Ekonomichna Pravda has marked its 20th anniversary with the EP 100 Business ranking — an award for 100 private business representatives building Ukraine’s economy. As Ukrainska Pravda reports, the list includes Oleksandr Derkach, co-owner of dairy group MilkAlliance.
Marking its 20th anniversary, Ekonomichna Pravda is recognising 100 private business figures who are building Ukraine’s economy and contributing to the development of market relations based on integrity, free competition and open access — an award for entrepreneurs shaping and changing the rules of business in Ukraine.
People in the dairy market speak about Oleksandr Derkach reluctantly. He isn’t praised out loud, but neither is he mentioned as a chance figure behind the asset known as Milk Alliance. That reticence, in fact, carries more respect than ready-made compliments.
Derkach made his first major fortune in finance. He was among the founders of Aval Bank, which he and his partners sold to Austria’s Raiffeisen International for over $1 billion in 2005. A year later, part of the former bank owners’ assets were consolidated into Milk Alliance — a group built around several dairy processing plants.
His name has since receded into the shadow of the brands. But Derkach’s success is spoken of more loudly through Yahotynske, Pyriatyn and Slaviya. Beyond the dairy group, his biography also includes ventures in medicine and volunteer aid programmes.
At the same time, Derkach doesn’t fit the profile of a one-deal entrepreneur. He has entered various sectors, leaving behind assembled teams and ready-made services. And although he rarely appears in public, he leaves behind a long line of businesses that endure for years.
Artur Kryzhnyi, journalist, Ekonomichna Pravda
Source: Ukrainska Pravda
