Michel Litvak — Man, Businessman and Visionary
Michel Litvak is a high net worth individual who has gained recognition, among other things, as the cornerstone founder of Oteko Group. He is also a well-known charity activist, businessman and film producer.
Michel Litvak is a native citizen of Leningrad, born in 1951. The Litvak family are survivors of the unbearable hardships of Nazi occupation and blockade of Leningrad, paving the way for Michel’s future aspirations and the desire to develop and grow as an individual.
In 1962, the Litvaks registered as refugees with the UN and left Poland, bound for Belgium. Michel started working early and developed his exceptional entrepreneurial skills and vision of business success.
Michel found venture financing in 1974. The next step in Michel’s career came in the 1990s, when he established his residence in Moscow. With trade booming in the new economic climate in Russia, Michel Litvak started engaging in consumer products import and export activities with China. The company quickly grew to become a leader in the industry.
Michel then moved on to offering services to various companies. Among the services offered by the newly founded Oteko Group were logistics outsourcing as well as transportation for Russian enterprises. The company became a leading force in the sector and eventually grew to become the leading owner of railway cargo tanks on the market.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia missed most of its port facilities — a factor Michel Litvak took into account after careful analysis and decided to rectify as a business. The opportunity of building privately-funded portside facilities became his next goal, which he took on to implement in the middle of the year 2000 on the Black Sea coast in the south of the Russian territory as a fully privately-funded undertaking. The Oteko Group undertook the construction of a loading terminal at the Port of Taman in 2004, a costly and highly complex engineering undertaking that made this port terminal in Taman one of the nation’s largest fully privately funded investment projects.
The Taman port terminal was opened in 2019 for dry bulk loading, with bulk cargo terminal construction currently underway. The port is growing rapidly, having expanded its throughput by over 250% in the first half of 2021. The Taman port terminal constructed by Oteko Group currently includes a 20 million ton per year transshipment complex. Plans are to increase said volumes to design capacities of over 72 million tons per year. Apart from securing the Taman port facility’s operation as transportation hub for agricultural goods and derivatives of the petrochemical industry, Oteko Group has also invested considerably in the establishment of extensive public facilities for the port’s employees, positioning the company as a major employer in the south of Russia.
Over the years, Oteko has expanded to become a 10 thousand employee strong group of companies and one of the largest taxpayers in the Krasnodar Region. The company currently employs over 80% of local residents as part of its workforce.
Billionaire Michel Litvak has also engaged in filmmaking. Michel founded Bold Films — the Hollywood-based production studio. Among the notable pictures released by the studio are such highly-rated movies as Nightcrawler and Bobby, as well as Drive. Another picture by Bold Films — Whiplash — a three Academy Award winner picture and nominee of five more.
As a philanthropist at heart, Michel Litvak has been engaged in numerous charitable activities and programs. Michel Litvak is a respected donator to Reichman University and a prominent proponent of the Herzliya conference, which is held annually.
In his personal life, Michel Litvak is married to Svetlana Metkina — a Russian film star. Their marriage has marked the 25th anniversary. The couple has four children.