The richest Ukrainian woman, Filya Zhebrovska, 70, was born in the village of Nemyryntsi, Zhytomyr Oblast.
Kyiv. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – April 13, 2021 – Entrepreneurs
After moving to Kyiv to study, she worked as a dishwasher in kindergarten. Then she worked as an accountant, and in 1995 she headed the board of directors of the Lomonosov Kyiv Pharmaceutical Plant, which later became Pharmac, the number one player in domestic agriculture.
And in Spring 2020, Forbes estimated Zhebrovskaya’s net worth at $ 480 Million.
The businesswoman has been away from direct operational management of the company for four years.
She is currently chairing the supervisory board and is preparing to bequeath the company to her nephews, as she has not had children.
“The core of my success is self-discipline, planning, and control over the execution of plans,” Zeprovska says. Without a clear understanding of what we are going on, this is impossible.
And we had a plan from 2000 until 2000. Today we have a plan until 2027, not only in terms of sales, but also in terms of products, and what we’re going to implement.
Not all plans can be implemented in time. In the late 1990s, we implemented the ISO: 9000 system. We helped the Germans work on the basics of this system in the pharmaceutical industry.
I changed my approach to production. And while ISO is not really necessary on the farm, this experience helped a lot in the work towards GMP certification.
I feel the abilities of a man in me, and I can feel exactly what to do, but I don’t know why. Maybe that tells me a dedication to work. And when we already got the European GMP certificates, I wanted to get the WHO qualification for some medicines, as it is very important for countries where people do not always have access to medicines.
Many colleagues told me: Why do we need it?
Because these are poor countries, and their prices are low. And now, during the COVID pandemic. Thanks to this accreditation, WHO has purchased 1.5 million ampoules of dexamethasone from us. And now everyone says: I already knew it, well done.
And it was hard for me from my mathematical mindset to realize that there are always risks, that you could spend a million, and there would be no return. If we have 70% output developed by our R&D department, that means we are doing the right thing. But I always feel sorry for that 30%. I am not the one to take risks. I’m not fainting anywhere.
And the desire for knowledge drove me to work. I have economic education, and when I came to work for a pharmaceutical company, I looked at acid formulas and didn’t understand what they were. I didn’t major in chemistry, but I read and studied books. Today I understand the effect of the active ingredient on drugs and why it could be different.
Read also: Registration for the External Evaluation 2021 Ends on March 5
Source: Ukrgate
