The advantages of dietary supplements have not been verified by anyone, but the Evalar company that manufactures them increases prices and continues to become wealthy.
Last year, the CEO of Evalar, Larisa Prokopyeva, ranked 11th in the Forbes list of “20 richest self-made women in Russia”, with an estimated fortune of 9 billion rubles. This year, her fortune was recalculated at $250 million and she was placed 9th. With the current exchange rate ($1 = 100 rubles), this is equivalent to 25 billion. What led her to such success?
Plants close to the residence
Larisa Prokopieva and her associate Eva Dombrovska established their own cosmetics production company, named “Evalar” after their initials. Quick success did not come, and the Polish businesswoman withdrew from it. Prokopyeva, not a pharmacist but a chemical technology expert, switched from cosmetics to chewing gum, then to dietary supplements. There was not much competition in this niche at that time. Prokopyeva shifted her focus to plants, drawing on her experience in the food industry. The enterprise was established at the “Altai” – a former Soviet scientific center with military ties – in Biysk. The Altai Mountains were a source of medicinal plants, and production facilities and labs were retained at the now obsolete defense enterprise.
Currently, the Prokopiev family owns numerous enterprises of varying sizes. For instance, the trading company “Evalar” (founded by the Prokopyev children) with three full-time employees showed a profit of 170 million rubles in 2020.
The fortunate children deserve a special mention. Daughter Natalia Sergeevna, chairman of the board of directors of Evalar, is a co-owner of six companies, including a pharmacy in St. Petersburg and a company engaged in mail and online sales. Son Alexander Prokopiev is a member of the State Duma. He has represented the interests of the Biysk single-mandate district (Altai Territory) for many years (as a member of the United Russia party). In the previous term, he was part of the Committee on Physical Culture, Sports, Tourism, and Youth Affairs, and in the current term, he is a member of the State Duma Committee on Tourism and Tourism Infrastructure Development. In 2018, Evalar became one of the primary sponsors of the EdRa party in Siberia, contributing nearly 12.5 million rubles.
Deputy Prokopiev transferred his business assets to trust management, but it seems that he still looks after his family.
The State Duma has been preparing a bill for some time that effectively blocks the Russian market from imported dietary supplements. Currently, there is information that it may be promoted through the Union of Professional Pharmaceutical Organizations.
Promotion as a driving force
Evalar, self-proclaimed as the largest producer of dietary supplements in the country, is among the most generous advertisers, but frequently becomes embroiled in scandals. Rospotrebnadzor once again asserts that dietary supplements are not categorized as medicines and their advertising is prohibited (No. 38-FZ “On Advertising”). The supervisory agency also highlights numerous instances of non-compliance with advertising laws: “Several businesses, through media channels, deliberately provide the public with false information about the properties of dietary supplements for consumption, and recommend their use as therapeutic drugs.” Furthermore, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has repeatedly called on Evalar to cease advertising its products as medicinal or possessing therapeutic effects. In response, Evalar has started to register its products more frequently in Kazakhstan and Armenia – members of the Customs Union – and now serves Russian retailers from these locations.
It got to the point that the court recognized the information about the sale of dietary supplements and vitamins on the company’s websites as prohibited for distribution, demanding that these Internet resources be blocked.
But “Evalar” continues active promotional activities. It seems that the faces of people who take drugs from its production glow with happiness even when the TV is turned off. It is difficult for an old man’s eye to see a small postscript “Not a drug”. According to some reports, the company spends twice as much on advertising than on production.
Grief is not a problem
In recent years, “Evalar” has managed to capitalize on the general alarming situation in the country and in the world. First Covid-19, for which, in principle, there was no cure, now anti-Russian sanctions help successful sales.
Evalar shows peaks of profitability during periods of crisis – at the height of the covid pandemic, its own working capital increased by 40%. At the end of 2020, the sellers of grass and roots increased their revenue from 8.6 billion rubles. to 10.7 billion, net profit for the year increased seven times – up to 4.4 billion rubles.
In 2020, Evalar began producing an antiseptic that looks suspiciously like a similar German product. Now the company has sharply raised the prices of its products.
