company. According to Hartmann, this is not the best prospect for a self-sufficient adult man. At the same time, Oscar felt that he had enough strength, potential and competencies to build his own business. The young man thought for a long time and pondered the idea of ​​​​opening a business, and one day an event occurred that pushed him to take decisive action.

At the time when the future oligarch represented the BostonConsultingGroup company, his child fell ill. Paying for treatment from wages was out of the question, since more serious money was required. Then Hartmann launched the online shopping service KupiVIP.ru. Now it is a popular shopping club, visited by hundreds of thousands of people every day.

10.Motivation and beliefs

There is a video called “Motivation” in which he says that the main thing in achieving success is desire. With a great desire, you can overcome all the problems along the way. To achieve success, you need to believe in yourself, work on yourself and move forward.

He remembered the words of his swimming coach for the rest of his life: “You have to want success as much as you want to breathe.” Therefore, before you set any goal, you need to think, do you really want this? If yes, then go to her regardless of fatigue, weekends, holidays, or the opinions of others.

Personal life

The young entrepreneur believes that it is impossible to be successful if there are no relatives and friends who will wait at home and provide a reliable rear. Favorite people of Oscar Hartmann:

• wife Tatyana;
• two sons;
• daughter.

The businessman does not like to talk about his personal life; in addition, his wife prefers to remain “in the shadows,” so her photographs practically do not appear in print publications and on the Internet. On the one hand, this forces the public to speculate about Hartmann’s everyday life, on the other hand, the entrepreneur himself believes that there is no need to expose his personal life.

The fewer details people know, the less likely they are to be tempted to envy, judge, or get angry, because not everyone likes it when someone else is more successful. If you visit the businessman’s page on the social network VKontakte, you can draw some conclusions. The young man has many plans, but he tries to spend a lot of time with his family, travels and manages to motivate those around him to achieve their goals.

Oscar believes that two people should take care of maintaining warm relationships in the family, and not just the woman, as is commonly thought. Children also learn from his example. The father of the family is going to study a practical guide for parents to understand how else to improve interaction with the younger generation. He takes part in everything related to the upbringing and education of his sons and daughter, while pampering them and surrounding them with love.

When traveling, the businessman finds time to communicate with his family via video conference, and when he is at home, he communicates a lot with his parents. Oscar's loved ones know: they have a reliable shoulder to lean on in a difficult situation.

Companies and status

Now Oscar can easily be classified as an Oligarch, because he owns several successful companies. One of them is the online store KupiVIP.ru, founded more than 11 years ago with the participation of business angel Oliver Jung. The mission is to enable people with average incomes to purchase quality items. In 2009, Hartmann became president of KupiVIP, and Vladimir Kholyaznikov took over as CEO. Other large companies owned by the businessman:

• Zaodno LLC;
• Activo;
• CarPrice;
• Factorymarket.com.

In total, Oscar owns more than 20 businesses, and just by this figure alone one can estimate the scale of his activities. An entrepreneur tries himself in different industries. Directions in which it operates:

• Internet projects;
• real estate (purchase, rent, sale);
• cars (trade);
• cloth.

In addition, Hartmann invests in startups and established businesses. He invested part of his available funds in FarmaExpress and Carfix. Several years ago, the businessman became interested in new technologies and the IT field, and at the same time he is mastering other areas. In 2010, together with Pascal Clément, Hartmann became an investor and co-founder of FastLaneVentures.

Oscar not only conducts entrepreneurial activities, but also holds leadership positions, for example, he is on the board of directors of Alfa-Bank. Another significant position is the general president. This non-profit organization was created to support Russian entrepreneurs and startups, as well as important social projects.

According to the young oligarch, it is possible to do business in Russia, and even the crisis should not become an obstacle. On the contrary, during periods of instability, even more opportunities open up than before. The main thing is to act and not think for years. Oscar notes that in times when it becomes more difficult to make money, entrepreneurs are willing to make contact, organize meetings and share experiences, and a synergy effect arises. Oscar advises aspiring businessmen not to give up if something doesn’t work out the first time. It is important to find “your” niche, and then success will definitely come.

Forbes several times included the oligarch in the ranking of people who own the largest fortune. Oscar Hartmann had $5 billion in assets in 2021 and a personal net worth of over $300 million.

Childhood and education

Oscar Hartmann was born on May 14, 1982 in a small Kazakh village. The boy's father worked as a humble engineer, and his mother was a school teacher. The family had four children - 3 boys and a girl. Parents are descendants of Germans repressed under Stalin.

During Perestroika, they had the opportunity to travel to their historical homeland. So at the age of 7 Oscar came to Germany. At first the family lived in a camp for displaced people, then in barracks. The parents did not have money to spoil their children, but they wanted to live like those around them.

Note: “From an early age, I realized that my source of income was my brain and the desire to earn money,” Hartmann said.

The boy was full of creativity. He found discarded toys in a landfill, repaired them and sold them to his peers, made “nunchucks” and other boyish toys, and delivered newspapers. Having bought a computer with this money, he downloaded movies and games on CD and also made money from it. For a year the young man worked in the hospital as a nurse.

Oskar Hartmann in his youth among his medical colleagues

Realizing that theoretical knowledge was needed to obtain greater benefits, Oscar first earned money for a college - the WHU School of Management, and then for a university in Hawaii. While receiving an education in International Economics, the student did not stop working part-time wherever he had to: at gas stations, in car repair shops.

Books in Oscar's life

Oskar Hartmann does not write books yet, as he believes that it is too early to share his experience in this format. He talks about his achievements and uses his own example to demonstrate how you can become rich, but mostly does this within the framework of interviews. The young man also records videos.

At the same time, he enjoys reading books that other people have written. Oscar has 2 favorite works: “My Incredibly True Story” and “Getting Things in Order.” The first was written by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the second by David Allen. The great actor tells what his path to world fame was like, and a personal effectiveness consultant teaches how to remove unnecessary things from life, simultaneously “sorting out” the most important things. Authors whose books Hartmann intends to read in the future:

• Dale Carnegie;
• Erich Fromm;
• Abraham Maslow.

The list of targets also included works by other writers, psychologists and economists.

Entrepreneur's business and companies

Now we get to the most interesting part: what companies does the Russian billionaire own?

The first and most successful at present (although others are far from unprofitable) is “ KupiVIP.ru ”. It was founded in 2008 - an aspiring entrepreneur realized his dream of starting his own business. The company sells clothing from world brands at prices affordable for people with average incomes, with decent discounts. Today, “KupiVIP.ru” already has 7 million users .

In addition to her, the entrepreneur also has younger “brainchildren”:

• CarPrice (founded in 2015);
• "Activo";
• "Factory market.com";
• “At the same time.”

Of course, the list is far from complete. Oscar Hartmann founded 20 businesses in various fields in Russia. This:

• trade in clothing items;
• trade in used cars;
• real estate transactions, including purchase and sale, rental;
• Internet projects.

The businessman actively invests in Carfix and FarmaExpress .
Recently, successful entrepreneurs have been attracted to the IT sector. In general, he is happy to consider any interesting ideas.

At the same time, Oscar holds high and honorable positions in large companies. So, he is a member of the board of directors of Alfa Bank .

He holds the position of Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Rybakov Foundation , a non-profit organization that aims to support Russian entrepreneurship, as well as social non-profit projects and education.

The young businessman claims that he likes doing business in Russia. He admits that since he started - about ten years - there have been more economic problems, but this does not mean that he needs to abandon his plans and sit idly by.

Even more than that: times of crisis are perfect for doing business, since many entrepreneurs stay in Moscow, attend business meetings and are ready to sit down at the negotiating table: everyone needs money, which has now become more difficult to obtain.

You can make great money during a crisis, Oscar assures. For example, if you bet on discount goods - after all, the difficult economic situation forces people to save money and they try to pay attention to cheaper goods, look for discounts and promotions.

The main thing is not to give up, but to look for your niche. And everything will work out - Oscar proves this in practice with his own example.

Tips for personal effectiveness

For aspiring businessmen and those who are just thinking about starting their own business, Oscar gives several valuable recommendations. He is confident that if you put them into practice, you can radically change your mood and become happier, luckier and stronger in spirit. There is a diamond inside every person, the main thing is to be able to find it within yourself. Here's what the billionaire suggests doing:

• Conquer your fear. A common problem that prevents you from earning more is that people are afraid. Oscar suggests replacing one fear with another. What's worse: to fail while pursuing your dream, or to give up your plans altogether? To understand this, it is enough to imagine the future that awaits in the second case.
• Get 10 rejections. Every failure is a reason to improve the current proposal, making it more effective.
• Change your thinking. You need to find a person who thinks bigger, more efficiently, and learn to think like him.
• Change your ideas about yourself. Many people live their lives trying to live up to the image they themselves or someone else created. In fact, all masks live only in the mind, and Oscar is sure that he can do without them.
• Learn to always want something. Passionate desire always pushes to action.
• Understand that on the path to happiness you will have to face failures, and this is normal. There is no success without failure.
• Develop the ability to feel gratitude towards people and fate.
• Learn to set goals that are useful not only for yourself, but also for others.
• Finding out your “engine” is what helps you move forward and spurs you on when your strength has already run out.

8.Rules for Oscar success

10 laws of a rich life.

Just learning them is not enough, you need to understand, feel, imagine and accept. They will begin to act and attract good luck. The human brain must constantly work, only when the brain is working good ideas come.

1. Conquer fear. You can overcome it by imagining that if you take a new path it will be even worse. Think about your future life, about the size of your pension.
2. Submit 10 proposals and get rejected for all of them. This is to force you to change and improve your offer.
3. Be in constant growth. Communicate with more successful people, learn from them.
4. To be youreself. Live your own life and not adapt to society. Create the world around you, the one you need.
5. Feel hungry. To have a constant desire to want something.
6. Don't mess around. Constantly do something. Don't worry if there are failures. They are needed on the path to success.
7. Be grateful.
8. Don't complicate life, do simple necessary things. Be able to appreciate.
9. Achieve your goal with specific methods and actions.
10. Have your drive to success. Family, wealth, fame, independence.

Activity on social networks

The entrepreneur has his own channel on YouTube video hosting, opened in 2021. The number of subscribers is 297 thousand, and in the first six months 82 thousand people signed up. A successful businessman intends to bring the number to a million and believes that this is real. Each video on YouTube, filmed against the backdrop of wonderful places, is filled with meaning and has practical benefits. Even those who do not intend to become entrepreneurs will benefit and understand how they can improve their quality of life.

Hartmann's Instagram profile is @oskar_hartmann. There are pages and groups on other social networks, he can also be seen in news releases, and photos of the entrepreneur often appear in online media.

It is important that Hartmann gives all advice based on his own experience. He is not shy about talking about mistakes and how he came to the right conclusions. There are videos about debunking myths, venture capital, the Russian economy and everything that interests active people. The oligarch also talks about how he lost as much as 10 kg. It’s worth starting watching with the “Motivation” video, which has already helped tens of thousands of people. A talented businessman is sure: you should never give up. There are always reserves, it is only important to learn how to squeeze the maximum out of them.